Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

Founding

The corporation's roots can be traced back to 1927, when Conn Smythe organized a group of investors to purchase Toronto's premier hockey franchise, the Toronto St. Patricks of the National Hockey League (NHL), which had won Stanley Cup championships in 1918 (as the Toronto Arenas) and 1922, from a group headed by Charles Querrie. The club was playing poorly and minority partner Jack Bickell contacted Smythe about becoming the team's coach. Smythe told Bickell that he was more interested in buying a stake in the team. Not long after, with the team in financial trouble due to majority owner Querrie having lost a lawsuit to former Toronto Blueshirts owner Eddie Livingstone over ownership of the franchise, Querrie put the St. Pats up for sale and agreed in principle to sell them for $200,000 to C. C. Pyle, who planned to relocate the team to Philadelphia. Bickell informed Smythe of the proposed sale, and Smythe, having persuaded Querrie that civic pride was more important than money, put together a seperarte group to purchase the team. Smythe invested $10,000 of his own money, and his group contributed $75,000 up front and a further $75,000 due 30 days later, with Bickell retaining his $40,000 share in the team. The deal was finalized on Valentine's Day, and the new owners quickly renamed the team the Toronto Maple Leafs, after the national symbol of Canada. Smythe attributed his choice of a maple Leaf logo to his experiences as a Canadian Army officer and prisoner of war during World War I. Later that year, Smythe bought the junior hockey Toronto Marlboros of the Ontario Hockey Association to serve as a developmental team for Maple Leafs.

In 1929, in the midst of the Great Depression, Smythe decided that the Maple Leafs needed a new arena. Arena Gardens, their then home which they shared with the Marlboros, had been built in 1912 and lacked modern amenities. It seated just 8,000, which the Maple Leafs were regularly filling. After considering various locations, the site at the corner of Carlton and Church streets was purchased from The T. Eaton Co. Ltd. for $350,000, a price said to be $150,000 below market value. A new 12,473 seat (14,550 including standing room) arena, Maple Leaf Gardens (MLG), was designed by the architectural firm Ross and Macdonald. To finance construction, Smythe got backing from Sun Life for half of the expected $1 million cost. He then formed Maple Leaf Gardens Limited (MLGL) as a management company that would own both the arena and hockey team. A public offering of shares in MLGL was made at $10 each ($200.00 in 2025 dollars), with a free common share for every five preferred shares purchased. Ownership of the hockey team was transferred to MLGL in return for shares, while workers constructing the building were paid 20% of their salary in MLGL stock. Construction started on June 1, 1931, and MLG opened five months and two weeks later, on November 12, 1931, at a cost of $1.5 million ($30 million in 2025 dollars). The Marlboros also moved to the new arena. Bickell was named the first president of MLG.

To help fill dates at the new arena, Smythe acquired an expansion franchise in the professional International Lacrosse League on behalf of MLGL for the 1932 season, which was also named the Toronto Maple Leafs. A separate team named the Toronto Maple Leafs had competed in the first season of the ILL at the Arena Gardens, but was renamed the Tecumsehs with the arrival of Smythe's team. Both teams played at MLG. Smythe pulled out following the season due to financial losses, and the league did not play the following year.

Minor hockey expansion

The company owned numerous minor league hockey teams over the years, which have served as developmental farm teams for the Maple Leafs. A group backed by Smythe and Frank Selke of the Montreal Canadiens was awarded an American Hockey League (AHL) franchise for Rochester, New York in July 1956, after a local group could not come up with the US$150,000 in capital required by the league. The Leafs and Canadiens each owned 27.5% of the team, with the balance sold to Rochester interests. The team was named the Rochester Americans, and served as a joint affiliate of the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs, though the club was operated by the Canadiens. In the summer of 1959 the Maple Leafs bought out the Canadiens' ownership share of the club, due to concerns that Montreal was giving their prospects priority over those of the Leafs, giving them a 55% controlling interest. They purchased most of the remaining 45% in 1963, boosting their ownership share to 98% by November 1964. In July 1966 the Maple Leafs sold the team to a group which included their then General Manager Punch Imlach for a reported $400,000.