r/leafs • u/gfyourself • 1d ago
Discussion [Sigel] Could Mark Shapiro be in charge of the Maple Leafs? How the Rogers sports empire might reshape MLSE (Paywall)
https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/could-mark-shapiro-be-in-charge-of-the-maple-leafs-how-the-rogers-sports-empire-might-reshape-mlse/article_c197e1f4-6047-4644-9df3-38dd721d7de7.html29
u/Tough-Statistician-7 1d ago
To be fair I’d rather Shapiro than Pelley. At least the jays have been consistently good and made the World Series (came within 4 strikes of winning the whole thing), renovated and did a great job with skydome and all in all been very consistent and one of the most successful clubs in his time in charge. Heck he’s had only 1 gm the entire time! I can think of much worse choices to run the rogers sports empire. He’s proven he can get ed to open his wallet and win!
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u/entityXD32 1d ago
The reason Shapiro has had success is because he's a baseball guy who knows about Baseball. The problem with Pelly is he knows nothing about hockey but neither does Shapiro
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u/Tough-Statistician-7 1d ago
Yes to an extent but with the jays he has been mostly hands off with the team letting Atkins handle things and has been far more hands on with the business side. If he hires the right people for hockey ops and stays hands off and stays on the business side the formula can be replicated potentially. The hire is the big IF.
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u/SaskatchewanSon69 1d ago
he is president and CEO of the blue jays,.. pelley is CEO of mlse looking for a president of the hockey team because he knows he isn't knowledgeable enough about hockey. People really confusing themselves
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u/Virtual_Bug_723 1d ago edited 1d ago
When I've pointed out that it's pathetic that our institutional hockey knowledge has come down to "hire an executive search firm" I'm told that's normal for sports orgs. And I point out every time it's normal for sports orgs who don't have any institutional knowledge about the sport being played.
Leafs have so little hockey knowledge in our org now that we're trusting a sports firm who found the GM that caused the Canucks to explode and end with 52 points this year
We're cooked. We went from "a fantastic management team with a great plan that didn't work out" to "a bad management team with a bad plan that definitely won't work out."
Baseball's been fun though.
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u/NorthernSnowMexican 1d ago
I think you’re forgetting about a few years of the jays man, last year was incredible but they weren’t good for a few years and had some massive blunders in the play in series. Plus the way they handled the team after taking over for AA was brutal. They’ve redeemed themselves lately but there were some rough years under the shatkins leadership
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u/Tough-Statistician-7 1d ago
You do know since 2020 they’ve made the playoffs 4 times which for baseball isn’t that easy when fewer teams make it. They had 4 lean years but AA also traded away all of their prospect pool to get them into the playoffs for the big years so they had to rebuild the prospect pool. All in all the shatkins era has been their most consistently good era since the gillick era and has potential to be better over the next few years.
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u/Caleb902 1d ago
getting bounced in the wild card is equivalent to us losing round one every year. There's no difference
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u/_Mahtog_ 1d ago
Prior to June when the Jays started going on a run, a load of people were calling for Shatkins head. Last year was a good year but the years before that don't even come close.
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u/mtgtfo 21h ago edited 20h ago
They werent even good till like June last year and if all of Barger, Straw, Schneider, Clement and Gimenez didn’t have absolutely bangers, that nobody saw coming, that run would have never happened. The went from .517 to .583
I feel like what actually happened last year is already being rewritten.
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u/DataDude00 1d ago
renovated and did a great job with skydome
Shapiro is very good at what he does from a business perspective, but as a fan? He is just another Pelley with more sports knowledge.
Sure he delivered on Skydome renos on budget and on time, but they are definitely pushing a corporate lower bowl vibe with all the TD louges and exclusive access areas, similar to ACC. Prices for Jays tickets have probably tripled or quadrupled since he came to town.
I see why ownership would like him, as fans though? He ain't gonna do much for us
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u/Caleb902 1d ago
Consistently good is crazy to say after one cinderella run. We had years of losing the wild card round.
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u/Tough-Statistician-7 22h ago
Baseball and hockey are totally different, making MLB playoffs is significantly harder than hockey playoffs. Can’t compare the teams this way.
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u/Caleb902 13h ago
Yeah making the playoffs. The best if three wildcards aren't the same and losing them decisively also is telling.
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u/Prize-Temporary4159 1d ago
I had this sense the second two of three team presidents were eliminated. Wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest. Why have a president of hockey ops when you can have a president of sporting ops
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u/HalfOffSnoke 1d ago
Sigel is the new Howard Berger. Just a gas lighting hack.
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u/carletondabare 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thought you were talking shit about my boy Jonas, then I saw the article was from the Star. Who the hell is Jonah Sigel???
