Blue Jays Next Out Of Canada?

[Max Power]

Doesn't look good.

Blue Jays hoping for more financial help from commissioner's office
.c The Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) - The Toronto Blue Jays are hoping for more financial help from commissioner Bud Selig this season to help compensate for the weak Canadian dollar.

Selig is studying six formulas that would be based on Blue Jays ticket sales for a possible currency-adjustment plan designed to help the club compete economically with American teams, said Rob Godfrey, Toronto's senior vice president of communications and external relations.

``Major league baseball has been nothing short of great,'' Godfrey said Monday from Dunedin, Fla., the team's spring training home. ``We're hoping to hear back from them before opening day.''

Last season, the Blue Jays received a one-time payment of $5 million from the commissioner's discretionary fund to help compensate for the weak Canadian dollar. Godfrey has been negotiating a long-term plan with baseball since last summer.

The proposals are based on the currency assistance plan the NHL offers small-market Canadian teams, making the amount of money given to the Blue Jays contingent on attendance.

Most of the formulas being studied call for clawbacks on the amount of money the Blue Jays get if they fall below the median attendance in baseball. That means they'll probably need to draw about 2 million fans this season to avoid losing aid.

``The key thing that major league baseball and we liked about it is that we don't control what everyone else's attendance is,'' Godfrey said. ``If we aren't at the median, then we face the clawback.''

Toronto drew 1.6 million fans in 2002, and 1.9 million in 2001. Blue Jays ticket sales are up slightly over last year at this time.

``Two million is optimistic, but reasonable,'' Godfrey said.

03/10/03 22:16 EST

[Craig S.]

I don't know what I'd do. :(

[satchel]

It's so sad - Toronto's a pretty good baseball town, especially when they have a halfway decent team - but I guess the economics are really tough. Taking in Canadian and paying out American is a difficult deal right now.

[KCBOOMER]

Losing the Blue Jays would be devastating to Toronto. It has got to be tough to pay players in US dollars when your revenue is in Canadian dollars. Canada has been in an economic funk for over a decade with no end in sight.

[WiredTiger]

I think Toronto is just going through a transition from a bigger market team to a middle class team. Riccardi has them on the right path to compete with a reasonable budget. It is tough to compete with the Red Sox and Yankees though. If Toronto were in the Central they'd probably have a chance to compete.

[pathogan]

Originally posted by satchel
It's so sad - Toronto's a pretty good baseball town, especially when they have a halfway decent team - but I guess the economics are really tough. Taking in Canadian and paying out American is a difficult deal right now.


hard to survive that way.sad sad sad

[JamesI]

Hopefully something can be done to save the Jays. Skydome is a great place to see a game and when the team is good, they draw fans.

[Craig S.]

They lost a lot when the ownership changed from Labatt's to Interbrew. Instead of being owned by a Canadian brewery that saw the team as both a point of pride and a great way to sell beer, they were owned by a Belgian brewery that saw them as a cash cow.

At least they've bottomed out, and they seem headed on their way back up. If they can field a contending team, the selective Toronto fans (just ask the Raptors) will show up again. The only way you can continually lose in Toronto and still get fan support is if you're the Leafs.

[Glyndwr]

I might be missing something but I didn't see anything in the article to suggest that the Jays were in serious enough financial trouble that they would be leaving town.

Taking in Canadian and paying out in American is largely true but there are mitigating factors. The GTA economy is considerably stronger than the general Canadian economy, though the Jays biggest expense is in American dollars (player salaries) virtually all of there other expenses are in Canadian pesos^H^H^H dollars, the Jays ticket prices are low but more than quite a few American teams (Anaheim, Kansas City and Arizona for example) at an average of about $15.5 US.

As Craig says the fans and revenues will return when the team starts to contend again (which it will - Yay!).

[Max Power]

Originally posted by Glyndwr
I might be missing something but I didn't see anything in the article to suggest that the Jays were in serious enough financial trouble that they would be leaving town.

