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April 7, 2019 8:35 pm  #1


How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

With only about 11 days into the new baseball season and baseball being a big ticket item for both the FAN 590 and Sportsnet, and with "Your Toronto Blue Jays" a measly 3 and 8 to start the season, with no hope of coming out of a hitting slump...

What on earth do you think is going on in the board rooms at these 2 stations and at Rogers home office right about now?

Once hockey and basketball playoffs end in this city, the Blue Jays will not draw flies (and nor can they hit them) as far as tickets, viewers and listeners go this year.

I am a pretty loyal fan and love to watch and listen, but I am fading fast and it is not even 2 weeks into the season..


I am wondering what the fall out of this will be on the bottom line at Rogers and if they are pushing the panic button, because I don't think this team will win 60-65 games this year, Vlad or no Vlad?


Chime away everyone!


The world would be so good if it weren't for some people...
 

April 7, 2019 9:00 pm  #2


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

I have watched not five minutes of the Blue Jays. Baseball is terrible in general and there were people on here watching pre-season. 

Last edited by cash (April 8, 2019 11:39 am)

 

April 8, 2019 5:52 am  #3


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

cash wrote:

I have watched not watched five 

we built this city on rock 'n roll

 

April 8, 2019 10:33 am  #4


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

To me, the Jays are doing what the Sens are trying to do...rebuild.  There are prices to pay for this.  Low ratings and lower attendance are just two of the items that will concern the bean counters.
There is nothing more exciting than following a team in a pennant or play-off race.  Think of how the Jays announcers are going to try and live through this.  There are only 150 or so games left!!!

 

April 8, 2019 11:48 am  #5


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

There will be hype opportunities like Guerrero Jr rejoining the team. The pitching has been quite good. But it may not be enough to draw from much beyond the enthusiast. Stations will survive via the jabber, which is mostly what baseball on radio is anyhow outside of truly exciting moments. And there will be off-0season developments for Leafs and Raptors. The stations will squeak by, as they always have in this largely non-winning town.  

 

April 8, 2019 12:13 pm  #6


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

Years ago at the end of previous "rebuilding year" Roy Hallady was pitching the lsat game of the season for his 20th win.  Decided I would take the boy child to the game.  When I called to purchase I asked of there were any good seats available?  The answer - "How about behind home plate 5 rows up?"  The agent said I could have the first row but the sightline in row 5 was essentially eye to eye with the pitcher.  Halladay won and the crowd was a couple of hundred at best.  It's going to be a long year for Blue Jays fans and a bad year for radio.

 

April 8, 2019 8:01 pm  #7


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

Chuck99 wrote:

FanOfPromos wrote:

Years ago at the end of previous "rebuilding year" Roy Hallady was pitching the lsat game of the season for his 20th win.  Decided I would take the boy child to the game.  When I called to purchase I asked of there were any good seats available?  The answer - "How about behind home plate 5 rows up?"  The agent said I could have the first row but the sightline in row 5 was essentially eye to eye with the pitcher.  Halladay won and the crowd was a couple of hundred at best.  It's going to be a long year for Blue Jays fans and a bad year for radio.

At the end of the 2009 season it was well known that Halladay was going to be traded in the off season.  Yet only about 12000 or 13000 fans showed up for his last start at the Rogers Centre.  I remember commentators being disappointed that so few paid to see, arguably, the best pitcher in the history of the Blue Jays, play for the home team for the last time. 
 

 Surprised at the number of people....it sure didn't seem like that many.

 

April 8, 2019 10:07 pm  #8


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

If they cared, they could do something about it.  The Blue Jays like to play the "small market" card, meanwhile they are owned by one of the richest companies in the country, they have a home market of 36 million people, they own the TV network, several of the radio stations they're on, and the building they play in.  If they wanted to buy a decent player they could.  They just don't want to.

 

April 8, 2019 10:33 pm  #9


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

Prod Guy wrote:

If they cared, they could do something about it.  The Blue Jays like to play the "small market" card, meanwhile they are owned by one of the richest companies in the country, they have a home market of 36 million people, they own the TV network, several of the radio stations they're on, and the building they play in.  If they wanted to buy a decent player they could.  They just don't want to.

Personally speaking, I'm much more interested in supporting / watching teams / leagues / sports where teams build their talent base from the grassroots up. It was awesome watching the Leafs draft some top-notch forwards etc... and I like seeing well-tended farm systems. I like brains that think long-term in an ongoing kind of way (ie., not sucking for ten year stretches so can excel for three).

 

April 10, 2019 8:05 am  #10


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

Chuck99 wrote:

It probably included seasons ticket holders who were no shows.

You are correct Sir. MLB tracks "attendance" by number of tickets sold rather than turnstyle clicks. MLB claims this is done for revenue sharing calculations between large and small market teams. If this is the situation, then at the bottom of the published box score, "tickets  sold" instead of "attendance" numbers should be published.The NFLdoes the same thing but for different reasons. If an NFL game is not "sold out" 72 hours before kickoff, it will be blacked out on local tv. To avoid that, either a local business or the team itself will purchase the remaining tickets to avoid the blackout. The NFL enforces their blackout rule against bars that try to show a game via satelllite. A few Buffalo bars got creative one time and filled their establishement then closed, put up a sign saying Closed Private Function. It worked. As far as I know, The NHL figures are by "tickets distributed"

 

April 11, 2019 12:48 am  #11


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

Chuck99 wrote:

Attendance figures can also be inflated by discounted and complimentary tickets. I remember when Paul Beeston returned as Blue Jays president, he warned that attendance figures would drop because the club was eliminating most of the tickets deals that were created during the Paul Godfrey era.

He was right, but they reversed that, and ticket prices have dropped 30% since.
https://www.barrystickets.com/blog/mlb-ticket-prices/

 

April 11, 2019 1:47 am  #12


Re: How happy are Rogers. The Fan 590 and Sportsnet now?

cash wrote:

I have watched not five minutes of the Blue Jays. Baseball is terrible. 

 
Not a fan. But I would pay mucho dinero (sp?) to have a baseball announcer, during a particularly dull game, quip "What a silly bunt."