As the Toronto Blue Jays prepare to kick off the 2023 season Thursday afternoon, Rogers Sports & Media has scored a number of broadcast partnerships.

Leading the announcements is Budweiser, which has expanded its long-time partnership with the Blue Jay to become the official sponsor of a new, state-of-the-art Blue Jays Central studio, located at Rogers Centre and at Sportnet’s Toronto headquarters.

Budweiser parent company Labatt has been a Blue Jays sponsor in some form or another since 1977, and Anthony Attard, VP of sales for Sportsnet, says its activity this season has the brand coming back in a meaningful way.

Budweiser’s presence will be seen across all of the network’s regular season games and Blue Jays Central broadcast, announced by a custom opening animation, logo placements and two billboard per show for brand messaging. There will also be a live hit during each game broadcast of a Bud Zero brand takeover of the studios.

The Rogers Centre studio has been relocated within the stadium to offer centre field as the new backdrop for viewers, says Attard, and it will employ screen technology similar to what is being used for Sportsnet’s hockey studios.

“It provides crystal clear, seamless creative that we’re able to execute high impact visuals – and Budweiser is going to be showing Bud Zero branding within that studio,” says Attard.

Budweiser will also be the official home run sponsor of the Blue Jays on Sportsnet, employing a new camera technology that follows players rounding the bases every time they slug one past the fences. Lower-third activations and an announcer read for the first homer each game night will support the sponsorship.

Last season’s Blue Jays broadcasts on Sportsnet hit a new record for the network, reaching 15.5 million unique viewers and 57 games registering an average viewing audience of one million or more.

Other returning sponsors for this season include Smucker’s, A&W, Mary Brown’s Chicken, Bet365, Home Hardware and TD.

Smucker’s will be debuting new brand sell creative featuring Vlad Guerrero Jr. and George Springer in linear broadcasts, as well as the addition of live streams on SN NOW. A&W will air brand sell spots on TV, radio, SN NOW and social media throughout the season, as well as pre-rolling some Sportsnet Blue Jays content on Twitter with a six-second non-skippable message that will be tagged in social copy.

Mary Brown’s and Sportsnet will collaborate on a full season partnership with TV spots prominently featuring Blue Jays players and restaurant promotions. Bet365 returns as Sportsnet’s gaming partner, weaving live odds and other gaming elements into the broadcast.

TD is focusing its sponsorship around key competitive matchups throughout the season, as well as providing coverage of TD theme nights and in-stadium contests at Rogers Centre. Home Hardware will also be featured in spots and drops throughout each game in 2023-2024, with brand sell increasing during key sales periods.

Krown Rust Protection has also signed on as the new title sponsor of Blue Jays audio broadcasts, as listeners will heard multiple live ad reads each game, sponsorship mentions each half-inning and, on Sportsnet 590 The Fan, co-branded tune-in promos.

And there is still room for more, as Attard says there are more advertiser opportunities through lower-thirds, billboards and drop-ins integrations, but he says the remaining inventory is “very limited.”

There is also a new product being offered by the Sportsnet sales team: Sportsnet Now Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI).

“It gets our advertisers to really hone in on the geographical region and hone in on moments during the game,” Attard explains.  “It’s very targeted for the advertiser using the SN NOW platform. Last year, the commercial mode was exactly what you would see on TV. Now, we can gives advertisers a lot more flexibility to be that much more targeted to their particular audience.”

Attard says that even before the first pitch has been thrown, Sportsnet is enjoying a record year in terms of advertising sales, pointing to spring training viewership reach of 5.1 million as an indicator of the strong interest in the Toronto Blue Jays.