Toronto Raptors Vice-Chairman and Team President Masai Ujiri addresses the media at Scotiabank Area in Toronto, on Sept. 30.John E. Sokolowski/Reuters
Business and regulatory concerns aside, Edward Rogers’s proposed takeover of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment still faced one major impediment – Masai Ujiri.
The two men aren’t open enemies, but everyone knows Rogers stalled the signing of Ujiri’s last deal in 2021. It was the most detailed story of management in-fighting that has ever leaked out of 50 Bay St.
It was especially delectable because it presaged the ownership title bout to come – Edward ‘The Beancounter’ Rogers vs. Larry ‘The Fan’ Tanenbaum for control of the city’s sporting landscape. Rogers looked wobbly in the opening rounds, but came back to win via knockout.
If Ujiri was planning on serving up some revenge, three years is about the right amount of cooling time. He needn’t say anything negative about his soon-to-be overall boss. All that’s required is an archness of tone or a well-timed shrug indicating a lack of enthusiasm.
Having done that, a thousand memes would immediately launch. A strictly business story would become Succession but sports. Other executives would be forced to talk up the owner, each one a little less convincing than the last.
And how to get rid of Ujiri once everyone knows it’s personal? Almost impossible. The guy could manage to lose 83 games in a season and the owner would be forced to smile and say how much he trusts the plan. It would have been an Alexandre Dumas-level act of retribution.
Speaking first at Monday’s Raptors media day, Ujiri rolled his shoulders as he was asked about it, like a man preparing for a fistfight. For a minute there, the media on hand got their collective hopes up.
“I think everybody wants to ask the question of my relationship with Edward Rogers,” Ujiri said. “We have a great relationship. We’ve had the same exact relationship for 10 years.”
Hopes dashed.
As far as the whole ‘you’re not the worth the money you’re asking for’ wrinkle, it’s apparently just boardroom hijinks between grown-ups.
“When you have negotiations, negotiations are tough. When we negotiated my contract? Yeah, those periods are tough,” Ujiri said.
Later, his voice rising to what sounded like anger: “So let’s get this whole narrative, every time something comes up, WNBA, whoa – it’s Masai vs. Edward. Any small thing that comes up. Clear that. There’s nothing. Zero. There’s zero going on.”
Later still: “In 10 years, there’s never been any distractions whatsoever. And I’m not just saying it here to prove anything. Our relationship has been steady, clear and the same way for 10 years.”
Were it me, I might’ve gone with, ‘Edward Rogers? Fun guy. Love him to bits,’ and moved on. The fact that Ujiri needed to re-engage the topic several times, even referencing squabbles most people didn’t notice, had an element of the man doth protest too much.
Mostly, what struck you was the lack of warmth in Ujiri’s endorsement. Ujiri is usually over-generous with his rhetorical kindnesses. Not on Monday.
But all that matters is that Rogers has won this round. He got the only guy whose criticism he was vulnerable to to say that he’s a straight shooter.
Is there any greater compliment that can be paid to someone who’s never had to fill out a job application? And is there any more valuable praise than the sort freely given by an antagonist?
This was more than ticking off a corporate talking point. It was a famous victory of public relations.
Until Monday, most people’s impression of Rogers was that of a meddler and a dilettante. The sort of guy who naps through budget presentations and can’t tell the players apart.
Now we know he’s a boss’ boss – at one point, Ujiri seemed to refer to him as “a mentor” – and someone who can make one of the NBA’s great dealmakers batty with frustration.
In less than 10 minutes of talking, Ujiri turned Rogers from Harold Ballard into Al Davis.
So that’s it. Someone let the rubber stampers know they’re free to come in now. The deal’s done.
However bad it might be for the city’s reputation as a serious place, there was never going to be any public opposition to the MLSE takeover. That’s a New York or London sort of thing to do.
In Toronto, everyone accepts that complaining is the end of it. The people in charge do or don’t do whatever they like. The rest of us complain like crazy and then adapt.
The cliques inside MLSE seem similarly inclined. There is no kicking against the new reality, on or off the record. There’s also no excitement. Everybody’s keen to remind you it doesn’t change anything, though it potentially changes everything.
The jostle now begins to fortify power centres ahead of the likely consolidation of MLSE and the Toronto Blue Jays. That means figuring out who’s who.
Who’s the real decision maker – Rogers himself or Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri (Ujiri made sure to name check them both)?
Who’s the top sporting consigliere – MLSE boss Keith Pelley or Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro?
And who’s the loser, because someone always is?
Ujiri is the bellwether here. No one at the top at MLSE is less interested in grabbing control of areas outside his core competence. Ujiri hangs out with presidents of countries. Presidents of corporations must seem boring by comparison.
Ujiri is also the only top sports executive in the city who can get a job anywhere else, any time he wants. If he’s still here in two years, this all might go smoothly. If he isn’t, it’s Game of Thrones.
Whatever the case, what we’re seeing now isn’t peace. It’s preparation. For as long as that lasts, everybody at MLSE is best friends, and always has been.