Some of Toronto’s most popular sports teams including the Maple Leafs, Raptors, and Toronto Football Club have new owners.
They have been bought for more than $1-billion by Rogers Communications and Bell Canada, two Canadian companies that sell phones and TV and internet services. Bell and Rogers also own the country’s two main sports-only channels, TSN and Sportsnet.
The new owners would be happy if the hockey team could win a Stanley Cup or two. It would be the first time since 1967. But the real reason they bought the teams is because they broadcast sports games on their TV channels.
They also want to show games and highlights on cellphones and the internet, so fans can watch sports wherever they are and whenever they want.
Nadir Mohamed, who is the boss at Rogers, said buying the teams will create a “perfect marriage” of the games and the phones and other communications services he sells to customers.
Rogers will be able to put together “highly interactive and engaging experiences for hockey, basketball and soccer fans,” he said.
In actuality, Rogers and Bell are buying 75% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Inc. (MLSE). MLSE not only owns the teams, but properties such as the Air Canada Centre where many of the games are played as well.
The reason Rogers and Bell are able to buy control of MLSE is because the largest chunk was put up for sale by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP). OTPP uses the money it earns from selling things like MLSE to pay teachers who have retired from teaching.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
If you owned MLSE what things would be the first things you would change? What would you do to make MLSE more successful?
Reading Prompt: Extending Understandings
Connect today’s article with something you’ve read (text-to-text), something you’ve seen in the world (text-to-world), and something you’ve experienced (text-to-self). If you get stuck, remember to consider similarities and differences.
Primary
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge and experience, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Junior & Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Grammar Feature: Acronyms
An acronym is an abbreviation that is created by using the first letter of several words in a proper noun (the specific name of a person, place, or thing). Today’s artcle includes two: MLSE which stands for Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and OTPP which stands for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Create five fictional company names and include their company acronym
1. ___________________________________ Acronym:_______________
2. ___________________________________ Acronym:_______________
3. ___________________________________ Acronym:_______________
4. ___________________________________ Acronym:_______________
5. ___________________________________ Acronym:_______________
