The story
Founded by Conn Smythe in 1931.1
Founding
The corporation's roots can be traced back to 1927, when Conn Smythe organized a group of investors to purchase Toronto's premier hockey franchise, the Toronto St. Patricks of the National Hockey League (NHL), which had won Stanley Cup championships in 1918 (as the Toronto Arenas) and 1922, from a group headed by Charles Querrie. The club was playing poorly and minority partner Jack Bickell contacted Smythe about becoming the team's coach. Smythe told Bickell that he was more interested in buying a stake in the team. Not long after, with the team in financial trouble due to majority owner Querrie having lost a lawsuit to former Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone over ownership of the franchise, Querrie put the St. Pats up for sale and agreed in principle to sell them for $200,000 to C. C. Pyle, who planned to relocate the team to Philadelphia. Bickell informed Smythe of the proposed sale, and Smythe, having persuaded Querrie that civic pride was more important than money, put together a seperarte group to purchase the team. Smythe invested $10,000 of his own money, and his group contributed $75,000 up front and a further $75,000 due 30 days later, with Bickell retaining his $40,000 share in the team. The deal was finalized on Valentine's Day, and the new owners quickly renamed the team the Toronto Maple Leafs, after the national symbol of Canada. Smythe attributed his choice of a maple Leaf logo to his experiences as a Canadian Army officer and prisoner of war during World War I. Later that year, Smythe bought the junior hockey Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association to serve as a developmental team for Maple Leafs.
In 1929, in the midst of the Great Depression, Smythe decided that the Maple Leafs needed a new arena. Arena Gardens, their then home which they shared with the Marlboros, had been built in 1912 and lacked modern amenities. It seated just 8,000, which the Maple Leafs were regularly filling. After considering various locations, the site at the corner of Carlton and Church streets was purchased from The T. Eaton Co. Ltd. for $350,000, a price said to be $150,000 below market value. A new 12,473 seat (14,550 including standing room) arena, Maple Leaf Gardens (MLG), was designed by the architectural firm Ross and Macdonald. To finance construction, Smythe got backing from Sun Life for half of the expected $1 million cost. He then formed Maple Leaf Gardens Limited (MLGL) as a management company that would own both the arena and hockey team. A public offering of shares in MLGL was made at $10 each ($200.00 in 2025 dollars), with a free common share for every five preferred shares purchased. Ownership of the hockey team was transferred to MLGL in return for shares, while workers constructing the building were paid 20% of their salary in MLGL stock. Construction started on June 1, 1931, and MLG opened five months and two weeks later, on November 12, 1931, at a cost of $1.5 million ($30 million in 2025 dollars). The Marlboros also moved to the new arena. Bickell was named the first president of MLG.
To help fill dates at the new arena, Smythe acquired an expansion franchise in the professional International Lacrosse League on behalf of MLGL for the 1932 season, which was also named the Toronto Maple Leafs. A separate team named the Toronto Maple Leafs had competed in the first season of the ILL at the Arena Gardens, but was renamed the Tecumsehs with the arrival of Smythe's team. Both teams played at MLG. Smythe pulled out following the season due to financial losses, and the league did not play the following year.
Minor hockey expansion
The company owned numerous minor league hockey teams over the years, which have served as developmental farm teams for the Maple Leafs. A group backed by Smythe and Frank Selke of the Montreal Canadiens was awarded an American Hockey League (AHL) franchise for Rochester, New York in July 1956, after a local group could not come up with the US$150,000 in capital required by the league. The Leafs and Canadiens each owned 27.5% of the team, with the balance sold to Rochester interests. The team was named the Rochester Americans, and served as a joint affiliate of the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs, though the club was operated by the Canadiens. In the summer of 1959 the Maple Leafs bought out the Canadiens' ownership share of the club, due to concerns that Montreal was giving their prospects priority over those of the Leafs, giving them a 55% controlling interest. They purchased most of the remaining 45% in 1963, boosting their ownership share to 98% by November 1964. In July 1966 the Maple Leafs sold the team to a group which included their then General Manager Punch Imlach for a reported $400,000.
