Rogers dropping NHL rights makes Ohtani deal possible for Blue Jays ( If it happens )

[IU Hawks fan]

SIMMONS: Rogers dropping NHL rights makes Ohtani deal possible for Blue Jays

The Blue Jays signing of Shohei Ohtani — if it happens — would coincide with the end of Rogers' money-hemorrhaging deal with the NHL.

torontosun.com

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[Takuto Maruki]

People seem to be willfully ignoring the RSN apocalypse happening in the US is also going to invariably happen in Canada - and that as companies that are ostensibly telcos first, media companies second, Rogers and Bell are going to think over highly any move that reduces their footprint, but can make them a fistload of money, heavily.

Everyone and their mother knows that Rogers overpaid for the NHL TV contract, and the idea that they could reduce their footprint to simply the Jays, but also ride the Ohtani mule and the secondary windfalls of Japanese company sponsorship opportunities, and targeted advertising to Asian Canadians in Vancouver and Toronto is too much of a benefit to truly ignore.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

People seem to be willfully ignoring the RSN apocalypse happening in the US is also going to invariably happen in Canada - and that as companies that are ostensibly telcos first, media companies second, Rogers and Bell are going to think over highly any move that reduces their footprint, but can make them a fistload of money, heavily.

Everyone and their mother knows that Rogers overpaid for the NHL TV contract, and the idea that they could reduce their footprint to simply the Jays, but also ride the Ohtani mule and the secondary windfalls of Japanese company sponsorship opportunities, and targeted advertising to Asian Canadians in Vancouver and Toronto is too much of a benefit to truly ignore.

Relying on Ohtani as a draw will backfire. It will also backfire quickly.

It might work in the beginning, but the novelty will wear off probably within the first year.

The Jays will also struggle to field a competitive team around him given how much Ohtani will make, so they will end up a mediocre-bad team with a star player.

It'll probably be worse than the Angels situation (in terms of on field results, not embarrassment).

 

[Takuto Maruki]

Relying on Ohtani as a draw will backfire. It will also backfire quickly.

It might work in the beginning, but the novelty will wear off probably within the first year.

The Jays will also struggle to field a competitive team around him given how much Ohtani will make, so they will end up a mediocre-bad team with a star player.

It'll probably be worse than the Angels situation (in terms of on field results, not embarrassment).

Considering the fact that the only reason the Jays are even so hard on Ohtani to begin with is because Shapiro and Atkins especially have a gun to their heads by the fanbase to compete and to make actual, significant changes to better their chances (whether that ends with Ohtani or not) alongside keep at least one of Bo/Vladdy, to say that the team is going to be mediocre or bad *because* of Ohtani's contract is spurrious.

Especially trying to compare the Angels situation - the only reason why the Angels got *that bad* was because Moreno has long since checked out, and in fact tried to get out before pulling the team off the market, and management decided to continually surround Trout and Ohtani later on with crap. If the Jays were to get on the level of the Angels on the end even with Shatkins' supposedly analytical bent - which is already broken considering the money dolled out to Springer, Ryu et. all over the past three years - then at that stage, Rogers' board would have decided long before to get out of sports completely and become a strictly telco/media company.

 

[madmike77]

I think everyone knew Rogers wouldn’t be spending as much for the NHL rights as last time. If they don’t bid at all though, then the contract numbers will be quite a bit lower than they were before.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Who is Ohtani and why does he affect the NHL? Edit Googled him he is a baseball player who will like sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers though the Blue Hays have met with him along with the Cubs and San Francisco Giants.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

Who is Ohtani and why does he affect the NHL? Edit Googled him he is a baseball player who will like sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers though the Blue Hays have met with him along with the Cubs and San Francisco Giants.

He's more than just a baseball player. He's going to command the largest contact in North American sports history, either per year, total dollars, or both.

So if Rogers signs him to the Jays then that will undoubtedly impact their ability and/or willingness to extend their NHL rights deal.

 

[Leaf Fans]

He's more than just a baseball player. He's going to command the largest contact in North American sports history, either per year, total dollars, or both.

So if Rogers signs him to the Jays then that will undoubtedly impact their ability and/or willingness to extend their NHL rights deal.

Oh, OK if Toronto signs him, but it in not that likely, at least according to the article that I read that says that he will most likely sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but I guess money talks.
Thank you.

 

[Yukon Joe]

Who is Ohtani and why does he affect the NHL? Edit Googled him he is a baseball player who will like sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers though the Blue Hays have met with him along with the Cubs and San Francisco Giants.

Ohtani is a physical freak who both pitches AND can hit - and does both at an elite level. He's amongst some of the greatest to play the game of any era.

The notion that Rogers is going to drop the NHL but pay Ohtani is - interesting. I'm sure Ohtani would drive interest in the Jays, but it's an expensive gamble on just one man.

 

[Ciao]

It worked for the Yankees when they bought Babe Ruth.

 

[Yukon Joe]

One thing I saw suggested in the media is that Ohtani partially pays for himself, as the Jays would be able to sign a rights deal in Japan...

