Rogers Sportsnet reports soon-to-be-Rogers-owned TFC to play at Rogers-owned venue By Steven Sandor Posted on December 21, 2011 Comments Off on Rogers Sportsnet reports soon-to-be-Rogers-owned TFC to play at Rogers-owned venue 0 809 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Rogers Centre Rogers Sportsnet is reporting that Rogers Centre will house the March 7 CONCACAF Champions League match between Toronto FC, which will soon be part-owned by Rogers, and the Los Angeles Galaxy. There is absolutely no reason to doubt this report (CLICK), considering Rogers owns both Sportsnet and the Rogers Centre, and will soon own 37.5 per cent of Toronto FC. Toronto FC itself has yet to officially announce the venue of the CCL quarter-final first leg, even though a cynic might want to say that Rogers getting the scoop on a venue that it owns and a team that it will soon have a stake in is kind of like an official announcement. (All apologies to John Molinaro, who is an excellent soccer writer, and gets a lot of scoops in our business, But, with the convergence of media and MLSE, the coverage of TFC, Jays, Leafs, Raptors and Marlies is always going to come under scrutiny. That’s the new lay of the land.) But it begs a bigger question. As hinted by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment COO Tom Anselmi earlier on in the process, (see link below) there was a choice to be made — go to Rogers Centre or upgrade BMO Field, which is vulnerable to frozen pipes in cold temperatures. Does this mean that Rogers Centre will be used for more cold-weather games in the future, especially with MLS season kick-offs coming earlier and earlier each and every season?