In June 1963 the Spokane Comets franchise of the Western Hockey League was purchased by a group led by the Maple Leafs, which relocated them to become the Denver Invaders and act as the Leafs' farm team. Though the league did not acknowledge that the Maple Leafs had an ownership stake in the team, they held a majority stake with the Denver partners only owning roughly 36%. Following reported losses of $150,000 in their first season, and failure to meet a 2,000 season ticket goal by a league-imposed deadline, Smythe announced that the team would be relocated. The team became the Victoria Maple Leafs the following season. In June 1967 MLGL sold the team to a group from Phoenix for $500,000, which relocated it to become the Phoenix Roadrunners.
In 1964 MLGL launched the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Professional Hockey League. The team was owned and operated by MLGL as a developmental club for the Maple Leafs. In the spring of 1973 it was announced that the Oilers would relocate to become the Oklahoma City Blazers. Prior to the 1976–77 season the Maple Leafs decided to share an affiliate with the Chicago Black Hawks in an attempt to reduce costs, and pulled out of the Blazers. In 1978 the New Brunswick Hawks of the AHL were established, and were jointly operated by the Chicago Black Hawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs as their farm team. MLGL and the Black Hawks each owned half of the franchise. However, by 1980 MLGL decided that the Leafs needed an affiliate of their own, with a spokesperson citing the limited number of roster spots available on a shared team. In 1981 the Cincinnati Tigers of the old Central Hockey League were established under the ownership of MLGL, but the team averaged only 1,500 fans and lost $750,000 in their first season and folded the following spring. Shortly thereafter, with Chicago having pulled out of New Brunswick in favour of affiliating with the Springfield Indians on their own, the Leafs relocated the New Brunswick Hawks to St. Catharines, Ontario to establish the St. Catharines Saints as their farm team. The team played in St. Catharines until 1986, and after stops in Newmarket, Ontario as the Newmarket Saints (1986–1991) and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador as the St. John's Maple Leafs (1991–2005), the team moved to Toronto as the Toronto Marlies (named after the company's former junior team) where they have played ever since.
The Toronto Marlboros served as a junior farm team for the Maple Leafs for 40 years until direct NHL sponsorship of junior clubs ended in 1967 when the NHL made the Entry Draft universal. In October 1988, with the team losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, MLGL reached an agreement to sell the Marlboros to a group from Hamilton for a reported $500,000, severing their ties with the Maple Leafs. However, the Leafs retained the rights to the Marlies name. The team moved to Hamilton for the 1989–90 season.
Growth beyond hockey
In 1967 MLGL entered into negotiations to purchase the financially struggling Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team of the minor AAA International League. The asking price was $60,000. The deal fell through due to concerns about the team's stadium, Maple Leaf Stadium, which needed up to $250,000 in repairs and whose owner wanted $4 million to purchase it, and the team was sold and relocated to Louisville the following season. MLGL owner Harold Ballard said that the company's interest was due in part to help position itself to pursue a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise for Toronto. In early 1974 MLGL announced plans to build a new baseball stadium in Toronto, but the city decided to renovate Exhibition Stadium to make it suitable for baseball instead. At the time, the MLGL group, led by Lorne Duguid, vice-president of Hiram Walker Distillers and MLGL executive, was one of at least four bidding for a Toronto MLB team, including competing groups led by Labatt Brewing Company, Robert Hunter (the former President of the International League Maple Leafs), and Canadian Baseball Co (led by Sydney Cooper). MLGL held negotiations with the owners of several MLB teams, including the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics, in their attempt to acquire a team for Toronto, and offered $15 million to purchase the San Francisco Giants. However, the Giant's ownership decided in early 1976 to sell the club to the Labatt group for US$13.25 million. While the Giants' relocation to Toronto was ultimately rejected by a U.S. court, Labatt was awarded an American League expansion team for US$7 million later that year which became the Toronto Blue Jays.
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A team named the Toronto Maple Leafs competed in the inaugural season of the National Lacrosse Association, a professional box lacrosse league, in 1968 at MLG. MLGL owners Ballard and Stafford Smythe were two of the five founding partners of the club, but financial difficulties forced MLGL to take over ownership midway through the season. The NLA suspended operations prior to the following season.
