Sports in Canadian culture

[Horus]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

Sell the Jays and throw that stupid statue of Edward Rogers into the Lake where it belongs.

Be careful what you say about the statue...
‘Threat’ to Rogers statue from Jays fan summons police to Kitchener

[GernB]

Realistically, where would the Blue Jays go? I haven't heard of any US cities banging on the door to get into MLB.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Originally Posted by GernB

Realistically, where would the Blue Jays go? I haven't heard of any US cities banging on the door to get into MLB.

Why are you assuming they are going anywhere?

[GernB]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

Why are you assuming they are going anywhere?

Sorry, on the cfl.ca website there's speculation that if the Jays are sold they will move. Not an unreasonable idea, if they are actually losing $30m a year.

[FrankieFlowerpot]

Why is the CFL website reporting on Rogers potentially selling the Blue Jays?

There is less than a 5% chance of whomever buys the team moving it from the city.

[GernB]

Originally Posted by FrankieFlowerpot

Why is the CFL website reporting on Rogers potentially selling the Blue Jays?

There is less than a 5% chance of whomever buys the team moving it from the city.

It's part of a thread on Rogers' potential interest in possibly broadcasting a CFL game of the week. Whenever a team is sold, there's speculation on if it might be relocated. The remote possibility of that happening to the Jays was the point of my original post.

[mistercorporate]

If MLSE buys them it would be so badass! Totally the kind of franchise they'd normally invest in as it's so popular in this market.

[TorontoDrew]

Originally Posted by GernB

Sorry, on the cfl.ca website there's speculation that if the Jays are sold they will move. Not an unreasonable idea, if they are actually losing $30m a year.

LOL, the little CFL would love to see the Jays leave Toronto, no wonder why they would post something so ridiculous on their web page. Never going to happen. The Argo's on the other hand............


The Jays are currently the 16th most valuable team in a 31 team league an increase of value of 44% from previous years. It will probably be lower next year but that's to be expected with how this year ended. An impressive place to be for a team outside of the U.S. Valued at $1.3 billion this year.

[Acajack]

I am the furthest thing from an insider but talk of the Blue Jays moving from Toronto seems absurd to me.

Where would they move to? Aren't almost all of the major markets in the U.S. already in MLB? (With a few existing ones in actual trouble...)

Charlotte? Portland? That's about it for the U.S.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

LOL, the little CFL would love to see the Jays leave Toronto, no wonder why they would post something so ridiculous on their web page. Never going to happen. The Argo's on the other hand............

Uh... it was a discussion thread on the CFL forum. Nothing ridiculous here except your anti-CFLism showing.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am the furthest thing from an insider but talk of the Blue Jays moving from Toronto seems absurd to me.

Where would they move to? Aren't almost all of the major markets in the U.S. already in MLB? (With a few existing ones in actual trouble...)

Charlotte? Portland? That's about it for the U.S.

Agreed. I guess the only potential X-factor in that regard is the fact that US municipalities seem only too happy to throw vast amounts of money at gift stadiums for MLB teams, something which would probably be less likely (but admittedly not impossible) in Toronto with the Blue Jays.

If Rogers sells the Jays and then a city council south of the border offers to build a billion dollar stadium gift, a new owner could be tempted.

But even that strikes me as very unlikely.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

LOL, the little CFL would love to see the Jays leave Toronto, no wonder why they would post something so ridiculous on their web page. Never going to happen. The Argo's on the other hand...........

Your CFL trolling is lame, as usual, whether the Jays are in Toronto or not is not going to prevent anyone from going to a CFL game. Also if the Argos disappear it won't start TFC on the ascendancy in Toronto which is what I wish a few of you would finally realize.

Everything else is conjecture, even the sale. Rogers needs infrastructure and needs money to get it, that's all we know.

[mistercorporate]

^
What do you mean by "start the ascendancy"? TFC is clearly ascending, growing in popularity, and improving regardless of the Argos or anything else. Nowadays you even see more TFC gear on the streets than even Leafs gear, which is quite surreal for fans who actualy had to tell people that Toronto had a new soccer franchise, just a few years ago.

