REPORT: Rogers evaluating sale of Blue Jays

[MavCarter]

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Rogers Communications Inc. is considering selling assets such as baseball's Toronto Blue Jays and a stake in media company Cogeco Inc. to free up capital for other investments, Chief Financial Officer Tony Staffieri said.

The Toronto-based telecommunications giant wants to get more value for the assets, though no deal is imminent, Staffieri said at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference in New York.

Rogers plans to increase investments in its wireless network as part of a plan to capture a surge in data use, Chief Executive Officer Joe Natale told the Globe and Mail this week. Rogers shares have soared 26 per cent this year, outpacing rivals Telus Corp. and BCE Inc. by more than double, as wireless revenue soared and customer retention improved.

The company has said before that it's exploring ways to get more value from its portfolio of assets, including the Jays, but Staffieri's comments Tuesday were more specific. Rogers still wants rights to sports programming but doesn't have to own a team to have that, he said, pointing to the company's 12-year deal with the National Hockey League.

Rogers' media business made up about 15 per cent of sales last year but only about 3 per cent of operating profit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The company has been a longtime investor in Cogeco and now holds about a third of the media company and a fifth of its cable unit, Cogeco Communications Inc.

"There were some strategic benefits that we had hoped for with Cogeco and those seem to be further and further away," Staffieri said. "As we think about an environment where interest rates start to go up and compare it to the yield that we're getting on the asset today, we think there's probably better use for that capital."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-06/rogers-evaluating-sale-of-blue-jays-cogeco-stake-cfo-says

[Schad]

While I'd welcome a new owner, there just aren't that many parties in Canada that have the $1.2-$1.5b to drop on a baseball team. Most likely proposition would be trading one corporate owner for another.

Maybe the OTPP wants to complete the Toronto sports hat trick?

[C_Money]

What if MLSE bought them?

[Schad]

What if MLSE bought them?

The largest shareholder in MLSE is...Rogers. The OTPP sold their controlling share a few years ago, so it's now a joint Rogers/Bell/Larry Tannenbaum group.

[Wo1verine]

While I'd welcome a new owner, there just aren't that many parties in Canada that have the $1.2-$1.5b to drop on a baseball team. Most likely proposition would be trading one corporate owner for another.

Maybe the OTPP wants to complete the Toronto sports hat trick?

Would be a large group of people i am sure if Rogers did sell.

Maybe Larry T and bunch of his rich friends lol

[polo007]

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Rogers acquired the franchise from Belgian-based brewing company, Interbrew, in 2000 for $160 million.

The Blue Jays are valued at $1.3 billion, according to Forbes' 2017 list of baseball organizations. The price tag makes Toronto the 16th most valuable major league franchise. In contrast of the Marlins immense sale, Forbes values Miami at $940 million.

A potential sale of the Blue Jays doesn't mean that Rogers is leaving the world of sports. In fact, they have to wait nearly a decade for its 12-year, $52 billion contract with the National Hockey League to end, which Wong says Staffieri refers to about Rogers' stance in sports media. Rogers owns 37.5 percent of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Raptors, Maple Leafs, Toronto FC, the Toronto Marlies, Toronto FC II and Raptors 905.

[Lateral Quicks]

I would love an owner in the Mark Cuban mold - that is, a fan first who is willing to spend big money on his/her team. We don't have as many zillionaires in Canada though, and I don't see any obvious candidates.

[Jago88]

Are the naming rights to the stadium tied up in Rogers ownership or is that some completely separate deal?

[Lord_Zedd]

As long as the possible buyer doesn't hold the city hostage over a new or renovated stadium....

Who in Canada can even muster enough cash to buy the Blue Jays? The Westons? Bell? oh god, I hope its not Bell.

[WuTang_OG]

I hope Rogers gets TF out.

They only care about the bottom line and have been one of the worst owners in MLB for a long time.

Just when the team has increased it's value, they look to sell it, go figure. There goes all the renovations plans, probably saw the number and said f*** it

Wouldn't mind seeing Larry and Bell buying the team or a billionaire ala mark cuban type.

[Tanner]

They bought the team for $165m and will probably be able to sell it for $1.5b. I wouldn't blame them for selling high on it.

