AS WE KNOW: BILLS IN TORONTO IS A FLOP & FINANCIAL DISASTER

Well most of us here can take comfort how Rogers has lost anywhere from $5-$10M per game and hopefully this will continue
to drain the bottom line.
Last week I heard how the company was laying off 900 employess over Canada in the mid management field.
Although we hate to revel at this and especially for the people who are losing their job, it looks good on the Rogers Corporation.
Here in Toronto there is no buzz whatsoever and coverage in the local papers is bleak, even worse than the Argos/CFL.
The stories I have heard is how current Rogers employees have been give free tickets to the game and the house will be papered big time even more than the previous games.
The latest article from Dave Naylor who has at times bashed the CFL, is somewhat full of excuses for the NFL but by en large there are some obvious conclusions.

[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/bills-in-toronto-an-easy-ticket/article1384967/]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/f ... le1384967/[/url]

It's not much of a surprise that this game has "Sold Out". Rogers was going to have it sold out whether people bought tickets or not. What will be interesting to see of the people who do show up, how many actually stay to the end. What's the start time for this; 8:30PM or some gawd awful time like that? What a ridiculous start time for a Thursday night. By that time I am in my jammies and ready for bed (advanced age you know). The last GO Train leaves Union around 12:30 AM and I am betting there will be a mad rush out the doors well before full time.

Not to mention how the quality of the game in all likelihood will be awefull.

What's also interesting if you Google News 'Phil Lind' and Bills Toronto is you get no hits so it seems Mr. Lind doesn't want his name associated any longer with the series. That is very interesting in light of the fact he was all over this when the series was announced and last year with the first games.

Now I personally do like the Bills as a team, I have followed them over the years and wish the best for the team and coaches in the game in Toronto, honestly. What I don't like is Ralph Wilson and the late Ted Rogers and Larry Tannenbaum for setting the series up in the first place that took away a home game last year for the Bills atmosphere wise and could do the same this year. Look, they priced the tickets too high at the beginning, there are loads of NFL fans in southern Ontario just not loads that were willing to pay the crazy prices the Rogers thought would be there. They got greedy, and so did Ralph Wilson.

Like we mentioned on another topic, what was Larry T doing at the awards ceremony last week in Calgary and sitting in the first row?
A mere coincidence?
Where there is smoke, there may be a fire.

Larry T was at the Grey Cup awards ceremony? True? :?

Yes Earl I kid you not sitting and very visible in the front row.
I don’t get it?

Hmm, yes, just reading this in the Vancouver Sun:

Larry Tanenbaum, the chairman and second largest shareholder of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment -- which owns Toronto FC and operates BMO Field -- was a front-row spectator for the CFL Awards on Thursday night. Could he have been in Grey Cup city to discuss adding the Argos to the portfolio, completing MLSE's monopoly on Toronto's major sports?

Well, that is very interesting!

I hope so! If thats the case the Argos will never win another cup!

There is no way I would want Larry or MLSE to own the Argos, be it majority or as a partner.

Although it may be what could be best termed the best thing for the Argos given all the factors involved with the politics of sports in Toronto between Rogers and MLSE. A very difficult situation for anyone there if they aren't involved with one of these giants, involved in a very big way.

Good. I'm usually not vindictive, but I could care less about Rogers and their company. I also hope this endeavor fails miserably and the Bills stay where they belong, in Buffalo.

As for MLSE, I'm still torn. The only person that would have surprised me more then him, is the devil himself, Phil Lind.
It's not the first time there's been rumors of MLSE possibly acquiring the Argos. I'm very interested to see what comes of it!

[url=https://www.ticketmaster.ca/checkout/order?v=NCSXMGsxEo6y0HJcJ1DQwnzRNXHsfhtfZnA-PLnyF4VRnuHf4VAtp2estQRVIV3cpFnI3jJ-77b7qHHPwp9Y98MspnLKPXflk-44sgSmugF38Hpr0Od8VxSM3T_Eh7gZNg]https://www.ticketmaster.ca/checkout/or ... 3T_Eh7gZNg[/url]

How would the league and the BOG view the involvement of Larry T on the one hand doing his best to "kill" the league with his interest of the NFL and on the other, now involved with the CFL?
The fox in the hen house.

The only person that would have surprised me more then him, is the devil himself, Phil Lind.

