Blue Jays’ long All-Star Game drought could get worse after latest 2028 Olympics wrinkle

It is an interesting time right now to be a fan of Major League Baseball. The product is hot with money pouring in at the gates, viewership numbers increasing and merchandise sales exploding.

However, there is a steady sense of pessimism among fans every time labour negotiations are brought up. That's because the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is set to expire in December and the owners are seemingly pushing harder than ever for a salary cap. The Players union feels like that is a non-starter. So the longer the two sides go without a new CBA, the less likely it is that there will be a season at all in 2027.

One of the casualties of that outcome would be the cancellation of the 2027 All-Star game, set to take place in Chicago at the home of the Cubs, Wrigley Field. Beyond that, the players and the owners are also at an odds over whether players would get to play at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles - which would also throw a wrinkle into whether or not there is an All-Star game at all that year.

There is currently no location set for the 2028 All-Star game, but for a period of time, the Blue Jays felt like they could be the ones to host it. Now, that is all up in the air, but it would make sense for the game to land back in Canada for the first time since 1991.

Blue Jays have done everything right in lead up to All-Star game bid

The Blue Jays were the talk of baseball in the late 1980's and early 90's and after the Skydome opened in 1989, the All-Star game was held there two years later. It hasn't been back since. That's 35 years for those that are counting. The only team that hasn't hosted it at least once in that time in addition to the Blue Jays are the Athletics, who haven't hosted a game in 39 years - and likely won't until they officially move to Las Vegas.

If you think about the fact that there are 30 teams in the league and each team gets to take equal turns in hosting, then just by that standard it's long over due to bring the game to Toronto. Now, there are tons of other factors, but considering that Skydome, turned into Rogers Centre and received a $400 million facelift over the last few years, there's plenty of reasons to feature a franchise that just turned 50 years old and has regained a lot of it's former glory, albeit are still looking for that elusive third World Series title.

Regardless, the Blue Jays are a team that makes MLB a lot of money and they have an incredibly loyal fan base; just look at the results of the All-Star game fan vote for evidence. Unfortunately, it looks like the Blue Jays will have to keep waiting. Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro told reporters in March that their bid has "been put on hold. Things have pushed it back."

Perhaps it is time for the Blue Jays to push back themselves and ask, "what else do we need to do to make this happen?" The Olympics and the CBA are already standing in their way. So no matter what decision is made, it's going to be at least 2-3 years before the Blue Jays get any further clarity, and that in itself is a shame for a team that has worked so hard to make baseball incredibly relevant again in across an entire country.

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