MLSE For Sale?
Now that I have seen the full segment on this, I decided to re-write my original article. According to Al Strachan, Russian-Canadian Billionaire Alexander Schnaider has inquired about purchasing at least a portion if not all of MLSE. Strachan reported this news on The Spin Friday night on The Score.
Alexander Schnaider ranks in the low-400’s on Forbes list of Billionaires and is worth a reported 1.8 Billion dollars. However, I could not find his name on a recent Forbes list but found an article that stated he ranked 488th in 2005, with a then net-worth of 1.4 Billion ()
Steve Kouleas said on The Spin that Schnaider has or does own a Formula 1 Race Team and also owns an Israeli soccer team. Also, Kouleas, Ludzik and Strachan all speculated that if Schnaider wished to purchase all of MLSE, it would cost him in the area of 1.3 Billion at least. Also, according to Strachan’s “sources”, Larry Tanenbaum is entertaining an offer from Schnaider for his portion of MLSE as he apparently gave Schnaider a certain price that may be “astronomical” according to Strachan.
Personally speaking, I’m taking this news with a grain of salt, as it is Al Strachan who was saying this on The Spin. But if Schnaider does somehow buy the Leafs, he may very well be what the team is looking for in terms of stability. I believe that if the deal does in fact happen, Larry Tanenbaum and Richard Peddie will both be out of a job. Also, if this does happen, look for an immediate house cleaning as I believe everyone from Upper Management down to players will be replaced as I doubt Schnaider will pay that kind of money for a perrenial 8th Place team.
In any case, it is still coming from Al Strachan and he can barely tell you what a hockey puck is so hopefully no one takes this incredibly seriously.
It should also be noted that MLSE covers 4 professional sports franchises, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Marlies, Toronto FC and the Toronto Raptors, so if this deal does go through, it’ll affect 4 teams in 3 different sports.
The Score’s link to the very brief article:
http://www.thescore.ca/sixpack/index.asp?name=/2008/01/breaking_news_s.html&catID=Leafs