I can’t believe how poor the attendance was for the Argo game on Friday, it was 12.701. I went to the game and saw many Ticat fans, but not as many as the past. Why is Toronto’s attendance so bad even when playing Hamilton? The only reason I could think of is that the BlueJays were also playing in Toronto on Friday.
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Because nobody in Toronto gives a S**t
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This is the correct answer
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They just won the Grey cup and no one cares? That is sad.
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Yes. IMHO it’s very problematic for the future of the CFL.
This season, Argo attendance at BMO had started off high at 17,900 for their home opener (vs Stamps, June 14), but dropped off for the next 2 home games (12,025 vs Riders, 12,700 vs Cats) hitting numbers to their lowest historic levels (9-10k). I’d hazard a guess that the approx. 675 improvement on Friday night were likely TiCat fans 
. As a comparison, the Toronto FC who also play at BMO draw considerably more fans (around 20,000).
I’d also speculate that they do have a core (fickle?) fan base somewhere in the 10K-12K range, pretty small considering Toronto has a population close to 7 million!
Cfl honestly seems screwed, it’s rough watching the games at BMO Field or Commonwealth where it’s just painfully empty and everywhere else isn’t great either and feel like it’s getting worse. I don’t know what you can even do really
If they manage to grow the TV contract revenue when it renews there’s an opportunity to offset any attendance declines pretty quickly. What they actually want of course is to grow attendance and grow the TV deal, but the point stands.
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One complication in the potential new TV deal is that Bell (TSN) sold their share of MLSE to Rogers ( Sportsnet).
Bell is in the process of “trimming the fat” right now.
Who knows what a new deal is going to look like.
Attendance ranges from great/good to relatively stable in 6 markets right now.
Edmonton and Toronto and Calgary are struggling the most, but Calgary had a decent crowd on Thursday.
Simoni is on fire here!
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How can you be surprised? Nobody has cared for 40 plus years
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But attendance has nothing to do with TV ratings. TV ratings are up 10%
Their attendance is actually slightly up over the last couple of years at this point in the season.
One of the biggest problems, in terms of optics, is they close the Upper East and sell only 18,000 to create a better fan atmosphere.
But…the TSN main cameras are on the West side ( because of media set up and sun glare problems) so it looks so bad on TV.
Thr West stands are usually pretty full and have good atmosphere but on TV they’re barley shown.
If they could get 6-8k more fans a game it would be a great atmosphere.
The other issue is the team’s been very good since 2021. If this season turns into a flop, you’re going to see 5k by October, especially if the Jays make the playoffs.
The fact that Rogers is majority share holder of MLSE is hughly problematic for the Argos/CFL.
Keith Pelley may be the CEO, but make no mistake about it Ed Rogers is running the place.
Case in point, Massia Ujiri, Raptors GM was targetted by Ed Rogers right after Raptors won championship…but Bell was able to influence enough to renew Massia’s contract.
Now, even though Masia has rebuilt the Raptors for playoff contention…Ed Rogers used his new influence to fire Masia… even before the ink dried on Bell giving up some of their ownership interest.
But obviously, Keith Pelley believed in Masai enough to have Masai lead in the NBA draft for Raptors…
Anyone that follows the CFL knows that the pricks that run Rogers hate the CFL and Argos. They first agreed to allow Argos to play at BMO field kicking and screaming…eventually Argos got to play at BMO field. (There is rumour this may have gone to the PM’s office).
Now with Argos not performing well in attendance…its only a matter of time MLSE and Ed Rogers dump the Argos. (Remember how unceremoniously Rogers kicked the Argos out of the Rogers center).
This is a bad situation. CFL will be on life support system…as they have been at various times in its history.
Rogers fired Masai, Shanahan and Manning last year because they don’t want 3 presidents making big money when you have have 1 president and multiple General Managers.
I was under the impression Shanahan was fired due to poor performance…Manning situation may have been poor performance for TFC.
But it does make sense that MLSE teams can continue to be losers with a lower budget…
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Heard the same comments years ago when MLSE bought the Argos. Nothing will change. With the Argos part of the Rogers group they only get richer. Things would be different if the Argos had a single rich owner, they would’ve dumped them years ago. But MLSE pays the bills and continues to pour money into the Argos and the fans should be happy.
Without MLSE Toronto would’ve lost the Argos years ago and the CFL would be back to an 8 team league and the Bombers in the east again.
We’ll see if they hire 3 presidents again
Off the short list.
I don’t think the league would ever let Toronto fold. They would run the franchise and keep it going. The TSN deal disappears without Toronto.
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I don’t think so, if you look at the TV ratings from last year there was one week where they posted the TV numbers from the Toronto area, a US College football game had higher ratings than the CFL in Toronto.
The CFL TV audience is outside of Toronto, that’s one reason why the Save-on-foods, a major sponsor of the CFL has zero stores east of Manitoba.
The CFL can’t afford to run a franchise, the last time it was the other CFL teams that contributed to keep the Als going when they were looking for an owner. Without MLSE the Argos wouldn’t have a place to play.
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