It looks as if some new blood reporting on the issue finally found something positive to say. Thanks to Rachel Brady for that. May she report more often on the CFL.
I can't believe this story is not getting more attention on this form. All i hear is people crying on here about Southern ONT and now comes this story that the CFL is starting to make some gains in this area and no one cares. The last 3 out of 4 Argo games had crowds of over 25,000 for 2 of them, and 1 game of over 27,000.
I for one am glad to see Southern Ontario make some gains. However keep in mind, this still could be a spike due to the the 100th Grey Cup or the last season of Ivor Wynne.
Hopefully the Argos will get a crowd of 30 000 or more for the playoff game this weekend, that will show that they are gaining some momentum in southern ONT.
While most of the gains mentioned have been for TV, there has been increased game attendance. Two good things, but we have to remember there is no NHL !!!
I don’t think the NHL has any bearing on it. The CFL season is almost over at the end of October when the NHL begins.
mikem, maybe in Florida the NHL has no bearing on football, but in Canada, hockey is KING. The sports pages are full of hockey in August. Are you originally from Canada ? BTW, I love some of your retorts, pretty funny !!!
Argos and Hamilton Doing it the Right Way With long term plans.
Both teams are using a smart strategy by getting into the Communities and into the schools through a variety of programs. This will set a base of young fans to grow into the rise in football all over Canada. Just as important as it is to build the new stadium in Hamilton is that the Argos are not putting all of there efforts into building a Stadium for the Argos. They are now focusing on getting new fans through promoting in the community and not worrying about a new stadium. Rogers centre is still considered a top state of the art facility and the Argos get it for basically nothing. So intead of investing millions into building and leasing and Maintainig a new stadium they are putting those efforts into community programs promoting the Argos and not a stadium and how many teams in the CFL pay baiscally nothing for a state of the art facility. The Argos are nearing that goal of 25,000 per game and it did not cost them millions to get it there. Patience will be the key as you need to give the younger fans a chance to grow with the Argos. An annual pre season school day game would be an exciting base that will turn those young students into Argo fans and more family packages will continue to grow.
I also really like that the Argos are tacking there practices to the people.
Also finally accepting Rogers Centre as there home stadium :thup: They could be playing in an old cold stadium like in Calgary. Be grateful to have a venue with a retractable roof for basically nothing.
Really, southern Ontario should have ONE team in between Toronto and Hamilton in a real nice 40,000 seater. Oh well... :?
What Bob Young and David Braley should have done, if they were real smart and had a whole heck of a lot of clout and influence, and they are smart but obviously not real smart, is to figure out what I just mentioned above. Oh well, yet again... 
It may be the David Braley southern Ontario CFL in some ways, with a side partner in Bob Young, but they really should have joined forces IMHO. Hey, I'm a Cat fan and love the IWS stadium site but Braley and Young should have made sure that the new stadium being built was on the GO line somewhere in Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington, Aldershot area. As I say, they didn't have the power or influence, or also it may be more of the case that they saw Hamilton city council pony up some $40 mill of their own money to keep the Cats in Hamilton, that isn't just pocket change of course, that I will agree with.
I'm still perplexed why Hamilton city council would pony up that money for a team that is a money loser every year and will continue to be in the future I believe. Oh well, their choice afterall. Hamilton gets a new stadium on an iconic site, that's ok with me, as daft as that logic goes though I think with what should have been.
Hamilton is a desperate city to be relevant, that much I do get.
I get what you are saying and I think if they were smart they would work together to promote both teams. I would like to see them play one game a season at Rogers center where both sets of season ticket holders are invited and part of there season ticket package. Where for that one game the Argo fans sit one one half of the stadium behind their bench and the Hamilton fans sit on the other side behind their teams bench like a neutral site bowl game. Although Rogers is Toronto’s home filed it has the seating capacity to do this. For scheduling purposes they rotate each year to whose home game it will be. This would attract a lot of attention and be a great atmosphere and genrate a lot of exitement but more than anything it would generate a lot of revenue with a packed rogers centre of 45-50k.
It would need to have the argos season ticket holders seats be relocted for this one game during the year it is considered Toronto’s home game. It would be one less game at Pan AM stadium for the year it is Hamilton’s home game. but the revenue for the game would go to the teams whose home game it is essentailly giving them a huge boost in ticket revenue every other year.
