With Ted Rogers gone, the future of the Blue Jays franchise is in huge doubt. It was Rogers decison to absorb huge losses in the baseball team each year that kept the Jays competetive and the franchise somewhat viable.
But with Ted Rogers no longer around, if Rogers Corp decides to sell the team, nobody esle in Candaa would buy them to keep them in Canada. Because it'd be a horrible investment. And if that happens, it'll be Montreal expos all over again. A team being run by the baseball head office searching for an owner.
And if this happens, it could be a boon to the CFL. Because Rogers Sportsnet would need programming with baseball gone.
The CFL would be a great property to fill the space on Sportsnet left by baseball. Meaning a bidding war could occur when the next contract comes up in four years. You could have TSN, CBC, Sportsnet and maybe even CTV all fighting over the cFL. Meaning huge bucks for the cFL, making this last TV deal look like chump change.
I know this is hypothetical, but it could happen. If Rogers decides to get out of running sports teams to cut losses, it has an excellent chance of happening. And the CFL will be laughing all the way to the bank.
The Blue Jays bring in a lot of tourism to Toronto though and it would be horrible for the city to lose them plus the negative image associated with that. I don't see the Blue jays being sold or going anywhere but that's just my opinion.
Given the way Rogers Sportsnet programming is nowadays, if they do end up losing the Jays, they'll probably replace it by showing more poker and MMA. :roll:
Can someone tell me why poker is on a sports channel anyway? its about as phyisically demanding and athletic as a spelling bee and New Westminister dog show....
And Berezin i do agree with u a bit...i think that Rogers (the complany) will keep the Jays but their budget will not be any where near were it is now and they well sink to a well below 500 hundred team, and that will kill the jays not the sale of them.
I don't think the Jays are going anywhere. I don't think they're the money loser they once were. They may be doing better now that they own the stadium. There's lots of rich guys in Toronto, finding one to own the jays would be pretty quick.
Tell me why Rogers Communications would want to sell again? They own the team, the stadium, the TV network, the cable provider, and the radio station that broadcasts the game. It seems pretty vertically integrated to me, not too many leakages. The entire operation could be generating a profit.
With the announcement that the Jays have laid-off 24 to 30 employees within hours of the announcement of Ted Roger's passing, might indicate there is little sentiment for the Jays within the organization. It was reported that Ted didn't attend any Blue Jay games last season and Ted Jr. apparently is no baseball fan either. It was reported the family has lost over $300 million on the Jays since their purchase in 2000.
Without another billionaire sugar-daddy, Toronto's NFL bid, along with the Blue Jays would seem dead as a doornail. Retraction anyone?
The demise of the Jays might have some positive effects on the CFL. Perhaps the Argos could pick up an extra sponsor or two, and open the upper deck to the millions of Jays fans who will have few other sporting options in the summer. But I feel MLB and NFL are different markets than the CFL and there wouldn't be a dramatic effect on the league.
Generally, when a city loses a sports team, the market retracts, rather than those sports dollars being disbursed to the remaining teams.
I doubt there would be a bidding war for the CFL TV rights. RSN is just too small time to submit a credible bid on their own and their regional format does not work well for national broadcasts. They could team up with Global and share the games, but they would have to submit a massive bid to draw the CFL away from TSN. Even if the CBC bid double what TSN did, there will never be another CFL game broadcast on that network.
Other than the Grey Cup, we will never see CFL games on CTV, either. TSN is their sports channel, so what would they be broadcasting on TSN if the CFL was on CTV?
Great answers to this thread, but I still think the cFL benefits by having more major netwoks bidding for their TV rights next contract. That 15 million a season they're getting right now could turn into 30 million plus a season in my opinion if baseball disappears. This extra cash would lead to a bigger salary cap, and who knows, maybe more teams.
I still say the Jays are now on borrowed time.
Look, yes, without the Blue Jays life is easier for the Argos in Toronto, I agree. The Blue Jays have had an effect no doubt on the summer and early fall sports entertainment scene in Toronto where the Argos almost had exclusive rights.
That being said, I don't like trashing any Canadian based teams in any sport or league and wish the best for them in the future.
I don't believe the Rogers empire will sell the Blue Jays as they provide their network with a lot of programming. As long as the dollar stays in the .80 cent range. They may well cut their self imposed salary cap back from the 100 million as they have proved they can finish third most years with a much cheaper roster, but as long as they are in with the Yankees and Red Sox that's all they can hope for wheather they spend 100 million or 60 million.
