Former Rogers chairman Edward Rogers actively fought plans to keep Masai Ujiri as Toronto Raptors boss this summer, saying he was not worth the amount offered, and then tried to extract a windfall profit for his own company, according to the Star found out.
To the fans ‘relief, Rogers’ ploy was unsuccessful and the Raptors announced on August 5 that Ujiri would remain in Toronto as vice president and president of basketball operations.
However, new details have emerged suggesting that behind the scenes the former chairman of Rogers Communications Inc. tried to sabotage a high-performing executive with whom he had become disenchanted, and ultimately failed in his offer because he seemed not to fully understand the structure of the company. government. of the NBA franchise.
There are parallels between the situation, which was confirmed to the Star by three sources with knowledge of the facts, and what is happening now in the company controlled by his family. Telecommunications giant Rogers Communications has been thrown into chaos after Edward’s failed attempt to remove the CEO, his subsequent removal as chairman of the board last week, and his disputed claim that he has established a new board of directors.
The Star does not identify the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on this matter.
Edward Rogers said Sunday that he has “the utmost respect for Masai Ujiri,” citing his leadership, his track record in exploring and building a list, and his global citizenship.
“Above all, I respect the man,” Rogers said. “Masai built an NBA champion and I have every confidence in him and his team to do it again.”
He said the negotiations can “test both sides” and said it was regrettable that the board’s confidential procedures were made public.
Ujiri, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) and Rogers Communications declined to comment for this story.
Before his confrontation with Ujiri, Edward was still president of Rogers Communications, which owns a 37.5 percent stake in the Raptors’ owner, MLSE. Telecoms rival BCE Inc. owns another 37.5 percent and Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Group controls the rest.
After weeks of negotiations that began in mid-July, both MLSE president Tanenbaum and Bell agreed to offer Ujiri a sweetened package that included an incentive pay tied to a future increase in the value of the Raptors; He had already added $ 500 million in value to the franchise since his arrival in 2013, led the team to the playoffs every year before the pandemic, and won the NBA championship in 2019.
Other sports franchises around the world were chasing Ujiri, according to an NBA source. An NBA team’s offer included a three percent ownership stake along with a salary that dwarfed the $ 15 million-per-year deal he ultimately struck with MLSE. Teams in the English Premier League, the main national soccer league, also made pleas to Ujiri, winner of the NBA Executive of the Year.
Tanenbaum and Bell were ready to block Ujiri, but according to two sources close to the MLSE board, Edward Rogers was the one holding out.
He told his partners that he felt the compensation was too high, and according to MLSE sources and a source close to the NBA, Rogers was convinced that the Raptors could be managed without Ujiri’s help by current general manager Bobby Webster. .
The increasingly tense situation came to a head during a meeting in late July at Rogers’ Lake Rosseau cabin that solidified the executive’s antagonism toward the Raptors president.
Ujiri left the meeting feeling positive, but Rogers told Tanenbaum that it was one of the worst meetings he had ever had, according to MLSE sources. Rogers said the Raptors president was arrogant, according to sources, that he arrived with bodyguards and did not share his vision of the team.
The NBA source said Ujiri was caught off guard by that interpretation of the meeting, which he said had been amicable. The source also denied that Ujiri brought bodyguards, saying that the Raptors chief had gone to Muskoka with his longtime driver so that he could work on the car during the trip, as well as the cameraman from a charity project, who was accompanying them. . we went back to the airport afterwards.
Sources said that some time after the meeting, Rogers called Ujiri and told him that he was not worth the money he was being paid. The NBA source said the call left Ujiri so angry and disrespectful for Rogers that he considered taking a year off as president of the Raptors.
Others in the executive ranks of Maple Leaf Sports went into damage control mode, the two sources close to MLSE said, prompting a round of additional calls to Ujiri assuring him that he would be protected from Rogers and urging him to ignore the comments.
Ujiri’s relationship with key members of the MLSE board, notably Tanenbaum, Dale Lastman and Bell CEO Mirko Bibic, ultimately made him feel comfortable enough to return to the Raptors as vice president and president of the team, the team said. NBA source.
Meanwhile, Rogers had resisted accepting the contract and said he would only back out if 12 conditions were met. Eleven of the conditions concerned contractual issues, such as the terms of incentive-based pay, but 12 had nothing to do with Ujiri’s compensation.