Football is still a business and this would be a good business move while creating somehting that could grow into a big tradition for the battle of the GTA
Fly your car flags and increase awareness of the CFL.
Hamilton marketing plan is great by expanding to communities outside of hamilton especially to the south down in the Saint Catherines area with practices and other things. They should also be expanding into London even possibily holding training camp or at least the first part of Training camp at TD Waterhouse. I magine that they will again invite Western freshman QB Wil Finch to training camp again so that would be a big story and generate a lot of attention in London.
Once they have established in those areas it is time for them to move across the Border on the US side of Niagra. Over to Amhurst where they could spend some training camp time at UB stadium. As the article stated one out of every 5 citizens of Hamilton are going to, watching on TV, or listening on the radio which is incredible and they cant do much better than that so expanding to surroundig communities especially to the South is a very smart marketing plan.
Tim Horton’s one of the tiger cats biggest sponsors has expanded down across the border to the Amherst/Buffalo area so promaoting the Ticats here followed by team appearances as well as practices and Camps in coordination with Tim Horton’s would be a natural fit to spread the fan base across the border into the Niagra/Amhurst/Buff area. Particulary during the summer months when there is very little sporting events going on in that area
It'll be interesting what happens with the Bills with their stadium situation so up in the air and with the owner Ralph Wilson in his 90's and his family not wanting to own the team. There will be a football void there if the Bills do move to LA or whereever and who knows what might happen.
It could be much like the situation in baltimore where Norther NY would take to the CFL as a fill in. The proximity to the border would be important. If the team were to be a Niagra Team based on the Canada side of the border but playing their games across the border at UB stadium the Ratio rules can be kept in tact.
That is he main reason I do not like expansion into the US because the US teams take the Canadian out of the C for the CFL. but with a border city such as Niagra being on both sides of the border the team being based on the Canadian side and plaing at UB stadium only 20 minutes away from Niagra in Amherst NY. Also a Tim Hrtons only 10 minutes away from UB stadium could not hurt for the promotion of a CFL team
Such horrible ideas, American expansion even with an NFL team nearby? Wow…
You present your ideas so matter of fact, yet they are typically so far out there.
Good for a laugh anyway! Thanks
To get back on topic:
I think that this year was a total miss step by the CFL, Argos, and Ticats. Obviously they wanted to do better, and given the choice would have made the playoffs, but in this most important year with the Grey Cup, to go 6-12 is a massive missed opportunity. Absolutely no momentum going into what will be a horrible year next year for the Cats.
And the Argos playing such awful boring football (with the exception being the last 2 games), no wonder only 13k tickets have been sold to the ESF.
I hope that more consistent efforts would be put forward next year.
Do you have a source for your 13k tickets sold for ESF?
Hey brad, so much for any conspiracy theories that the CFL and the refs were trying to make sure the Argos and Ticats would be no. 1 and 2 in the East with the Cup in Toronto for the 100th.
Maybe a missed step but that is a lot better than a fixed step.
If you read a little closer it would be only if the Bills were to move out of Buffalo. As for what the teams are doing off the field they are moving into the right direction to ave the grass roots fan base grow with them by getting out into the community for Toronto in the schools and for Hamilton spreading into surrounding communities so the markting dept is doing their job. The play on the field is something the PR department cannot control. look at The Als 0 support for football in the province of Quebec TSN places games on RDS and boom a football explosion in Quebec. Laval University was laughed at and expected to fold miserably when they started their program as no one in Quebec could possibily care to watch or even play football. Since Laval started the CEGAP football has gotten so huge and competative that they are now able to feed three francophone universities in Montreal and Sherbrooke. Quebec now has over 30,000 players competing in Minor football programs up from some 6,000 just over a decade ago.
The OUA ten years ago thought that they could never compete with the older players coming from the Q and the Prairies. Within the past 5 years every OUA football program now has a top athletic sponsorships with Under Armour, NIKE, Russell, Addias for not only there football probrams but supply the entire atheltic dept with equipment and athetic wear that used to have to come out of the Athletic departments budget.
The CFL will continue to try to expand the product through the grassroots and expand into areas where they never had before.