TORONTO, January 29, 2001 – Paul Godfrey, president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays, says pro sports teams are important to the community and governments at all levels should come to their aid, particularly the National Hockey League (NHL).

Godfrey will speak to a group of aspiring professional sport business executives about the future of the industry in Canada and his own recipe for success, at the Third Annual Sport Business Dinner at York University Thursday, February 1 at 7 p.m. The event is sponsored by York’s Sport Administration Program.

Godfrey has publicly lamented the loss of NHL hockey teams in Quebec City and Winnipeg and has warned that spiraling U.S. dollar costs and taxation will continue to threaten professional teams in other Canadian centres unless governments step in to help.

As president of the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club, Godfrey has said his first priority is to restore the team to its previous splendor. He was appointed to the job last summer when Rogers Communications bought the team from the Belgium-based Interbrew. Godfrey was a leader in bringing major league baseball to Toronto in the 1970s and presided over the selection, design and construction of the SkyDome, which opened in 1989. He continues to pursue his dream of winning a National Football League franchise for Toronto that, if established, would be the first Canadian team in the NFL.

Prior to his appointment to the Blue Jays, Godfrey was president and chief executive officer of the Sun Media Corporation. He began his career at the Sun in August 1984, as publisher and chief executive officer of the Toronto Sun daily newspaper. He was appointed president and chief operating officer of The Sun Publishing Corporation in 1991. In 1996, Godfrey led a management buy-out of The Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation. On October 3, 1996, his management team formed Sun Media Corporation with the financial backing of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board and CIBC Wood Gundy Securities Inc. Sun Media Corporation (a Quebecor company) is now one of the largest newspaper groups in Canada.

 Before joining the Sun, Godfrey was chairman of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, where he had a major impact on municipal policies ranging from transportation and policing to culture and sports. He will address the Annual Sport Business Dinner at York University at 7 p.m. in the Stong College Dining Hall, Stong College, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele St.

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For further information, please contact:

Julie Akleh
Conference Coordinator
Sport Administration Program
(905) 940-9644
jakleh@home.com

Susan Vail
Coordinator
Sport Administration Program
(416) 736-2100, ext. 44755
suevail@yorku.ca

Susan Bigelow
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22091
sbigelow@yorku.ca
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