TORONTO – Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment announced Wednesday it will add the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup Champion Toronto Argonauts to its stable of Toronto sports teams.
The Argos are currently jointly owned by Bell Canada and the Kilmer Group (both of whom are co-owners of MLSE along with Rogers Communications). Financial terms of the MLSE acquisition, expected to close in January 2018 pending approval by the CFL Board of Governors, were not disclosed by the press release.
Joining MLSE brings numerous advantages to the Argonauts, including financial scale and promotional, ticketing and other operational synergies, says the company. The Argos play at BMO Field at Toronto’s Exhibition Place, which is operated by MLSE and also serves as home to another MLSE team, Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS). MLSE, of course, also owns the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and NBA’s Toronto Raptors and their primary minor league affiliates.
It also owns Air Canada Centre, Maple Leaf Square, digital channels Leafs Nation Network and NBA TV Canada and has a partnership with Live Nation, the biggest concert promoter in the world. The company has also invested in and operates five other Toronto sports facilities – Ricoh Coliseum, BMO Field, Kia Training Grounds at Downsview Park, BioSteel Centre, and the MasterCard Centre for Hockey Excellence.
"Under its current ownership, a transformed Argonauts football club enhanced its presence and fan base in Canada’s largest sports market and ultimately marched to the CFL Championship,” said Michael Friisdahl, president and CEO of MLSE, in the release. “We look forward to building on the Argos’ strong momentum as we welcome the team to the leading provider of sports and entertainment experiences in Canada.”
Founded in 1873, the Toronto Argonauts are North America’s oldest continuously operated professional football club and the oldest pro sports team of any kind on the continent that still operates with its original name. The Argonauts have won the CFL championship game a record 17 times, most recently at the 105th Grey Cup earlier this year. The team was founded by the Argonaut Rowing Club, which owned the club for its first 83 years.
