When Rogers announced Wednesday it intends to buy Bell’s stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, fans were concerned: would this hand the telecom giant a lock on access to their favourite teams?
Bell was quick to assure them that while Rogers may gain majority control of the Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC and Argonauts, Bell’s TSN would still have access to the games.
“Canadians can count on TSN for Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors game action through access to content rights for 20 years,” Bell wrote in the title of its press release.
But a closer look at the agreements in place, and the new deal to give Rogers a 75 per cent controlling stake in MLSE, calls that claim into question.
In fact, experts tell the Star, Bell could lose some or all rights to the Maple Leafs and Raptors long before 20 years is up, depending on how things unfold in the coming years.
For starters, all contracts — regional and national — expire after the 2025-26 season.
Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said in a live TV interview on Sportsnet that when it comes to broadcast rights, Rogers will “continue to share those with Bell over the next couple of years,” and “after that, they have the opportunity to continue to buy those rights at market rates.”
But the two companies will have to negotiate what those market rates are, which could prove challenging, though Rogers says they have agreed on a process to determine fair market value.
A Bell spokesperson said the company has “every intent to exercise this access to our existing content rights, and to continue to deliver live game coverage of both teams to TSN viewers.”
But Bell’s access to Maple Leafs content for TSN for the next 20 years is far from guaranteed, as national and regional rights are handled through separate contracts and Bell doesn’t currently have a 20-year lock on either.
The NHL has an agreement with Rogers for national rights to Leafs games that is separate from MLSE.
When that expires, Bell, Rogers, and streamers like Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV will be able to bid on those rights, and outbidding the streaming behemoths could prove challenging, said Michael Naraine, professor of sport management at Brock University.
MLSE owns the regional rights to the Leafs, which Bell will have the opportunity to continue to share with Rogers two years from now, but that will still depend on a successful bid.
Similarly, Bell could lose the national rights to Raptors games after the current licensing deal expires.
That’s because the NBA owns the national rights and while it currently has a licensing deal with MLSE, which then sublicenses to Rogers and Bell in a 50-50 split, that deal will expire after the 2025-26 season.
If MLSE successfully negotiates a new agreement with the NBA, Bell will be able to continue to sublicense the national rights from MLSE, while licensing the rights to regional games at “market rates.”
Even then, setting that market value can be a headache, said former MLSE CEO Richard Peddie, who helped negotiate the sale of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan’s stake in the company to Bell and Rogers for $1.32 billion in 2012.
“I’ve had those clauses in many contracts. And you still fight, because my view of market value is X and your view is Y,’ ” he said.
Adam Seaborn, sports media analyst, said “there’s no real guarantees in this business.”
“Twenty years is a long time. If you look back 20 years, no one would have thought that the website that sells books was going to be broadcasting games.”
“The point,” he says, “is that Bell is going to get an opportunity to bid on the rights, and they’re not going to be closed out by nature of being a competitor in the media space.”
With files from Josh Rubin
