Rogers considering selling Toronto Blue Jays

[mikecubs]

Rogers considering sale of Blue Jays, stake in Cogeco

Rogers Communications Inc. is considering the sale of such assets as baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays and a stake in media company Cogeco Inc. to free up capital for its main communications businesses.

The media giant’s chief financial officer Tony Staffieri said Tuesday at an industry conference that the company is looking for ways to "surface value" from the Blue Jays — which he said is a "very valuable asset for us that we don’t get full credit for."

He didn’t discuss who might buy the team, or if a deal would include the domed Rogers Centre, or what they would be worth.

"To be clear, there isn’t anything imminent that we are about to announce, but we’re certainly looking at the alternatives. Again, would like to get the content without necessarily having the capital tied up on our balance sheet," Staffieri said.

He also said the company is currently going through its budgeting purchase for 2018 and the focus will be on revenue growth and better margins at its wireless and cable divisions.

Staffieri made the comments during an on-stage interview at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference in New York, according to transcripts of the event provided by Thomson Reuters.

Rogers (TSX:RCI.B) has previously indicated it is exploring ways to get more value from its portfolio of assets, including the Jays, but Staffieri’s comments in New York were more specific.

He said the company still wants rights to sports programming — which is core to the company’s media business — but doesn’t need to own a team to have that, pointing to the company’s 12-year deal with the National Hockey League.


But he said sports content continues to have "healthy" margins and can complement the Rogers wireless and cable operations as well.

"Our focus in media will continue to be on the sports side of it. So don’t expect any type of expansion on the media side, other than continue to monetize the sports assets that we have," Staffieri said.

As for the company’s investment in Montreal-based Cogeco (TSX:CGO) and Cogeco Communications Inc. (TSX:CCA), a smaller cable and media company based in Montreal, Staffieri’s said there’s "probably better use" for that capital.

"There were some strategic benefits that we had hoped for with Cogeco and those seem to be further and further away," Staffieri told the conference.

The comments appeared to have little impact on stock prices at the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Shares of the two Cogeco companies were down less than one per cent and Rogers shares were up about one per cent.

www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/report-rogers-considering-sale-blue-jays-stake-cogeco/

[mikecubs]

The Jays desperately need to be sold to a real owner who will build a real ballpark and who will be willing to tank to get good young players(ala the Cubs/Astros), instead of collecting old guys. I wonder is David Thomson would be interested?

Rogers=the Canadian Tribune Company

Media companies owning baseball teams is a disaster. Media companies won't sacrifice seasons to rebuild because it kills local ratings/attendance. They shoot for high 70's low 80's win teams with a few big names to keep ratings/attendance. Fox sucked as Dodgers owner, the Tribune is a big reason why the Cubs didn't win in 108 years!

The Jays need to be stripped down to NOTHING. The current teams run is OVER. They won't catch NY/Boston. Donaldson, Haap, Pillar need to be traded while they still have some value left. Stroman, Sanchez, Osuna should be traded for the right deal too. Sacrifice 5 years(like the Cubs/Astros) be ready to win it all when a real ballpark opens!

[wolfmannick]

I hope Rogers sells the team, they'll never put the effort or money into the team to make it a real contender.

[mikecubs]

Dec 6, 2017 15:02:34 GMT -6 wolfmannick said:

I hope Rogers sells the team, they'll never put the effort or money into the team to make it a real contender.

They have had high payrolls the last few years. Rogers is AWFUL and MUST go but the strategy the casual fans the Jays picked up in 2015 want would make the Jays much worst. The problem with Rogers isn't money on payroll. Teams that have won have spent far less. It's that they won't allow a rebuild. With steroid testing signing players in their 30's to long term contracts is playing Russian Roulette. Remember teams are MUCH smarter about service time and won't call up players until they are ready delaying free agency. You have to put in 6 full years to be a free agent. If you keep a young prospect down in the minors for 2 weeks their rookie year they then have to put in 7. The Cubs did this with Kris Bryant stealing a year of his career. So guys aren't hitting free agency until their 30's instead of their late 20s. Even the Yankees have said trying to build a winning team these days through free agency is a GOD AWFUL strategy because of this.

They way to build winning teams is to

1. Trade what talent you have and get young minor league talent
2. With the old vets traded lose big time and get high picks so you can draft a Kris Bryant or Carlos Correa to go with the young guys you got in the trades
3. Bring the players to the majors ONLY when they are ready. Don't develop at the big league level. Manipulate the service time
4. Sign the young talent to multiyear extensions buying out a year of 2 of free agency
5. Sign a free agent from the outside only if you MUST and have a massive hole you can't fill(Theo Epstein called free agency a "necessary evil" sometimes). For part to half of the contract of the free agent you sign will probably be unfavorable to the team to bad. But if he performs the 1st few years and you win it all it's worth it(see Jon Lester and the Cubs)

The problem with the Jays and why the can't go the Cubs/Astros/Braves route are 2 fold

1. Since they are owned by their media company if ratings tank they pay in lost advertising revenue. The rights fees for every other MLB team are guaranteed. For example the Cubs/Astros got the same amount in TV revenue per year even in the tank/horrible years. With the Jays owned by their media company they won't allow the team to take 5 years off. This is how it was with the Tribune Company/Cubs. Only when they were sold did a tank job start. At 1st the casuals couldn't understand what was going on and were angry.

2. Playing in the Dome attendance would go down to literally NOTHING if they had a 110+ loss team. The Cubs when they tanked went from the high 30,000's to the low 30,000s attendance. When the Astros tanked they went from 30,000 plus to the low 20,000s and had a year with 19,000 something. They still had good ballpark experiences to sell so they were able to salvage something at the gate. The Jays don't have that to sell. The Jays put a team on the field like that they will have 10,000 to 15,000.

[mikecubs]

Posted this a few years ago but it don't ever date. Read the underlined parts.

jetshockeyforum.proboards.com/thread/6803/trend-locking-players-changing-landscape

Here is WAR(wins above replacement level player) per year of all 30 year old players per year(the higher the number the better)



It's gone from about 470 in 1998 to 266 in 2015. That's a hell of a lot of lost WAR!!!!!

This is the Jays problem. You need young talent because that's where the value is and with young talent you get MANY shots at the post season which is a total crap shoot. If you only get a shot or 2 and you don't have luck you are SCREWED and stuck with a bunch of old guys on big contracts you can't move!

The Jays are stuck in the stone age/time warp ballpark wise/acquiring players strategy wise.