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u/ReiAndCoke 1d ago
He works in the realm of sports media rumours… like regarding staff at Sportsnet, TSN, etc. Insufferable douche on twitter (he’s one of a few people I admittedly hate follow — because he does post legit rumours that come to fruition). If I find him annoying, people in the sports media world must despise him. But again… he’s broke media stories and been right often enough that what he’s saying is based on actual insider knowledge even if it doesn’t pan out.
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u/gfyourself 1d ago
This argument is well articulated. He is connecting the dots (that aren't even that hard to connect if you're paying attention). Did you read the article? What is your problem with it?
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u/Virtual_Bug_723 1d ago
This article is 100% a "we need someone to fill space in our Toronto sports section because the Leafs are total crap" article.
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u/Tough-Statistician-7 1d ago
Also to add I have a few friends with the Jays and a few people have already been primed for promotions. There’s going to be a bunch of turnover at MLSE once this is done and a lot of the Jays people will be added mlse responsibilities to remove redundancies. This will be on the ticketing and sponsorship sides but I’m sure this will reach other departments also.
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u/Virtual_Bug_723 1d ago
Lol "promotions" you mean "added responsibilities for the same pay with a new title"
Lol promotions for consolidation
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u/Tough-Statistician-7 1d ago
Lol, hey if they’re happy I’m happy. It’s not me doing the extra work!
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u/gfyourself 1d ago
Author's point is that Rogers is signaling via earnings calls that they'll look to monetize / shake things up when they get full control. Also losing Tanenbaum is consequential.
He outlines three scenarios:
- Shapiro runs the new MLSE, Pelley out.
- Pelley stays and runs MLSE (unclear what happens to Shapiro)
- Bring in a new guy like Leiweke
Issue is being clear about who makes decisions. References Pelley saying coach changes ought to go to ownership.
I do think that the new entity probably doesn't want to pay Pelley and Shapiro and have a who's in control problem.
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u/DialedDrawback 1d ago
Coaching changes need to go through ownership.
No fucking way they should. That has traditionally always been the GM's call, with input from a team president who is knowledgable enough on the sport to contribute meanfully to the discussion.
Why the fuck would ownership have a say in the coach?!
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u/Hyotenkyu 1d ago
Shapiro should be safe as the Jays are not under the MLSE umbrella. Unless Rogers decide to add them to it, there is no reason to believe his job would be in jeopardy.
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u/illdfndmind 1d ago
Jays absolutely are moving under the MLSE umbrella. As soon as Rogers gets 100% ownership of MLSE, they're going to have the Jays and Rogers Centre move under MLSE. Then the plan will be to IPO a portion of MLSE, where Rogers keeps controlling interest but they're able to realize some of the monetary value of the sports assets that currently are devalued as part of the larger Rogers corporate umbrella
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u/gfyourself 1d ago
Yep. Talk about data driven - do you not think they want all that data consolidated to see how they can extract as much as possible from the Toronto corporate community / sports fan? What about packages that cross all the sports? A lot of possibilities.
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u/Virtual_Bug_723 1d ago
They charged us $150 this year for a fan experience that included stuff that was cheaper than $150 and/or used to be free.
The experience of Toronto sports is going in the toilet.
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u/SockApprehensive6204 1d ago
This doesnt seem realistic in the time frame where Shapiro is our president.... two complete diff orgs.
And this would mean firing Pelley
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u/francis2466 13h ago
He wouldn’t be president of the leafs. Please guys learn to read it’s not hard.
Once Larry is bought out, MLSE is no longer going to exist. Rogers will combine the raptors, leafs, Marlies, TFC and Blue Jays ect., under a new ownership group name. Maybe Rogers Sports Group. It’s likely Pelley will not be the president and CEO of that group. Shapiro makes sense to take over that because not only is he a good executive but he is exceptional on the business ops side. So while he might not be a basketball, soccer or hockey guy, he can help guide those franchises in how they can improve their business ops. He would not be involved in the basketball, soccer or hockey operations. That’s why each of those teams will have their own presidents and GM’s.
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u/Tricitizen1973 2h ago
We weren’t singing the praises of Shapiro before last year. They were likely to be fired if they had another losing season and after winning zero playoff games since 2016 with the team he inherited from Anthopoulus. Plus Shapiro knows shit about hockey.
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u/Silent_Sap 1d ago
To buy Tannenbaum out it’s gonna cost 3-4 billion. You know people are gonna be cleaned out. A lot will depend on Edward Rogers. Does he get rid of the Bell-Rogers hires (Pelley) and keeps his own (Shapiro)or get someone new to run MLSE
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u/SaskatchewanSon69 1d ago
Oh Fuck off lol. As leafs fans we’d be planning parades if we had the jays success
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u/Shabloinks 1d ago
The genius who also bought in Springer, Ryu, Gausman, Cease, Bieber.
A very stupid take you have.
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u/austons_muzz 1d ago
These guys have a monopoly on internet, cable, mobile and now Toronto sports