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What Toronto Maple Leafs brass, players and hockey insiders are saying about Brian Burke’s firing

Brian Burke and Dave Nonis during the NHL entry draft last summer (Image: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images Sport)

The reactions to the shocking end of Brian Burke’s tenure as the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs—and the slightly awkward beginning of Dave Nonis’—have been swift and varied. While MLSE insists the decision was months in the making, many are baffled it came just days before training camp when ownership could’ve made its move during the lockout. Speculation has also been rampant about who on MLSE’s board pushed hardest for the dramatic dismissal and predictions already abound about how Nonis’s regime will differ from Burke’s. Below, a roundup of comments from those closest to the deal—MLSE bigwigs, the most well-connected pundits and Leafs players. Plus, Rob Ford.

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The Informer

Business

December 20, 2012 | 2:58 pm

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Bell stakes its claim for downtown Toronto condo owners with big-time cable discounts

A high-stakes turf war is heating up between Rogers and Bell over the chance to provide television to Toronto’s ever-growing ranks of downtown condo-dwellers. For decades, bylaws prohibiting satellite dishes on condo balconies prevented Bell from selling its satellite TV in high-rises, leaving Rogers to sign exclusive deals with developers. But the landscape has changed: Rogers’ deals are now expiring and, with Fibe TV, Bell has traded in ugly satellites for discreet fiber optics cable. The company recently made its first major play, offering steep discounts on TV and PVR rentals (but buyer beware: the ultra-low rates expire after a year, and customers must also sign up for home phone and internet). Bell has even taken the unprecedented step of running fiber into single suites—some private residences at the Four Seasons are on Fibe—setting the precedent for a gritty customer-by-customer battle between it and Rogers. And here we thought the competitors were learning to play nice. [Globe and Mail]

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Features

December 3, 2012 | 3:00 pm

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50 Most Influential 2012: a ranking of Toronto’s top tycoons, backroom operators and supersize egos

The people driving the agenda for the city are more likely to come from outside local government than inside. This was the year our premier, rendered virtually impotent by a minority legislature, up and quit without warning. And our mayor, who listens to no one and refuses to build consensus on council, has created a city hall power vacuum.

What follows is Toronto Life’s list of the real influence peddlers—the people who, either publicly or behind the scenes, have had the greatest impact on the city. We looked for people whose power was broad enough to be felt across different sectors, or else so palpable in their immediate field that it somehow changed things for the rest of us. We looked for people whose ability to alter public opinion, raise money, rally troops or simply get stuff done was both formidable and undeniable. The result is a carefully calculated and highly opinionated look at power in the city in 2012.

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People

November 7, 2012 | 11:55 am

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Q&A: Milos Raonic on his plans for world domination and his crush on Taylor Swift

He doesn’t just want to dominate the tennis world. He’s already busy plotting his corporate takeover
Interview by Malcolm Johnston | Photography by Mark Peckmezian

Two years ago, no one had heard of you. Today, you’re ranked 15th in the world. What clicked?
I realized that when I control the return of my serve, I can dictate the point. Now I’m working on everything else: my return game, moving laterally, getting quicker, fitter, more agile.

Have you been as surprised by your ascent as
everyone else?
Totally. But my goal was always to get to centre court.

In other words, you don’t mind the spotlight.
Well, I like to showcase myself because it can lead to opportunities. When my tennis days are over, I want a reputation that will help me succeed in business.

You’re well on your way. Lacoste, Wilson, SAP, Rogers, Biotherm Homme and Commerce Court are sponsors, and you’ve won $1.75 million on tour. What was your first big purchase?
A condo for my parents at Yonge and St. Clair, but so far nothing for myself. When I’m training in Barcelona, I stay at a university dorm. It’s far from luxurious.

Do students invite you to keg parties?
I get invited out, but I always have to decline. Tennis is
all-consuming.

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Features

August 8, 2012 | 10:00 am

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Q&A: Wind Mobile CEO Anthony Lacavera, the man that’s battling big telecom

He’s been trading punches with the three big telecom companies for years. He’s just won a huge battle. Here’s what’s in it for you
Interview by Malcolm Johnston | Photography by Mark Peckmezian

(Image: Mark Peckmezian)

When you launched Wind Mobile in 2009, you were a folk hero to disgruntled cellphone customers. Today, Canadians still pay some of the highest rates in the world, and customer service in the industry is as miserable as ever. What went wrong? Did you sell out?
Nothing went wrong. But when you’re competing against a 30-year entrenched oligopoly in Bell, Rogers and Telus, you encounter some obstacles.

Like what?
Where do I start? All three have failed to fully cooperate with the government’s requirement that they allow us to put our equipment on their towers, so we had to build our own. But the worst roadblock was the big three lobbying the CRTC to block our launch in 2009. They claimed that Wind was foreign controlled because my main investor was Egyptian. The CRTC shut us down for two months. I had 700 employees and zero revenue. We burned through tens of millions of dollars. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which dismissed it in April.