MLSE sources said Rogers wanted Bell and Tanenbaum to agree to a complex and potentially controversial plan that would see Rogers Communications take its 37.5 percent stake in MLSE (which owns the Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Argos, Toronto FC and other teams. ). ) and combine it with the Toronto Blue Jays to create an independent company.
The Blue Jays are wholly owned by Rogers Communications and investors have long said that keeping the team as part of a much larger telecommunications and media company undervalues the franchise.
Throughout the Ujiri negotiations, sources said, Edward Rogers was working with Tony Staffieri, the now-former CFO of Rogers Communications, who was also a member of the MLSE board.
Bell and Tanenbaum would not agree to Edward Rogers’ demands, which would have involved signing a complex set of equipment appraisals and broadcast rights and control issues.
But they still had a way out. Tanenbaum is governor of the Raptors, a position that gives him maximum power to make decisions about personnel matters on the team, a structure designed by the NBA to avoid deadlocks between owners of teams they do not control. Sources said that Tanenbaum preferred to compromise with his partners, but in this case, he decided to annul Rogers and sign Ujiri.
Rogers was furious, sources said, and he and Staffieri tried to plead their case to NBA commissioner Adam Silver and league attorney general Rick Buchanan. The two NBA officials told Rogers that Tanenbaum had the right to make a call about the contract, according to sources.
On the contract negotiations, Edward Rogers said Sunday: “Masai understands better than anyone that the negotiations put both parties to the test. The best offers involve compromises and make all parties feel like winners. ”He added that he is pleased that Ujiri remains in his current position.
“It is regrettable that certain individuals continue to violate trust by improperly leaking and disclosing confidential board procedures,” said Rogers. “His motives are transparent. I will not dissuade myself from doing the right thing for Rogers Communications Inc., its shareholders, employees, customers and other stakeholders. “
Unlike former Rogers Communications CEOs Nadir Mohamed and Guy Laurence, current CEO Joe Natale was not on the MLSE board and sources said he was not involved in contract negotiations with Ujiri.
Less than two months later, it was Natale who was in the crosshairs of Edward Rogers. In late September, after discovering a plan to replace him with Staffieri, who was an ally of Edward Rogers on the Ujiri affair, Natale went to Rogers’ board, which voted to keep him as CEO. Staffieri left the company on September 29.
But it didn’t end there. Since then, the situation at Rogers Communications has turned into one of the most contentious family fights for power in a publicly traded company in the country.
After publicly criticizing the company’s performance, Edward was removed as chairman of the board of Rogers Communications Thursday afternoon, following a motion that was proposed by his mother Loretta and seconded by one of his sisters, who is also a member. of the board.
He fought back later that night with a plan to replace five of the directors who voted him for their own nominees. Edward said he had the power to do that because he remains chairman of a family trust that controls 97 percent of the voting shares of the company.
Now he maintains that the board has been reconstituted with its own five directors. Both the former Rogers Communications board and her sister Melinda Rogers-Hixon’s attorneys say the new board is not legal and has no authority.
On Sunday night, Rogers went ahead anyway and held a meeting with his new board. After the meeting, he released a statement saying he was re-elected as chairman of the Rogers Communications board of directors and that he plans to initiate court proceedings to confirm the changes.
Prior to the meeting, the two sisters Loretta Rogers and Edward, along with the five independent directors she allegedly fired, issued their own statement saying that they remain the “duly elected” members of the company’s board of directors and that “no other group of people have authority to pretend to act as the board. “
Also over the weekend, his sister Martha Rogers unleashed a series of critical tweets and asked Edward to step down as president of the powerful family trust. He promised to “spend every penny defending the company, the employees and the wishes of Ted,” referring to his late father and company founder, Ted Rogers.
On Sunday, he took aim at Edward’s board meeting, calling it a “sham” meeting that was not legal and criticizing Phil Lind and Alan Horn for supporting him. Both men are directors of the Rogers Communications board of directors and serve on the family trust advisory committee.
Edward has been involved in the departures of former CEOs and executives from Rogers Communications and his dealings with Ujiri were also not the first time he had clashed with highly respected Toronto sports executives.
In 2014, Rogers attempted to hire Kenny Williams, then executive vice president of the Chicago White Sox, to fill the role that Paul Beeston held as president of the Blue Jays. That move was spoiled when Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the White Sox, alerted his close friend Beeston to Rogers’ intentions.
Rogers was also involved in the departure of Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos after negotiations fell through over the role Anthopoulos would play under Beeston’s successor Mark Shapiro.
Reference-www.thestar.com