East is Primed to be better moving ahead

The East Started this season terrible and have been behind the West for a few years. Eastern teams are beginning to stabilize though now.

Hamilton - After a decade of instability with constant coaching changes have finally seam to have that all in place.
Facilities and financial stability. Playing at Ivory Wynn without many modern amenities have cost the Cats in revenues. Most receantly has been two season's without a home have finally got all that almost in place as THF has been partially opened. packed houses and excited fan base and the Cats have yet to lose their. With all this coming FAs have found Hamilton a very good destination.

Winnipeg- As well have spent so many years in the East and when they have finally gotten much better facilities and what looks to be a HC and good QB situation have moved West.

Ottawa - Has been put on hold do to legal issues have now finally gotten the project up and running with a strong local Ownership group. Ottawa will also be a destination that many players will look to head.

Montreal - For years the Als have had stability. Finally withing the last coaching change they have gone through a transition that was not so fluent. During this time they make some modern reno's for their home field and the team has not been that good. With that changing now with a complete second half turn around. Seeing an attendance of 22K plus last game. Filling the expanded seating as well as the better premium seating of suites, Patio, etc.
Montreal is now in need of a better practice facility situation.

Toronto - ownership and becoming relevant somewhere within the GTA with a home stadium is still a major issue. Coaching and players with Millanovich have turned their on the field around very quickly. Also not great as of yet but they do finally have their own stable practice facility. Getting a little help with a lacation and a starter building for club activities can be improved.
Mississauga is a new city in the GTA looking for its own idendity. Would having their own pro football team on National TV everyweek would go a long way in helping that mission. So whther that will be the answer to the Argos new stadium? Only time will tell.
No longer however is Hamilton the only city in the Golden Horsehoue to have the population, venues, and teams to have its own idendity.
Mississauga, K-W, are a couple of areas in which venues and teams, ie Junior Hockey have become popular.

Good write-up cflsteve; one thing I observed about the schedule that seemed to be a great deal different was having the East and West playing games with-in their own Division from the month of September, thru October and into the first week of November was intriguing/interesting. I hope the CFL continues with this sort of scheduling IMO.

fold the Arhols. give way to a new team the Mississauga Suburbs

or move the Arhols to QC. Montreal gets its rival. Hamilton needs a new rival anyways, Toronto is lame. Ottawa should be able to fill that role just fine

Whether one likes it or not, there is way too much rivalry history between Toronto and Hamilton. I say and believe the Tiger Cat/Argo fans would say the same thing. CFL needs the Argos!

The CFL and all involved with the CFL now just are not going to let a team fold. After so much has been put inplace to move forward this would be a major step back that no one wants to let happen.
They still have a couple years left at RC, now matter how bad a situation it is.
There are new stadiums and arena’s that have been going up in different cities. New teams and facilities have and are coming from Junior Hockey, to NASL, to MLS, to NHL, to CFL. S&E groups are adding more teams and looking to add more teams across every league and sport in Canada.

Yup, fold the Argonauts.
(WTF is an Arhol you illiterate freak? Don’t see that in any dictionary. Some sort of Hamilton Patois? Or just the local gibberish?)

Tiger-cat fans would live peacefully without the Argonauts causing such turmoil in their otherwise joyful lives.

LOL!
Sad, pathetic lives is more like it. :smiley:

We are both in agreement in folding the Arhols. Why such hostility? We should be holding hands and singing kumbaya.

Taylorfield, yes there is a a lot of history but us Tiger cat fans would be better off with Ottawa as our rivals. There is no rivalry left with the Arhols.

As a ticats fans I dont want the Argos to fold. I dont have to worry about that though, the league won't let them fold when the entire league is at its all time high in terms of revenues.

Also if you think Ottawa can fill the Hamilton rivalry you simply dont get it. Hamilton loves its rivalry with the Argos because its the only time the city 10 times smaller than Toronto can beat up on one of its pro sports teams on a national scale. That and its 45 mins down the road.

Nobody in Hamilton cares about Ottawa and its rivalry.