That's not saying much about the offering of your football team if they have to hope for the demise of another sport franchise to make them more popular. Not only that but the Blue Jays are good for Canada. I was in Philadelphia when the World Series was being played this year. Everyone knew Canada and the Blue Jays because of our World Series victory over their beloved Phillies. Toront would allso miss the tourist revenue from Boston, New York etc when their citizens travel to Canada to see their teams play the Jays because they can't get tickets at home. If the CFL needs the Jay's to go south in order to be more successful it does not bode well for the future of the CFl or Toronto.
Well said dusty. The Jays have the unenvieable position of being in the same division as the Red Sox and Yanks, yes. Unfortunate, which is why I think as well you will slowly see their payroll diminish more and more each year. Not saying the "new" Rogers will try and run them into the ground but perhaps not far from it and who knows, they just might pull-off a playoff position doing this. Right now they are in limbo, I'd start Expozing them and see what happens, the baseball fan market is better in Toronto area than Montreal anyways, not much to lose.
Just as a note on poker, it is much more psychologically and physically exhausting than most people think. Why? Because in the big tournies, guys can play for up to 18 hours a day for three or four days straight. Try keeping you focus if you are not in shape. Incredibly hard.
Back to baseball. The best thing that could happen is the Jays move to a Minnesota model. Build a solid farm team and go from there. Heck look at the Red Sox. Everyone talks about the big salaries, but look at the core of their future and most of it is home-grown talent (Papelbon, Ellsbury, Youkilis, Pedroia, and a host of pitchers) which is cheap for the first six years, allowing them to pick and choose their high-priced talent simply to fill holes or put them over the top.
Whats widely not reported, the BJ have lost money each and every year since Rogers purchased this team.
Now into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
So whoever takes over, either one of his sons or a current CEO, the story is how neither are baseball fans and strictly based on economics it eventually could be the end and the team hopefully will be sold to outside interests.
Good riddence.
According to Dave Perkins of the Toronto Star, there's a good chance that if the Jays do end up on the sale block, the Rogers Centre might be thrown into it for a package deal.
Wow, how awesome would it be if Cynamon and Sokolowski bought the Rogers Centre and turned it into a shrine for the Argos?!?!
Here's a sweet scenario:
Cynamon and Sokolowski buy the Blue Jays and the skydome. Cynamon and Sokolowski tear down the skydome and sell the land to condo developers. Cynamon and Sokolowski take the money and build a sweet little 28k seater football stadium at York University for the Argos, and a nice, traditional baseball field at Downsview Park.
It's all very unlikely. I dunno if the Argos owners have the wherewithall to buy the Jays and Rogers Centre, and even if they did, i don't know if it's an attractive investment. I think Rogers Communications will hold on to them, seeing how integrated the jays are into their cable and radio programs.
I never said that the CFL needed the Jays to fold to survive.I said that with baseball out of the way, Sportsnet will need programming to fill the hours the Jays used to fill. Meaning the CFL becomes an attractive property to them. Meaning there could be a bidding war when this current contract runs out. And with the NFL thing basically dead now, CTV might even be involved.
And like the last person wrote. Rogers has lost hundreds of millions on baseball. Nobody, not anybody, would take this team off his hands. Its Montreal Expos all over again. This scenario is closer then you think.
And Dmont. The London team would be called the Lords. Named after the semi pro team we had here in the 60's and 70's that used to play at labatts Park. I think the league was called the Ontario Football league. I still think its around, but its not nearly as big as it was in the early 70's where they used to sellout Labatts Park to the tune of 6,000. In fact Labatts Park would be a great place to put a CFL team in. Too bad nobody in this city wants to get the ball rolling.
And Berezin99. I'm lookin around, and I ain't seeing a kick-ass logo for a team called the London Lords. looks over his shoulder... looks under his bed... looks in the closet... Nope, no London Lords logo. I do see a kick-ass logo for the London Pikemen, though!
I didn't know Labatt Park was ever used for football. It seems like a baseball-only venue. Maybe it's a different Labatt Park, half of the buildings here on campus are named "Labatt".
I've never heard of the Ontario Football League. I know the London Beefeaters of the CJFL play out of TD Waterhouse, and the OVFL London Falcons play out of John Paul II highschool. I think there was a team called the Forest City Thunderbirds at some point, although i have no idea what league or level they played at.
To be honest, I've kinda lost faith in London getting a team these days. I've got my fingers crossed for Ottawa and New Brunswick. I think it'd be a great place for the CFL, but it's fouth place behind Ottawa, Moncton, and Quebec as suitable prospects. Even fifth if you throw Halifax in there (although they've made just as little noise as London in the press these days). The Pikemen may have to just remain what they are........ a kick-ass logo on the CFL Forums.
From his office on campus after the open-bar department Christmas party, this has been Dmont reporting....