In the early 1970s MLGL announced plans to apply for a second Toronto-based Canadian Football League team, in addition to the Toronto Argonauts, which would play at Varsity Stadium, but the proposal was never realized. In 1974, when Ballard's former partner John W. H. Bassett put the Argonauts up for sale for $3.3 million, he expressed interest in buying the team, but it was ultimately sold to William R. Hodgson. Shortly thereafter, Ballard attempted to buy the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL from Michael DeGroote, but this offer was also rejected. Three money-losing seasons later, in February 1978, DeGroote sold the team to MLGL for $1.3 million. During his tenure as owner of the Tiger-Cats, Ballard repeatedly threatened to move the franchise to Toronto's Varsity Stadium, which was vetoed by the Argos, and claimed to have lost approximate $20 million over 11 seasons. MLGL sold the team to David Braley in March 1989 for $2.
Ballard partnered with Ruby Richman, the former coach of Canada men's national basketball team, to explore purchasing a number of National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Basketball Association (ABA) franchises to relocate to Toronto to play at MLG in the 1970s. Richman had tentative agreements to purchase both the Miami Floridians and Pittsburgh Condors of the ABA, with a plan to merge them into a single Toronto-based team, but the deal fell through. Later, Richman held negotiations with the Detroit Pistons, which were originally seeking $5 million for the franchise, but pulled out when the price was raised to $8.25 million. MLGL attempted to purchase and relocate the Buffalo Braves, which had played a number of regular season games at MLG over the years, to Toronto in 1974 for $8.5 million, and again several times later, but the owners eventually chose to move the team to San Diego instead. When Toronto was provisionally awarded an expansion NBA franchise in 1974 for the 1975–76 season MLGL was one of three groups to bid on the rights to the team, but the club never materialized as no group secured funding for the $6.8 million expansion fee. MLGL attempted to purchase and relocate the Houston Rockets in 1975, which were seeking $8 million for the team, but the team's arena lease ultimately prevented it from relocating. In 1976 MLGL attempted to buy the Atlanta Hawks. In 1979 a Toronto based group which included Ballard again sought an NBA expansion franchise, but lost out to the Dallas Mavericks. A Toronto group which included Bill Ballard, son of Harold, and Basketball Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain submitted an application and US$100,000 deposit for an NBA expansion franchise for MLG in 1986, but of the six cities to apply Toronto was not one of the four which were successful. It was not until 1993 when the NBA awarded an expansion franchise to John Bitove, over a group led by future MLSE minority owner Larry Tanenbaum which was supported MLGL, that the city would get an NBA team, which became the Toronto Raptors.
Merger with the Raptors and rebranding
In 1997 it was reported that the Maple Leafs were in negotiations to purchase the Toronto Shooting Stars of the National Professional Soccer League. The team, which played at MLG, had suspended operations following their inaugural season, during which it lost nearly $1 million and the league was forced to take over operations after three games when ownership pulled out. However, the team never returned to play. Following the inaugural season of the Hamilton, Ontario-based Ontario Raiders of the National Lacrosse League in 1998, in which they lost $250,000 playing at Copps Coliseum, owner Chris Fritz was forced to look for partners. MLSE engaged in negotiations to purchase the team and have it play at MLG. Ultimately a group which included Bill Watters, the then Assistant General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, bought the team for $250,000 and moved it to MLG where they rebranded it the Toronto Rock. MLSE held negotiations with the Arena Football League in 1998 on acquiring an expansion franchise for the following season to coincide with the opening of the ACC, with the price set at US$4–7 million. The company also submitted an application for a Women's National Basketball Association franchise which was rejected by the league due to concerns about their readiness.
