The Harold Ballard Story’ shines gentle on former Maple Leafs proprietor

Jason Priestley and Michael Geddes are eagerly ready on the ritzy Le Germain Lodge within the coronary heart of downtown Toronto, able to conduct certainly one of a number of interviews throughout their press tour for a documentary that shines new gentle on certainly one of Canada’s most controversial sports activities figures.

Priestley — greatest generally known as iconic heartthrob Brandon Walsh from Beverly Hills, 90210 — is the director of Offside: The Harold Ballard Story, a brand new undertaking concerning the bombastic, tyrannical former proprietor of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The movie is scheduled to air Sunday on CBC/CBC Gem, so it’s solely pure that Priestley and his govt producer, Geddes, are rapidly prepared to clarify why they’ve taken on a undertaking about such a contentious character in hockey historical past.

Ballard is usually thought of to be the worst proprietor in Maple Leafs historical past. Most hockey followers and historians instantly consider his explosive mood, and he was . So why embark upon a Ballard undertaking in 2023?

“I believe wanting again at a man that was very un-Canadian who lived in Toronto at a time when it was very totally different, it made for an awesome story,” Geddes informed Yahoo Sports activities Canada. “He was certainly one of Canada’s largest characters. Individuals have forgotten about Harold Ballard. Individuals of our classic keep in mind him nicely, however they’ve forgotten about him. And I believe an entire new era of individuals on the market now, youthful than us, have heard about him by solely rumours. He was a larger-than-life determine, he had a hell of a narrative.”

“A whole lot of the individuals who really knew Harold and the individuals who really had private connections to him and tales to inform about him are beginning to get to an age the place they’re beginning to go away us now,” Priestley added. “So we felt it was necessary to get their tales on movie and put this piece collectively, earlier than these individuals are not with us.”

Geddes added that Priestley went by a complete deep dive through the interview course of to unfurl new details about Ballard that wasn’t beforehand recognized to the general public.

Ballard made a deliberate level of projecting himself as a hardline capitalist involved solely with the Maple Leafs’ funds, with restricted curiosity in caring concerning the hardships that different individuals are frequently topic to. He additionally hid the entire charitable initiatives he embarked upon from public viewing; he didn’t need his work with youngsters’s charities to detract from his self-imposed tough-guy posture.

He died in April 1990 and modern society has shifted to acknowledge that racism and sexism are insupportable maladies that we’ve to reckon with. However even in his period, Ballard was recognized for these despicable qualities. As somebody who was a toddler when Ballard died, am I and others from my era responsible of assessing Ballard’s legacy by a revisionist lens?

“It is form of onerous to have a look at Harold Ballard by the lens of at this time, we have talked about this,” Geddes stated. “We have set this documentary (as) greatest as we might within the period that Ballard was residing, that’s the 70s. The capturing areas have been very 70s vibe. I believe it is necessary to look traditionally at him on this context and go, ‘now we all know why!’

“Issues have modified. The league modified their structure due to house owners that ran unchecked. After all, the wokeness within the league has modified, and the complexity of the league has modified with the gamers. They don’t seem to be simply all Canadian children from Northern Ontario for example. Ballard did not stay that and did not perceive that and he by no means would. I believe this documentary is nice for the youthful era to go ‘wow, take a look at the way in which issues have been run!”

Ballard purchased Stafford Smythe’s shares of the Maple Leafs to develop into the controlling proprietor of the franchise when he was 68 years outdated in 1972. His tenure was outlined by a number of the worst groups in Maple Leafs historical past, whereas their Unique Six contemporaries Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins owned the Seventies. By the tip of the last decade, Maple Leafs icon Darryl Sittler was in , and fellow legend Borje Salming equally adopted swimsuit, disgusted by Ballard’s .

By the Eighties, the Maple Leafs have been one of many laughingstocks of the NHL attributable to their inept on-ice performances, whereas their star gamers hated enjoying for one of many league’s most storied golf equipment. Priestley shed some gentle on a number of the ways that Ballard employed, which run anathema to the way in which fashionable franchises function.

“There is not any comparability that the Leafs of at this time are run in a much more skilled, much more organized, much better means than they have been again within the days of Harold Ballard. Harold was operating the group like a small mom-and-pop group. He tried to micromanage all the things, he tried to be answerable for each side of the group in a means that was detrimental to the group. A lot in order that one of many trainers on the group was this man named Man Kinnear, who was his boat mechanic from his cottage up in Georgian Bay. This is a man with no medical data, no kinesiology diploma. When gamers would ask him for assist with their nagging accidents, he would give them packets of Neocitrin! It was preposterous what was taking place!”

Ballard was brazenly hated by Maple Leafs followers for his frugality, however Priestley argued that this was by no means a priority for the proprietor, given the franchise’s immense recognition.

“I imagine that the followers again then might have detested Harold Ballard, but you could not get a seat at Maple Leaf Gardens for any of their house video games. Maple Leaf Gardens was bought out each house sport. They might have hated Ballard however they nonetheless liked their Toronto Maple Leafs. Leafs Nation has been alive and thriving for many years. Torontonians all over the world love their Leafs. The power of the Maple Leafs’ fan base has been the power of that group nevertheless it additionally was the one factor that Ballard discovered that he might exploit. Regardless that he was fielding a sub-par group, he nonetheless discovered he might generate the income from the turnstiles at Maple Leaf Gardens.”

The present iteration of the Maple Leafs has annoyed some factions of the fan base attributable to their six consecutive first-round exits, regardless of boasting a statistical and expertise profile that implies higher outcomes are in retailer. There’s a stark distinction between a group that’s making an attempt to win, and a group that wasn’t making an attempt in any respect. The concept of tanking would’ve been a non-starter in Ballard’s period, both, so the fruits of dropping shamelessly have been by no means readily obvious.

“I believe the followers of yesteryear when Ballard had the group, two issues come to thoughts: they’d misplaced belief and so they had misplaced hope,” Geddes stated.

“I believe these two issues are again. The belief being that cash goes to be spent to win and to place that product on the ice with successful clearly in thoughts. And hope, as a lot as it has been 55 years and counting, there’s hope once more. I believe for a very long time, perhaps a long time, this documentary talks about it, there wasn’t any hope. Whenever you make that guess, while you purchase that ticket, you need these two packing containers checked as a fan. For a very long time, they could not present that — Ballard could not.”

Sports activities historians are all the time nervous whether or not their work will stand the check of time, however Priestley and Geddes take pleasure within the widespread curiosity within the forthcoming documentary. And whereas Ballard might symbolize a dreary a part of Maple Leafs historical past, in some methods it serves as a prologue to brighter days forward for this present group.

“You get a way of ‘is that this undertaking going to matter?’ I believe we’re discovering out with the immense quantity of curiosity that this movie issues proper now and individuals are very within the premiere this Sunday on CBC,” Geddes stated. “It had the identical curiosity on the Whistler Movie Pageant, it was nice to debut it on the market. This surpassed my wildest desires when it comes to the assist and the curiosity.”

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