Just have to hope whoever they sell to is more Mike Illitch and less Peter Angelos, assuming it is not another corporate entity.

[So_Fresh]

We need a new stadium and a new rich (billionaire) owner. The Rogers center has passed it's time imo.

[Maddogfromto]

While I'd welcome a new owner, there just aren't that many parties in Canada that have the $1.2-$1.5b to drop on a baseball team. Most likely proposition would be trading one corporate owner for another.

Maybe the OTPP wants to complete the Toronto sports hat trick?

does Galen Weston like baseball? it will be difficult as I don't think a sports team is a great economic investment, more of an ego thing

[MavCarter]

We need a new stadium and a new rich (billionaire) owner. The Rogers center has passed it's time imo.

I agree. At some point the jays will have to move on from the dome even if it's 20 years from now and after a renovation. Problem is the dome is on prime real estate and building a new stadium means moving elsewhere

[SharoneWright]

How about The Molson Centre? Geoff,, you listening??

[Schad]

While I'd welcome a new owner, there just aren't that many parties in Canada that have the $1.2-$1.5b to drop on a baseball team. Most likely proposition would be trading one corporate owner for another.

Maybe the OTPP wants to complete the Toronto sports hat trick?

does Galen Weston like baseball? it will be difficult as I don't think a sports team is a great economic investment, more of an ego thing

No idea.

And yeah, that's the problem. 15 years ago, we were a good economic investment. Now, with a stadium that either needs a massive overhaul or replacing (with the costs for those two options ranging from hundreds of millions into the low billions), not so much. Particularly if we assume that, unlike the American examples, we aren't going to be able to foist the bill on the public (good). Really, we work best as a form of advertising for a company with the vertical integration to milk it for all it is worth. So, like, Rogers or Bell.

[C Court]

Part of the rationale for bringing in Shapiro and eliminating a lot of the old Blue Jays management group was so that the Blue Jays would be a better fit culturally/business-wise within the Rogers corporate structure. And now they want to sell it?

Unless Rogers feels the new business team makes the Blue Jays more attractive to a prospective buyer, I'm not sure why they didn't stick with the status quo.

[Schad]

Part of the rationale for bringing in Shapiro and eliminating a lot of the old Blue Jays management group was so that the Blue Jays would be a better fit culturally/business-wise within the Rogers corporate structure. And now they want to sell it?

Unless Rogers feels the new business team makes the Blue Jays more attractive to a prospective buyer, I'm not sure why they didn't stick with the status quo.

My guess is that the team (even with the knock-on effects with Sportsnet/their other media holdings) simply isn't profitable enough on a consistent basis to justify spending $200m+ on retrofitting the Dome. They probably had intentions of sticking it out, but this is Rogers we're talking about...if profits were down in the latter part of 2017 given our suckage, and they aren't convinced they can bring them back, they're more than happy to pull a 180 in an instant.

[polo007]

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TORONTO – The bombshell public pronouncement by chief financial officer Tony Staffieri that Rogers Communications Inc. is considering a sale of the Toronto Blue Jays among other assets will have no impact on the club’s pursuit of players this winter, insists Ross Atkins.

Speaking Wednesday afternoon during the Toronto chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s annual awards luncheon, the club’s general manager said he and his staff continue to operate on the plans they’ve already laid out with the winter meetings set to open Monday in Orlando.

“We have so much freedom and flexibility the way that we do operate and the way we’ve articulated our strategy, our resources, our goals to agents, other teams, nothing has changed on that front,” said Atkins.

A sale of the Blue Jays would be no simple task, as the pool of potential buyers for the club would be relatively limited. If a transfer were to occur, Major League Baseball would likely prefer the team go to an individual, as opposed to another corporation, with Edward Rogers, currently the club’s chairman and son of the telecommunication giant’s founder Ted Rogers, making the most sense.

When reached for comment, Rogers director of media relations Sarah Schmidt provided the following statement:

“We have terrific sports assets including the Toronto Blue Jays that have performed really well for us. As we have said, we would like to surface value and get credit for these assets in our overall company valuation.”

[C Court]

Good take on the media ramifications should Rogers get out of the baseball ownership game.

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