Leafs crumbling on and off the ice *sniff* *sniff*

[MPLABBE]

Don't we all have pity for the Poor Leafs after-all, 35 years(soon to be 36) with no cup, a team that was close the last 4 years and did squat to win it all, a 4th place team and a 55+ million$ payroll. Poor Leaf fans Makes me want to cry

The team off the ice looks like it's in trouble, too

The team off the ice looks like it's in trouble, too
_{Nov. 17, 2002. 12:34 AM}
Through much of the hockey season thus far at the Air Canada Centre, Lord Thomson has sat at the right hand of God, a.k.a. the Lord of the Leafs, a.k.a. Steve Stavro.

These are most privileged platinums, by invitation-of-Stavro-only, yet clearly befitting Kenneth Thomson, who's not just the richest man in Canada (worth $14.9 billion U.S., according to Forbes magazine, 13th among the world's wealthiest) but sugar daddy to Stavro's corporate empire as well — the man who heads the company to which Stavro is so deeply indebted, in every sense of the word.

Here we thought Stavro was just being hospitable to Kenneth Thomson and the missus. But maybe he's been clutching for dear life to the hand that feeds Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

If the crown of MLSE, with all its thorns, rests somewhat askew on Stavro's head these days, then the halo of financial benefactor encircles that of magnate-tycoon-nabob Thomson, whose cash infusion has been propping up the mother company of the Toronto Maple Leafs, at least since the owner's core grocery dominion (not to be confused with that other Dominion) collapsed two years ago.

Two rows up, in the same centre ice company redoubt, usually on the aisle — although, unlike Stavro, he's never been seen stomping and jumping around on the staircase — lurks Larry Tanenbaum, a great big minority shareholder (ignore the oxymoron), construction titan, basketball devotee, hockey-come-lately and scion of a hugely philanthropist family.

It was Tanenbaum, generally acknowledged as eventual heir-presumptive of the whole kit 'n' caboodle — the Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, the ACC — who dropped a wad on the ailing corporation in 1996.

This enabled Stavro, madly yanking financial levers left and right, to take the company private.

The debonair Tanenbaum owns 23 per cent of MLG Holdings, which in turn owns 51 per cent of MLSE and enjoys first right of refusal on any shares that become available from the three other partners: the grotesquely rich Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, the TD Bank and controlling shareholder Stavro.

[MPLABBE]

Way across the ice, up beneath the rafters, is where Ken Dryden, president of the Leaf side of operations, hunkers down in the Maple Leaf management box, which overlooks the media gallery.

Pat Quinn, coach and GM, is behind the bench.

And, rounding out the list of characters is Richard Peddie, president and CEO of MLSE, another basketball guy who migrated from the Raptors. At notable odds, these days, with Quinn; the former claiming the Leafs have access to a "war chest'' to improve the team, the latter countering that the money pie is more pie-in-the-sky pie. Quinn has been grumping, too, about people in the organization all the time yapping to the media, surely a shot at Peddie but perhaps a cannonball across the bow of Dryden's ship of state. "What I've come to know with this organization is that we have lots of people who have things to say,'' Quinn sniffed the other day. "And they should be keeping their traps shut.''

But if Stavro's alleged financial crisis — as reported in yesterday's National Post by Theresa Tedesco — is in fact true, it might explain Quinn's reluctance to throw big bucks at free agents or otherwise take on burdensome salaries.

So many egos, so many agendas, so many combustible relationships. And you thought the team on the ice was in trouble.

Speculation has Stavro on the bubble, perhaps unable to repay his outstanding loans, most worrisomely the estimated $60 million kicked in by The Woodbridge Co. — Thomson's outfit — that bailed out Stavro two years ago. Stavro, as chief puppeteer of MLSE, is still pulling the strings, but he appears increasingly entangled himself and on the financial ropes, maybe even to the extent of having to cut ownership ties to his beloved and legendary Leafs. That would speed up the succession process for Tanenbaum, who was conveniently not present at last night's game against the Detroit Red Wings.

The media-shy Stavro, predictably, would neither confirm nor deny. Buttonholed on his way into the directors' lounge prior to the game, he affected the demeanour of a man without any worries. "Why worry? Let them worry.''

Who "them''? Wouldn't say.

Minutes later, Stavro was followed into the plushy lounge by Lord Thomson.

Come the opening faceoff, the Thomsons and the Stavros were there again, side-by-side, third row up, centre ice.

Looked pretty convivial to me.

[MPLABBE]

More:

Stavro in trouble

Report: Stavro facing crisis

_{Nov. 16, 2002. 07:51 PM}

^{waymoresports.com staff}

According to a published report, Steve Stavro, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. is facing a financial crisis and may be forced to sell his controlling stake in the company, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre.
In a story published Saturday in the National Post, Stavro is said to be under pressure to pay off debts to The Woodbridge Co. - a private company which helped Stavro with his financial problems when his Knob Hill Farms grocery chain collapsed two years ago.

MLSE is valued at about $1-billion, and has four shareholders: 49% is owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board; 51% is owned by MLG Holdings Ltd., of which Stavro controls 57%, Lawrence Tanenbaum, a Toronto-based construction magnate, owns 23% and TD Capital Group, the investment banking arm of Toronto Dominion Bank, owns 20%.

Stavro owes over $60-million in loans and will reportedly sell part of his stake in MLSE which is worth an estimated $300-million to pay off the debts.

According to the Post, Tanenbaum owns the right of first refusal on Stavro's shares, and has been waiting for the opportunity to buy the controlling block