An assumption on my part - thnk MLB would be willing to give them $5 mill a year (or so) forever? If the team does not do better, I could see it being like the situation in Montreal.........

[Fatwater Fewl]

I'm optimistic that Ricciardi can make the Jays contend. I don't forsee the Jays moving.

[SmedIndy]

I think they'll be fine once they start to win again.

[hmrsf]

Those who do not know baseball history or baseball fans do not know baseball.........PERIOD.

IF Montreal and Toronto fold, baseball should not be moved or expanded in another city period.


Montreal WAS a great baseball city.

Toronto WAS a great baseball city.

Washinton DC was a great baseball city.

Revenue sharing should be used to prop up the weakest links in the baseball family. The olympic stadium once drew record number crowds. They almost went to the WS twice. Work stopage cut short that dream. Imagine if Montreal could hold onto just a few of the marque players they have developed? Imagine if they had a real owner? Montreal could easily be a crown jewl franchise again.

Next we are talking about Toronto?

Baseball has gone mad!:mad:

[Fuzzy Bear]

All of us realize that only the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Braves, and, maybe, the Cubs & Angels can really afford to put on a major league show.

It is a sign of impending collapse when team after team cannot hope to pay enough to contend.

Baseball is pricing itself out of existance. Everyone but the participants know it.

I feel badly for the taxpayers who will pick up the tab, and for the employees of these teams who will be out of needed jobs.

Toronto, Washington, and Montreal are great cities that should be able to support MLB.

Then, again, the same can be said about Kansas City, Minneapolis, Miami, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee.

I now believe that before I shuffle off this mortal coil (I'm 46), major league baseball as I know it today will cease to exist. MLB will go bankrupt in my lifetime.

I think most of you reading this believe this, too.

There seems to be no stopping the unreasonable greed on all sides here.

[JamesI]

Originally posted by Fuzzy Bear
All of us realize that only the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Braves, and, maybe, the Cubs & Angels can really afford to put on a major league show.

I now believe that before I shuffle off this mortal coil (I'm 46), major league baseball as I know it today will cease to exist. MLB will go bankrupt in my lifetime.

I think most of you reading this believe this, too.

There seems to be no stopping the unreasonable greed on all sides here.

I fear this is true.

I think more teams can afford to contend, Baltimore, San Fransisco. They can spend the 80-100 million needed to contend. But most cities can not.

[sweaver]

Originally posted by Fuzzy Bear
All of us realize that only the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Braves, and, maybe, the Cubs & Angels can really afford to put on a major league show.
I would strongly disagree with this statement. Philly is not a major league city? Houston? Detroit, Cleveland, or San Francisco? I cannot accept that there are only room for 6 "major league" franchises in the US.

Now, is it possible that MLB would be stronger with 16 or 20 franchises rather than 30? Perhaps. But I doubt it. A third New York area franchise (New Jersey?) would thrive, and I suspect that MLB should and may soon go global, with Mexico City, Santo Domingo, Tokyo, and others added to the mix. Will Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and others possibly get left out? Yes, they could. But Troy and Louisville have gotten left behind before.

[satchel]

Originally posted by sweaver
I would strongly disagree with this statement. Philly is not a major league city? Houston? Detroit, Cleveland, or San Francisco? I cannot accept that there are only room for 6 "major league" franchises in the US.


I didn't understand Fuzzy's statement to be what you've characterized it as at all - I thought he was saying that the cost of fielding a good team has gotten so high that only certain franchises can afford it - owners, not cities.

At any rate, it is veering somewhat off-topic - the thread is about the future of the Jays, and whether they can be viable in Toronto. Which and how many cities can support major league clubs is a good discussion, for another thread.

[sweaver]

Toronto, a city of 4 million people, (give or take) must surely be able to support major league baseball. They set attendance records not that far in the past.