Rogers Communications abruptly ceased local broadcasting on Sportsnet 650 on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, eliminating the final dedicated sports radio station in the Vancouver market.
Listeners tuning into the scheduled morning show hosted by Mike Halford and Jason Brough instead heard syndicated programming from Westwood One, as reported by The Province.
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The station continued to broadcast national programming alongside pre-recorded local advertisements featuring the regular hosts.
Market Left Without Local Sports Talk
The closure leaves Vancouver without a local sports talk radio outlet for the first time in modern history, following a similar move by Bell Media five years ago when it closed TSN 1040.
Station staff were summoned to an all-hands meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss the drastic cuts, according to corporate reports.
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The operational halt occurs despite Sportsnet 650 holding a 10-year broadcast rights agreement with the Vancouver Canucks that runs through the 2032-33 season.
While the future of the local radio broadcasts remains uncertain, the overarching contract covers both television and radio rights under a single bundle managed by Rogers.
Media insider Jonah Sigel first reported the immediate shutdown on Tuesday morning, noting that the station's social media channels had also gone completely silent.
Daily Hive reported that representatives from Rogers PR and Sportsnet management in Toronto did not immediately clarify how the Canucks play-by-play broadcasts or similar regional markets like Calgary's Sportsnet 960 would be permanently affected.
