True Hockey Talk: Tony Staffieri With W. Graeme Roustan

The Hockey News' Money & Power 2026 hockey business annual is available at THN.com/free, featuring the annual 100 people of power and influence list.

W. Graeme Roustan, owner and publisher of The Hockey News, sat down with special guests for peer-to-peer conversations also featured in the issue, including the CEO of Rogers Communications, Tony Staffieri, who appeared on the cover of Money & Power 2026.

Here's their full conversation in The Hockey News' True Hockey Talk:

Read along with an excerpt from their discussion:

W. GRAEME ROUSTAN: I want to touch on a bunch of things, but the first thing is that Rogers Communications has acquired Bell's 37.5 percent of MLSE. Tell us about that acquisition.

TONY STAFFIERI: Well, it's an important one for us. Sports and entertainment is now our third pillar of growth. For the last several years, we've been focused on getting our wireless and cable businesses to not only be the largest but the fastest growing in the nation. And now we're looking to sports and entertainment. We've always had assets – like the Jays are 37.5 percent in MLSE; our media properties, Sportsnet, the No. 1, most-viewed broadcaster in the nation when it comes to sports – and so what we want to do is really bring them all together. And it was important for us when the opportunity came up to buy out our partner so we have a controlling stake in MLSE. And so when you put all of those together, we've got a sports-and-entertainment company with a value well in excess of $15 billion, none of which is reflected in our share valuation today. And so we're quite excited about it.

WGR: As a publicly traded company, I would be excited about that. I would want it to be reflected in the share price. Is this more of an education to the shareholders and the investment community about what this means in the big picture? And is that your task?

TS: It really is about communicating what is the vision and the strategy. And for us on sports and entertainment, it really is: continuing to grow. We need to have winning teams. And part of the excitement of MLSE is we really have the crown jewels, in some cases of the country but certainly of the city, when it comes to the Jays and the Raptors. And that includes the venues like Rogers Centre and Scotiabank Arena, which are just terrific concert venues, and that continues to grow as well. So it really is about winning. It's about having the best fan experience, whether it's in the stadium or arena or watching it on Sportsnet, on your phone, in your living room.

When we look at our sports assets, it's all about how do we continue to grow viewership. This year as well, we re-inked our NHL deal, a 12-year deal. It was a terrific deal for us the last time around, and we were thrilled to continue to partner with the NHL. And it's been all about growing the viewership. Over the last 11 years in our previous deal, we've more than doubled the viewership. Now, the population has grown, but we've certainly increased the penetration of the sports.

And if we do all that right, then it's about delivering that value for our shareholders and telling them how we plan to surface that value. We haven't done that yet, but that's going to be a key component of it. So far, it's been well-received, and you're starting to see it trickle into our share valuation. But I would say that's always a key principle, but it's really right now how to create value in sports and entertainment.

WGR: I don't know of a single entity, single organization, single family, that has the NBA team, the NHL team, the MLB baseball team, the MLS soccer team and a CFL team all under one family, one company. Rogers Communications has got to be the biggest sports-related ownership group in the world at this point in time. Has that been part of the agenda for you and Edward (Rogers), to become so dominant in the space?

TS: I don't know that we started with the mission to be dominant, but we had the opportunity to acquire the ownership stake in these assets, and we are the most unique in the world in the sense that we have the complete value chain and can create the best fan experience – everything from ownership of the team to how we distribute it through Sportsnet, to how you watch it through our cable system or on your phone with our wireless assets. And so what we're out to do is make sure we have a full integrated view of that whole experience so we can bring the best to Canadians. It really is focused on that. And if we do that right, then the value will take care of itself.

WGR: You grew up playing hockey and playing sports. Is there any connection between your passion for sports and managing these assets?

TS: Well, it's true, I did. I loved sports growing up. I played hockey on the ice and road hockey the rest of the time…But Edward and I are always careful to make sure that we're making the right business decisions. As fans of the sport, especially when it comes to hockey, it's important we put aside our emotions sometimes and just stay focused on the business of ownership.

