BMO Expansion is Not going to Happen.

http://www.tsn.ca/soccer/story/?id=451150

Watch the highlights!!!! There isn`t even 10000 people there. TFC is going to lose hella money this season. They will be selling these players faster then you can say Nigel Coker. There is absolutely no reason to expand this field for TFC. Now that the Bills are for sure staying in Buffalo, the only reason to expand BMO would be for the Argos. MLSE could make their money back on the expansion in 10 years if they owned the Argos, but it would take a couple more after paying Braley his 20 million... This would require profits of 10 million dollars a year on the Argos, which is completely possible, but Rogers will not be willing.This thing is as dead as a doornail.

A grand total of 1 mm of rain was forecasted to fall... It is not an excuss

The weather forecasts on Friday night said rain with isolated thunderstorm Saturday afternoon and I'm guessing down by the lake temps were likely 7C or 8C and felt more like 4C or 5C Two of my four friends who have season tickets did not go bailing at the last minute. One of them posted a picture of the two of them to Facebook early in the game with a bunch of other TFC fans visible in the background at the Brazen Head Pub - a huge pre and post game hangout for TFC fans. In the post they said 'Too cold - Too Wet - Sorry TFC but we're watching from here. Dry and warm enjoying our cheaper beer here'.

A second post said 'Come on Mother Nature - this is 15 of our last 20 home games that it has either rained, been freezing cold or both'.

I think the bigger concern for TFC and MLSE is that they lost again and any positive buzz the signings my have made can only go so far when this team has done nothing but lose for its entire existence.

The 22,591 in attendance realized hope was lost when Jermain Defoe, clinical through TFC’s first few games, put his open look from the penalty spot wide of goal.

[url=http://www.torontosun.com/2014/05/03/henrys-gaffes-sink-tfc-against-new-england]http://www.torontosun.com/2014/05/03/he ... ew-england[/url]

Look, I'm no huge soccer fan but right now all the buzz, and Toronto is more about BUZZ rather than substance in sports compared with American cities that feel sport more from the ground level "not urbanite thingy" "groovy" thing to be seen at, is the Raptors. We don't have the "sportish" culture here, especially Toronto, where BUZZ is confused with "love for sport". Soon there will be seats for Leaf games because they aren't "in buzzy", mark my words.

:roll:

GO TFC!! (if MLSE buys the Argos and does it right) Speaking as someone who doesn't get soccer for entertainment. But I've never followed basketball much either. What do I know except I friggin love Canadian football more than anything!!

A $10 million profit for the Argos is very pessimistic at BMO, Bungle, even if they don’t expand. They could make much more than that with the right operator. :thup:

The Bills might be a perfect fit at BMO, reducing the number of NFL tickets Rogers has to give away. A win/win for all parties!

Leiweke said TFC would lose money this year, little surprise after investing $100 million in a couple players. While the 35,000 viewers across Canada who watched TFC last week wasn’t encouraging…at least soccer is “the sport of the future” (but not the present). Kids and women love soccer, a terrific demographic, unfortunately they apparently won’t watch soccer on TV or attend games live. :expressionless:

Right now, in Toronto, the Raptors are a competitor for TFC. Now I didn't ever think of it that way, but seems so. Doesn't matter much, MLSE owns both. So they are the true winners of course.

And the bottom line - every single ticket for today's game was sold. The game had been sold out for weeks. But the team does have to provide a reason for the fans to keep buying tickets - and so far they simply have not done that EVER in the team's entire existence.

TravelPatB wrote: And the bottom line - every single ticket for today's game was sold.
And that's the key and the Leafs motto for so many years of the Leafs not winning. MLSE has the model, they paid peanuts for TFC and make millions more with every expansion franchise. It's truly money grows on trees even if they take some hit this year with the signings or for a few years. They have made that back and in spades and all they have to do is get Garber to add a few more teams in the $70 mill plus range and MLSE laughs even more as do all MLS teams but especially those that got in first and paid the peanuts.

That’s the “problem” (reminds me of commercials that say ‘have you got a balding problem?’) with the CFL, the model of the league doesn’t really allow for that much expansion to rich American cities and as we know, Canada doesn’t have too many rich cities. The MLS can go on for quite a few years and guarrantee their owners to make money, not from attendance or TV money, but from expansion fees alone as the “next big thing” in American sports. At some point, of course, someone is going to sing “what’s it all about, Alfie?”

Dare I say this is all hype with TFC this year, exactly the very same hype with the Blue Jays last years.
All created by the combination MLSE and media machine for Rogers.
Both going south and I/we love it.

