Jose Bautista is boycotting the Blue Jays’ official broadcast network

The Toronto Blue Jays might be the hottest team in the game over the past couple weeks, but not everyone is happy. Outfielder Jose Bautista has refused to give interviews to Sportsnet, the team’s official broadcast network, for months.

Brendan Kennendy of the Toronto Star reports that the issue started because Bautista believes the network mishandled a story earlier this season.

Jose Bautista has refused to do one-on-one interviews with Sportsnet for the past three months in protest of the broadcaster’s refusal to pay the cost of a designer suit purchased by rookie Devon Travis as part of a TV segment aired on Sportsnet on May 19.

It seems as though it was unclear who would pay for the suit once the segment had ended, and Bautista feels the network took advantage of a young player.

Bautista, a six-time all-star who has played in Toronto since 2008, has told Sportsnet executives he will not do any interviews until Travis is reimbursed for the cost of the suit or he is given a gift certificate from Gotstyle, the men’s clothier featured in the segment.

Bautista believes Sportsnet took advantage of Travis — since it was the network’s idea to do the suit-buying special — and that he needs to stand up for his rookie teammate, who is unable to stand up for himself given his lower-echelon status in the league and with his new team.

Every single person involved in the story has refused comment when asked about the situation.

The whole thing is strange considering Sportsnet is the official broadcaster of the Blue Jays. The station and the team are both owned by Rogers Communications.

Kennedy spoke to a journalism instructor about the whole ordeal, and she explained that the network probably didn’t want to look too cozy with the club.

“If Sportsnet had’ve paid for the suit, it could have given the appearance of having too cozy a relationship with Travis and the Blue Jays,” she said. “It’s a lot fuzzier than out-and-out paying for news, but Sportsnet and the Jays already have the same owner, so there’s the perception already that they’re too close, that there’s an ethical conflict or there could be some threat to journalistic independence. So it just looks better if he pays for his own suit.”

That reasoning is somewhat silly, though. Both entities are owned by the same company, so of course Sportsnet is going to be cozy with the Blue Jays. It would be similar to the YES Network talking up the Yankees. It’s in their best interest to promote the team. This is not a big secret among the fans.

It’s also not an issue of money. Travis is making the major-league minimum this season, which is just over $500,000, so he can clearly afford a new suit. The issue for Bautista seems to be that Travis was strung along and put in an awkward situation. Travis doesn’t really have the stature within the game to challenge Sportsnet, but Bautista certainly does.

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The whole thing is weird, and it’s unclear whether it will be solved. Sportsnet probably doesn’t enjoy the fact that one of the Blue Jays’ best players is boycotting them, but this is not unprecedented territory with athletes.

As of right now, it doesn’t look like either side is willing to budge any time soon.

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