Argos Break Even At 18,000

According to Arash Madani, the Argos break even at 18,000 paid tickets per game.

This makes sense because, if the Blue Bombers can make Millions of Dollars at 24K, the Argos (whose costs should be similar) should break even at 18K.

Anyway, it is from a Rogers' source so...

P.S. It sounds like the 18K was based on strong marketing. If Tannen-Bell goes to town, like they did for the opener, the Break Even number will likely be higher.

Oh please.. The Argos pay there players like 4 million US.
TFC pays there's 20 million US.
Apparently, TFC only lost 6 million US last season...
By these standards, the Argos should be good with 5k in the house

I’m just glad the break even number for the Argos is (easily) doable.

The Bombers don’t break even at 24K. They break even at 27,000 - 28,000 K. They also have to rely on events like the Women’s World Cup (rent) and their whatever cut they get from concerts to break even. Last year they averaged a shade under 27,000 per game and with the $4.5 million annual stadium repayment they took a slight loss. They will have to keep attendance up this year as the only event they will have at the stadium outside football is the Heritage Classic.

18000 to break even for the Argos!? Hmmmm, maybe if they sell out all the expensive premium seating.

The Last Word

18k to break even? their ticket prices are lower than Hamilton’s and Ottawa’s, they don’t have naming rights, NO ads on the field, also I counted SIX empty private suites at BMO on Thurs night, the expensive field level sideline seats were mostly empty, their were rows of empty seats below the press box on the 55 yard line that are the most expensive seats.
I don’t know about corporate advertising but I don’t think the Argos are on the radar.

Breaking even at 18K would make sense based on selling the most expensive seats in the house which are among the highest in the league.

The Club seats are all sold out and there are only 2 field level A seats remain. That goes a long way towards the bottom line.

Keep in mind being 2/3s of MLSE, they get a share of suite sales, corporate sales, naming rights etc....something they never had at Rogers Centre.

Streamlining sales and marketing expenses keeps some expenses down a bit too.

If Rogers out of all people are saying 18K to break even, I would take it a positive sign.....maybe they'll buy in after all!!

Plus with Bell at the helm, they'll move funds around from one arm to another to create the figure they want to. Similar as Rogers will do with the Jays.

So Slim , by your own admission 6 suites were empty so 39 were full then , what the heck is wrong with that?, THF only has 30 suites all told . Club seats are sold out at BMO and the field side seats sales look pretty good as well . Not too bad for game 1/year 1.

Yes it was my own admission that there were 6 empty suites. I didn’t say there was anything wrong with that?
Also the premium seats below the press boxes were empty and the field level club seats were empty.
Someone above stated that the premium seats and suites were sold out? But I was at the game and they were empty, you would think that if they were sold out that people would show up for the opening game.
I am curious as to how they could break even at 18k when they are not going to generate revenue from empty suites, club seats etc

Some people have been trying to spin everything as a negative for the Argonauts.

The Club seats and are all sold on ticketmaster on both season tickets and they are singles only for individual games. Only 2 field level A seats are available.

Just because the seats appear empty doesn't mean they're not attended. I don't think many sit in their seats 100% of the time.

If 18K really is the break even point, with a Grey Cup, the $$$ will be coming in quite nicely for year 1 as they rebuild the fan base.

Now, slim wouldn’t do anything like that.

Richard Peddie was interviewed on PTS a few years ago and said when MLSE was looking at buying the team, they knew it would be profitable. But the profit was only a million or two bucks which wasn't enough for them to do the deal. This was before the new TV contract.

Curious that Madani is changing his usual support Rogers m.o.

If you take away the Stadium payments, Winnipeg is rolling in cash. When I said they make money at 24K, I ignored stadium payments.

Yup. That’s the way I took it.

Well said. :thup:

:rockin:

I remember that. They said owning the Argos was more trouble than it was worth. They also knew, once they bought the team, they could never sell it so they were weary. Needless to say, I’m glad Tannen-Bell changed their minds. To hell with Rogers.

Deep down, I think he loves the League. Unfortunately, his boss does not.

I just never understood why the Argos struggled to break even while other teams were profitable. After all, their expenses are comparable. 18K made sense to me because I’ve heard similar numbers from other teams. And, even if 18K is a positive spin and the real number is 21K, it is still (more than) doable and that’s wonderful news.

[b]^^Post of the day!^[1]

I agree, 100%. I’ve never understood why it’s okay for Rogers to lose 10’s of millions on the Jays but justify it by saying, “Yes, but we get 162 games of Canadian content during the summer”, but it’s NOT okay for BCE to lose less than $2 million on the Argos and say, “Yes, but we get 90 games of Canadian content during the summer”

Hypocrisy, at its best, from the Prime Time McClown crew.


  1. /b ↩︎

All the positives I took from Arash's comments, the Cabbage Patch Kids took as negative - altho, they did say he loves the CFL.

They really believe the Argos will fail and they will get BMO to themselves. Fools!

From another thread, my breakdown of the PTS Argo chat after game 1...


I listened to McClown's program and I didn't think it was that bad. I thought they were fair - altho McClown was more negative than most.

[i][b]Eight interesting points from the show (to save everyone from listening)...

  • 18,000 paid tickets is the Break Even mark for the Argos (as per Arash Madani);
  • BMO is "Outstanding" for football (as per Arash Madani);
  • A 692,000 TV rating is good but not great;
  • NBA Draft hurt the TV numbers;
  • They wanted a 20,000 Season Tickets base but did not get there;
  • Argos started the game 40 minutes late to ensure the stadium looked full on TV;
  • Capacity : 26,000 for regular season, 39,000 for Grey Cup;
  • TSN TV Contract is $45,000,000/yr.[/b][/i]

Nothing we didn't know (altho I thought the ST goal was 15K) but it was good/interesting to hear Arash Madani give the 18,000 Break Even number.

Still wish we knew what the ST number was.

Not wanting a debate here...just some clarity Kevin.

The only sport you want to see survive in Canada is the CFL?

You want the Jays, NHL, Soccer, Raptors to all fail?

Correct?

Maybe one question: To what end?

edit...should have asked this in the other thread

I don’t want to see the NHL fail in Canada. I want more teams and I won’t support the NHL until Quebec City gets their team back. I love the CHL and Hockey Canada.

As for the Jays, the Raptors and the TFC, I wouldn’t lose any sleep if they were gone - it might help the CFL. Having said that, it’s a moot point. Sadly, they’re not going anywhere.