With MLG aging, MLGL began planning for a new home arena for the Maple Leafs in the 1990s. At the time the Raptors were constructing their new arena, which would be named Air Canada Centre (ACC), and they invited the Maple Leafs to become a joint tenant. MLGL rejected the offer, arguing that "the footprint is too small". After Allan Slaight took over controlling ownership of the Toronto Raptors in late 1996, talks resumed between the two groups. MLGL put forward a proposal to the city to construct a new $300 million shared arena just to the north, on top of the Union Station rail tracks, with the already under construction Raptors arena being converted into a bus terminal. However, an agreement could not reached with the City of Toronto government on rent for the land. In November 1997 MLSE submitted a new proposal for a $250 million arena at Exhibition Place. However, after years of acrimonious negotiations on February 12, 1998 MLGL announced that they had purchased 100% of the Raptors basketball club and the ACC from Allan Slaight and the Bank of Nova Scotia. MLGL paid a reported $467 million, $179 million for the team and $288 million for the arena. That July the company adopted a new name, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), to reflect its broader holdings. Richard Peddie, who had been President of the Toronto Raptors, became MLSE's president and CEO. MLSE subsequently ordered major modifications to the original design of the ACC, which was basketball-specific, to make it more suitable for hockey, increasing the cost from $217 million to $265 million. In February 1999 the ACC opened as the new home of the Maple Leafs and Raptors. MLG, which was left with no major tenants, was sold in 2004 for $12 million to Loblaw Companies, Canada's largest food retailer, which converted the ground level into a Loblaws grocery store. A condition of the sale was that it could not to be used as a sports and entertainment facility, though MLSE eventually allowed a small arena to be restored in the building to house Ryerson University's Ryerson Rams (now Toronto Metropolitan University's TMU Bold).
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted MLSE two category 2 digital specialty channel licenses in 2000 for Leafs TV (later renamed Leafs Nation Network) and Raptors NBA TV, which launched on September 7, 2001. The channels were devoted to MLSE teams, and broadcast select live games in an attempt to increase competition and broadcasting rights fees paid by other channels.
In August 2004 MLSE announced that they would relocate their AHL farm team from St. John's, Newfoundland to Toronto to play in Ricoh Coliseum (later renamed Coca-Cola Coliseum) for the 2005–06 season. The arena had been left without a hockey tenant following the termination of their lease with the Toronto Roadrunners, the AHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers, for defaulting on rent. MLSE agreed to a 20-year lease (with an option to extend the term by a further 10 years) with the Coliseum, which had undergone a $38 million renovation in 2003, that called for rent to cover debt financing charges, property taxes and generate a return to the arena investors, exceeding $4 million annually. In 2023 the city approved amendments to MLSE's lease of the Coliseum, including a 10-year extension starting in 2025 with an option for a further 10-year extension.
MLSE announced in April 2005 that they would partner with Cadillac Fairview (a wholly owned subsidiary of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan) and Lanterra Developments to build Maple Leaf Square, a major entertainment complex located next to the ACC. The $500 million 1,700,000 square feet (160,000 m2) complex, which was completed in 2010, is a mixed use facility with tenants including MLSE owned Real Sports Apparel, Real Sports Bar and Grill, and e11ven restaurant, as well as Hotel St. Germain, Longo's grocery store, office space and condominium residences. In conjunction there was a two-year, $48 million renovation of the ACC to connect it with the square, which added a new atrium that includes a high-definition broadcast studio for Leafs TV, NBA TV Canada and GolTV Canada. The external wall of the atrium features a 30 by 50-foot (15 m) video screen, which often broadcasts games to spectators gathered in the plaza in front of the arena. Real Sports Apparel relocated next to Gate 1 of the ACC in 2014.
Further expansion
MLSE was awarded a Major League Soccer expansion team for Toronto, which would become the Toronto FC, in 2005 for US$10 million. The company agreed to contribute $8 million towards the construction of Toronto FC's future home BMO Field, which was to cost $62.9 million total, and purchased the naming rights to the stadium for $10 million for 20 years, which they subsequently resold to the Bank of Montreal for $27 million over the first 10 years. The governments of Canada, Ontario and Toronto contributed $27 million, $8 million and $9.8 million respectively, with the City of Toronto also providing the land and MLSE agreeing to cover any cost overruns. MLSE was awarded management rights for the stadium for 20 years. Prior to the 2010 MLS season, MLSE spent $3.5 million to convert the stadium from FieldTurf to natural grass, and a further $2 million to add 1,400 seats to the north end. As part of their deal with the city to convert the field to natural grass, MLSE spent $1.2 million adding a winter bubble to Lamport Stadium and $800,000 building a new artificial turf field to replace the community use hours lost at BMO Field. The company manages the operations of Lamport Stadium during the winter season, when the field is covered by the dome and community soccer programs are held.
From Wikipedia’s article on Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5