Thanks for letting us know.

PS: If it doesn’t happen you’ll look like a genius… if it does… well, you know.

Why would you expand a stadium that you can not sell out. Unless the Argos can sell more tickets, then just put a roof on the exsisting stadium and call it a day... There is no reason to expand the stadium.

If the Argos play there, they’ll need more sideline seating anyway, as the endzone seats will have to be shifted to accomodate the CFL field.

And just because people don’t care enough about TFC to actually go to games, they apparently do care enough to buy tickets, so more seats = more tickets available to sell, even if they never do get used. I guess they could just print up 40,000 tickets knowing that only 10,000 of them will actually make their way to the stadium . . . but that would be dishonest and Rogers/MLSE would never do anything dishonest. :lol:

Plus, they might actually get 30-40,000 people in the stadium for special events like Argo playoff games or TFC friendlies with Premier League clubs or concerts or etc.

I agree 100%... I am arguing that the expansion is 100% about the Argos...TFC does not need anymore seats... They could play in a stadium like Buck Shaw in San Jose that seats 10500 people. When TFC plays a team from Europe they could play at the Skydump. The Argos are the only reason to expand the stadium. to say that 2/3rds of the fans didn't show up today because of 1 mil of rain is a joke. Why was the RedPatch boys section packed? Why was the rest of the stadium empty? Did it not rain in the Red Patch Boys section? I don't believe for one second that all of those tickets were sold.

If there had been a magical way to add 10,000 seats between the time MLSE did the Dafoe and Bradley signings and the start of this season - those extra 10,000 seats would have easily been sold for the 3 games played so far this season - demand was that great. But unless they at least make the playoffs this year - for the first time in the team's history it will be tough to sucker TFC fans again next season - once those extra seats are available.

This isn't the Leafs we're talking about where they could sell out every game for the next 50 years without ever having a winning season. TFC has to start winning to hold on to what support they have and build from there. Argos will be the same. They might be able to sell out 25,000 seats once they move to BMO - but if they have a losing season or two - that place isn't sold out for them either.

Yep, the stadium was way less than half full. I noticed that last year too, with the Redpatch Boys section packed in the endzone while the sideline seats were nearly empty. Hard to believe MLSE wasted $100 million trying to make a "Beckham-type’ splash with those 2 duds they signed. The problem is it’s still soccer, a lower-minor league at that, with the players struggling to keep the ball in play. Nobody wants to watch that, even fervent soccer fans who prefer English soccer on TV which can draw 100,000 viewers on TV…which is a great soccer rating in Canada (TFC drew 35,000 viewers last week). Leiweke has some 'splainin to do to his bosses after talking them into wasting $100 million of their “Leaf’s” profits for nothing.

Sounds like the Blizzard all over again

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:thup: :thup: I agree if the losing continues they will have trouble selling tickets in the future but if they actually win a game or two things will change for sure. Yesterday's crowd at bmo was a result of the bad weather but mark my words every ticket in that place was sold. The demand is there for soccer in toronto but the key for them is to start winning games.

All comments about TFC aside, this expansion is happening for one reason. MLSE wants a Toronto outdoor game vs Montreal. That's the real reason, because they will make several boatloads of money from such a game as Leaf fans will pay any price to see the Leafs play, regardless of how poor they do.

However, in the event there are people who can't afford said game (likely) they will also make a substantial sum on an AHL Toronto Marlies vs Hamilton Bulldogs game that will no doubt preceed said outdoor game. I know I'd make the trip to see the Dogs beat up the Marlies.

Everything else is water under the bridge, a set of major outdoor games will likely pay the lion's share of these renos. The Argos and TFC benefiting as a result is a bonus.

If Laugh fans will pay for anything... Why not just hold the games at the Crapdome.

Because the Rogers Centre doesn’t have proper drainage from my understanding, if you don’t close the roof during a heavy rain you risk flooding the field. No doubt having a rink down there would be a logistical nightmare to deal with. In addition, Rogers may previously not been amendable to MLSE using their building without a substantial cut that MLSE wouldn’t want to deal with. Conversely now, the Bell portion of MLSE probably doesn’t want the building used because it’s advertising Rogers’. Then add to the fact that the dome is almost always perpetually closed during the winter (possibly for mechanical reasons, not sure) and the atmosphere there stinks as an indoor venue, nevermind an outdoor venue, have all conspired to keep the Dome off the radar for the NHL team.