Tim Leiweke said he would do it. The voluble CEO said he’d shepherd Rogers and Bell to a place where the Toronto Argonauts could continue to exist. He had one owner that wanted it and one who didn’t, and it was a wrestling match that spanned months, and that encapsulated the central tension at the heart of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

Well, on Wednesday, as first reported by TSN’s Dave Naylor, it will be announced that Bell and MLSE minority owner Larry Tanenbaum will purchase the Argonauts from David Braley, ending years of ownership instability for the perennially faltering flagship franchise. A lease with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for BMO Field is also done, per sources, and the team is expected to move there from Rogers Centre for the 2016 season.

The move also triggers Phase II of the $120-million renovation of BMO Field, after Phase I was recently completed. When it’s done, the lakefront stadium will have a roof and be expandable to 40,000 seats. As part of his agreement to save the Argonauts from bankruptcy in 2010, Braley secured right of first refusal to one of the 2016, 2017 or 2018 Grey Cups. When it comes, it will take place at BMO.

This is nothing less than a rescue. The Argonauts were leaving Rogers Centre, which wants real grass and whose namesake isn’t much interested in the CFL, whose games are broadcast on Bell’s TSN network. Nobody was seriously willing to buy them without a stadium. The Argos missed the boat at Varsity Stadium, and missed the public money for the Pan Am Games. Bell, and Tanenbaum, were the last stop. Rogers was the last stoplight.

There are those who believe the Argos could actually make money at BMO, though that depends on the lease. But either way, this was seen by the CFL and by Bell as a necessary step to ensuring the future of the league.

This will set up a clash with Toronto FC, whose turf will now be trampled by a football team 10 times a year, but Leiweke believes an accommodation can be made. Either way, soccer fans will feel disrespected all over again, by a team whose persistence in that matter is becoming a local tradition.

Still, the deal is done and the CFL is safe again, until the next thing. Toronto FC will manage. The Argos will be free of Braley’s limbo. MLSE will enjoy Grey Cups and a Winter Classic and concerts and expanded revenue streams, and Braley will sell the B.C. Lions next, and then be thanked for his service to the CFL. Oh, and MLSE will bet that TFC fans will live with it, and that TFC’s soaring revenues — up to $60 million next year — will pay for lawn maintenance and player acquisition.

This ends a few things. Finally, the Argonauts will be owned by someone who won’t go broke. Finally, Leiweke has reached the end of his to-do list before his impending departure.

And finally, we get to find out if the Argos can, after decades of being a charity case, make money. Crazy, but it’s worth a try.

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