How did you celebrate the ruling?
I took my girlfriend, Kimberly, to Paris. She’s a shoe freak, so we went to a Christian Louboutin show.

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The Informer

Sports

June 26, 2012 | 1:21 pm

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Will Canadians be stuck watching NBC during future Olympics?

Er, not so fast (Image: Geoff Murie)

Canadian broadcasters have teamed up to try and buy domestic media rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics, but apparently they still can’t afford them. The International Olympic Committee has shut down two joint bids by CBC and Bell Media (which owns CTV and TSN), and Bell says it’s giving up. Meanwhile, Rogers Communications never even bothered vying for the rights—mostly because they are pretty darn expensive and the Games tend to be money-losers. (Rogers and Bell paid $153 million for the 2010 and 2012 Games; they lost money in Vancouver and are expected to lose more in London.) That leaves the financially strapped CBC to try and go it alone or attempt a long-shot joint bid with Shaw Communications. Or (please, no!) it could just leave Canadians to watch NBC during the Sochi and Rio de Janeiro Games‚ which would mean no feel-good features on Canadian athletes, no French-language feed and broadcasts helmed by the wrong Brian Williams. [Toronto Star]

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Business

June 7, 2012 | 3:33 pm

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Three banks—and one surprise—on the list of Canada’s 10 best brands

Every two years, consulting firm Interbrand puts out a “Best Canadian Brands” list and the 2012 list of winners has a lot of old standbys (i.e. media companies, banks and Tim Hortons). Much-vaunted financial institutions like Toronto Dominion Bank (which took the top spot), Royal Bank of Canada (number three) and Scotiabank (number five) are all back, while cult yoga pants purveyor Lululemon Athletica broke the top 10 for the first time, its $3.25-billion brand value making it the fastest-growing brand in the country. Finally, hats off to Research in Motion’s BlackBerry brand, which managed to hold on to the number four spot—though the fine print acknowledges Interbrand arrived at that number in late 2011, and a lot has happened since then.

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The Informer

Sports

May 18, 2012 | 11:00 am

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QUOTED: former CBC exec Richard Stursberg thinks Hockey Night in Canada is probably doomed

It’s going to be very, very difficult. The sports networks are jacking up the prices, so they’re going to have even deeper pockets when they come to the table. TSN and Sportsnet have proven that they can get big TV audiences as easily as the CBC does. And that’s very hard to fight against.

—Richard Stursberg, CBC’s former executive vice-president for English services, sounding the death knell for Hockey Night in Canada. The public broadcaster’s television and digital rights for NHL games expire in two years, and Stursberg believes there’s only a “low” chance it will be able to renew. (Kirstine Stewart, the woman who now holds Stursberg’s old job, insists otherwise.) While big telecommunications companies are willing to shell out wads of money for TV sports rights, the public broadcaster has had its budget slashed and has had lower ad revenues this year, in part because all the Canadian teams dropped out of the playoffs early. All of which imperils HNIC’s future—and Don Cherry’s opportunity to show off his flamboyant coats. [Globe and Mail]

The Informer

Business

May 3, 2012 | 4:47 pm

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Rogers Media’s new digital strategy involves shutting down eight of its websites

(Image: screenshot from sweetspot.ca)

Something interesting is afoot at Rogers. In recent weeks, the media giant undertook large-scale layoffs across the country as part of a “cost management strategy,” chief executive Nadir Mohamed issued a warning to investors to temper growth expectations and the company sent shockwaves through the country’s media and advertising industries by joining forces with Shaw and the CBC in a bid to streamline ads sales on its websites. Then, the latest twist: Rogers Media announced it plans to close eight websites—including SweetSpot.ca and CanadianParents.com. What’s interesting about the recent news is that chief digital officer Jason Tafler says that the cuts are coming despite loyal followings and solid ad sales on the soon-to-be shuttered sites. He went on to suggest that the company’s new digital strategy is focused on developing “multiplatform integration and growth opportunities for our premium brands.” Business-speak, we suspect, for more sports, sports, sports. [Huffington Post Canada]

The Informer

Sports

April 23, 2012 | 4:19 pm

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Could Hockey Night in Canada soon be cancelled forever?

