Canadian Phone Companies Buy Maple Leafs — In Search of Mobile Content?

Reading through the BusinessWeek account of the purchase of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs by two of Canada’s big phone companies I was struck by a quote that seems to signal that part of the motivation behind the purchase was to secure exclusive content for the carriers’ mobile-phone customers.

Here’s a couple nut grafs from the story which spell this strategy out:

The acquisition fits with what BCE Chief Executive Officer George Cope has called his strategy to make more money by adding content he can sell to subscribers on smartphones, tablets and computers. In addition to the NHL’s Maple Leafs, which have won the Stanley Cup championship 11 times, Maple Leaf Sports owns the National Basketball Association’s Raptors.

“Now you’re getting to people with so many more devices and outlets and ability to access content, the value of that content is going to be more valuable, and that’s what this seems to be a play for,” said Jeff Young, chief investment officer at NexGen Financial Corp., which oversees C$900 million including shares of BCE and Rogers.

So instead of buying teams and then trying to reap rewards from broadcasters, it seems like the Canadian telcos are going straight to the source — and are putting up more than a billion dollars to do so. Again, cribbing from the BW story, the meat of the deal:

Rogers committed C$533 million in cash for a 37.5 percent stake in Maple Leaf Sports, according to a company statement. BCE and its pension fund will also contribute C$533 million for an equal stake. The transaction is expected to close in mid 2012. It gives Maple Leaf Sports, also owner of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer, an enterprise value of C$2 billion.

Zang! If that doesn’t convince you that there’s money at the intersection of mobile and sports, what else will?