help me, Leafs fans!

[Jungle Boy]

hey guys. I'm in college and my professor asked us to do some research about any kind of market that it's not usual here in Brazil. So I decided to talk about hockey. I wonder if you guys could tell me anything that you know about the business of hockey, organization charts, structure, adversities, advantages. I'm thinking about use the Maple Leafs as an example, but once again any suggestion will be heard.
thank you for coperanting!

[Dar]

Good luck to you! I might say though, that the Maple Leafs will be anything but an easy research topic. Even fans and media here are still trying to figure out who's pulling the strings. If it's hockey you wish to based your study on, an easier model might be The Red Wings. They've got a large fan base, stretching into Canadian borders, a dedicated owner committed to winning and a somewhat simple to figure out management structure. The Leafs, although based in a hockey mad city with probably the largest dispersement of fans in the NHL have an ownership majorily owned by a Teachers Pension Fund who's prime motive is making money along with three other ownership groups.

But, on the other hand, if it's a more challenging project you're wishing for, all the best to you, you've found your place. It's a proud franchise with a long history, both good and bad.

Feel free to ask away.

[Jungle Boy]

that's the kind of information I need. who owns the club who runs the club, market strategy. i need simple informations that fans can give, it's just what the majority of people know. For example how much they spend with players salaries, how big is the maple leafs fan base (buyers) and how can it grow (potential of the market). I'm sorry for my english, next year I'm going to have some business english class and I will be able to use the correct terms amd make myself more clear.

[Dar]

Originally Posted by Jungle Boy

that's the kind of information I need. who owns the club who runs the club, market strategy. i need simple informations that fans can give, it's just what the majority of people know. For example how much they spend with players salaries, how big is the maple leafs fan base (buyers) and how can it grow (potential of the market). I'm sorry for my english, next year I'm going to have some business english class and I will be able to use the correct terms amd make myself more clear.

First off, don't worry about the language barrier, trust me when I say that English is not a pre-requisite for this board.

MLSEL (Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd.) are the owners of The Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, The Air Canada Centre, LeafsTV, Raptors NBA TV and The St. John's Maple Leafs. The ownership group shares are divided as follows:

Teachers' Merchant Bank, the private equity arm of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, 58%
Bell Globemedia, 15 per cent
TD Capital Group, 14%
Kilmer Sports Inc., owned by Larry Tanenbaum, 13%

The current ownership group took form July 1st, 2003 when Steve Stavro (former MLSE chairman) sold his stakes to the remaining shareholders. The new chairman is now Larry Tenenbaum.
The board of directors is as follows:

Robert Bertram, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan;
Jim Leech, Teachers’ Merchant Bank;
Dean Metcalf, Teachers’ Merchant Bank;
Ivan Fecan, Bell Globemedia;
John MacIntyre, TD Capital Group;
Larry Tanenbaum, (Chairman), Kilmer Sports Inc;
Dale Lastman, Goodmans LLP;
Richard Peddie, (President and Chief Executive Officer), Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is reported to be wanting to reduce their shares in the corporation. Speculation has it that they're afraid to lose money with the CBA (collective bargaining agreement between owners and players) expiring September 2004 and with the talk of an impending lock out meaning no revenue for what could take over a year to negotiate.

Okay, fingers getting tired here, I'll chip in more in a while. In the meantime, anybody else care to help out our friend from down south here?

[Spekkio27]

I'd say that in terms of the market the Leafs are pretty much saturated with not a whole lot of room for expansion. All of their games are televised in the Southern Ontario region and they even have their own channel devoted to the team (LEAFs TV) as previously mentioned. In terms of ticket revenue, due to the extremely high popularity of the team, management can charge high prices for tickets, regardless of the competiveness of the team. For example, this season, ticket prices increased once again, even though the Leafs lost in the first round of the playoffs, which would be considered a disappointment especially with the club payroll in excess of $50 million. It can also be noted that the high ticket prices prevent the average Leaf fan from attending games, this is even more relevant when coupled with the fact that the Leafs sell a large number of seasons tickets. Thus, limiting the number of single game tickets available to the general public. From an economic investment point of view I think the owners are just doing what financiall makes sense. Since the fans of the team are so loyal and tickets are in such high demand, charging lots of money for tickets, along with television deals for live games and the speciality channel result in very good returns on investment. Well, that's my two cents. Hope it helps.

[Dar]

To add on to the last poster, the one area where the Leafs have left open for extra revenue is using LeafsTV. If (or should I say when) they decide to follow a few other teams and make a percentage of the games exclusive to LeafsTV, it becomes in a form pay TV seeing as the subscription to the channel is charged above and beyond the regular cable bill (normally extra $2 month), so by doing so will expand the number of subscribers to the channel.

[Rand]

You may want to try out the
Business of Hockey board as well.

[Jungle Boy]

Originally Posted by Rand

You may want to try out the
Business of Hockey board as well.

I did. but your info was way better. thanks.