Corporate branding on display at a Maple Leafs game (Image: jbcurio)

Once the CBC’s current contract with the National Hockey League expires in 2014, Hockey Night in Canada could be over, according to the Financial Post. The paper reports that the CBC, facing $115 million in funding cuts, likely won’t have the financial might to compete with Rogers Communications (which owns Sportsnet) and Bell Media (which owns CTV and TSN) for NHL broadcasting rights. On the other hand, Kirstine Stewart, the chief of the CBC’s English services, says that the public broadcaster will find a way to broker a deal because it brings hockey to general audiences, not just the sports-obsessed. In the May issue of Toronto Life, Stewart tells Jason McBride, ”We help establish hockey…when you put hockey on a sports channel only, you’re preaching to the converted.” Though there’s still a possibility the CBC could secure national broadcast rights, which are controlled by the league, future regional rights for Toronto Maple Leafs games are firmly in Rogers’ and Bell’s hands. Toronto sports fans will remember that Rogers and Bell recently banded together to buy a controlling stake in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment—which means that the two companies will divvy up the Leafs broadcasts between them like some kind of corporate version of a fantasy draft. [Financial Post]

The Hype

Almighty Goz

February 3, 2012 | 4:32 pm

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Time Warner Cable announces Ryan Gosling On Demand, but will Rogers follow suit?

It’s February, which means Valentine’s Day is coming—which means some of us will be lonely (crying) and some of us will be sharing a meal and a bed with a loved one. American singles with nothing to do but watch movies on television were excited to find out that Time Warner Cable will be offering a Ryan Gosling On Demand service for the month of February. Everything Ryan Gosling has ever appeared in (or at least every movie—there’s no word of Breaker High being on offer) will be in this catalogue, and it’ll be priced from $1.99 to $4.99. A really lonely night could end up costing someone around $100, but Canadians won’t have to worry about frivolous spending, because Rogers hasn’t made the equally genius decision to ride Gozzy’s coattails.

(Images: TV, clip art; Ryan Gosling, screen grab from Crazy, Stupid, Love)

• Geniuses at Time Warner Cable Offering ‘Ryan Gosling On Demand’ [Jezebel]

The Informer

Business

December 13, 2011 | 2:25 pm

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Corporate gossip: MLSE chair Larry Tanenbaum unknowingly foiled the Teachers’ plot to unseat him

In striking an agreement with Rogers and Bell to buy the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan’s majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Larry Tanenbaum apparently dodged a multi-million-dollar bullet. The Globe and Mail reports the pension plan was prepared to can Tanenbaum as MLSE chairman before he played kingmaker in the joint ownership deal between the twin telecom giants. It’s debatable whether Teachers could’ve actually ousted Tanenbaum, who was never directly threatened. But they had plenty of reasons to begrudge the man who reportedly wields “unusual leverage at MLSE, despite holding only 20 per cent.” Of course, with the Bell/Rogers deal that’s now 25 per cent. Read the entire story [Globe and Mail] »

The Informer

Business

December 12, 2011 | 4:31 pm

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Reaction roundup: What the city’s sports (and business) writers are saying about the MLSE deal

Sure, the fact that Bell Canada and Rogers have teamed up to purchase Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment is old news now, but the full implications of the deal remain to be seen. For our part, we’re wondering if the Toronto Maple Leafs will be slapped with absurd roaming charges on the road, or whether fans will have to purchase beer by following a series of annoying prompts on their cellphones. Of course, there’s also the tricky matter of whether or not the $1.32-billion purchase will turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing for Toronto sports teams—and, by extension, their fans—when it comes to the business of winning and losing. We round up what the city’s sportswriter corps is saying on the matter, after the jump.

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The Informer

Business

December 9, 2011 | 4:00 pm

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Rogers and Bell buy MLSE (and now own every Canadian sports team, stadium and channel ever)

Less than two weeks after the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan announced it was taking its majority share of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment off the market, the fund has turned around and sold its long-time cash cow for $1.32 billion. (For those following along, OTTP bought it 17 years ago for $180 million.) The buyers should sound horrifyingly familiar to any Toronto sports fan: Rogers and Bell.

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The Informer

Business

November 28, 2011 | 5:45 pm

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MLSE is off the market, planning sports network instead

Last Friday the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan board tersely stated that it’s no longer interested in selling its 80 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Now that the company won’t be bought up anytime soon—$1.5 billion offers were reported—MLSE is allegedly planning to make a major expenditure of its own: starting a regional sports channel. As the Globe and Mail noted a year ago, MLSE already has a broadcasting licence for a channel tentatively named Real Sports (like the sports bar with the giant television it already owns). It’s undoubtedly a risky venture: not only would it be costly for both the company and subscription-paying fans, but expanding digitally would also require negotiating with Bell and Rogers, which won’t be happy about the increased competition. What’s more, although MLSE would have regular content from the Maple Leafs, the Raptors and Toronto FC, it’s unclear how the channel will entertain its paying customers seven days a week, especially during the summer months. According to Metro Morning’s business commentator Michael Hlinka, that could be reason enough for the Maple Leafs to allow another hockey team in southern Ontario to intrude on their turf. Look for some intriguing developments in 2015, when the Leafs’ local broadcasting contract is up. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »

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