Sports fans share outrage online as Sportsnet jacks up prices: 'An outright middle finger'
The cost for some Canadian sports fans to follow their favourite teams is about to get a lot more expensive.
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Subscribers to the Sportsnet+ premium plan were notified by email on Thursday that the cost of the package will be jumping by 30% in just two months.
'We wanted to let you know that effective September 9, 2025, the price of your Sportsnet+ premium annual plan will increase from our current price of $249.99 plus applicable taxes per year to $324.99 plus applicable taxes per year,' the email read.
'The charge will be reflected on your next billing date from September 9, 2025, onwards, unless you cancel or modify your subscription before then.'
The increase of $75 per year represents a massive 30% hike in the cost of the package, which had sports fans fuming online.
'That's crazy, I feel like you can slip a 5-10% increase by without people complaining too much but 30% is an outright middle finger to the existing subscriber base,' one user wrote on Reddit.
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'The app is already so s*** that I thought their current price was way too much, jumping that much is criminal,' another replied.
Predictably, the premium plan isn't the only one that the company is hiking the price tag on. The monthly fee for the Sportsnet+ standard plan will go from $24.99 to $29.99 per month and the annual standard subscription goes from $199.99 to $249.99, a 25% rise in cost for loyal subscribers.
The pending increases appears to have sent fan users scrambling to cancel their subscriptions – maybe a bit too many for Sportsnet's system to handle.
'Must be getting hammered with cancellations, can't even load the subscription management screen,' one user wrote on Reddit.
'Ya I went to go cancel and it kept timing out,' another replied while a few users posted screenshots of error messages.
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Users also cheekily asked what the extra costs would bring, if they were to pay the new price.
'Welp, guess I'm cancelling. $75 Extra per year, for what exactly?' one user asked.
'Gee whiz, they must be struggling over there at Sportsnet. I'm sure this comes with a bunch of new features,' another joked.
Other users commented on how streams on Sportsnet+ were limited to 720p and that there was a notable difference when watching recent Toronto Blue Jays games that were broadcast on Apple TV.
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'I have a 1440p monitor and the streams on Sportsnet feel like 720p,' a Jays fan commented on a Reddit thread about the price increase.
'That's because they are 720p,' another user replied.
'Honestly the AppleTV games opened my eyes to how good games could look,' a third fan commented.
Rogers, which owns Sportsnet, recently finalized its deal to become the majority owner of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), with a 75% stake in the company.
The deal, valued at $4.7 billion, positions Rogers as the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Argonauts and Toronto FC, to go along with the Toronto Blue Jays.
As Postmedia's Rob Longley noted on Thursday, industry observers are wondering if the cash grab is just the beginning as Rogers' control of the Canadian sports market grows.
According to Longley, there has been speculation in the broadcast sphere that Rogers will work to further its influence on the way its teams are covered on multiple platforms and the fact that it can arbitrarily control and increase pricing means the company has fans where it wants them.
'It's starting,' one broadcast veteran wryly noted.
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