No idea how international rights deals work in baseball though - whether that can be team money or league money.

 

[Kane One]

One thing I saw suggested in the media is that Ohtani partially pays for himself, as the Jays would be able to sign a rights deal in Japan...

No idea how international rights deals work in baseball though - whether that can be team money or league money.

Ohtani currently has like 8 times more endorsements than anyone else in baseball, the last time I checked. Ohtani is an absolute superstar in Japan.

Idk how many of you watch baseball, but to compare this to hockey, this is like a prime Wayne Gretzky entering free agency. The only caveat is that his injury will force him to not do half of his role for next season.

 

[LadyStanley]

What are MLB TV rights presently in Japan?

 

[LadyStanley]

Sports broadcasting contracts in Japan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

MLB apparently has contracts with three Japanese entities.

I don't believe that Toronto/Rogers can negotiate for that territory (it's the league's).

 

[varsaku]

Sports broadcasting contracts in Japan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

MLB apparently has contracts with three Japanese entities.

I don't believe that Toronto/Rogers can negotiate for that territory (it's the league's).

Isn't international TV rights usually managed by the leagues.

 

[LadyStanley]

Isn't international TV rights usually managed by the leagues.

That is my understanding. However, NFL has allowed some teams "home territory" internationally.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Seems like is happening. We should get a confirmation soon.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

That is my understanding. However, NFL has allowed some teams "home territory" internationally.

For marketing purposes, not broadcasting.

 

[cheswick]

Who is Ohtani and why does he affect the NHL? Edit Googled him he is a baseball player who will like sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers though the Blue Hays have met with him along with the Cubs and San Francisco Giants.

Probably the greatest baseball player of all time. Most certainly going to sign the largest contract of all time. Dodgers nation is reporting their sources are saying he will sign with Toronto.

 

[Mike Jones]

Whatever gets us national TSN games.

Time for them to get Ray back into the fold.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Probably the greatest baseball player of all time. Most certainly going to sign the largest contract of all time. Dodgers nation is reporting their sources are saying he will sign with Toronto.

Not surprising. I didn't even know who he was and I had only read the one article.

 

[rojac]

First of all, this is just Steve Simmons, creator of the Phil Kessel hot dog story, speculating.

Given that many have speculated that an Ohtani deal would pretty much pay for itself, I'm not sure that it would have any impact on what Rogers does about the NHL deal.

Rogers almost certainly has an exclusive time period to renegotiate the NHL deal. I wonder i
f during that time, they could form a coalition with Bell to effectively renew the current deal but with the content being split with Bell. Basically, the idea being that Rogers and Bell could team up to keep out any streamers by settling it during Rogers' exclusive window.

Under such a deal, Rogers/Bell could split national nights and also split non-Canadian games similar to the way they currently split non-Raptors NBA games. Also, assuming that the out-of-market streaming rights would be co-owned, they may be able to combine those rights with their local streaming rights to create a streaming service that offers every single NHL game.

In any event, the current Rogers deal ends after the 2025-26 season. And based on the fact that the current deal which started with the 2014-15 season was announced in November 2013, I wouldn't expect to hear much until Fall of 2025.

 

[rojac]

People seem to be willfully ignoring the RSN apocalypse happening in the US is also going to invariably happen in Canada - and that as companies that are ostensibly telcos first, media companies second, Rogers and Bell are going to think over highly any move that reduces their footprint, but can make them a fistload of money, heavily.

Everyone and their mother knows that Rogers overpaid for the NHL TV contract, and the idea that they could reduce their footprint to simply the Jays, but also ride the Ohtani mule and the secondary windfalls of Japanese company sponsorship opportunities, and targeted advertising to Asian Canadians in Vancouver and Toronto is too much of a benefit to truly ignore.

I have seen no indication that either TSN or Sportsnet are suffering over their regional deals. I think the fact that Bell and Rogers are also the main distributors of those channels is a big difference from the US situation where RSNs are more dependent on other entities to carry them.

Also, I see no reason to connect what happens to the next NHL rights deal. Many sources say that an Ohtani deal will pay for itself, so it's not like they need to drop the NHL to pay for Ohtani.

Personally, I think that Roger's will still have a major part of the next Canadian TV deal and wouldn't be surprised to see a deal where what Roger's currently has split with Bell.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

How many will Rogers lay off after he doesn't draw enough ?

Your product f***ing sucks that's why you can't make any f***ing money.

Take a look at that shit first

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Ohtani currently has like 8 times more endorsements than anyone else in baseball, the last time I checked. Ohtani is an absolute superstar in Japan.

Idk how many of you watch baseball, but to compare this to hockey, this is like a prime Wayne Gretzky entering free agency. The only caveat is that his injury will force him to not do half of his role for next season.

And considering that Ohtani is MVP level at both pitching and as an everyday player, it's as if Gretzky was entering FA as both the greatest forward of all time AND as a Vezina winning goalie.

Nothing even close to him since Babe Ruth with the Red Sox over a century ago.