How Much Would It Cost to Buy the Toronto Argos?
The big news this morning is Rogers buying out Bell's 37.5% stake in MLSE. That means Rogers will own 75% of MLSE, which owns many Toronto sports franchises, including the Leafs, Raptors, TFC and the Toronto Argonaut football club.
The Argos always felt like more of a Bell thing, and I'm wondering if MLSE wouldn't be keen to sell it. Let's face it, the Argos are a miniscule percentage of what they have in that MLSE umbrella right now. But what would it cost to buy the Toronto Argonauts?
I took this question to Twitter, and got a vast array of replies.
I'm having a debate with someone... does anyone here have an educated guess as to what it would cost to purchase the Toronto Argonauts?
— Toronto Mike (@torontomike) September 18, 2024
Let's start high, and work our way south...
$80-100mm CAD easily from the right buyer…argos generate significantly more value than tigercats which were sold to Stelco at a $50MM valuation back in 2022. - Ransom
Somewhere between $20-40 M based on what Montreal was bought for in 2023 and how much cash Stelco kicked in for the Tiger Cats. - Стефан
The Elks sold for somewhere between $30M and $40M, and the Lions sold a few years ago in that range as well. The Argos are probably not in the same range, maybe $20M? - Mike from KayDub
I think the Lions sold for closer to $12M While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, the last offer on the table for the club — from the consortium bid of Mark Woodall and Moray Keith — was in the $12-million range - Bill Cooney
$5-10M would be my guess. It wouldn't be a lot and they'd definitely be the least valuable CFL franchise. - Thomas
Argos sold for 5 million US in 1991, so conversion rate makes it 6.5m in 91, using the inflation calculator that is 12.5 million today. One could argue CFL was more popular in 1991, so I think just using inflation is fair. 12.5 million - Johnny D
$5M - TDot Resident
Less then 5 million - Many
That's quite the range... guesses from 100m to 5m... my guess, and it's just based on feedback received this morning, is about 20m.