Two years after communications rivals Rogers and Bell decided to go into business together as co-owners of the Maple Leaf sports empire, the strains in the “unholy” alliance are finally starting to show.

This week at the NHL board of governors meetings in Pebble Beach, Calif., the Leafs were the only club that declined to approve the landmark $5.2-billion television and digital rights deal between the 30-team NHL and Rogers Communications that stunned the hockey world late last month.

Multiple sources confirmed that the vote was 29-0 in favour of approving the 12-year agreement. The Leafs, represented by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment chairman Larry Tanenbaum and CEO Tim Leiweke, shocked the meeting by abstaining from the vote.

It’s believed NHL commissioner Gary Bettman persuaded Tanenbaum to abstain, rather than vote against the deal and prevent a unanimous outcome.

The stunning decision to withhold approval of the Rogers deal came just days after a contentious MLSE board meeting at which representatives of Bell and Rogers, which each own 37.5 per cent of the sports conglomerate, found themselves at loggerheads over the TV agreement, the largest in NHL history.

After a decade as the national rights holder for the NHL in Canada, TSN (owned by Bell) found itself outdone by Sportsnet, owned by Rogers. While many of the details surrounding the Sportsnet deal with the NHL remain cloudy, TSN officials were shocked to learn they had lost the rights without getting a chance to outbid their broadcast rival.

Some reports have suggested the Sportsnet bid may have been only $1 million per year better than the TSN offer.

Tanenbaum, who owns the remaining 25 per cent of MLSE, apparently felt “boxed in” by the results of last week’s MLSE board meeting at which the bitterness between Bell and Rogers over the national rights deal boiled over.

It’s not clear whether he was going to be forced to vote against the deal at the NHL board level before Bettman interceded and suggested that an abstention would save MLSE and the NHL embarrassment.

It’s not the first time Tanenbaum has been forced into an uncomfortable position by the inability of Bell and Rogers to see eye-to-eye on hockey matters.

Last January, under unrelenting pressure from Bell CEO George Cope, the Leafs dismissed Leaf president and general manager Brian Burke just as the lockout-shortened NHL season was to begin. Tanenbaum and former COO Tom Anselmi were the ones who had to tell Burke he’d been fired.

The decision not to support the Rogers NHL deal, meanwhile, will only increase scrutiny on the rest of the MLSE empire at a time when Leiweke is attempting to bring a new level of competitiveness to not only the Leafs, but also the NBA’s Raptors and Toronto FC, the moribund soccer franchise.

How Leiweke navigates the turbulent MLSE political waters is going to be fascinating to watch, although there is no sign yet that the bad blood between Rogers and Bell at the board level is having an impact on MLSE’s teams.

Earlier this week, the Raptors unloaded forward Rudy Gay and his $19-million contract on the Sacramento Kings, beginning a process that most believe will see the basketball team finish at or near the bottom of the NBA as a means of beginning to rebuild.

Toronto FC, meanwhile, is expected to spend tens of millions of dollars in the near future on several international players. The Leafs, of course, signed star winger Phil Kessel to a $64-million contract in October.

When the partnership between Bell and Rogers to purchase joint control of MLSE was announced in early December 2011, many openly questioned how the two communications rivals would be able to behave as effective partners, and whether one would eventually buy the other out.

As well as the hockey, basketball and soccer franchises, Bell and Rogers also share rights to Leaf regional broadcasts, which may gain a new importance to Bell with the lucrative Canadian NHL rights going to its broadcast rival starting next season.

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After last month’s stunning coup, Rogers now controls all national and digital NHL rights in Canada. TSN has long been considered the No. 1 sports broadcaster in the country, with Sportsnet in hot pursuit since Keith Pelley left TSN in mid-2011 to become president of Rogers Media.

As soon as the new NHL rights deal was announced, many began to speculate how that would impact the MLSE relationship between Rogers and Bell.

Well, the early indications are it’s certainly not helping them get along.

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