The Ties that Bind

Abstract

Between 1995 and 2003 the number of commercial sports teams in Toronto, Ontario increased from five to 25. A 2003 case study of the ownership of these teams reveals that the expansion of the Toronto sport market was accompanied by a concentration of ownership in the hands of two corporations: Rogers Communications and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. This case study examines the interconnections between the key individuals in these two corporations and the boards of directors of their key stakeholders, what is termed here the ‘Toronto sport elite’. The elite are linked to corporate boards of directors outside sport, the country's dominant media outlets and financial institutions, and political power brokers. This group exerts oligopolistic control over commercial sport in Toronto, a situation that has important consequences for the nature of sport and physical activity in the city. These include limited choices for sport consumers, the continued marginalization of women's and ‘amateur’ sport, and the allocation of public funds towards privately-held entertainment complexes at the expense of publicly accessible recreation facilities. A postscript that updates this research to 2006 is appended to the case study.