Change at the top should have no impact on the court

So there’s a new sheriff in town down at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

Or is there?

News yesterday that Tom Anselmi becomes the new president and chief operating officer of the monolithic sports-bar-condo-broadcast empire was hardly earthshaking and, frankly, had been expected for months.

I guess the most interesting part – and since it has to do with hierarchy of a business it is marginally interesting to most of us at best – is that they left the chief executive officer title vacant; perhaps it’s to see how this arrangement works but that’s for taller foreheads than I to figure out.

Down on the ground level, which is what you care about most, the impact on the Raptors will be minimal.

As we’ve said, Anselmi’s been in the job with an interim tag for months and things have proceeded without much ado; business went on, the HOTH did what the HOTH had to do and there was no interference from above. Why should that be any different going into this basketball season?

It shouldn’t.

Look, it doesn’t really matter what Anselmi thinks of Bryan Colangelo and it’s folly to think just because the new guy got the titles full time that some kind of sweeping change is afoot. The season is upon us; it’s not time for any kind of change and none is coming.

As far as I know – and this comes from a few months around the building and a couple of calls and e-mails yesterday – their working relationship is just fine; the guy at the top knows to leave Bryan and Ed Stefanski to do their jobs and there’s no reason to think that changes today.

And it doesn’t matter who is in that chair – Anselmi, me, you, Some Guy Named Joe – because Bryan has a contract with an option year left and he was always going to be judged on any improvement this year before he got a new deal or the final year of his deal picked up.

A new permanent title for Tom won’t matter at all, actually; if this season goes in the toilet there should be a change, if the season’s a success, a new deal might be coming.

Of far more interest should be what the owners – Rogers and Bell – are going to do now that they’re fully ensconced in the boardroom with their 37.5 per cent shares.

What they provide in the way of money, what they demand in the area of results will have a far greater impact than a guy officially getting a job he’s had for months.

Look, the fact is that Maple Leaf Sports has been far too much about making money for retired teachers than it has been about pure sports for years and years. It’s a business that branched out into condos and land development and bars and restaurants when the heart of the business has to be sports. It’s what drives the fans and I think the Teachers were more worried about return on investment – which they had to be since there was a percentage return mandated – than they were about the success of teams, no matter what lip service they paid to the pucks, the basketball and the soccer.

Now, maybe that changes. Fans can only hope so.

But to think there is a sea change around the building because a new/old president and COO is in place is silly; it’s business as usual.

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Of course there’d be a night this season when the TOD gets hammered while it’s pouring outside and the roof won’t close and everyone’s cranky and the night’s a disaster.

At least no one got hurt.

And look at it this way: They got the lid closed before the swarm of locusts arrived.

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Remember when they just played NFL football on Sunday and how that was pretty cool.

Now they’re opening the season on a Wednesday (I know it's for Obama's speech tomorrow but, still) there’s a game every Thursday, you know the Saturday games are coming late in the season, there are Sunday games at 1, 4 and 8 and Monday Night Football.

It’s too much, isn’t it?

I know they won’t kill the golden goose because there are an unlimited number of people who’ll watch the games whenever they’re on but still, doesn’t it seem too much?

Speaking of football …

I’m not a big country music fan but I do like me some Faith Hill every now and then.

 

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You know, sometimes I just don’t get sports fans.

And sometimes I honestly think cities don’t deserve the teams they have.

Was watching the Yankees-Rays last night (the game with the most impact on playoff races and I was glad I could see it) and the crowd was, in a word, despicable.

Here’s a home team still very much in the hunt for a division title if not a wild card spot playing a division rival just ahead of them in the standings on a September night as the pennant races heat up.

Attendance: 17,652.

Up here, a team going nowhere with the MLB equivalent of a bunch of 10-day contract guys (kind of expected Ben Uzoh to pinch run) drew 13,556.

Tell me, again, how baseball survives in Tampa?

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So here’s the deal.

We had our little NFL draft last night, it’s a basic pool where eight guys draft four teams each and it’s total wins in the season that determine the winners.

I drew the No. 1 position in the draft (of course I took Green Bay,, silly) and if you’ve got nothing to do this season, cheer for the Packers, Bills, Bengals and Browns.

And, no, I didn’t “take” Cleveland. Because I had the first pick, I also had the last and that was the team that was left.

Good luck to me.

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Oh yeah. Want to get started on the mail?

May as well get your hellos in early.

Click. Write. Send.

 

Comments

[marc in panama]

Hola Doug,

Too much football? Sir, have you fallen and hit your head?? Not all of us are as enamored by a bunch of celebrities doing the Cha-Cha on television as others appear to be. Spreading games around to various other nights allows some of us to see games and teams that might not be otherwise available on a Sunday when our main option is to watch who are beating the Bills that Sunday. Besides, it a 16 game season. You. Can. Never. Have. Enough. Football.

Ciao amigo,

marc in panama

[doug]

I fell that the teachers fund have been made the fall guy for what ails MLSE...they are a at arms length fund that is it in to make money as is every owner of all teams, (hence this plethora of strikes lately) the person that seems to get a free ride and it shows the local media's reluctance to point fingers or even ask or question this man's continued presence on the MLSE sports franchises...and that man was Richard Peddle , he may have been successful at make money but he was abject disaster in running pro sports teams...and no one questioned him, I watched him on Mcown's show skate by , on Landsberg's show thew show in the print media etc....people tlaked to him like he this man on a pedestal, they never wanted to ruffle the feathers of the head of this mighty corporation...so instead it was easier for the media and fans to follow suit and point the finger at this far fetched entity that served as a scapegoat....Peddle may have made lots of money for some but his legacy will be the head man of a 10 year reign which may go down in all sports franchise history as the worse 10 year period for a group of teams ran by one man....so i don't blame anyone but Peddle I hope the new group of owners learn and this new man at the helm realizes business is business but let sports people run the sports side of things...and ever since Farrell called out Davis this team has quit on Farrell, in a lost season in a meaningless game to me Farrell showed his true colours and players noticed....cheers

[doug]

sorry for typos...in a rush...cheers

[Heath]

So the guy in charge of TFC, a team which HAD an incredible fan base, get a promo after never making the playoffs and after going through 4+ managers in 5 years...business as usual at MLSE it appears.

