MLSE CEO Keith Pelley is taking on leadership of the organization’s media division.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T has completed its $4.35-billion acquisition of the final stake of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and handed responsibility for its media division to MLSE chief executive Keith Pelley.
“Rogers will create a new business unit, Rogers Sports, that brings Rogers sports, media and entertainment businesses together including MLSE and the Toronto Blue Jays,” the company said in a release.
“Now that we have completed the acquisition, Rogers will now build the best operating model for Rogers Sports.”
Effective immediately, Mr. Pelley will take on new responsibilities heading the company’s media operations, including Sportsnet.
As MLSE president and CEO, Mr. Pelley currently oversees most of the company’s portfolio of sports teams, which includes the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and Toronto Argonauts.
Mark Shapiro, the current president and chief executive office of the Toronto Blue Jays, will continue to run the baseball team.
Rogers previously bought out Bell Canada parent BCE Inc.’s BCE-T 37.5 per cent portion of MLSE in 2025 for $4.7-billion.
Rogers acquires remaining stake in MLSE from Kilmer Sports for $4.35-billion
The acquisition of the final 25 per cent of MLSE from Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Inc. reflects a valuation that is more than one-third higher than what was implied when Rogers bought out Bell’s stake last year.
As of June 30, the company had $40-billion in long-term debt.
Rogers has said it intends to finance the purchase of the final MLSE stake with “committed liquidity.” The company had arranged a credit facility – a preapproved sum of money that lenders agree to let companies borrow – to ensure it has the funds to buy out the remaining MLSE stake, The Globe and Mail previously reported.
As of the end of June, Rogers had $6.1-billion in net available liquidity, including $1.7-billion in cash and cash equivalents, and $4.4-billion under bank and other credit facilities.
When announcing the deal with Kilmer in July, the telecom said it intends to sell off a minority stake in the combined Rogers and MLSE sports assets, which it values at in excess of $25-billion, “over the course of the next year.”
That minority sale will present a rare opportunity for investors to acquire a slice of multiple valuable sports assets, and is likely to attract a wide range of suitors, experts say.
Rogers’s media and sports businesses dramatically increased their contribution to the company’s financial results after the purchase of Bell’s stake in MLSE last year.
In the first six months of this year, the most recent period that Rogers reported results, revenues from the unit rose 74 per cent to $2-billion.
The sports unit had adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA of $69-million, compared with negative EBITDA of $55-million in the same period a year ago.
Rogers’s media division was previously led by Colette Watson, who retired in May.
Mr. Pelley previously held the role of president of Rogers Media between 2010 and 2015.