MLSE Denies Newcastle Rumors, Will Not Pursue Euro Club

MLSE, No Longer Interested In European  Clubs, Denies Pursuit Of Newcastle United

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) is “not among the eight prospective buyers said to be in talks to buy” English Premier League club Newcastle United, as MLSE "has decided that owning any soccer team in Europe isn't a venture it wants to pursue," according to Shi Davidi of the CP. MLSE President & CEO Richard Peddie: "We're just not interested in owning a soccer franchise, football franchise in any place but Toronto. That project is completely dead. Some good learning, met some good people, but we have no interest. ... It's not for us." Peddie added, "One of our big problems is that there's no [CBA] and there won't be because the European common market took years to come into being and that's what has to happen there. You can't do a cap because if it's a capped league the players will just say, 'I'll just stay in Spain, stay in Italy to play, I'll go to Holland, Norway.'" Peddie said of the current credit crunch, "I think the whole dynamics of sports are changing quite dramatically. It's going to be challenging for all of us for quite a while." The conclusion was "drawn some five months after" Peddie and MLSE CFO Ian Clarke met with officials from English Football League Championship clubs Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and Reading and “watched games” at EPL clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea during a trip in April (CP, 10/2).