The Toronto Star reports today that Rogers is in negotiations with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to buy a majority stake in MLSE. Such a move would mean that the telecommunications giant would be the majority owner of the Leafs, Raptors, Jays, the AHL Marlies and Toronto FC.
The deal is reported to be worth a billion dollars.
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TFC is an afterthought in the deal. It's about taking control of the Leafs and, especially, the TV rights for the NHL club. As one of the county's biggest cable and wireless providers, Rogers is interested in sports properties as part of an overall strategy to find cheap content for its various platforms (Rogers is also front and centre in the Bills in Toronto series and is thought to be behind the efforts to bring an NFL team to Toronto).
The kneejerk reaction of many might be to rejoice in the possibility of getting rid of the teacher's fund from the ownership group. It's thought that the perceived bottom line only focus of MLSE is because it is owned by a pension fund only interested in returns for its investors.
From a TFC perspective there might be some thought that bringing in Rogers may provide the club with more resources to compete. Such thinking ignores the fact that TFC currently doesn't suffer from getting resources to compete. It's the utilizing of those resources that the Reds struggle with.
If you are concerned about ticket prices and perceived gouging by ownership you may wish to give pause. In addition to having some of the highest cell phone rates in the world, Rogers are the folks that thought selling the Bills in Toronto series at an average price of $183 a seat was a good idea. That blew up in their face, but as anyone that has to deal with the company will tell you, Rogers can be a little shameless when it comes to pricing.
Ultimately a change in majority ownership wouldn't likely change much on a day to day basis for TFC -- for good or bad.