As a Ti-Cats fan for over 40 years I am in complete agreement with you king10. :thup: :thup: :thup:

You can agree with King but doesn't make it true. Fact is we wish there was a rivalry with Toronto and we do our part but it's not returned. Much like Leaf fans clinging to and wishing a rivalry with Canadiens. Or Jays fans and they're make believe rivalry to Yankees. For different reasons of course.

We don't care about Ottawa now but doesn't mean one can't be built.

We don’t care if the Argo fans don’t see a rivalry with us. We see a rivalry with them. I care about labour day at THF and how much my fellow hamiltonians hate the argos. I could care less if Joe blow from Spadina and Front st doesn’t care about the Ticats. Exactly why Hamilton hates Toronto, they pretend we don’t exist.

Also Ottawa is our nation’s captial and 6 hours away. When I think of Ottawa I think of clean streets, government buildings and political correctness. Not much to hate there.

You say a rivalry with Ottawa can be built. Of course it can be built. A rivalry can be built with any team in the league. But theres already a huge rivalry that Hamilton Fans have with the Argo organization. Just have a look at labour day? It will only be heightened if the Argos move to BMO as this will be one train stop closer to Hamilton and fans can even drive to the stadium without getting congested in downtown Toronto.

And the fact that two fans agree on the rivalry with the argos DOES make it true? The two of us are living proof that the both of us and most Hamilton fan’s have a rivalry with the Argo organization and whatever fans they have left.

You’re comparison is ridiculous. Leaf fans clinging to a rivalry with MTL? Have a look at the tv ratings when MTL plays Toronto or let alone plays them in the playoffs. Heck on a small sample scale you should come to my family events and listen to the argumetns between leaf and habs fans.

If one group of fans doesn’t like the other team its a rivalry to that set of fans.

Great points made. Just an example of how not just the Argo’s but every team in the CFL is important to the league and all involved and invested over the recent 5-10 years. Toronto Proper itself is a much different city than any other in Canada. Hamilton is an example of how the surrounding areas the CFL is alive and well.
On another level is the OHL that is a non factor in Toronto Proper but is very popular surrounding areas of Southern Ontario. A lot of paths the Argos and the CFL could take moving forward. I would not rule out anything at this point including some wild card’s such as Mississauga and a CFL/Soccer sized stadium in similar costs and size as THF and TD place

Since somebody mentioned the Leafs - Habs rivalry - I've been to Leafs - Habs games - both at the Bell Centre and the ACC and you bet there is a huge rivalry there. Sure maybe the results are one sided of late but that is still one big time rivalry. It certainly is the Leafs biggest rival - just go to a Habs game at the ACC and you will see that.

About 4 or 5 years ago when I still lived in downtown Toronto I was going to a Boxing Day Saturday night game Habs at Leafs and it was like living through a slice of Canadiana. I got on the Queen Street car near my place at Parliament and there were about 10 Leafs fans and three or Habs fans already ribbing one another. Get on the subway at Queen and the platform and then the subway car totally packed with fans of both teams and Go Habs Go and Go Leafs Go chants were happening ON THE SUBWAY!

In the ACC a full ten minutes before the anthem even and almost every seat was already occupied with Go Leafs Go and Go Habs Go chants echoing through the building. The Leafs played a video montage of Leafs highlights that ended with the phrase 'Leafs Nation - Spirit is Everything'. The Habs fan sitting next to me turned to me and said 'with us Winning is Everything'.

In front of us a Dad with three of his kids in from Hamilton, Dad and two kids in Leafs jerseys and the third kid in a Habs jersey. I asked the father about that and he just shook his head looking at his son in the Habs jersyey and says 'I think we must have dropped him on his head as a baby.' Everybody around us - Habs fans and Leafs fans all howled.

Habs ended up winning in overtime and Habs fans serenaded us the entire way home with their Ole Ole Ole song.

Even though my Leafs lost it was a night I'll never forget enjoying a night of that great rivalry. If they ever meet in the play-offs in the upcoming years - that would be absolutely INSANE and would undoubtedly set some ratings records on TV too.

