Stavro finally agreed to exit in 2003, with the teachers’ fund increasing its stake to 58%, Bell Globe Media joining with 15%, TD Bank taking 14% and Tanenbaum increasing slightly to 13%.When the teachers’ fund hired Morgan Stanley to take its two-thirds stake to market early in 2011, Canada’s leading telecoms were the most likely buyers. When he visited Toronto, Shanahan met him at the airport and drove him to Tanenbaum’s house. I’d like you to take it from me. You work just as hard at the task at hand. I’ve never known him to overreact to a situation.”.Silver has found that to be particularly helpful, first as he made the difficult call to recommend the league shut down in response to the pandemic and then again as the NBA navigated its path back. It’s his tone and spirit of collaboration that have made him such an effective chairman of the board.”.Tanenbaum points to the stack of committees working on return to play in each league as examples of that collaboration. We really were shocked, rightly, or wrongly.”.While confessing that he was “incredibly disappointed,” Tanenbaum brushed past a question about whether he contemplated tapping out after going down for a third time.Current NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was Stern’s chief of staff and liaison to the owners’ expansion committee when Tanenbaum was chasing the team. “I have to take this.”.Silver filled him in on what had transpired. It was very casual and warm and engaging. They created guidelines by which the two RSNs could divvy up Maple Leafs, Raptors and Toronto FC games. There are very few people I’ve met who are like that.”.Tanenbaum made Babcock the highest paid coach in NHL history. He’s that kind of man.”.When Tanenbaum hired Hall of Fame winger Brendan Shanahan to turn around the flagging Leafs, one of Shanahan’s first tasks was to hire a new coach.
I can’t remember if he was driving or I was driving. And the part of him that was raised and educated to build things — to pave and construct, and to put companies together in ways that made one plus one equal three — that part of him took pleasure in knowing that the teachers’ pension fund and the banks that backed him realized stout dividends and appreciation. So it didn’t matter what percentage I owned. For years, Silver carried that bag to the gym near his office each day.“As incredibly disappointed as he was that he wasn’t awarded the franchise at that time, typical Larry, he just went back to work,” said Silver. “You can’t do that. But what is on the other side of their schadenfreude? A signature of a call with Tanenbaum is that he rarely plows straight into business.“Every conversation always starts with a discussion on a personal level,” Bettman said. When the NHL opted for two bubbles, it chose his Scotiabank Arena as one of them.“Return to play was a critical task that began the moment the leagues shut down,” Tanenbaum said. Each quickly came to the conclusion that the only way to resume safely was within the confines of a bubble. Soon after they finished, Tanenbaum reappeared.“OK,” he said matter of factly, “where were we?”.The group concluded their discussions, ending with a handshake deal for Toronto FC to enter the league for an expansion fee of $10 million.“Larry is one of those guys that anybody running a business would want with them during the most difficult times,” said Garber, who has leaned on Tanenbaum heavily since Toronto joined the league in 2007. They were progressing as anticipated when Peddie’s phone interrupted them.“You guys have to excuse me for a minute,” Peddie said when he finished the call. Which is remarkable. I was only a scout, five guys down the totem pole. But he wields vast influence, mostly because Silver and the other owners have come to realize that his priority is to find consensus, even when it’s not completely aligned with his self-interest.At times, he has told Silver privately that he disagreed with his position on an issue, then gone on to support it wholeheartedly.“In working to build consensus, he works to ensure that this is a collaborative process, recognizing that doesn’t mean we won’t have disagreements among team governors,” Silver said. You’ve got to work for the health of the league.