Sporting Madness

One of the most interesting themes around the Blue Jays lately is the discussion of how their ownership has changed [ Stephen Brunt , The Globe and Mail ] since the death of Ted Rogers . Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed recently said the company remains committed to the Jays in a conference call, but talked of " bringing costs in line " [ Jeff Blair , The Globe and Mail ]. Those comments, as well as the recent trade of Alex Rios for nothing [ Bob Elliott , Toronto Sun ] and Scott Rolen for prospects , have led to speculation that Rogers may sell the team, as well as plenty of indignation over the team being run like a business. However, that indignation is misplaced in my mind. There's nothing wrong with running a team like a business; after all, a business-driven approach led to Billy Beane 's Moneyball strategy in Oakland. That exact approach is more difficult to execute these days , but the business principles behind it of finding undervalued assets, developing them ...

Well, Rogers Cable finally came to an agreement [Fadoo.ca] to carry TSN2 shortly before Jaypocalypse Now would have occured next week when the Jays faced the Red Sox in games only available on TSN2 [ Neate Sager , Out of Left Field ]. No specifics have been released yet, but it's a good bet that Rogers caved in the end; TSN had all the leverage in this one thanks to their agreements with every other cable/satellite provider (which demonstrated that their terms can't have been all that unreasonable). Someone at Rogers' baseball division ultimately sold the cable side for 30 pieces of silver with the decision to put Jays-Red Sox on TSN2, as the great Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star noted earlier this week on his blog : "A deal has to be coming because, if it isn't, Rogers call-centre employees will have to show up for work that day with bulletproof vests and industrial-strength earplugs as they try to explain to angry Jays fans that they can watch the game on...