Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

celebratory program element. Through a well‐planned media relations strategy and providing marquee
event support, Edelman Canada was able to surpass the original program metrics goals with an
additional 23 pieces of coverage and more than 15‐million media impressions – a fitting 40th
Anniversary accomplishment
OVATION Awards Winning Entry
Communication Management
Media Relations with budget greater than $50,000 up to $100,000
AWARD OF MERIT
Entrant’s Name: Deborah Allan, Director, Communications and Media Relations and Daniel Madge, Account
Director
Organization’s Name: Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Fleishman‐Hillard Inc.
Division/Category: Media Relations (between $50K and $100K)
Title of Entry: Sale of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment
Time Period of Project: March 2011 – December 2011
1. Business Need/Opportunity:
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (Teachers’) is the largest single‐profession pension plan in Canada.
With $107.5 billion in net assets at December 31, 2010, Teachers’, an independent organization, invests
the pension fund’s assets and administers the pensions of 295,000 active and retired teachers in
Ontario.
One of Teachers’ highest profile investments is its majority ownership of Maple Leaf Sports and
Entertainment (MLSE), which it has owned in part since 1994. MLSE is likely the most iconic sports
property in Canada. It owns and operates four professional sports franchises (Toronto Maple Leafs
National Hockey League team; Toronto Raptors National Basketball Association team; Toronto FC Major
League Soccer team; and Toronto Marlies American Hockey League team) and the Air Canada Centre (a
sports and entertainment venue). The company also owns broadcasting operations, and retail and real
estate developments.
Based on a number of unsolicited approaches during 2010 and early 2011 by potential buyers, Teachers’
began a confidential process to review their ownership in MLSE. The culmination of this review was
Teachers’ decision to sell its stake in MLSE to Rogers Communications (Rogers) and Bell Canada
Enterprises (Bell) for C$1.32 billion, which was announced at a joint press conference on December 9,
2011.
Teachers’, which holds positions in a vast number of fixed income, equity, commodity and real asset
investments, for the most part flies under the radar as an investor. The major exception to this rule was
MLSE, where Teachers’ ownership position is well‐known. Because the sports franchises are so beloved
by their fans, Teachers’ performance as owners has been chronicled and scrutinized by the sports media
and in the blogosphere.
Teachers’ reputation was, for some, inexorably tied to MLSE’s sports franchises. By considering the sale
of MLSE, Teachers’ was putting several revered Toronto sports teams up for auction. The sale was
bound to produce strong reactions from media and fans, and how the communications were handled