I'm a little torn about this, because I loathe the thought of Regina subsidizing Toronto, when most if not all of Toronto's problems are borne of general incompetence at nearly every level of that organization.
Having said that, the NFL has a dictatorial revenue-sharing policy, that has created the most powerful and influential and across-the-board viable sports league in the world. In the NFL world, there is no team sponsorship money - NFL properties owns everything, and every penny brought in goes there and is distributed from there - merchandise, sponsorship, TV, the works.
I guess my problem is not so much with the concept as it is the reason the "weak sisters" of the league are as they are. If there was a more consistent approach to effort and quality of team ownership and management, I would be less harsh. In other words, would I share with Edmonton? Yes. Calgary? Yes. Montreal? Absolutely. But Toronto pisses me off because they are inept.
:? Riders get 1/8th. of the tv money and they get 1/8 of other revenues like Grey Cup and national deals even if Saskatchewan's market maybe worth less then 1/8 in some situations. Bottom line the fact that there is a renewed interest in their footbal team the last 3 years does warrant that the league changes everything it does.
I totally agree with you. To use the NHL for example, what angers me is the fact that it’s been reported the six Canadian teams (20 percent of the league) make up 33% of league revenue anad as a fan of one of those teams, it angers me that the NHL continues to poor money into the Pheonix franchise, insisting that hockey works in that market, give it time. I would love to see that team with about 6 others either relocate or fold said franchises.
But going back to the Argo situation, can you relocate the Argos or can the league exist without them?
Toronto is a unique situation in the CFL. I am not an Argo fan and I recognize that. They are in an ultra competitive market place with a very high cost of living and can no longer resort to buying themselves out of trouble because of the salary management system. I don’t know that the solution is as simple as throwing all the money in a pot but if the league does not have a plan to put a sustainable and competitive product in Toronto it will hurt the league as a whole including the Riders. You can’t hope to have a national tv deal when 35 percent of the target audience is not represented. If the CFL loses Toronto, the value of the tv contract will drop a whole lot more than by 1/8.
I think the future of the CFL is a stronger central hub and its own cable channel
Prior to these last 2 season, the Argo’s were very successful in comparison to all the teams they are competing for in terms of entertainment dollars. The Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays have all been poor to half decent while the Argo’s won a Grey Cup. The current owners are much better than the previous one’s but they had lots of chances to grow the fanbase and I think the biggest screw up they made was backing out of the stadium deal. They have a lot of work to do to change my opinion on that franchise.
For the most part I agree with Artie, I think the biggest push for all these changes is coming from the Argo’s and in my mind they are the franchise doing the least of the lifting in the league. Even in Hamilton with the poor teams they’ve fielded over the past number of years, you could see the effort they were putting in to turn things around. Revenue sharing is a good thing for the league, but everyone has to do their part.
I totally agree with you on the value…hel1, who’s kidding who, the necessity of a solid presence in Toronto. But fairly or not, my back gets up because I perceive the whole “revenue sharing movement” to be the hand out, easy way out approach - a “Hey, you have more than me, give me some and then we’ll be equal” position, forgetting why one team is successful, or the relative effort and ability that created the success, and thus the discrepancy.
In other words, a NDP-ish let’s re-distribute the same old pie a little differently, rather than trying make your own slice a little bigger without taking from someone else.
I would feel much different about things had Toronto come to Saskatchewan and said “Tell us what you did to create this brand, and this brand loyalty. Share with us your merchandising strategy, sales approach, marketing information…” and whatever else. Or, tell us how you turned things around this last 10 years (I believe 1999 was a telethon to save the team) - on field and off. My guess is Rider people would work hard with another team to provide this type of assistance.
Heck, the Rider merchandising machine has even caught the eye of the Dallas Cowboys, who apparently had some of their people in Regina not long ago to meet and discuss our team’s merchandising success.
It’s a cliche, but ask for a hand, not a handout. Hell, in that type of spirit, Rider fans would probably get sucked in to buy Argo crap if the powers that be in Riderville told them to do it. But don’t come asking for some of what was created here on our own. We fixed our own problem.
the difference between profitability and a loss, is the difference between a winning season and a losing season....and you cant win, without someone to beat.
some years your gonna be the hammer, and some years your going to be the nail.
the leagues current system seems to be: make enough money when you host a grey cup as well as your winning seasons to cover your losses during your losing seasons.
i think the league needs revenue sharing.
clearly the teams at the top won't keep as much profit as they are used to, but atleast the teams on the bottom won't be fighting for survival.
maybe once all the teams break even at the worst of seasons, they can all pull together, grow the league and make profit together...much like the NFL has done.
As I've said before, Pete Rozelle fought this battle for years with the individual owners in the NFL. The owners need to realize that the league is (or can be) bigger that the sum of its parts. Revenue sharing sounds terrible when you're making big bucks and great when you're not. I'm glad Sask is making money....but it wasn't that long ago when they were holding on by the skin of their teeth, and until the early 80s, Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton et al basically supported the rest through gate equalization. The NFL, NBA, MLB and to a lesser extent NHL all have some form of revenue sharing. If the league wants to remain stable and hopefully grow, they must adopt some form of it.