Mark Shapiro has been with the Toronto Blue Jays since the end of the 2015 season.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
The Toronto Blue Jays may not have yet secured free agent Bo Bichette or other key on-field personnel for next season, but the man overseeing the operation will be coming back, after Rogers Communications Inc. announced on Friday it has renewed the contract of Mark Shapiro as president and CEO of the team for the next five years.
“Mark’s exceptional leadership has been a driving force behind the Blue Jays success, and we’re thrilled he will continue to lead our team and build on their incredible momentum,” said Edward Rogers, the chair of the Blue Jays and the executive chair of Rogers, in a statement announcing the contract renewal. “We are excited to work with Mark and his team to give them the tools and resources they need to bring World Series championships back to Canada.”
The renewal was not a surprise: At Shapiro’s end-of-season press conference, he told reporters that he and the team had put contract negotiations on hold for the postseason, but “there’s a desire for me to remain here … we’ll likely work something out.”
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Shapiro, 58, is only the sixth Blue Jays president and CEO since the franchise began in 1977. He joined the team after the 2015 season and has already served the longest term of anyone in the position. (Paul Beeston served 16 seasons across two terms, 1989-1997 and 2009-2015.)
The Jays have made the playoffs in five out of Shapiro’s 10 seasons but had not won a single postseason game since 2016 until this year. They lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games.
Overseeing both baseball and business operations, Shapiro brought general manager Ross Atkins with him from the Cleveland Guardians and has shepherded a years-long $400-million-plus renovation of the Rogers Centre as well as a refresh of the team’s player development complex in Dunedin, Fla., which helped attract serious on-field talent. The World Series run – Shapiro’s first since 1997, when he was director of player development for the Cleveland Guardians – along with Rogers’s willingness to spend top dollar has put the team into contention for even more free-agent talent.
Under Shapiro’s leadership, Atkins signed a blockbuster US$500-million contract extension with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and, most recently, a US$210-million contract with pitcher Dylan Cease.
“Under Mark’s leadership, the Blue Jays have become a benchmark for excellence in Major League Baseball,” said Tony Staffieri, the president and CEO of Rogers, in a statement.
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The renovation of the Rogers Centre has beefed up the team’s VIP-level ticketing to match or exceed the luxury offerings at other Major League Baseball parks. The project rankled many longtime season ticket members, who were relocated from the seats that had been in their families, sometimes for decades, but Shapiro received praise for personally responding to e-mailed complaints that he received.
The renovations also added general-admission areas at low price points to increase access for those who can’t afford the higher prices in most of the stadium’s sections.
On Friday, Shapiro said he’s grateful and honoured to be able to continue to lead the Jays. “Together we have built an organization with people who care deeply about baseball and take immense pride in being Canada’s team,” he said in a statement. “Watching our country unite behind our team this past season has inspired and energized us to continue a relentless pursuit of bringing World Series championships back to Canada.”
The Jays won championships in 1992 and 1993 but had not returned to the World Series until this year.