Rogers Communications is shopping a minority stake in its sports holdings at an $18 billion enterprise valuation, according to deal documents circulating among North American private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds. The portfolio includes the Toronto Blue Jays, a 50 percent stake in Scotiabank Arena, the Toronto Maple Leafs' regional broadcast rights through 2035, and Sportsnet's 31-channel Canadian footprint.

The filing arrived two weeks after Rogers completed its $26 billion Shaw Communications acquisition, loading the parent company with debt at a moment when Canadian telecom margins are compressing. The carve-out structure keeps operational control with Rogers while monetizing assets that threw off $1.1 billion in EBITDA last fiscal year, per company disclosures. Goldman Sachs and RBC Capital Markets are running the process. First-round bids were due last Wednesday.

The valuation implies a 16.4x EBITDA multiple, aggressive for a portfolio where the MLB franchise represents the lone liquid comp. The Atlanta Braves trade at 12x, but the Braves own their real estate outright and carry no regional sports network risk. Rogers' Sportsnet holds Maple Leafs and Raptors rights, but cord-cutting carved 18 percent out of Canadian cable penetration since 2019, and Sportsnet's carriage fees are locked until the next negotiation window opens in Q3 2025. The 50 percent Scotiabank Arena stake is shared with BCE and Kilmer Sports, and the operating agreement requires unanimous consent for capital calls above $25 million—a structure that has already delayed two renovation plans.

The Blue Jays are the cleanest asset. MLB's last transaction—Steve Cohen's Mets purchase at $2.4 billion in 2020—occurred pre-AppleTV deal, and the league's national media revenue has since grown 22 percent annually. Toronto drew 3.1 million fans last season despite missing the playoffs, and the team's local rights revert to open-market bidding in 2027, creating a near-term catalyst. The risk is roster payroll: the Jays carry $167 million in commitments for 2025, fourth-highest in MLB, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s extension talks stalled in November over a gap north of $100 million guaranteed.

Rogers inherited this structure when Edward Rogers III took operating control in 2021 after a family boardroom fight that involved临时 restraining orders and affidavits filed in British Columbia Supreme Court. The Shaw deal was Edward's anchor play—vertical integration of content and pipe—but the regulatory approval process stretched 19 months, and the debt load now sits at 4.2x net leverage. Selling 20 percent of the sports unit at the $18 billion valuation would inject roughly $3.6 billion and drop leverage below 4x, satisfying the covenant threshold Rogers committed to in the Shaw bond issuance.

Three buyer profiles are circling. Brookfield Asset Management, already in for 10 percent of the Maple Leafs through a separate vehicle, has been pricing Canadian sports assets since its $4.7 billion Westinghouse earn-out closed last summer. Silver Lake Partners, which took stakes in City Football Group and the All Blacks, is sizing the Sportsnet broadcast infrastructure as a potential AI training data play—game footage, biometric tracking, decades of archived commentary. And the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, historically gun-shy on direct sports equity, is re-examining the category after its $1.2 billion Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment exit in 2023 returned 18 percent IRR.

Binding offers are expected by mid-February. Rogers has not hired a third-party valuation firm, instead relying on internal models that weight the Blue Jays at $2.8 billion, Scotiabank Arena at $1.4 billion (gross, so $700 million for the 50 percent stake), and Sportsnet at $13.9 billion. That last figure assumes no secular decline in linear TV and applies a 15x multiple to forward EBITDA that includes contractually escalating rights fees. Buyers are sharpening pencils on the Sportsnet number. One London-based fund that passed on the Commanders sale is modeling Sportsnet at 9x and walking away.

The tell will be whether Rogers accepts a price below $18 billion or shelves the process entirely. The family has sold stakes before—12.5 percent of the Blue Jays to the Tanenbaum family in 1991—but never with leverage covenants expiring in Q4 2025. Edward Rogers sits for the TSX earnings call on February 8th. Analysts will ask about the sports portfolio. The answer will carry more weight than the prepared remarks.