Blue Jays: Upgrades started on the Rogers Centre

While we wait and hope that the MLB season will start on time, or even be played at all, at least there are some upgrades happening at the Rogers Centre.

In the midst of the dumpster fire that has been social media lately, there was a sliver of positive news for Blue Jays fans. Photos of renovations taking place at the Rogers Centre this week filtered around Twitter, and in particular it looks like they’re working on getting a new and improved scoreboard in place.

This was a development that we heard about back in the fall when Mark Shapiro made the announcement about the new scoreboard, and he also talked about future plans with the Rogers Centre, or in general for the home of the Blue Jays.

From Laura Armstrong at the Toronto Star back in October:

"“The biggest capital project that’s left for the Blue Jays to consider is, how do we either address Rogers Centre through a significant renovation or a new stadium at some point,” Shapiro said. “That’s not immediate, but it’s one, when you think about the long-term horizon for the Blue Jays, we’re going to need to address at some point.”"

To be fair, the Blue Jays have made some significant steps with developing the facilities in their organization, however, most of that work has come with their beautiful new Spring Training complex in Florida. That turned out to be particularly useful last year when the Jays were unable to play their home games in Canada for the bulk of the season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the issues with crossing the border between Canada and the United States.

As for future plans for the Rogers Centre, it’s good that Shapiro acknowledges that at some point in the not so distant future, they’re going to have improve the stadium experience in Toronto. Whether that comes in the form of major renovations to the existing stadium, or if they build a new one altogether, we should see some movement in that direction over the next few years.

And while a new scoreboard is hardly anything to get excited about in light of the ongoing CBA discussions that threaten to compromise or even cancel the 2022 season, at least there’s something positive to talk about in the baseball world. As you were.