It hit the Blue Jays’ front office about as hard as a Roy Halladay fastball to the jaw.
As first reported on metronews.ca on Tuesday after noon, Canada’s MLB franchise laid off about 40 employees on what surviving members of the front office have labelled Black Tuesday.
“So much for happy holidays,” a Blue Jays source lamented.
“A big chunk of the sales staff has been laid off. It’s a very, very, very sad day. A morbid day. We’re seeing a lot of tears here (at the Rogers Centre). First, we came into the office to the news that our owner (Ted Rogers) just died. And then the layoffs. I guess this day will go down for the rest of time as Black Tuesday for the Jays.”
A number of divisions within the Rogers corporation were affected by the downsizing. It’s yet another lousy sign of the times. Devastating economy. Recession. Dismal exchange rate. Misery. Lost jobs.
The Jays are the first sports organization in Canada to demonstrate their troubles with massive layoffs. Sources who know about these sorts of things told me no Canadian sports franchise in history has laid off as many employees in one day as the Jays did yesterday.
And brace yourself because, sadly, other clubs surely will follow suit.
“It’s an awful feeling,” one of the Jays’ laid-off salesmen told me. “It’s hard to believe that they can offer tens of millions of dollars to a pitcher like A.J. Burnett and yet get rid of all of us like this. Put all of us (laid-off employees) together and we wouldn’t even make half of what Burnett would get for one year … it’s hard to take.”
And, oh yes, the Jays also have cancelled their annual Christmas party.
• It should be a happier day Sunday at the Rogers Centre, where the NFL will play its first regular-season game on Canadian turf.
The Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins (including ex-Argonauts dud Ricky Williams) will meet, though Rogers Centre sources anticipate empty seats.
“It’s not sold out,” one said. “People obviously are reluctant to spend money these days for overpriced tickets.” In recent weeks, Rogers reduced prices for some of the seats for the Bills-Dolphins tilt.
• Like Calgary Stampeders kicker Sandro DeAngelis, Hamilton Tiger-Cats kicker Nick Setta has drawn considerable attention from NFL sources. Setta, however, is strongly leaning toward re-signing with the Ticats for considerably less money than he could make if he cracked an NFL roster.
“In all honesty, I like Hamilton,” Setta said. “I honestly want to stay.”
Setta led the CFL in the past season with a punting average of 47.4 yards.
Marty York is Metro’s national sports columnist as well as an
instructor at the College of Sports Media in Toronto. He can be heard
regularly on Vancouver radio station CKNW with Sportstalk host Dan
Russell. Contact Marty at marty.york@metronews.ca
