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Originally Posted by Jay Random
Anyway, while I am quite sure that an NHL team in Markham could sell out every night, it would have a mighty rough time in other respects. First off, the corporate presence in Toronto is just that — it's in Toronto. There is great prestige and PR value for a company in owning a suite at the Air Canada Centre; a suite at a barn in the suburbs would be distinctly second-best. It would therefore sell for its actual value as entertainment, not much more — certainly nothing like the price of ACC suites, which have enormous amounts of snob value built into the price.
Secondly, the Leafs would move heaven and earth to keep the Markham team off the air and out of the local media; and since Rogers and Bell jointly own the Leafs, that means no Markham team on TSN or Sportsnet. Remember when Molson was the primary sponsor of Hockey Night In Canada, and Carling O'Keefe owned the Nordiques? You never saw Nordiques games on HNIC (though it's true, La Soirée du Hockey was another matter). Multiply that feud by 100 gazillion (because this is the Leafs, and the one thing they know how to manufacture is soap opera) and you get some idea how hard they would try to make a Markham team fail.
Thirdly, a Markham team would begin life with several hundred million dollars of debt to service, thanks to the enormous territorial fee that the Leafs would be able to extort. MLSE has huge clout in the NHL, and even if the league wanted to thwart the Leafs' wishes, MLSE has something like $80 million a year in free cash flow from the Leafs alone. I'm sure they would pour every dollar of that into a legal battle against the league rather than give up one inch of their territory. This is, after all, the same franchise that opposed a team in Hamilton, opposed a team in Ottawa, opposed the WHA merger (because that put three more teams in Canada) — even fought tooth and nail to keep Vancouver from getting an NHL team. They eventually lost all those battles except, significantly, the Hamilton one, because Hamilton was actually within their 50-mile exclusive radius. I can't see them allowing another team into that territory without massive compensation.
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I think there are likely plenty of corporate boxholders to sell to in Toronto who are currently priced out of the ACC, or on some kind of waiting list (more likely the latter).
Yes, prices would not be anything near what they are for the ACC for a second team, but that does not mean that it is not feasible. Compared to boxes for most NHL cities, I would guess (just a guess) demand and prices would be pretty comparable for a second team in a massive hockey market. Less, in this case, is still large.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, any viable team second team near Toronto will have to get MLSE on board - and that means promising them more dough. While MLSE cannot expressly own the team, they can manage the arena and concessions, collect parking, and who knows what else.
You are right that paying both an expansion fee and a territorial fee would be crippling. Therefore a creative solution that promises MLSE more money in the longrun is the only way forward.
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Originally Posted by Flamescat
So with all this talk about MLSE putting up hurdles for a 2nd Toronto Team, and if a Markham team is a licence to print money, why hasn't MLSE just put up a 2nd team themselves? I mean, they're spending all this money acquiring every Toronto Franchise in Major Sports (TFC, Raptors, Marlies, Leafs, your daughter's peewee hockey team) why not them? Would the NHL even let them?
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You can't own two teams at once.