Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

[VanCitySportsGuy]

There's a press conference tommorow with Ted Rogers, Paul Godfrey, and JP.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article.jsp?content=20050201_184917_6120

The source is Marty York so I take it with a grain of salt. But if he is indeed accurate of his report with JP getting a bigger budget, wouldn't that have been more useful earlier in the off-season, so the Jays could have re-signed Delgado?

Why announce a bigger budget less than 3 weeks before spring training when all the big name FA's are already gone. The Ownership/Front Office knew they were going to puchase the stadium this off-season, and they also knew the Yanks and Red Sox would be big spenders again. Why did the lightbulb go off this late in the off-season?

[SPTO]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

You forgot to mention the stadium is gonna be renamed Rogers Skydome "groan" Rogers is like a media dictator in this city. I'm surprised he hasn't made a bid to buy the CHUM group.

(Conspiracy theory hat on)

Maybe JP convinced Godfrey and Rogers that Carlos Delgado is no good etc etc. So he held off on asking for a bigger budget til now?

(conspiracy theory hat off)

At least this means we could make a big splash on trade deadline day in the unlikely event that we're challenging for a playoff spot.

[SPTO]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

You forgot to mention the stadium is gonna be renamed Rogers Skydome "groan" Rogers is like a media dictator in this city. I'm surprised he hasn't made a bid to buy the CHUM group.

(Conspiracy theory hat on)

Maybe JP convinced Godfrey and Rogers that Carlos Delgado is no good etc etc. So he held off on asking for a bigger budget til now?

(conspiracy theory hat off)

At least this means we could make a big splash on trade deadline day in the unlikely event that we're challenging for a playoff spot.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

You forgot to mention the stadium is gonna be renamed Rogers Skydome "groan" Rogers is like a media dictator in this city. I'm surprised he hasn't made a bid to buy the CHUM group.

(Conspiracy theory hat on)

Maybe JP convinced Godfrey and Rogers that Carlos Delgado is no good etc etc. So he held off on asking for a bigger budget til now?

(conspiracy theory hat off)

At least this means we could make a big splash on trade deadline day in the unlikely event that we're challenging for a playoff spot.

This whole thing seems like a sham. All the Jays are doing is trying to get a positive vibe in the city by saying they will spend more in the future and perhaps as early as this season if we are in the hunt for the playoffs. They could have put their money where their mouth is at the beginning of this off-season.

I don't understand why Rogers is such a cheapass. He owns Rogers Sportsnet, Rogers telecommunications (which just recently bought out Fido), the Fan radio station, and now the stadium (as well as other businesses). Just having the Jays alone on his station saves him millions of dollars.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

You forgot to mention the stadium is gonna be renamed Rogers Skydome "groan" Rogers is like a media dictator in this city. I'm surprised he hasn't made a bid to buy the CHUM group.

(Conspiracy theory hat on)

Maybe JP convinced Godfrey and Rogers that Carlos Delgado is no good etc etc. So he held off on asking for a bigger budget til now?

(conspiracy theory hat off)

At least this means we could make a big splash on trade deadline day in the unlikely event that we're challenging for a playoff spot.

This whole thing seems like a sham. All the Jays are doing is trying to get a positive vibe in the city by saying they will spend more in the future and perhaps as early as this season if we are in the hunt for the playoffs. They could have put their money where their mouth is at the beginning of this off-season.

I don't understand why Rogers is such a cheapass. He owns Rogers Sportsnet, Rogers telecommunications (which just recently bought out Fido), the Fan radio station, and now the stadium (as well as other businesses). Just having the Jays alone on his station saves him millions of dollars.

[Spear]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

Lets hope that this is true, it sometimes can be very frustrating to be a Blue Jays fan. I wasn't a big Delgado fan, but it would of been still nice to land people we actually were attempting to go after ie Kline and Clement. I wonder what these upgrades to the stadium will be...other than the field turf of course..lets hope they lower food prices and get more comfortable seats.

[Spear]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

Lets hope that this is true, it sometimes can be very frustrating to be a Blue Jays fan. I wasn't a big Delgado fan, but it would of been still nice to land people we actually were attempting to go after ie Kline and Clement. I wonder what these upgrades to the stadium will be...other than the field turf of course..lets hope they lower food prices and get more comfortable seats.

[Peter_OS]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

It comes down to fans filling the seats. Attendance at the Skydome has been on the decline. It's not Rogers. The fan support isn't great. How can someone expect Rogers to invest in the team and increase the budget if nobody is showing up to see the Jays?

[Peter_OS]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

It comes down to fans filling the seats. Attendance at the Skydome has been on the decline. It's not Rogers. The fan support isn't great. How can someone expect Rogers to invest in the team and increase the budget if nobody is showing up to see the Jays?

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

It comes down to fans filling the seats. Attendance at the Skydome has been on the decline. It's not Rogers. The fan support isn't great. How can someone expect Rogers to invest in the team and increase the budget if nobody is showing up to see the Jays?

The onus shouldn't be on the fans to show up to see a lousy product. The owner should put on a product the fans will enjoy.

Could you imagine a restaurant owner saying he wasn't going to change his awful dinner menu until people came in to eat first.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

It comes down to fans filling the seats. Attendance at the Skydome has been on the decline. It's not Rogers. The fan support isn't great. How can someone expect Rogers to invest in the team and increase the budget if nobody is showing up to see the Jays?

The onus shouldn't be on the fans to show up to see a lousy product. The owner should put on a product the fans will enjoy.

Could you imagine a restaurant owner saying he wasn't going to change his awful dinner menu until people came in to eat first.

[Vince]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

When you put out a winning product,the fans show up.It's always been like this for Toronto teams.Look at when the Jays were only 3 games back 2 seasons ago.The fans were filling up the Dome as soon as they saw the team was in contention.Then when we faded away they stopped showing up.Same with Raptors.MLSE and Rogers are cheap skates.Although I know MLSE does it's best to improve the Leafs,I don't think they work as hard to improve the Raptors.

[Vince]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

When you put out a winning product,the fans show up.It's always been like this for Toronto teams.Look at when the Jays were only 3 games back 2 seasons ago.The fans were filling up the Dome as soon as they saw the team was in contention.Then when we faded away they stopped showing up.Same with Raptors.MLSE and Rogers are cheap skates.Although I know MLSE does it's best to improve the Leafs,I don't think they work as hard to improve the Raptors.

[Peter_OS]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

I think it also has to do with the economics of baseball. Look at Delgado for example. He was making what 18 million a year?? That was 2/5 of the payroll, or something like that. Bad contracts also factor into building a contender and a winner. Jays haven't done a good job on this part. But baseball overall can be blamed for this. Contracts have sky rocketed over the years.

Maybe the exit of Delgado will be the start for something good with this team and it's fans.

[Peter_OS]

Re: Blue Jays to announce stadium upgrade and payroll increase

I think it also has to do with the economics of baseball. Look at Delgado for example. He was making what 18 million a year?? That was 2/5 of the payroll, or something like that. Bad contracts also factor into building a contender and a winner. Jays haven't done a good job on this part. But baseball overall can be blamed for this. Contracts have sky rocketed over the years.

Maybe the exit of Delgado will be the start for something good with this team and it's fans.