[superdude211]

SkyDome is getting a facelift with new scoreboards, new playing surface and a new name - .Rogers Centre

Owner Ted Rogers also pledged more money for players - $210 million US over three years.

"That represents about a 40 per cent increase on the payroll in the past year," the communications mogul told a news conference Wednesday.

The Jays finished with a 67-94 record last season, bottom of the American League East, a division ruled by big-spending Boston and the New York Yankees.


"We have the resources now to go out and do some things that we would like to do," said GM J.P. Ricciardi. "We're going to take it and look at all the avenues available to us going forward."

[speedythief]

SkyDome now Rogers Centre
SkyDome is getting a facelift with new scoreboards, new playing surface and a new name — Rogers Centre.

Owner Ted Rogers also pledged more money for players — $210 million U.S. over three years.

"That represents about a 40 per cent increase on the payroll in the past year," the communications mogul told a news conference today.

The Jays finished with a 67-94 record last season, bottom of the American League East, a division ruled by big-spending Boston and the New York Yankees.

"We have the resources now to go out and do some things that we would like to do," said GM J.P. Ricciardi. "We're going to take it and look at all the avenues available to us going forward."

The 16-year-old domed stadium's original name came from a fan competition.

Rogers Communications spent just $25 million Cdn to buy SkyDome from Sportsco International, a Chicago-based group of investors, late last year. It was a fraction of the $580 million the stadium cost to build...

[-James-]

im sure that everyone agrees that 'Rogers' Centre' may be the most terrible name for a stadium of all time. it will always be the skydome.

[McFurious]

Originally posted by -James-!
im sure that everyone agrees that 'Rogers' Centre' may be the most terrible name for a stadium of all time. it will always be the skydome.

Why cant they just keep the name.. or at least name it
Rogers SkyDome??

[speedythief]

People will still call it the SkyDome. Rogers is going to suffer the same fate as Air Canada and GM--fans call their arenas the Hangar and the Garage.

[pspot]

Ya bad name, Rogers Field is better
but the money for the Jays is huge, i know its still half the budget of the Soxs and Yanks but it defentely helps

[Crossword]

Rogers Centre? You don't call a baseball field a centre! Name me one stadium in the MLB not called either Field, Park, or Stadium! YOU CAN'T! Ball parks are not CENTRES!!!

If they were going for attention they sure got it... as the laughingstock of the league!

[tmlblue]

Dont really like the name it does sound stupid, but the part I do like is the upgrades in the playing surface and score boards. Finally some good turf, which wont kill you when you dive for balls. Also the fact that they are expanding the payroll to a total of 210 million over the next three years is great. I think now it is time for JP to put up or shut up. He is gonna get decent money now and has had about three years. So now is time to really put his plan into place.

[Petey]

Originally posted by Budweiser_Boy!
Rogers Centre? You don't call a baseball field a centre! Name me one stadium in the MLB not called either Field, Park, or Stadium! YOU CAN'T! Ball parks are not CENTRES!!!

If they were going for attention they sure got it... as the laughingstock of the league!

Want to bet? Camdem Yards.

-Petey

[charlz]

Originally posted by superdude211!
SkyDome is getting a facelift with new scoreboards, new playing surface and a new name - .Rogers Centre

Owner Ted Rogers also pledged more money for players - $210 million US over three years.

....

I could care less - what happens in baseball unless one day they decide to move the jays to a different division or put restrictions on the yankees/Sox. Right now it is beyond a joke.

[Crossword]

Originally posted by Petey!


Want to bet? Camdem Yards.

-Petey

Come on you know what I meant... I shoulda just said you can't name another ballpark called a CENTER....

[Turkish Delight]

This is very good news. We really need some more money to have any chance in that division. If we can just sign a couple of solid pitchers, we will be a pretty good team, considering the fact that we have a lot of good farm players.

[RapsFan]

So Rogers decides to have a good amount of increase in the payroll, yet he does this after we couldn't re-sign Delgado?

[ballocks]

wow, that's great news. i think it's even better that ricciardi has been so responsible for so long that he actually has quite a bit of money to play around with immediately. that's key.

and i can't say i'm not surprised by the amount- $210 over 3? that's enormous (for us). i understand that halladay and wells are going to be in line for incredible raises soon, not to mention some of the other players who may up their market values in the seasons to come (like hudson), but there should still be quite a bit of money leftover.

i'm also impressed with how they got the money. for one thing, i don't think the name "skydome" really matters anymore- provided it ever did. speedy's right, it will always be the dome, it's too unique to ever change (in that sense, i'd almost put it on a level with fenway park), so if you like "using" the word, you'll still get to use it.

furthermore, as a marketing idea, it's also pretty strong. the name doesn't mean anything, i know, but it creates an undeniable, clear relationship between rogers and the jays. for that reason i think some people might now be more willing to spend cash on phones, television, internet, etc.

for example, i've always known the jays were owned by rogers (since the acquisition from interbrew), but i never really translated that into watching more television or spending more on DVD's or whatever. i mean, i wouldn't have done it anyway, but the thought never even crossed my mind.

however, once i heard the news earlier today, i started to think about the whole "rogers vs. bell" debate, and started to view rogers consumption more favorably for that reason alone. "if i'm gonna spend it on essentially the same product, i may as well spend it on something that gives me some dessert in return (however small)..."

i don't think i'm the only one who'll be thus affected by the superficial name change- i think this might actually give rogers a significant bump in market share due to more jays fans collectively flexing their muscles.

i'm challenged to conceive of a single "negative" effect to come along with this change. i think this is good news all around.

peace

[Mr_B]

Originally posted by RapsFan!
So Rogers decides to have a good amount of increase in the payroll, yet he does this after we couldn't re-sign Delgado?

he wasen't gonna resign carlos anyway and I woulden't either asking to much for his age