Welcome to PPP Leafs the new home of Pension Plan Puppets. We are a fan blog dedicated the the Toronto Maple Leafs and related teams.
PPP Leafs is an independent blog, not affiliated with any network or site. Our primary revenue is from subscription.
The full archive of the original Pension Plan Puppets blogs is available on our archive page.
Explain that name
Pension Plan Puppets was originally a blog that still exists on the internet. If you want to see it in its natural state: Pension Plan Puppets at Blogspot.
The tag line of that blog is: EVERY LEAFS FAN HAS AN OPINION. HERE'S MINE: WE ARE ALL PENSION PLAN PUPPETS. THE TEACHERS PULL THE STRINGS AND WE DANCE.
From a history of the site written in 2021, comes the longer story:
In 1994, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan bought a stake in the ownership of the Maple Leafs. The OTPP or “Teachers’” as they like to call themselves, are one of the biggest investment funds in Canada, and their mandate is to create the wealth that will continue to pay out pensions to retired teachers for as long as they need to. They buy shares in businesses, they don’t run them.
At that time, the Leafs were in the post Harold Ballard period after his death in 1990. Ballard left the shares in the parent company of the Leafs to various charities, and a lot of buying and selling of shares in that company followed. Two things are key, Steve Stavro was one of the executors of the estate and the company had a large debt with TD Bank. Molson had an option to buy some shares for almost nothing, but they were compelled to sell them since they own the Canadiens. Stavro bought those shares, loaned the estate some money when they couldn’t pay a debt, and then, in 1994, Teachers’ joined in and a new ownership was formed with Stavro and TD Bank. In 1996, Larry Tanenbaum also acquired an interest as the business transitioned into a multi-sport enterprise that included the Toronto Raptors.
In 2003, Stavro sold out to one of the forerunners of Bell Media, and Teachers’ ended up owning the majority of the newly named Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment.
...
Teachers’ increased their share of the business as [Brian] Burke seemed to be building a better team, and then in 2011 sold out to the new owners Bell and Rogers, and the new era began just as this blog was coming into its own.
Why don't you change the name?
We get this question a lot, and there's a lot of reasons. We basically call the site PPP now. It's our history as it is the history of the team, and it serves to remind us how far we've all come.
Also, we're too lazy.
For more information on how this blog works, check out:
