Are you kidding? It’s gave us something to talk about, not every day you see such stupidity and arrogance 
And the blue jays are in the dumps, for such a big market, they’re going to have a fire sale…Rogers is in the crapper.
Its not just the Blue Jays in trouble Geroy.
Did you see Raptors attendance this year?
Most games there's 5,000 empty seats.
And thats the announced attendance.
Meaning probably 8-9,000 empty seats.
And even worse is MLSE forced Leaf season ticket holders to by Raptor seats.
Take them out of the equation, and basketball crowds would be minscule.
Why anybody would want to invest in these sports in Canada is beyond me.
TFC is making MLSE money, heck they bought them for $10 mill and expansion franchises are going for $40 mill now in the MLS. Also, I think there's synergy between the CFL and TFC here in Hamilton. Meaning with the new stadium we are getting and possibly a USL team that Bob Young did talk about at one time, that means Hamilton can play TFC is some friendlies or in the Canadian championship and/or CONCAFF thingy. I'm not a soccer fan by any imagination but could get into it a bit playing agains't TFC and having some of their jerk fans come to Hamilton for a game, that could be interesting.
Trouble being involved in the MLS Earl is its an American league.
And while TFC may be drawing well, if the American teams don't, the league folds.
And people in Toronto have no say.
Thats what you get when you want to be a tiny part of an American league.
You're at the mercy of another country.
Which is why its great to have a league like the CFL.
Its only for us. We actually matter.
You're right berezin on both fronts. Even the leafs have a hard time selling all their boxes. Having said that, that's more a result of the economy.
As for MLS, that league has issues. I know we have some soccer fans here so I won't rip it. But personally I think MLS is an over-hyped, over-priced league, with to much hanging on speculation. I just don't see Soccer becoming more then niche in the US. And really Canada doesn't matter.
Yes, no question guys, the MLS doesn't succeed enough in the US, the league will fold for sure. And yes berezin, at least with the CFL we as Canadians control our own destiny with it. Which is nice! :thup:
Not only control its destiny, but are pushing the CFL towards being the number one sport in the country.
Canadians prefer to watch Canadians.
How I wished the NHL was an all CAnadian league.
It'd be great to turn on the TV and see a Canadian matchup every game every night.
But it will never happen.
Thats why we're lucky to have the CFL.
The MLS Cup (Grey Cup of the MLS) got a 0.9 rating on ESPN 1. That was up from 0.7 last year on ESPN 2.
That number is brutally low considering that Beckham Spice was playing in the game..
If you translate that number to Canadian 0.9 is about 1.5 million viewers..
So basicly 4 times as many people watched the Grey Cup as the MLS Cup despite the fact that 9 times as many people get ESPN in the USA than get TSN in Canada.
As for the Canadian television numbers for the MLS Cup... Well the game was on Goal TV...and from what I can figure... less then 1000 people watched the game in Canada...
Yes I said 1000.
So much for those mighty TFC fans loving MLS..
TFC Fans are kind of like Rider fans... They go to games to get liquored up and make asses of themselves.... The diference is that the Rider fans actually care what happens on the field, and can still have a good time even if their team isn't in the big game.
I predicted a couple of years back and stand by my prediciton how the MLS will go out of business in 3-5 years.
The vast majority of team with the exception of maybe TFC and Seattle are not only bleeding red ink but hemorrhaging big time.
The suckers who are currently paying franchise fees in the $30M range and by installments and not the $50M which the league asked for, will find their investment worthless.
The funny thing about the MLS is that they are now expanding to markets that can actually support teams… Vancouver, Seatle, Toronto…
However the teams that have been there the longest like New England and Dallas and Houston… are the ones that will eventually bring the league down…
Like in the Salt Lake viewing area alone… 4 times as many people watched the NFL then the MLS… Salt Lake won the championship!!!
Why do you have to be a dork? I think I have an average of 0.7 beers a game when I go. When will you quit generalizing ? You think your comments are classy? Do as you say, not as you do, I guess.
Great news for CFL fans.
Two renowned Toronto Star CFL bashers, DAve Perkins and Garth Woolsley, are taking buyouts and leaving the STar.
Who can forget Perkins article a few years back saying to fold the Argonauts.
Woolsley is another know nothing.
So we got two out of the way.
Hows about we start a collection to buy out Damien Cox and Steve Simmons?
I’ll put in the first nickel. Thats all their worth.
Wait until the whole NFL in Toronto thing is over... Brunt will write a book and make millions...
A modern day Sara Pallin that Brunt is.
That’s great news berezin I haven’t heard of that.
Yes we should do a collection as you say for Simmons, while I will throw in two more Brunt and Naylor.
Cox on the other hand appears to actually be a convert and has written many lately very good articles on the league. So I am willing to cut him some slack.
That’s funny… you average 0.7 beers and that is the same that the MLS Cup drew on American television last season… HMMMMMM
What some reporters have failed to realize about the CFL is that it is THE league that vies for the historical and treasured trophy, the Grey Cup. Yes, it's easy to say the CFL doesn't have the best football players on the planet, the big and fancy stadiums like in the US, the huge US media coverage of the players and games in the US and TV contracts, the cooler talk in the shops and big business circles, high priced player contracts in the multi-millions etc. And therefore just assume when a large multi-billion dollar company like a Rogers says we are bringing an NFL team here to a big Canadian city, come hell or high water we are going to have it at whatever price, that it will by default just work as such. And with the problems that the CFL has had in some markets over the years in addition.
But the glue is the Grey Cup and that is what people want to get their hands on, fans, players and owners and would be owners lurking in the dark should a certain team become available, down and out or otherwise. The ghost of the Grey Cup is there saying "here I am, do you want your name on it?" This is something all the glitz and glory and money can't buy.
So media and whomever can put down the CFL as not worthy for the big city and that but in the end, the CFL is still standing and doing well and the fact is, most people in Canada realize we actually don't really need the NFL in this country with a team, it just isn't all that important. It's difficult to pigeon hole the CFL and many have tried to do so, and failed. It's a horse of a bit of different colour and it's easy to dismiss it until you realize the Grey Cup is at the end of the line for the CFL champs every year, the national champions of Canada in gridiron football. And there is pride to be associated with this, not shame like a Phil Lind might have us believe.
Speaking of our friend Mr. Brunt, read this article I found on the net.
In it Stephen gives his opinions on the NFL in Toronto.
It was writtine in December 2008.
Its for the New York times, so he does his best to act American.
In it he gives all the excuses why the Bills aren't working in Toronot.
When he said it would be a slam dunk a few months earlier.
And the one quote I love is that a Monday Night nFL game with a Toronto team
"would be the biggest event of the year"! Not sure if he meant in Toronto or all of Canada?
But here's the article for a good laugh.
I'll have to take a look berezin. A Monday nighter in Toronto would now be looked at as a "have to do anything" sort of thing to make the Bills experiment work. It would be seen by many as a sheer act of desperation.
I hope the Patriots come next season for the Monday nighter...
By next season the novelty would of worn off and people who got free tickets would of stopped showing up by then...
Nothing would be finer then a huge National TV audience in the USA staring at 20000 empty seats...and the atmophere of a Coyotees game.
People in Toronto complain that there has been no markee match ups...
They got the frickin Super Bowl champions last season in Pitsburg and a playoff team in the Dolphins who play in a league where not even 40% of the teams make the playoffs.
This season they got a team in the Jets who now hold their own playoff destiny in their hands with 4 games to go...
I do not know if people realize that if The CFL was as strict with playoff teams as the NFL that only 3 teams would make the playoffs. So this season....the Cats, Esks , and Ticats would of all missed they playoffs if we were as strict.
Could you imagine if the people of Moncton were demanding that next season that they had to have one of the top 3 teams in the CFL play in Moncton or else they would not buy tickets...
The CFL would tell them to go to hell.... The same thing the NFL is about to do to Toronto.
More bad news for Stephen Brunt and the other NFL koolaid drinkers in the media.
Today the government has allowed another cell phone carrier into Canada.
There may be more coming.
This will increase competition for companies like Rogers.
Meaning their monopoly is over, and they'll have to lower prices to be competetive.
Lower prices means lower profits.
Lower profits means goodbye spending 2 billion on the NFL.
And who knows what it means for the baseball team.
This think is falling like a house of cards.