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by Horus

Be careful what you say about the statue...
‘Threat’ to Rogers statue from Jays fan summons police to Kitchener

I would love to see that statue get decimated, as the guy in that article put it.

What did Rogers ever do for the Jays? He owned them at the lowest point in their history and made it uncool to be a baseball fan. He changed the name of their Stadium and annoyed everyone by doing it. He never won a World Series or a playoff game.

The fact that a media billionaire got a statue placed outside a baseball stadium instead of a player is the most Rogers move imaginable. Get rid of it and replace it with a statue of a player.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

The fact that a media billionaire got a statue placed outside a baseball stadium instead of a player is the most Rogers move imaginable.

Ha. It really is. As if the fans should be grateful.

"Thank you for all you've done for us Ted Rogers!"

[SaskScraper]

NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE FACES OFF WITH 32ND SEASON AMIDST GREAT BUSINESS MOMENTUM, EXPANSION
12.07.2017
Attendance Growth, New Business Partners, Streaming All Expected To Hit New Marks As League Identifies Washington DC Area, Bay Area, New York City Market And Dallas As Areas of Potential Expansion across the United States for the country’s fastest growing team sport.

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) is North America’s premier professional indoor lacrosse league. Founded in 1986, the NLL ranks third in average attendance for pro indoor sports worldwide, behind only the NHL and NBA. The League is comprised of Eleven franchises across the United States and Canada: Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Georgia Swarm, New England Black Wolves, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, Toronto Rock and Vancouver Stealth.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lacrosse_League

The 2017-18 NLL season began December 8th, #FaceOffWknd. For more information, visit NLL.com and find the NLL on Facebook,Instagram and Twitter.

More and more of the League’s players are familiar to U.S. audiences with 55% of roster players coming from American colleges
The NCAA has seen an uptick of 33% in the number of teams playing the sport over the last five years while there’s been a comparable increase of 27% on the high school level.

The NLL’s revenues grew by an impressive 11% last year. Key in that growth was the emergence of NLL TV, new league-wide sponsorships and increased ticket sales. The NLL adopted a digital-first approach last year. Its Twitter Game of the Week averaged 344,000 viewers in its inaugural season. The NLL also recently announced a distribution deal with CBS Sports Live.

Buffalo, Saskatchewan & Colorado had the largest average spectator attendance last season with 15,000 per game.
NLL attendance continues to grow, with preseason attendance this year up almost 20%, with a preseason record crowd of 12,857 in Calgary two weeks ago.

http://www.nll.com/news/national-lac...tum-expansion/

[EpicPonyTime]

I wonder if expanding by two teams in a single year is a smart move for the NLL. They have a long history of franchises having to either relocate or shut down. Whenever they do expand, they seem to go at it eagerly and don't think it through.

The NLL is doing good in some markets, but they have issues that need to be resolved with their existing teams before they should look at expansion, IMO.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

^
What do you mean by "start the ascendancy"? TFC is clearly ascending, growing in popularity, and improving regardless of the Argos or anything else. Nowadays you even see more TFC gear on the streets than even Leafs gear, which is quite surreal for fans who actualy had to tell people that Toronto had a new soccer franchise, just a few years ago.

Hmm not so sure about that. Maybe on game days or something. Ultimately outside of TFCs circle there wasn't much buzz going on about TFC being in the finals. Could you imagine the Leafs, Raptors or Jays in a similar position?

[mistercorporate]

Originally Posted by TownGuy

Hmm not so sure about that. Maybe on game days or something. Ultimately outside of TFCs circle there wasn't much buzz going on about TFC being in the finals. Could you imagine the Leafs, Raptors or Jays in a similar position?

That's because you live in Cobourg, the city is a different story. Plus, I never said they were the most popular franchise, just that they're ascending quickly.

[Berklon]

The city is definitely abuzz from the win.

Most of the bars were playing the game - and not just on one TV... it was either most or all TVs switched on the game... and they were filled with patrons watching.
Lots of people filling the streets in celebration after the win.

I'll be hearing a lot of talk about the game in the office tomorrow.