page_title: Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
section_title: Further expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment / Corporate history / Further expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: Taken during Game 2 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, 2013. Maple Leaf Square, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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: MLSE was awarded a Major League Soccer expansion team for Toronto, which would become known as Toronto FC, in 2005 for US$10 million.  The company also 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.  MLSE also agreed to cover any construction cost overruns. 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.  In return, MLSE got the 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 expand the north end by 1,400 seats. As part of the deal 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 the facility during the winter season, when the field is covered by the dome and community soccer programs are held.
  MLSE partnered with Rogers Communications in 2005 to bid to host a regular season National Football League game in Toronto.  On January 30, 2008 it was announced that Rogers and Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of MLSE, had reached an agreement with the Buffalo Bills to host an annual regular-season and three exhibition NFL games over five seasons at Toronto's Rogers Centre beginning in 2008, with the games branded the Bills Toronto Series. At the time MLSE was considering bringing an NFL team to Toronto permanently and building them a new stadium, but abandoned the idea when they concluded that the project would not generate sufficient financial return to justify the significant cost of the project. Subsequently, MLSE president Tim Leiweke said on an NFL team in Toronto: "We can't own a team (per NFL rules), but we do have more expertise on how to build (stadiums) than anyone ... MLSE can play a role." It has been reported that MLSE is interested in building and managing the proposed NFL stadium, which it has already begun designing.  In 2013 MLSE minority owner Tanenbaum and board member Edward Rogers III partnered with musician Jon Bon Jovi to purchase an NFL team.  Following the death of Bills' owner Ralph Wilson in 2014 the group submitted an offer to purchase the franchise, with speculation that they would move the team to Toronto when their lease permitted it, but were outbid by the Pegulas.
  Before MLSE completed its purchase of the Argonauts of the CFL in early 2018, the company contemplated purchasing the team at least twice, with minority partner Tanenbaum keen to add the team to his list of franchises, but concluded that the cost and effort that would be required to make the team profitable was not worth the minimal financial upside.  In 2013, it was reported that the company was again considering purchasing the team and having them play at a renovated BMO Field, with the asking price reportedly $20 million, but later coming down to $10 million.  A vote by MLSE's board on purchasing the team was called in December 2013, but they were unable to come to an agreement on the issue.  On May 20, 2015 it was announced that two of the three ownership partners of MLSE, Bell Canada and Tanenbaum's Kilmer Group, had acquired ownership of the Argos, with the deal to close at the end of the year, and would move the team to BMO Field for the 2016 season. It has been speculated that Rogers was not interested in investing in the team since Bell has exclusive rights to broadcast all CFL games. MLSE eventually completed its purchase the Argos in January 2018. According to the National Post, the sale, which came less than a month after the team won the 2017 Grey Cup, "is expected to help the Argos, given MLSE’s financial scale and promotional, 
caption: Fans watch the Toronto Maple Leafs play the Boston Bruins in game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs at Maple Leaf Square, a plaza built by MLSE next to the Scotiabank Arena
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