ST. LOUIS -- The Blue Jays had their man. No, not the guy to replace Roy Halladay, but the man to replace Paul Godfrey, who stepped down as president and CEO of the Jays following the 2008 season.
The Jays had targeted and were set to hire Rick Welts, president and CEO of the NBA Phoenix Suns, according to sources in Phoenix.
"Bryan Colangelo already is there (GM of the Raptors) and the Jays tried to hire Welts too," a person familiar with the Jays' job search said.
What happened? Well, on April 30, the Suns promoted Welts to be president and CEO from his position of president and chief operating officer.
Welts was responsible for the management of US Airways Arena, the business operations of the Suns and the Mercury of the WNBA.
Paul Beeston, the Jays current CEO on a long-term, interim basis, has said in the past he was looking for someone who has experience running a building like the Rogers Centre.
When Beeston ran the Jays in their boom years, the Jays did not own the SkyDome.
Now, Rogers Communications owns the Rogers Centre and is looking for someone with expertise to run the building the other 275 dates of the year that the Jays (81 dates) and the Argos (nine) are not at home.
Welts was responsible for the 1992 Olympics Dream Team marketing program, has been president of FOX Sports Enterprises, which managed FOX interests in Madison Square Garden, the Staples Center, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Kings.
Welts also worked with the Seattle SuperSonics and the NBA league office and is credited with creating the NBA all-star weekend, which both the NHL and baseball have adopted.
The search for Godfrey's replacement continues.
