A second CFL team in Toronto?

NO MORE TEAMS IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO! Toronto doesn’t support the one team it has, so why reward that poor support with yet another team? Within 3 to 5 years, not only would the second TO team fold, but it would take the Argos down with it, since you’d be splitting an already weak fan base.

Or creating new ones by giving various boroughs their own sports teams and their own affordable sports-entertainnent options

Relocate the team to any satellite community that is growing, like Milton.

Exactly. I don’t think it’s about to happen anyway, but that’s the angle any prospective owner would have to take.

A CFL franchise is a business designed to attract customers, not a gift to reward fans.

With so many Toronto teams now the only league I see viable to have multiple teams other than a second NHL team is multiple soccer CPL teams because the attendance numbers are more attainable when they are looking at getting 5 to 8 thousand and making sure they represent a region of the GTA . Plus the immigration tide favours that sport .

Even junior hockey has trouble in Toronto because of the competition .

What they need for soccer facilities is less and what they need for support becomes less . So with the MLS already there maybe only one or two soccer franchises could be added with the York 9 having a rival in Mississauga let’s say .

At one time the CFL should have been more business aggressive but never understood that staying in quiet survive mode gets you just that just more days to survive . They also should have been aggressive with government with what stipulates Can CON for television . The Blue Jays are not Can con with an entire foreign roster and neither are the Raptors . Bell and Rogers are just establishing a media kingdom for one region of the country by two rival moguls . This hurts the rest of the country to develop properly our own identity and culture nationally .

Ambrosie is seeking global interests but needs to really digest your selling 3 down football worldwide not football . Our game needs to be played worldwide and must develop OUR game in order to influence the slice of the market or all gains will be turned over tot he 4 down game NFL . Without this there will be no success that will be strong enough to influence larger media rights deals in foreign markets that won’t be scooped up by the NFL . The foreign leagues must have an opportunity to play for something . Thats the NFL’s only weakness they don’t let others play for the world championship .

This idea comes up on these forums at least once a year. I have yet to see anyone who is a proponent of it provide justification for losing some (and potentially many) existing fans who buy tickets to attend games. That’s what moving to “the suburbs” would do. The suburbs of Toronto are a gigantic region, and no single location within it is as easy to get to as the current location. Put a stadium in Oshawa or Whitby, say, and you will lose a pile of fans from Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, and vice versa. The Argos are not in position to lose any existing fans, and it’s completely unproven (and IMO completely improbable) that a suburban community would embrace the team to such an extent as to more than offset the loss of existing fans.

I didn’t need too read any further than this .

And for the record ? Yes it does sound absolutely way , way beyond silly .

As a matter of fact I think you should just…

Can’t come close to filling the seats now, so why another team to have empty seats??? Dumb idea

They already have the closest rival in the league. Only in Toronto could they say they need themselves as rivals when their biggest rival is under 50 miles away

Here’s a thought…

Why stop at just putting a 2nd team in Toronto ?? :o

Why don’t we just put a second team in every CFL city and thus doubling the size of the league to eighteen teams ::).

…or does perhaps maybe that sound too silly ?? ;D

Why stop at 2?

Now yer talking !!! . Hell , why not just go full tilt boogie on this and go not one , not two BUT three teams in every CFL city and a full 27 team league . Oh , but wait , now yer back to that uneven , unbalanced thingy again . Hmmm , let’s think about this for a second . How can we possibly even things up ?..I’VE GOT IT !!! It will be three teams per city with the exception of Toronto who will get an additional fourth team . Get on this Ambrosie…Make it happen . It can be done .::slight_smile: ;D

One way or another, the CFL has to get creative on how its structured and the manner with which it conducts business. The conservatism is slowly leading to its demise.

Toronto’s boroughs have populations greater than some provinces. The right marketing could generate a sense of identity with these communities.

The Argos are a bit of a lost cause with the status quo situation. I really thought a smaller stadium would have solved their issues but they were 10 years too late in making that happen.

Borough teams might increase the presence of mind of the sport. The other popular sports in Toronto play 30 to 162 times per year. That’s alot of exposure verses the 18 game schedule of the CFL or 70 some-odd schedule league wide. More pro football games in more communities in the city might spur more interest.

It’s also true that this might not work for a plethora of reasons. That said, if it’s always going to be “expand only once our existing teams are on solid footing” the league will never grow.

This was one of my thoughts. More CFL teams in Toronto, more interest. As I mentioned earlier, London, England has 12 pro soccer teams with a population of 8.5 million. Toronto has one pro football team with a population of 6.5 million…

BMO is easily accessible as it is. People in Brampton aren’t suddenly going to become CFL fans if you plop a stadium down there.

I think it is possible that more people up north might go to a game at a place like Markham.

However, it wouldn’t be enough for a second team to work in gta.

I don’t remember numbers but say the average attendance now at argos is 14,000

IF you put a second team, it might draw an additional 5000 say, as well as maybe take a 3000 from argos.

Now you one team with 11,000 and one team with 8,000

Well said.

And it seems there are WAY too many people on here who DON’T want the league to grow, or they expect the league office to develop some sort of “magic” to save the league. What we are doing ISN’T working. How many red flags do people need? Attendance is down. TV viewership is down. Sponsorship seems to be down. One team has already gone belly-up (Montreal) and the only thing keeping it out of bankruptcy court is the league’s takeover. We can’t get anything legitimate moving in the maritimes. And the way to “save” a troubled league isn’t to insist on building $300 million state of the art stadiums.

The author of this meme has suggested something legitimate, something untried. We’ve tried the “start teams in the US” and I haven’t met a single CFL fan who thought that was a success. CFL 2.0 is an attempt to expand the league, but the naysayers continue to bash the concept.

At least we have some fans here who are trying to kick around ways to save this league. And if you don’t believe the league needs saving…then we’ve already lost it.

Pretty dramatic.

So are tonight’s games canceled then? I was looking forward to seeing how my Ticats would do with the new QB.

This is not a simple “take 20,000 fans, divide by 2, and there’s your fan base.”

Synergy. Competition.

These are the things that drive success today. People on here poo-pooing the idea have, in the same post, confirmed its success. One of the best rivalries in the CFL is Hamilton and Toronto, just 50 miles apart. More teams in more heavily populated areas won’t divide the fan base, it will grow two fan bases.

And I’ve been bashed for bringing it up, but it’s a fact. New York has 2 football teams. They have 2 baseball teams. They have 2 basketball teams. Los Angeles has 2 of everything (except baseball). Chicago has 2 baseball teams. I know, I know, Canada isn’t the US. But JoeyT and HighFive have pointed out the fact of 12 soccer teams in London. Someone on another thread pointed out there are TWO football/rugby leagues in Australia (a place with few people than Canada) each with 16 teams.

It can be done. It should be done.

How about getting ANY team in Toronto.
What’s there now doesn’t really qualify.