GTHL receives report on allegations of organization sales
Published
The Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) says a nearly two-year investigation into allegations that some teams and the non-profit companies that run them have been inappropriately bought and sold has been concluded.
Following TSN reporting on the business of minor hockey, which detailed allegations that some GTHL organizations have been illegally offered for sale for as much as $3 million, the league said in March of 2023 that it had opened multiple investigations into the financial dealings of its organizations.
On Dec. 19, the GTHL received a report detailing the findings of David Watt, a retired Ontario Court of Appeal judge who was retained by the league in June 2023 as its special integrity commissioner.
Watt’s report will be presented to the league’s board of directors later this month and the board will then decide “on the appropriate next steps,” league spokeswoman Stephanie Coratti wrote in a Jan. 2 email to TSN.
“This includes determining the timing and extent of information to be shared with the public,” Coratti wrote. “The GTHL remains steadfast in its commitment to transparency and accountability on this matter.”
The GTHL is the world’s largest minor hockey league. The league’s revenue grew to $11.2 million in 2024, up from $10 million a year earlier.
In 2023-24, there were 24,399 registered players in the league, up from 23,928 a year earlier but still down from the high of 34,541 in 2012-13. Current NHL stars who played in the GTHL include Connor McDavid, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares. In September 2021, Sportsnet reported that Tavares and fellow NHLer Sam Gagner took over operations of the Toronto Marlboros organization.
Watt’s report comes after calls for more transparency by the league from GTHL alumni who have gone on to play in the NHL and from provincial politicians including Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles, Jennie Stevens, the NDP's critic for sports and tourism, and Liberal MPP Mary-Margaret McMahon.
In September 2023, the Canada Revenue Agency wrote in an email to former NHL player Akim Aliu that it was reviewing allegations that not-for-profit GTHL organizations and teams were being bought and sold inappropriately.
TSN has interviewed more than two dozen GTHL organization board members, coaches, and team executives over the past years who collectively describe the GTHL as a major industry that league officials struggle to police properly.
In April 2023, TSN quoted a prospective buyer of the GTHL’s Humberview Huskies organization who alleged he had a deal in place to purchase it for $375,000 and had been coached on how to skirt the league’s rules prohibiting such sales.
Coratti did not respond to questions about whether Watt investigated the Huskies’ finances.