It was a subtle tweak to their corporate organizational chart, one that came with no public announcement and received no fanfare. Yet it signaled a new era in the franchise’s fortunes.

For nearly two decades, the Blue Jays had operated differently from the rest of Major League Baseball, people familiar with the matter say. The executive responsible for running their front office didn’t report directly to ownership, as is standard within the industry. Instead, he was mired in a web of management bureaucracy within the sprawling ecosystem that makes up Rogers Communications, the Canadian telecom giant that purchased the team in 2000.

Around 2018, however, Rogers changed course. Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro would no longer report to the president of Rogers Media, the subsidiary that encompasses the Blue Jays. From then on, he would answer to a small committee of Rogers Communications’ most senior leadership, including CEO Tony Staffieri and Edward Rogers, the executive chair of the company that bears his name.

The switch might sound trivial, but it was indicative of something far greater. Rogers was in the process of elevating its sports properties from a noncore asset into one of the key components of its overall business.