Blue Jays Senior VP/Baseball Operations & GM Alex Anthopoulos on Saturday said that salary "has never been an issue for him and that he definitely wants to stay" with the team beyond his contract expiring, according to John Lott of the NATIONAL POST. Anthopoulos: "Why wouldn't I? I've enjoyed every year I've been in Toronto. I love the city. I love everything about it." Lott noted only "one detail has ever been leaked about his contract: that it covered five years and that it expires Oct. 31." Anthopoulos "did not sound inclined to engage in tough bargaining" with new President & CEO Mark Shapiro, who is replacing Paul Beeston (NATIONAL POST, 10/4). TSN.ca's Scott MacArthur wrote Anthopoulos is "set up for a big payday" after the "success of the ballclub and the revenue that’s been generated due to increased ticket and concession sales and the money to come -- ad rates and offseason ticket package buys." Anthopoulos: "I just don't look at things like that. There are 30 jobs like this. I've never been that way. We're in sports because we like it; we like what we do" (TSN.ca, 10/3). In Toronto, Richard Griffin wrote Anthopoulos "seems blissfully unaware that south of the border he is considered one of the top free agents in baseball at season’s end." If he is "aware that he is in the driver’s seat for any negotiations with the Jays, he pretends not to care." He has "no agent, no demands," and is 100% "focused on his Blue Jays reaching the World Series" (TORONTO STAR, 10/4).
ROGER THAT: The GLOBE & MAIL's Christine Dobby wrote critics are "hard to find now" as the Blue Jays head into their first playoff appearance in 22 years. Attendance this season "totalled 2,794,891, the most since 1995, when the team attracted 2,826,483." Rogers Sportsnet enjoyed an "enviable run in September as the Jays chased a playoff berth and clinched the division with just a few games to play in the regular season." Rogers President of Sportsnet & NHL Properties Scott Moore said that the network claimed 7.9% "of the viewing audience in Canada, an average per-minute audience over 24 hours." Moore: “That’s the highest it’s ever been.” He added that it was the "No. 2 network in Canada in prime time'” (GLOBE & MAIL, 10/3).
