He was also the owner of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for 10 years from 1978 to 1988, winning a Grey Cup championship in 1986.

For the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Ballard was appointed assistant manager of the Varsity Grads team that won the hockey gold medal.

Following the 1930 racing season, the Yacht Club sponsored a senior team in the Ontario Hockey Association called the Toronto National Sea Fleas.

In 1934, Ballard became manager of the West Toronto Nationals OHA junior team and hired Leaf captain Hap Day as coach.

During the hockey off-season in 1961, Ballard became founding president of the four-team Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League, which operated in Toronto, Hamilton, and Montreal.

In November 1961, Conn Smythe sold most of his shares in Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. to a consortium of his son Stafford, Toronto Telegram owner John W. H. Bassett, and Ballard.

Conn Smythe later claimed that he believed he was only selling his shares to his son, but it is very unlikely that Stafford could have acquired the millions he needed to buy the Leafs on his own.

[5] In 1969, Ballard and Stafford Smythe were charged with tax evasion and accused of using Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. to pay for their personal expenses.

At age 68, Ballard won a battle with Stafford's family and bought his shares, giving him a 60 percent controlling interest in the Gardens.

Shortly after taking control of the Leafs, Ballard stood trial on 49 counts of fraud, theft and tax evasion involving $205,000.

Funds were also used to renovate his Midland cottage, to rent limousines for his daughter's wedding in 1967, and to buy motorcycles for his sons (passing off the expense as hockey equipment for the Marlboros), as well as placing money belonging to the corporation into a private bank account that he controlled along with Stafford Smythe.

At no time before or after his trial did Ballard show any interest in being associated with Eagleson or in having members of the Leafs play the Soviets, and the move was widely seen to be a means to generate favourable public relations.

After Ballard took control during the 1971–72 season, one of the first challenges he faced was the creation of the World Hockey Association (WHA) as a competitor to the NHL.

The biggest loss was goaltender Bernie Parent, a superstar in the making, who was offered a WHA contract with financial terms far beyond what Ballard was prepared to match.

Ballard set the price so high that potential suitors shied away, in effect preventing Keon from joining another NHL team.

[10] After the season, where the Maple Leafs were swept in the quarterfinals by the Canadiens, Ballard fired general manager Jim Gregory, replacing him with his predecessor, Punch Imlach.

Around that time, the Leafs had made it as far as the Stanley Cup semifinals in 1978, losing to the two-time defending champions Montreal Canadiens.

With Ballard's support, Imlach moved to dismantle the roster and undermine Sittler's influence, despite many analysts viewing the team as having a promising future.

Imlach was never officially fired, but when he tried to return to his office in November, he found that his parking spot at Maple Leaf Gardens had been reassigned and Gerry McNamara had been made acting general manager.

Even with the inclusion of what were effectively four expansion teams as per the terms of the "merger" with the WHA, the Leafs finished five games below .500 in 1980, although it was still good enough for a playoff berth.

That year, they finished with a .325 winning percentage, fourth-worst in franchise history, and were only one point up on the Minnesota North Stars for the league's worst record.

The Leafs and North Stars both played in the Norris Division, which was extremely weak that year; the Red Wings were the only team with a winning record.

However, this was largely because Ballard was unwilling to increase the payroll in order to improve the on-ice product, despite playing in the fourth-largest market.

After Ballard's release from prison, he had an apartment built at the Gardens facing Church Street where he would live through most of the year, while spending summers at his cottage near Lafontaine, Ontario in the Thunder Beach community.

Ballard's application would have required the unanimous consent of the four Eastern Football Conference owners to have been approved under the rules in effect at the time.

[24] Federal Labour Minister John Munro—from Hamilton—led an unsuccessful campaign against the deal, while Bassett, having sold the Argos to William R. Hodgson by this time, was also unable to intervene.

However, Ballard did not object the following year when Hodgson sold his stake in the Argos to Carling O'Keefe notwithstanding the fact the brewer also owned a team in the WHA (the Quebec Nordiques).

[25] After the Tiger Cats beat the Toronto Argonauts in the 1986 Eastern Final, Ballard said "You guys may still be overpaid, but after today, no one can call you losers.

"[25] A few days later, the Tiger Cats won the 1986 Grey Cup by beating the Edmonton Eskimos 39–15 and Ballard said it was worth every penny.

[26] In the 1970s, Ballard had also bankrolled a group, headed by Hiram Walker Distillers vice-president Lorne Duguid, intent on bringing Major League Baseball to Toronto.