The Blue Jays have been the major league parent club of the Buffalo Bisons since 2013. Numerous players on the Blue Jays roster currently playing in the World Series played at least one game in a Bisons uniform, either as a developing player moving up in the Blue Jays’ developmental system, or on a temporary assignment while rehabilitating following an injury.
There were also those months in 2020 and 2021 when the Jays called Buffalo home, to get around travel restrictions at the US-Canada border during the COVID pandemic.
Yet despite these examples of close relations between the Blue Jays and Buffalo, the big league team couldn’t offer direct broadcasts within the Buffalo market, nor could they advertise locally.
“We are under some restrictions here, and we're respectful of the Yankees and Mets territory from a marketing standpoint, broadcast and anything along that line sort of out of our control that's run by Major League Baseball,” said Marnie Starkman, Blue Jays executive vice president, during a news conference in 2020 when the Blue Jays were preparing to play home games at Sahlen Field.
The Blue Jays were handcuffed by Major League Baseball’s marketing territorial boundaries, which for the team stopped at the international border. But the team has found ways to get around the rules and make their brand known.
Regional television blackout rules which frustrated fans for many years are giving way to direct-to-consumer streaming options.
Then there’s the relationship announced earlier this year between Pegula Sports and Entertainment, owners of pro sports franchises including the Buffalo Bills (National Football League), Buffalo Sabres (National Hockey League), and Buffalo Bandit (National Lacrosse League); and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owners of franchises including the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL), Toronto Raptors (National Basketball Association), FC Toronto (Major League Soccer), and Toronto Argonauts (Canadian Football League). It’s through this relationship that the Buffalo Bills have helped the Blue Jays get their name into the heads of Western New York sports fans.
“Rogers Communications, which is the largest media telecom company in all of Canada, owns the Toronto Blue Jays. Well, guess what? They also own major Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment,” said John Cimperman, longtime sports marketer and co-host of BTPM’s Skin in the Game. “There is already a partnership there between PSE and MLS. I think that can be replicated with Rich Products. And there could be even more synergies between the clubs in southern Ontario, Toronto and obviously here in Western New York.”
Robert Rich, Jr., whose father founded Rich Products, owns the Buffalo Bisons – Toronto’s top minor-league affiliate since 2013.
Even before the PSE-MLSE cross-promotional partnership, the Buffalo Bills were making their presence known in Toronto. Several years back, the Bills played a limited number of games in Toronto. More recently, in 2023, Bills quarterback Josh Allen took batting practice with the Blue Jays, sporting a Toronto jersey with his number 17.
The Blue Jays’ current run in the World Series can only help build their fan interest in Western New York. Cimperman adds that many Canadian baseball fans take an interest in the Bisons, where they may watch top prospects develop.
“The Blue Jays fan, the Canadian target audience, is very, very important to the Bisons. Anywhere between 15 and 20 percent of their tickets can come from a Canadian fan. So that market's important to them,” he said. “Equally, I can also speak to the Blue Jays’ side, the value of having us fans, Buffalonians, come up to see games is also of value to them. I just think it just makes too much sense.”