Getting back to the CFL and the Cats - Argos rivalry - I just don't ever see Hamilton fans ever developing a rivalry with Ottawa that has anywhere near the passion that we in Hamilton now have with Toronto. Just too far away, not a natural rival for Hamilton. So losing the Argos would hurt significantly if that were to ever happen.

I find the “rivalry” awkward. It is so one sided. I find it kind of pathetic in a way. Since the last season at Ivor Wynn, I have really seen how this “rivalry” has weakened. You just have to look at the amount of Argos fans at games, both at THF and RC. There is no rivalry, it’s made up and artificial at this point. At the East Final last year, it was kind of sad in a way because you could really see how one sided and dead the rivalry is.

im the last person you need to explain the hate Hamilton has for Toronto. im the biggest cheerleader for that continued movement.

and your last sentence is wrong. its like saying youre in a relationship with someone when that other side doesnt even know you exist.

Ottawa is our future, lets just stop wasting our time with Toronto. hanging onto something thats not there is unhealthy

Travel

Leafs fans think there is a rival and sure there are some Habs fans that hold the same view. just like some Arhol fans will still think there is a rival with the Cats. but the majority of Habs fans have moved on a long time ago to Boston.

if the Leafs every become relevant again (crossing my fingers this doesnt happen) it can become a rivalry again as i posted its for different reasons.

Arhols Cats are no longer rivals. because Toronto doesnt care about the Arhols or CFL
Leafs and Habs arent rivals because the Leafs suck and there has been no meaningful games played in quite some time between the too.

The smaller city vs the bigger city rival will always be weighted to the smaller city seeing the rivalry more than the bigger city.
Their are only two Hamilton vs Toronto teams to get the rivialry. The CFL rival game on Labor Day is still huge in Hamilton and will stay that way. A Marlies - Bulldogs AHL rivalry cant compare.
As for the Argos future home. So far London has risen to the occasion to support its teams on the regional level with OHL, NBLC, and CIS football. K-W and Guelph have begun with OHL and CIS football. Mississuaga so far looking at OHL and NBLC but to have it city on National level CFL stage is a major jump.
The kind of jump that has not been seen since the 70's-80's NHL in both EDM and Calgary. Winnipeg and QC lost their NHL clubs but one is back and the other is looking closer.
Precceded by Vancouver NHL and post 90's Ottawa NHL.
All those thought at the time not to be feasible.
Mississauga is the biggest city not to have and NHL or CFL franchise to put the city on the National stage.

Mississauga isnt a real city its a suburb. there downtown is one street with apartment buildings.

But Ottawa won’t work as a rival for Hamilton because their natural rival is Montreal just two hours away. Without the Argos the Ti-Cats would become like BC out west. Odd man out.

As for Mississauga they have gone a long way to developing a REAL downtown over the last 15 years. Their ‘downtown’ is at least as much of a downtown as is Hamilton’s ‘downtown’ in the area of their City Hall. It hosts all kinds of events there at ‘Celebration Square’ drawing tens of thousands to events throughout the year on holidays like Canada Day or where they hoset huge World Cup viewing parties, their new Art Gallery, their beautiful Living Arts Centre and all kinds of great restaurants, some hotels with plans to further develop a ‘real’ downtown there on top of all the great development there including the new LRT line that they are moving ahead with and all the developments that is expected to bring in along that line.

[url=http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/downtown-21-masterplan]http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/reside ... masterplan[/url]

Well at over 700,000 people, Mississauga is the largest 'not real' city out there :smiley:

Saying that I don't see the city building a stadium for the Argos, so the best bet is to get the BMO Field deal done and fast.

Once they're in a better home, the prospects of ownership will improve. Once you have ownership that cares, the fans will care and the rivalry between the Argos and Ti-Cats will improve.

In 2003 when both teams were league owned, the rivalry looked much worse than it is today. The Labour Day game that year drew about 21K....biggest crowd for either team back then.