I would agree with that geroy. But Phil isn't the devil, just a Canadian biz exec who doesn't have all this marbles thinking in the right spot, that's all. He isn't inherently evil I don't think. Well, I don't think so anyways. Hey, when you're openly a huge Browns fan these days, you have to have some compassion for the guy. :wink:

Surprise, surprise the game is a "sellout" :stuck_out_tongue:

[url=http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2009/11/30/daily12.html]http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/ ... ily12.html[/url]

LOL.

Haha, good post Earl.

Okay, here me out on this theory.

We can all agree that where there’s smoke there’s fire. Larry Tanenbaum was in Calgary for a reason, and I don’t think he’s magically became a die-hard CFL fan to be going to award shows, and state of the league adresses.

It’s not the first time MLSE has been rumored to buying the Argos.

It has also been rumored that MLSE wants to expand BMO field to around 30 000.

Lastly a lot of people have suggested that the city of Toronto will eventually sell BMO field to MLSE (or MLSE would steal it, depending how you view it).

Now if we put all this together, could it be that MLSE wants to buy the Argos, move them to an expanded BMO field, add 10 more dates of gate revenue and eventually buy BMO field outright?

If their goal is to buy BMO field (which some people believe it is) then it would make sense that they could have maximum dates, monopolize the marketplace even more and that way MLSE can say “look TFC is cared for, the Argos are taken care of, etc, ect…” BMO field would be fully multi-purpose, they would likely endear themselves to the Football fans, expand the stadium for more revenue from the soccer team, have a stadium for concerts and international events.

I don’t know if this is likely, but I’m pretty sure they want the argos in BMO field. They really haven’t denied it either. One of the guys from MLSE on the radio didn’t go and completely shut down the idea.

You could be right geroy. Or another theory:

Cynamon and Sokolowski get MLSE's blessing, therefore Bettmans blessing, to buy the Coyotes with the intention of moving them to Toronto at a new arena on the Downsview site. Also, on the Downsview site, C & S get the blessing, again from MLSE since Larry Tanenbaum needs that site for an NFL team at some point, to build a nice cozy 25,000 seater for the Argos, along with the hockey arena, that is exactly set to be expanded to a 70,000 seat NFL stadium at some point should Larry T and others with him, C & S, land an NFL team. And it's a joint NFL/Argos thing for seasons tickets for both and that, like the Leafs and Raptors situation, something similar. If they don't, then the stadium stays at 25,000 for the Argos. And the TFC boys stay happy because the Argos aren't at "their" stadium.

Who knows?

This post on the TFC Red Patch forum is interesting:

What I can see is, if Larry T is successful in bringing an NFL team to Toronto he would need to build a new stadium. Also to be in the nice books of Canadians he could by the Argos for what 7 million? Stupid cheap, and run them rent free in a new NFL stadium and fill extra dates. Congrats Argos have now entered New England Revolution territory where they really allow the NFL team to post losses on that entity and get a second rate marketing job.

It says to me the Red Patch Boys, and some of them do respect the CFL btw and the Argos but just don't want them at "their" soccer stadium, are a bit nervous with Larry T at the CFL awards. They can see a scenario of MLSE in bed with C & S and the CFL for the Downsview site as I mentioned above. Now they say as above too bad for the Argos, they'll end up being in a big NFL stadium with no atmosphere. BUT it points to me some nervousness on their part about this potential alliance. Why? Well the NFL will take TFC's thunder away and then, what the guy above doesn't say, is that with MLSE and C & S (who knows who would actually own the Argos but doesn't really matter, they are bedmates) there will be some cross marketing between the NFL team and Argos at the Downsview Stadium and season ticket deals between the two etc. I think this could be a very good situation, the Argos end up in a football specific stadium one way or another and TFC are in "their" stadium. NO animosity therefore. It's all good.

As I say, I think the TFC's might be a bit nervous now, not that the Argos will be in their stadium but that the Argos will be in another stadium eventually and be hands in hands with MLSE which is much better than Rogers and the Rogers Centre, not a real football oriented stadium. The NFL in Toronto will take away from some pizzaz from TFC and also we have a chance to have a Grey Cup in a football specific 65000-70000 seat stadium down the road. Nice! Larry T wants an NFL team bad I think so it's better to join with him and MLSE now on this bus. And MLSE can make loads of money off of TFC and sell the team to someone else, in fact I would do this now while the price is high, heck they only bought TFC for $10 mill and exp teams are going for $40 mill.

Just checked on ticket master for a laugh, and you can still get upwards of 8 seats beside each other for the game tomorrow. What a joke.