[Sharkey]

Tampa wasn't even the worst. The surprising Athletics drew 11,000 last night. Washington, formerly the Expos, drew 17,000, and they have the best record in baseball. Montreal could do better than any of those teams in a pennant race.

[Brad B.]

AUGH!

Are you kidding me?! Anselmi is in charge now?!?!

This is the guy who ran TFC into the ground to the point it's the laughingstock of MLS. This is the guy who admitted that he didn't know what he was doing. This is the guy who killed the goose that lays the golden eggs at BMO Field (have you seen the empty seats there recently?).

And now they've put him in charge of the whole operation?! I'm sorry, but Bogers just blew it. I have no faith in the man that he will make things any better. He'd better leave the Raptors alone, he's caused enough chaos at TFC.

[Tim H.]

Hey Doug:
"Some Guy Named Joe" - another acronym in the works (SGNJ)?

And, thank you very much - I now know NOT to pick the Packers to win the Super Bowl! ;>)

[Peter]

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/09/04/sheridans-september-power-rankings/

Your buddy Sheridan thinks the Raps are the second worst team in the league at this point. That certainly doesn't jive with many local reporters who claim that this team is improved over last year.

Ouch. Second worst? I'm hoping that we're not all being homers.

[john]

@poster Doug, you do realize the way a corporate structure works is that the CEO / president report to the board of directors and the board of directors make policy on the direction of the company right? And that the Teachers had majority of the board right? You do realize that? They were anything but a silent investor. They had minimum percentage on ROI that Peddie was instructed to come through with!!!

[Mike kovacs]

Hopefully Bell and Rogers ( BaG anyone? ) will want the teams to win because that will improve the spin-off TV and phone revenue. For the Teachers that motivation was not there.

[Bob Wesley]

Locusts,hilarious!

[David in Oakville]

Skydome (errr Roger's Centre) is only 23 years old and it already needs a little blue pill to seal the deal in the clutch. The youth of today.. go figure.

[Steve]

@Peter: The same guy ranked the Raptors 3rd worst a few days before tip off last season. The great thing about making predictions at this time of year is that you're really just making it up and nobody is likely to remember if you were wrong when the season is actually underway.

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2011/12/24/nba-power-rankings/

[kent]

@ steve. Raptors were the sixth worst team in the nba last season and had like 2 more wins than the 3rd worst team. So Sheridan's prediction was that they would suck and they did suck. what's your point?

Blogger's note: Need to check your standings but don't let that get in the way. And the point is, right now it's entire guesswork aimed at either getting reaction or drawing hits. Yawn

[doug]

@John thanks for the lesson on how board of directors work, and in fact you proved my point...Board of Directors do put in place the person/people they want to run the organization and then step back, board of directors in any corporation are not actively involved in the day to day operation of said company, they rubber stamp budgets, sign off and this and that and as long as company is profitable and viable they are more then happy...as they are not full-time employees of that company, some people, sit on as many as 6,7,8, boards....so their representative was Peddle who did grow the company, but he was a disaster as a person that felt compelled (ego) to run the sports franchises as well...it was a unmitigated disaster and is taking years to fix....also who gives a flying frig on what Sheridan predicted, did any of these so-called pundits pick the L.A. kings to win the cup, theses pre-season pieces are filler pieces meant to generate talk which is fine but they are by no means to me to be taken seriously....ok cheers...

[Lorie]

So, Doug, I see Not-Grace Kelly has shared with Star readers his picks for NFL Week 1 games. But, I haven't seen any mention that you'll be following up with a (usually well-deserved) mocking response to his picks - and some of your own to boot - the way you did last year. Was last year's NFL With Smith and Kelly just a one-off? (Or something to keep you out of mischief while the NBA was in lockout mode???) And if it's not going to be repeated, that's too bad - kind of enjoyed the witty repartee between the two of you. And the football picks were kind of amusing, too.

Blogger's note: We're trying to figure that out, given it's a regular NBA season this time around and I tend to get a bit busy.

[john]

@Doug, you conveniently leave out the bit about the board of directors in this case also owning the majority of the company but dont let the truth get in the way of trying to validate your point. HA HA HA!! Do you really believe that all the MLG board did is just "rubber stamp" budgets and signed off on this and that? Your kidding right?

[doug]

@John

check the facts when Peddle was in charge things were drastically different then now....there's a old adage make sure your mouth is loaded before you go shooting it off ...cheers

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/leafs-beat/mlse-board-expected-to-undergo-major-change-after-sale-is-finalized/article4426208/?service=mobile

[john]

@Doug, thanks for the news flash that when a company sells its controlling interest in a company, its employees no longer have a seat on the Board of Directors. I am sure you somehow feel vindicated now with that fine piece of informative googling... My lord...

[Steve]

@kent I wish that were true but then we wouldn't have been picking 8th, would we. If you have to give his "predictions" leeway of +/- 5 for them to be correct when there are only 30 teams they are hardly any better than those you get from the average couch potato.

You are the one who brought this rubbish in here trumpeting it as if it had any kind of accuracy to it, particularly at this time of year. Even Sheridan updates them throughout the season when they prove to be off the mark.

[SheikYurbouti]

@john
good luck getting through :)