Editing Toronto Maple Leafs (section)

=== Ownership ===
The Maple Leafs is one of six professional sports teams owned by [[Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment]] (MLSE). In 2024, ''[[Forbes]]'' estimated the value of the club at US$3.8 billion, making the Maple Leafs the most valuable franchise in the NHL.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Toronto Maple Leafs on the Forbes The Business of Hockey List |url=https://www.forbes.com/teams/toronto-maple-leafs/ |access-date=April 14, 2025 |website=[[Forbes]]}}</ref> However, MLSE has refuted past valuations made by ''Forbes''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/2012/11/29/nhl_lockout_maple_leafs_worth_a_billion_says_forbes.html|title=NHL lockout: Maple Leafs worth a billion says Forbes|last=McGran|first=Kevin|date=November 29, 2012|access-date=May 17, 2019|work=Toronto Star|publisher=Torstar Corporation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517233002/https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/2012/11/29/nhl_lockout_maple_leafs_worth_a_billion_says_forbes.html|archive-date=May 17, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Conn smythe.jpg|thumb|left|[[Conn Smythe]] at Maple Leaf Gardens, 1939. Smythe was the principal owner of the club from 1927 to 1961.]]
Initially, ownership of the club was held by the Arena Gardens of Toronto, Limited; an ownership group fronted by [[Henry Pellatt]] that owned and managed Arena Gardens.{{sfn|Shea|Wilson|2016|p=6}} The club was named a permanent franchise in the League following its inaugural season, with team manager [[Charles Querrie]], and the Arena Gardens treasurer Hubert Vearncombe as its owners.{{sfn|Shea|Wilson|2016|p=13}} The Arena Company owned the club until 1919 when [[litigations]] from [[Eddie Livingstone]] forced the company to declare bankruptcy. Querrie brokered the sale of the Arena Garden's share to the owners of the amateur St. Patricks Hockey Club.{{sfn|Shea|Wilson|2016|p=16}}<ref>{{cite news |work=The Globe |date=December 9, 1919 |page=9 |title=Defense Star Leads "Pros"}}</ref> Maintaining his shares in the club, Querrie fronted the new ownership group until 1927, when the club was put up for sale. [[Toronto Varsity Blues]] coach Conn Smythe put together an ownership group and purchased the franchise for $160,000.{{sfn|Shea|Wilson|2016|p=30–31}} In 1929, Smythe decided, amid the Great Depression, that the Maple Leafs needed a new arena.{{sfn|Shea|Wilson|2016|p=47–48}}<ref name="LEA30" /> To finance it, Smythe launched Maple Leaf Gardens Limited (MLGL), a publicly traded management company to own both the Maple Leafs and the new arena, which was named Maple Leaf Gardens. Smythe traded his stake in the Leafs for shares in MLGL and sold shares in the holding company to the public to help fund construction for the arena.{{sfn|Smythe|Young|1981|p=104–106}}

Although Smythe was the face of MLGL from its founding, he did not gain a controlling interest in the company until 1947.<ref name=Smythecontrol1/><ref name=Smythecontrol2/><ref name=Smythecontrol3/> Smythe remained MLGL's principal owner until 1961 when he sold 90 percent of his shares to an ownership group consisting of [[Harold Ballard]], [[John W. H. Bassett]] and [[Stafford Smythe]]. Ballard became majority owner in February 1972 shortly following the death of Stafford Smythe.<ref name="Balsale" /> Ballard was the principal owner of MLGL until he died in 1990. The company remained a publicly traded company until 1998, when an ownership group fronted by [[Steve Stavro]] privatized the company by acquiring more than the 90 percent of stock necessary to force objecting shareholders out.<ref>{{cite news|title=Stavro set to take Gardens private Meeting seen as a 'rubber stamp'|newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]|date=August 6, 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Stavro set to take Gardens private|first=Tony|last=Van Alphen|newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]|date=May 3, 1994}}</ref>

