Mike Johnson

So that's the challenge.

That is the challenge.

Now, guys, we would be naive to suggest that

As much as Keith Kelly is the face of this situation, he's not the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He has a boss.

I don't know what Edward Rogers feels about renewing ticket sales, suite sales, playoff revenue, TV revenue.

These are business realities that everybody in Keith Kelly's position has to be aware of.

We operate in a vacuum.

Money doesn't matter because it doesn't to us.

but it does to the guys who own the team, and so maybe going up there and saying, we're going to strip this down, and who knows where we're going to end with this, and it's going to be seven years of stuff that might not be great, that might not be good for business, and that is something that you have to consider, even though it's not something that we usually factor in.

Well, that's the whole thing, right?

Does the Jays' experience...

empower MLSC to say, listen, even if it's bad for a few years, what we have learned from the Jays is when they get all the way there, you recoup all that money that you may have lost, all the franchise value, everything that you sort of invested in potential lack of revenue in the next three, four, five years will be made up in then some, plus part of the reality of owning a team.

You know, it's fun to make money and be the most valuable franchise in the NHL,

Maybe Jay's experience says, you know what's more fun?

More fun than any of it is to have a chance to win and to be right there.

Now, the Jays didn't do it, but I think that was a pretty magical experience for the ownership, for the city, for the team, for the franchise value of that team.

And so maybe that helps sway them into maybe a more difficult decision.

I think he's playing on one foot, so I wonder if he's like, I'm not going to risk getting hurt more.

I'm going to hang on best I can, take my lumps.