page_title: Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
section_title: Merger with the Raptors and rebranding
hierarchical_section_title: Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment / Corporate history / Merger with the Raptors and rebranding
caption_attribution_description: English: w:Maple Leaf Square North Tower
context_page_description: Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, it is the largest sports and entertainment company in Canada, and one of the largest in North America.
  The primary holdings of the company are its major sports franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association, Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, and Toronto FC of Major League Soccer, as well as their minor league farm teams, the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, Raptors 905 of the NBA G League and Toronto FC II of the USL League One, respectively.
  In addition, it owns Scotiabank Arena, the home arena of the Maple Leafs and Raptors, and the OVO Athletic Centre, the practice facility for the Raptors.
context_section_description: 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 had been suspended following their inaugural season playing at MLG during which the club lost nearly $1 million and the league was forced to take over operations after only 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.  However, a group which included Bill Watters, the then Assistant General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, ultimately bought the team for $250,000 and promptly moved it to MLG where they rebranded the team the Toronto Rock.  MLSE held negotiations with the Arena Football League in 1998 on acquiring a US$4–7 million expansion franchise for the following season to coincide with the opening of the ACC.  The company also submitted an application for a Women's National Basketball Association franchise, but 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 a new arena, later to be called  Scotiabank Arena, which they invited the Maples Leafs to be a joint tenant at.  However, MLGL reject the offer, arguing that "the footprint is too small".  When Allan Slaight took over controlling ownership of the Toronto Raptors in late 1996, talks began again 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 rail tracks Union Station, with the already under construction Raptors arena being converted to a bus terminal.  However, the proposal died when 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 MLGL purchased 100% of the Raptors basketball club and the ACC, from Allan Slaight and the Bank of Nova Scotia on February 12, 1998.  MLGL paid a reported $467 million, made up of $179 million for the team and $288 million for the arena. Richard Peddie, who had been President of the Toronto Raptors, was retained in the merger and became MLSE's President and CEO.  That July the company adopted a new name, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), to reflect its broader holdings.  MLSE subsequently ordered major modifications to the original design of the ACC, which was basketball-specific, to make it more suitable for hockey.  Originally planned to cost $217 million, the budget was increased to $265 million after MLSE took control.  In February 1999 the company opened the ACC as the new home to the 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 one of its Loblaws franchises.  A condition of the sale was that it was not to be used as a sports and entertainment facility, though MLSE eventually consented to allowing a small arena to be restored in the building to house Ryerson University's Rams.
  The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted MLSE two category 2 digital specialty channel licenses in 2000 for Leafs TV and Raptors NBA TV, which launched on September 7, 2001.  The channels were used by MLSE to broadcast live games involving their teams in an attempt to increase competition for their rights and drive up the fees paid by other broadcasters.
  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, after th
caption: Condos at Maple Leaf Square built by a partnership including MLSE next to Scotiabank Arena
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