While initially primarily a hockey company, with ownership stakes in several junior hockey clubs including the Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association, the company later branched out to own the [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]] of the [[Canadian Football League]] from the late 1970s to late 1980s (though the company would later sell off the Tiger-Cats).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Business of Professional Sports|pages=203–204|editor1=Mangan, J. A.|editor2=Staudohar, Paul D.|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1991|isbn=0-252-06161-6}}</ref> On February 12, 1998, MLGL purchased the [[Toronto Raptors]] of the [[National Basketball Association]], who were constructing the then–Air Canada Centre. After MLGL acquired the Raptors, the company changed its name to MLSE.<ref name="namec" /> The company's portfolio has since expanded to include the [[Toronto FC]] of [[Major League Soccer]], the Toronto Marlies of the AHL, the [[Toronto Argonauts]] of the Canadian Football League, and a 37.5 percent stake in [[Maple Leaf Square]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nationalpost.com/sports/what-the-explaining-the-mlse-deal/wcm/c3ec6e49-f419-4415-8100-40e1126159b2|title=What the #!%*?: Explaining the MLSE deal|first=Sean|last=Fitz-Gerald|work=National Post |date=December 10, 2011|access-date=July 8, 2017}}</ref>

The present ownership structure emerged in 2012 after the [[Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan]] (the company's former principal owner) announced the sale of its 75 percent stake in MLSE to a consortium made up of telecommunications rivals Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, in a deal valued at [[Canadian dollar|$]]1.32&nbsp;billion.<ref name=sportsempire>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mapleleaf-rogers-bce-idUSTRE7B80VN20111209|title=Toronto sports empire sold to Rogers and BCE|first=Euan|last=Rocha|date=December 9, 2011|access-date=March 16, 2014|work=[[Reuters]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317082609/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/09/us-mapleleaf-rogers-bce-idUSTRE7B80VN20111209|archive-date=March 17, 2014}}</ref> As part of the sale, two [[numbered companies]] were created to jointly hold stock. This ownership structure ensures that, at the shareholder level, Rogers and Bell vote their overall 75 percent interest in the company together and thus decisions on the management of the company must be made by consensus between the two.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://nationalpost.com/sports/rogers-bell-buy-majority-stake-in-mlse/wcm/6b550adc-44b3-4802-80c0-d96c2d0b3785|title=MLSE deal: What Rogers and Bell buyout means for fans|first=Sean|last=Fitz-Gerald|work=National Post |date=December 9, 2011|access-date=July 8, 2017}}</ref> A portion of Bell's share in MLSE is owned by its pension fund, to make Bell's share in MLSE under 30 percent. This was done so that Bell could retain its existing 18 percent interest in the [[Montreal Canadiens]]; as NHL's conflict of interest rules prevent any shareholder that owns more than 30 percent of a team from holding an ownership position in another.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/bell-to-keep-canadiens-stake-1.997652|title=Bell to keep Canadiens stake|agency=[[The Canadian Press]]|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=December 9, 2011|access-date=December 10, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926094640/http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/bell-to-keep-canadiens-stake-1.997652|archive-date=September 26, 2013}}</ref> The remaining 25 percent is owned by [[Larry Tanenbaum]], who is also the chairman of MLSE.<ref name="sportsempire" />
{{chart top|width=100%|Ownership structure of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment}}
{{chart/start|align=center|}}
{{chart| | | | |MLSE | | | | |MLSE=[[Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment|MLSE]]<br />100%}}
{{chart| | | |,|-|^|-|-|-|.| }}
{{chart| | | ROGBELL | | | | KILMER | ROGBELL=Rogers/Bell holding company<br />75%|KILMER=Kilmer Sports<br />25%}}
{{chart| |,|-|^|-|.| | | |!| }}
{{chart| ROGERS | | BELL | | LT | ROGERS=[[Rogers Communications]]<br />50%|BELL=Bell holding company<br />50%|LT=[[Larry Tanenbaum]]<br />100%}}
{{chart| | | |,|-|^|-|.| | | }}
{{chart| | | BCE | | BMT | | | BCE=[[Bell Canada Enterprises]]<br />74.67%|BMT=BCE Master Trust Fund<br />25.33%}}
{{chart/end}}
{{chart bottom}}