WGR: You now own 75 percent of MLSE. And there are discussions about acquiring the remaining 25 percent sometime in 2026. But right now, you're the majority owner, and whenever you are in any business, the majority rules, typically, from an operational point of view. What's the difference, operating-wise, from owning 37.5 percent to owning 75 percent? What's the difference for you in the operations, because it's all under you as a CEO? How do you handle it differently?

TS: There is a difference in the sense that it's clear as a controlling owner of MLSE that we take an active role in the asset. And, as you referred to, we'll have the opportunity to buy the remaining 25 percent at some point in the future. And we intend to exercise on that, and it's really about bringing all the assets together so we can capitalize on the synergies. We talk about synergies, and most people think about it in terms of cost. We actually think about it in terms of Canadians and fan experiences. So, how do we give them a consistent experience from the way they buy tickets and the way they get access to concerts? And how that dovetails with our cable and wireless businesses and those customers. It's really about bringing all those opportunities – fan engagement, access – together, all under one roof.

WGR: You talked a little bit about the 12-year contract, or the extension of the contract, with the National Hockey League. In the past, when you had that 12-year deal, you were not the controlling shareholder of MLSE. Now you are. What's the difference? What can your customers expect that's going to be different?

TS: I would say a couple of things. One is that these are the most coveted rights in the country. Hockey is Canada's game and, as I said earlier, we're thrilled to be able to renew that. We've got thoughts on how we continue to innovate and have just a terrific viewing and fan experience. But as owners, you're right, we have the ability now to bring creativity to some of the areas.

I'll give you an example. The customer irritant I hear more often than any other is blackouts. Every body's a lot more mobile than they used to be, and so if you're a Leaf fan trying to watch it wherever you are, and I'll carry the issue to outside Canada as well, we now have more influence together with the league and, frankly, with the partnerships. We're partners with the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. And so we're really proud of the way we've grown hockey and that viewership. So, there are advantages to it. Bell still has the option to continue to broadcast some of the games, and we welcome them as a partner through their distribution channel to do that, so we'll continue to work with them. But things like the blackout, as one example, we want to continue to take out those irritants because they can only help viewership and engagement of the fan.

WGR: Women's hockey is growing at a much faster clip than men's hockey. It's on fire. How do you see women's hockey fitting into the overall picture and plan for Rogers?

TS: We've been involved with women's hockey from the beginning, both as a broadcaster as well as a sponsor partner, and we'll continue to do that. We think it's important to continue to evolve the sport. But it starts even sooner. If you look at our Jays Care Foundation, MLSE Foundation, it's really about getting boys and girls engaged in sport from an early age. I think it's healthy. We talked about growing up with sport. I think it's good. Put the phone down and get out and do some activity. So women's hockey is an extension of that, which I hope continues to grow in Canada. And I'm sure it will.

WGR: Are your customers interested in seeing more sports programming for women and women's sports programming? Is that what you're sensing?

TS: We do see it. We see it in the viewership and all the other data analytics we have. And so we'll continue to participate, endorse and promote women in sports. It's a good thing. And so we'll continue to do that. The numbers continue to rise, more so in some sports than others, depending on the geography. But we'll continue to do what we can to promote women in sports.

WGR: You're operating a big, big enterprise in MLSE. But there's a piece of all of this that is very emotional, especially with fans. How does it weigh on you being one of the stewards of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

TS: It certainly weighs. You hate to be on the losing side of things. Fans can get unhappy rather quickly. Our job is to make sure we're patient. We have a plan, and we have the right people in place. If we're to look at MLSE with (president and CEO) Keith Pelley and each of the teams' presidents and general managers, we have confidence that they're the experts and they have a plan, and it's over to us to understand it and make sure we support it. And so that's what we'll continue to do. There's always an element of how much patience is too much or too little, but that will always be the fine art of ownership. But it's really over to those folks to make things happen. And we have confidence they have a plan, they're executing on the plan, and we continue to believe in them.

For more interviews with a deep look into the world of the hockey business, check out The Hockey News' Money & Power 2026 issue, available at THN.com/free.