As expected, and discussed in other threads, it looks like Rogers has been leaning toward a baseball only stadium from April-October, and have met with the Argo's to advise them of same this week.
[url=http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/2012/02/09/argos_rogerscentre_grass/]http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/20 ... tre_grass/[/url]I am not happy.
Reposted from another thread
About the only place I can see the Argos move to is Lamport Stadium and having people park and exhibition and walk or making UFT's Missisauga campus an offer they can't refuse (which isn't likely at all). At least that way you could promote the old football team in and older section of the town, with older buildings and give the Argos a bit of grit to their character. Maybe while they are at it, they can convince Ryerson to start up a Football program.
MLSE isn't going to let them play at BMO because the grass damage the Argos will cause will conflict with TFC scheduling and they aren't going to go back to turf. Maybe if the Argos put in money when BMO finally gets a Reno maybe...but that's pushing it.
Varsity Stadium isn't big enough and can't be expanded.
UFT Mississauga has said they aren't interested.
Going back to Lamport, there seems to be a decent amount of room to expand the stadium. The only issue I really see is you'd have the cut the parking lot to get it to CFL size, and even more for Endzone seating which I don't know if that would even be possible. I'm sure the surrounding businesses wouldn't mind, and it appears to be within walking distance of the Exhibition GO station for Hamilton fans coming to town. It would be tight, but I think you could get a 25,000 seater in there. Not sure though, you'd be getting really close to the curb methinks.
I guess York is possible, but that's going to take a very pretty penny, although there is something to be said from starting practically from the ground up. It's also a bit out of the way, and who knows how the university will react to it.
As a side note, the poll on the website suggests Ivor Wynne Stadium as an option. Perhaps someone should point out to Sportsnet that Ivory Wynne is being demo'd at the end of the 2012 season for the Pan-Am games rebuild and isn't going to be ready until 2014.
Actually I've been thinking it might be a great thing in some respects, will really start seeing what options are available for the Argos up front and centre. I think this will be very interesting to follow.
another reason to hate the blue jays. I have hated their existance right from the beginning, just as I did the expos.
Talking about the Blue Jays though, I do think that the Blue Jays have actually helped keep the Argos alive in Toronto, maybe looking at it in one way. Sounds strange but think about it. If no Blue Jays then when they replaced Exhibition Stadium, which they would have perhaps, gone for a larger football stadium for the Argos and a soccer team, the stadium might have been too successful and then the NFL would really be interested perhaps. But with the Jays, Toronto ended up building what is essentially a baseball first stadium that doesn't cater to football at all and has ended up hurting Toronto's chances for an NFL team.
I would venture a guess that a certain percentage of Jays fans are happy the NFL doesn't have a team in Toronto and are happy with the Argos since the Argos are no threat to usurp the Jays in a superior mindset type of thing.
Foolish move. I hope the Jays are willing to pay a whole lot more for their lease to make up for the loss of revenue from booting the Argos.
Is the stadium used for trade show and similar events? I guess those may also get lost if they switch to real grass. I hope the Argos can finally find a suitable home.
I wonder if we can get Empire back and ship it east...
This should be viewed as a great chance for the Argos to FINALLY have a proper home stadium. Hopefully a new 25,000-30,000 seat outdoor grass stadium can be built somewhere downtown.
P.S. Real grass for the Blue Jays! FINALLY! :rockin:
Great idea.
And once again, BOO SkyDome. There is no reason for them to consider this except to antagonize the Argos. The Argos will eventually move to somewhere WAAAYYY BETTER than that dump and the Dome can keep their 40% full Blue Jays games.
I don't believe that anybody in BC ever owned Empire (unless you're talking about the original Empire stadium). It was leased from a company (from Europe, if I recall correctly) that specializes in temporary stadiums. If the Argos wanted to build their own somewhere, they could lease one themselves, without waiting for BC to be done with theirs or trying to find all the parts in BC and re-assemble them in Toronto. They might have saved some money because the parts are already here, but they could end up paying more if they needed it longer, because it's leased. If they wanted the stadium built permanently, I'm sure it would cost a lot more than what BC paid for Empire.
...is there a reasonable spot to park a temporary stadium like the one used in BC? I dont' know TO that well to say 'oh yeah, they could put it there'
There is no reason for them to consider this except to antagonize the Argos
I don’t think so prairie, it’s simply business and Rogers is desperate to keep the 10,000 or so season ticket holders the Jays have and keep the baseball fan, their bread and butter for sports branding and content for Sportsnet, happy. Key word here is desperate. There isn’t going to be a baseball-specific stadium in Toronto any time soon which is dearly wanted by the baseball nuts so the only option is to make the RC more baseball friendly.
