TELECOMI-TRAGEDY: What does Edward Rogers fiasco mean for Toronto sports?

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There are, broadly talking, two sorts of major-sports homeowners. There are the billionaires, who both personal golf equipment as a part of their very own huge wealth or assemble a bunch of like-minded buddies to assist them do it.

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Alternatively, there are companies, largely faceless enterprises that embrace a franchise or franchises amongst many property.

The previous kind can work out higher for followers, when the wealthy proprietor simply needs to win trophies and can spend freely to take action, nevertheless it’s additionally extra unstable. There’s no assure that your wealthy benefactor received’t stick his or her fingers within the dough and mess up the pie. The company proprietor is much less prone to rent a unqualified celeb ex-player to be the top coach, nevertheless it’s additionally much less prone to make a pricey wager that might damage the underside line.

It seems that Toronto sports activities groups have had slightly of column A and slightly of column B.

Amid the comically bizarre shenanigans at Rogers Communications, which as of Monday morning had two units of administrators claiming to run the corporate as a part of a household battle that has spilled into the general public area through pointed information releases and cheeky tweets, the Toronto Star reported that Edward Rogers — who might or might not nonetheless be chair of the board on the big telco — tried to dam the contract extension that was given to Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri in the summertime.

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Apart from being a well-reported piece, the Rogers story rings true for a few causes. It was Edward Rogers who, within the fall of 2015, made a spectacularly ham-fisted try to interchange Paul Beeston throughout his second run as president of the Toronto Blue Jays, which is a Rogers Communications asset. Rogers and his emissaries reached out to rival groups, together with the Chicago White Sox, whose proprietor Jerry Reinsdorf was shut buddies with Beeston, and who suggested him of the sword protruding from his again. The front-office messing-about got here because the Blue Jays have been within the closing stretches of their greatest season in ages, and their return to the playoffs for the primary time in 20 years.

Alex Anthopoulos, then the overall supervisor, left after that season. His Atlanta Braves have been within the playoffs for 4 straight years and are within the World Collection this season.

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And whereas nothing fairly that public has occurred earlier than with Toronto’s different sports activities groups, with the Raptors, Maple Leafs, Argonauts and Toronto FC all partially owned by Rogers Communications via Maple Leaf Sports activities and Leisure, there have been whispers of discontent earlier than. Privately, it was mentioned that the Rogers a part of MLSE — co-owned with Bell and Larry Tanenbaum — bristled on the $50-million contract that had been handed to Mike Babcock to take over as head coach of the Maple Leafs. (Rating one there for Crew Ed.)

Taken as a complete, it’s evident that even whereas the assorted Toronto groups have run comparatively easily and quietly over a interval of years, they haven’t solely been spared the whims of a wealthy man who thinks he is aware of higher. The massive query is what occurs subsequent. The courts will determine if Ed Rogers remains to be chairman of the Rogers board, or if he was efficiently deposed by a bunch that features his mom and two sisters. Because it pertains to the Rogers sports activities properties, until Edward finally ends up taking his ball and going dwelling, it appears seemingly he’ll nonetheless have some presence round MLSE and, notably, the Blue Jays, of which he stays the chairman.

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That the story of his conflict with Ujiri emerged now means that his potential to wreak havoc at MLSE is muted, because the Raptors boss finally re-signed, and with vice-chairman added to his title. It’s unlikely Masai shall be sitting on the Rogers desk at workers events.

However what if Rogers stays accountable for the baseball staff, however is successfully blocked off from the levers of energy on the mother or father firm that owns the Jays? Edward Rogers introduced in Mark Shapiro to interchange Beeston, gave his blessing to the lean years of the rebuild, and signed off on the payroll will increase that introduced in Hyun-Jin Ryu and George Springer. As not too long ago as final week, Shapiro spoke confidently about additional finances will increase that might enable the Jays to buy within the free-agent market and probably construct on a season that noticed them simply miss the playoffs.

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However is all that contingent on Ed Rogers being the man in cost? There may be, to be clear, no cause to imagine that the Rogers administration staff he has been making an attempt to punt is any much less within the Blue Jays. And, as this house has argued many instances, a very good baseball staff is a lot better for Rogers’ media enterprise, however the boardroom kerfuffle provides, in any case, some uncertainty to the low season plans. Ought to Jays followers hope that the son of the man along with his statue outdoors the stadium slinks off or emerges victorious as Most Essential Rogers? That query goes again to the sorts of homeowners talked about firstly. Would the fan base fairly have the Jays run by a cold company or by a maverick who often comes up with aggressive, and presumably unhealthy, concepts?

As a result of the masks is all the way in which off now, and a pushy billionaire, give or take a couple of {dollars}, appears to be precisely what the Blue Jays have within the homeowners’ suite now.

sstinson@postmedia.com