The Backstory… 

Toronto businessman and billionaire Gerald Thomas started making waves in the world when in 2012 he took over Toronto Island, a tourist attraction and amusement park in Toronto. Thomas quickly turned the fortunes of the park, by turning it into a young adult attraction that featured major acts performing all summer long. In 2014, he launched Islandest, a 3 day music and arts festival on the island that sold out almost instantly. The festival was a major success, and led to other cities contacting Thomas about helping them organize similar festivals and events. His stock rose, and with that, so did his arrogance. 

In 2016, Gerald Thomas made a bold move by trying to buy a majority stake in the National Hockey Associations Toronto franchise. The move was unsuccessful. Thomas would try to then gain entry into the league by trying to purchase other franchises with the intention of moving the team to Toronto. This was not received well within the league, and he was essentially blacklisted from any involvement with the league. 

Furious, Thomas started planning his next move, when the announcement of the XFL and AAF became public knowledge. Thomas felt that with his name backing a new league, this was his way into the professional hockey world. He started contacting people who used him for festival planning to see if they would be interested in starting a new professional hockey league.

He was met with a lot of hesitation and people who told him he was crazy and a lot of people who simply didn’t want to back the league. Thomas, with his recent fortunes, offered deals to prospective owners; He would cover 50% of the expenses of each team in the league up front, and would receive payments annually until each team was paid off. It was a crazy idea, but Thomas felt he had the knowledge and public name to get the younger crowd to follow his new adventure. Still, he was met with resistance. Finally, Thomas agreed to fund 75% of the league and teams, if new owners would fund 25% of their teams. He felt that he had enough capital to get the league off the ground and grow it. Suddenly, Thomas had 23 owners willing to take the chance on the league for a somewhat small investment. With that, Major League Hockey was born… 

The Announcement… 

A press conference was called on Toronto Island by Gerald Thomas, with not much known by the media. His name alone however, was enough to gain interest from local media and news outlets with partnerships in Toronto. At the press conference, Thomas would announce that in September of 2019, Major League Hockey would play it’s first game. He promised high paced, hard hitting, exciting hockey that would draw in the younger crowds. He said they would do things differently with the in game experience and said he would use his knowledge and past to gain the fan base. 

The media naturally thought he was making a terrible move, but he was determined, or cocky enough, to make this a reality. He announced the first team in the league would of course be the Toronto Islanders. 

Thomas announced that he had 23 other owners in different cities ready to take the sport to the next level.

The next question would be, where would the players be coming from? Thomas said that junior franchises and college teams were getting rich off the backs of young adults looking to make a name for themselves. Rules in other leagues prevented most 18 year olds from turning pro, but that wouldn’t be the case with MLH. Thomas announced that anybody 18 years old would be allowed to join the league, with full pay, and wouldn’t need to go through junior or college to turn pro. This was again a bold announcement and strategy, but maybe he was on to something. 

Thomas ended the presser by announcing there would be another press conference on July 1st, 2017 where the league would reveal owners, teams and locations. Crazy or not, the league was ready to move to the next phase.

Last edited by 3pointtally (5/24/2019 9:08 am)