Not a slam to the Argos really although initially I thought that way, it’s really about baseball business, their no. 1 sports priority at Rogers.
Reading this article, I didn’t feel any animosity:
[url=http://www.thestar.com/sports/football/cfl/argos/article/1128253--perkins-argos-turfed-if-toronto-blue-jays-put-grass-in-rogers-centre]http://www.thestar.com/sports/football/ ... ers-centre[/url]How hard is it to change the field over and back 9 times a year? How does this affect Jays season tickets? If your seat has been moved and put back while you were away - HOW DO YOU KNOW and WHY WOULD YOU CARE?
They want to make the RC more a baseball park and there are a lot of Jays fans in the Toronto area, my uncle is one who doesn't like the RC and wants a new stadium and he feels grass would really help make the RC at least more baseball friendly. It's not a hard concept.
Rogers could care less about the Argos. The Argos probably don't make them much money at all, not enough that they care about probably. As R & W says, about the playing surface which also helps attract more free agents to the stadium, baseball players don't like playing on turf and this has more than likely affected some of the free agents the Jays can go after.
No prob R & W.
...it's not about the seating layout, its about the playing surface....rogers wants it to be baseball-specific
...oops, sorry there Earl, not repeating you, you just beat me to it
Well then thr Dome can cry a fuckin river. The Argos WILL find a new home in the next 3 to 5 years and be the ENVY of Toronto.
I'm hoping so as well prairie, they are the only team in Toronto I actually care about.
It's unfortunate that Rogers doesn't see enough of a branding value in the Argonauts or CFL but that's the way it is. Baseball, the Jays, play some 80 home games and are in MLB and that counts far more to Rogers than the Argos or CFL, unfortunately. As I say, Rogers is desperate about the Jays and their fans to keep them happy.
The CFL and Toronto could use this to their advantage if they could somehow build a big nice new stadium in Toronto. It could change everything. Make it big too like if you're gonna spend the money make it like 65,000 or something. It's obviously gonna have to be private which is gonna be insane but worth it in the long run because you'll be able to draw events away from Rogers Centre.
Probably won't happen but it would be huge for this league if they did it. Toronto would pack a new state of the art stadium for the Argos i'm sure. It always seems like nobody in Toronto liked the Skydomes layout and they wasted so much space on that hotel. Kind of a goofy stadium. A packed house in Toronto would have a ripple effect across Canada. Have the argos play at an Empire liked stadium as some people have mentioned i think for a couple seasons while it gets built.
Anything less, like a 30,000 seat stadium or something like that for the Argos I don't think would be the best idea. I think if you spend the money on a big stadium in Canada's biggest market you'll get a big market reaction.
This is a blessing in disguised IMO. It's imperative the argos start looking for a proper long term home. For once, Rogers is doing the CFL and the argos a service even if they don't realize it.
You cannot be serious. NOTHING will pack a 65,000-seat stadium in Toronto except a hockey team wearing a white leaf on its blue sweater. The NFL cannot sell out 54,000 seats at RC. The Blue Jays cannot sell out there. The Argos cannot sell out there. And don't say it's because the RC is not state of the art. It was state of the art when it was built, and the only reason the Jays sold out for four seasons was they were a top contender. As soon as they dropped out of contention, the crowds dropped off and the still-state-of-the-art stadium became a gloomy, three-quarters-empty shell. Apart from a game or two, the Argos have never put 54,000 bodies into RC -- why would they put 65,000 into a new stadium?
The answer for the Argos is a fan-friendly, football-first 25,000-seat facility, preferably in a Toronto neighbourhood and not the suburbs. The idea of a 65,000-seater is a complete non-starter regardless, because nobody could afford to (a) pay for it and (b) take the losses it would generate.
The best thing that could happen for the Argos would be to have a 30,000 seat stadium, similar to what the Bombers are building. If Rogers is adamant that a grass field would have to be in place from April to October, that would be fine because playoff and Grey Cup games could still be held at Rogers Centre, similar to the Alouettes with Olympic Stadium. Of course, that would be the perfect scenario, not the most likely. Who is going to pay the bill for a football stadium in Toronto?