Columnist image

TSN Senior Correspondent

| Archive

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment may turn again to a U.S. executive to help guide Canada's largest sports company.

Over the past weeks, MLSE's board has been compiling a list of those who might be qualified to succeed Tim Leiweke, the company's outgoing chief executive.

Starting with a group of more than 40 executives who might be interested in the job, MLSE's board winnowed that list down to between six and 12 candidates, according to a person familiar with the matter. Unlike its previous go-around, MLSE did not hire an executive search firm to help with the process. None of those contacted by the board were women.

Former Madison Square Garden executive Hank Ratner has emerged as a possible favourite for the job, according to two sources close to the MLSE board.

Others interviewed for the position include NHL executive John Collins and CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon, although neither one is seen as a likely hire by MLSE, the sources told TSN.

Collins has helped to build the NHL's business through savvy marketing and a host of outdoor hockey games, but also was instrumental in awarding the NHL's Canadian TV rights to Rogers Communications. That might complicate his hiring, since Rogers jointly owns MLSE with its competitor Bell Media, which also sought those rights.

Bell is TSN's parent company.

Cohon, meantime, has led the CFL through a period of relative peace, negotiating a larger TV contract with TSN in 2013, but has also been the league's chief executive during a time when the Toronto Argonauts, who play in the country's biggest media market, have struggled to grow interest from fans and sponsors alike.

Ratner is 54 and was president and CEO of MSG from July 2009 until early this year.

While at MSG, he oversaw the $1 billion expansion and renovation of the company's landmark arena, where the New York Rangers and Knicks play their home games. He also has worked as a senior executive with Cablevision.

The renovation of MSG was admired and received widespread praise. The arena's concourses were widened, 58 new luxury boxes and more bathrooms were added and innovative carpeted bridges were built above the rink and hardwood court to expand the arena's seating capacity.

Ratner wouldn't come cheap.

According to Forbes magazine, his compensation during 2013 was about $11 million. He joined Cablevision as a lawyer in 1987, according to a Bloomberg News story that broke the news of Ratner's departure in February from MSG.

It's unclear why Ratner left MSG.

If Leiweke came with an august resume to MLSE from Anschutz Entertainment Group, Ratner also would seem to offer broad sports entertainment experience. MSG also owns a regional sports network, the Beacon Theatre in New York and the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Ratner did not respond to phone messages or emails seeking comment. An MLSE spokesman declined to comment. A CFL spokesman did not respond to an email asking for comment.

MLSE plans to bring finalists for the Leiweke job into Toronto this week for interviews. The company would like to decide on his successor within the next week or so, a source told TSN.