Anyone Still Think MLSE ever had a business plan for the Argos?

[Foxhound]

There is no doubt, and there has never been any doubt, that MLSE is in the sports business for one primary purpose: to grow enterprise value. Operating profits (and losses) are of vastly lower importance.

Precisely! MLSE are investors, not operators and they don't know the first thing about running a business including building a brand. (The Maple Leafs and the Raptors were already well established brands when MLSE acquired them.)

So no, they had no business plan for the Argonauts. The entire concept of such a thing is alien to them.

Make Pinball President, give him a budget, and get out of the way. In 5 years you will have value.

Agreed!

[paulwoods13]

(The Maple Leafs and the Raptors were already well established brands when MLSE acquired them.)

That's debatable, at best. Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. (later rebranded MLSE) purchased the Raptors in 1998, when the team was halfway through its third season and still playing in SkyDome. The Leafs were definitely an established brand before the current ownership structure came along.