Blue Jays run helps boost Rogers’ profit, company eyes buyout of remaining MLSE stake

The Rogers Communications sign marks the company's headquarters in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim

The Toronto Blue Jays’ run to Game 7 of the World Series helped Rogers Communications Inc. double its media revenue during the company’s most recent quarter, and it says 2026 could mark another big year for its growing sports portfolio.

The Toronto-based cable and wireless company credited record Blue Jays television audiences and packed Rogers Centre attendances last fall as its net income grew. Rogers’ profit attributable to shareholders reached $743 million or $1.37 per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from a profit of $558 million or $1.02 per diluted share in the last three months of 2024.

Its total revenue was $6.17 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $5.48 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Media revenue at Rogers, which includes the Jays, rose to $1.24 billion for the quarter, up from $547 million a year earlier. 

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The Blue Jays took the Los Angeles Dodgers to extra innings of Game 7 before losing the baseball championship. Rogers said an average audience of 10.9 million viewers watched the final game on its Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ and Citytv properties and the entire World Series averaged 7.5 million viewers, with 23 million Canadians tuning in at some point.

“Game 7 of the World Series was the most watched Rogers broadcast ever, and the most-watched broadcast in Canada’s history outside of the Winter Olympics back in 2010,” Rogers chief executive Tony Staffieri told analysts on a conference call Thursday.

The company hopes momentum from the team’s magical run can continue into the upcoming baseball season, which gets underway in just under two months. But chief financial officer Glenn Brandt acknowledged it can be tough to forecast economic impacts from sports teams.

“We do expect a strong return for the Blue Jays starting at the end of March with attendance, and we expect to have a competitive season,” he said. 

“We are anticipating a successful season, but you can’t predict playoff runs for any of the teams.”

The Blue Jays weren’t the only source of growth within Rogers’ sports portfolio last quarter. It also attributed strong results to increased revenue from Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment after Rogers closed a $4.7-billion deal with rival BCE Inc. to buy its 37.5 per cent stake in the sports conglomerate halfway through the year.

The acquisition made Rogers the majority owner of MLSE, which owns the NHL’s Maple Leafs, NBA’s Raptors, CFL’s Argonauts, MLS’ Toronto FC and AHL’s Marlies. 

Rogers holds an option allowing it to buy out the remaining 25 per cent stake in MLSE — owned by Larry Tanenbaum through his holding company Kilmer Sports Inc. — by July of this year.

Staffieri said Rogers plans to do so, which will give it full ownership of the company.

“Clearly, Rogers has established a set of world-class assets with global appeal,” he said.

“We believe this will have significant upside in our communication business, and the synergies will further enhance our value proposition to attract and retain customers.”

The road map ahead would see the telecom giant combine its Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary, including the Blue Jays and Rogers Centre, with MLSE, said Brandt. He said Rogers has already “started that exercise on a very preliminary basis” but the merger will likely stretch into 2027.

“The timing of that will depend upon how quickly we can come to close on buying out the 25 per cent interest,” Brandt said.

A TD Cowen report published last month valued the potential deal between Rogers and Kilmer in the ballpark of $4 billion.

“Once Rogers owns 100 per cent of MLSE, we expect it will fold-in the Toronto Blue Jays and potentially other media assets (such as Sportsnet) before finalizing a sale with minority investors,” said analyst Vince Valentini in the report on sports value trends.

“Down the road, we could see a spinout or IPO of MLSE and possibly a separate spinout or IPO for its venues.”

Valentini said Rogers’ sports portfolio could be worth up to $20 billion after the Kilmer buyout, providing a “major boost” to the company’s share price and helping it reduce debt. 

“While achieving a valuation this rich may be challenging, in our view, it provides a good illustrative example of how meaningful a sport monetization catalyst is for the stock,” he said.

Wireless subscriptions fall

Wireless revenue for the quarter totalled $2.97 billion, compared with $2.98 billion a year earlier, while cable revenue held steady at $1.98 billion.

On an adjusted basis, Rogers says it earned $1.51 per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of $1.46 per diluted share a year earlier.

The results came as the company reported 39,000 total mobile phone net subscriber additions, including 37,000 postpaid — down around 46 per cent from 69,000 postpaid additions in the same quarter last year.

Staffieri said the figures reflect a “very competitive” quarter for the telecom sector, which included Black Friday and Boxing Day-related promotional offers. That came against the backdrop of a smaller market for new subscribers, given recent immigration slowdowns.

Brandt took aim at some of Rogers’ competitors who offered what he called “unsustainable discounting” while chasing “uneconomic market share.” He said while that environment of cheaper offers has continued into January, Rogers is taking a more “balanced” approach to achieving revenue and subscriber growth and has “remained selective with our offers.”

“There are certain price points that we see as being uneconomical,” added Staffieri. 

“We don’t get the logic on that, and we don’t get how our competitors are thinking about that as building a solid wireless business on fundamentals. But that’s over to them.”

Rogers’ monthly churn for net postpaid mobile subscribers — a measure of those who cancelled their service — was 1.43 per cent, an improvement from 1.53 per cent during its previous fourth quarter.

Rogers’ mobile phone average monthly revenue per user was $56.43, down from $58.04 in the fourth quarter of the prior year.

Retail internet net additions totalled 22,000, down from 26,000 a year earlier.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2026.

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press