Opinion: Argos are FOLDING after this season.

These things don’t happen overnight. Right now it looks like they are selling 500 more tickets week to week and that is encouraging. Ricky Ray or no Ricky Ray “football fever” will catch on when Torontonians are convinced they have a winner and from there hopefully they build, reacquire new fans. It will take 3 to 5 years for this to happen. So don’t drive yourself nuts on a weekly basis.

Toronto Doesnt deserve the Argos . Hopefully they move out east where people would appreciate them !! :thup:

Toronto deserves to have an excellent football stadium I would say.

Admittedly, I was hoping for a thrilling Argo triumph over the Grey Cup champs last night in order to instill a buzz within the media and fans alike, thereby enhancing their future game attendance.

While modest, the club has made some progress at the gate this season, and it would be unfortunate for this past game to mar that that momentum.

Blame you for what? The entire article was sarcasm. The author actually responded to a comment with “You took this really seriously, eh?” Granted it was very, very poor sarcasm that could easily be taken seriously, and the author likely secretly believes some of the things he said, but it was sarcasm nevertheless.

Clearly, Torontonians generally have a problem with professional sports, except maybe hockey (and yes, I’m including soccer and its 20k fans a game). They love a winner though, but unfortunately winners are exceedingly rare there. That makes them largely bandwagon, sunny day fans. Not good NFL material in the least. They would make Oakland’s average attendance (one of the worst in the NFL) look positively gigantic by comparison. Especially after the new stadium, new team honeymoon wore off after, say, 10 straight seasons of losing.

Until the day comes that Torontonians can prove that they LOVE sports to the point of leading the country in attendance in every single sport — not an unrealistic expectation given the size of the population, nobody is gonna want to dump a billion dollar gamble on Hogtown. Ain’t gonna happen.

Between the team, the stadium and compensation to the Bills. Its more like 2.5 to 3 billion dollars. Good luck with that :slight_smile: Not too many things could bankrupt Rogers. This is one of them.

Admittedly, I was hoping for a thrilling Argo triumph over the Grey Cup champs last night in order to instill a buzz within the media and fans alike, thereby enhancing their future game attendance.

Toronto is weird though generally speaking. I remember going to a concert at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto and the group playing, The Editors, put on a very energetic show and some people were moving a bit to the music. I read a positive review of the concert the next day in a paper and they mentioned it was unusual to see people even moving, dancing somewhat at a concert, where a Anglo-Saxon type crowd would attend. It's just not the way so to speak to do it in Toronto for this type of crowd. The buzz, I would say, is very laid back trying to be cool where you pay huge money for a Leafs game and say 'hey, look at me, I can afford or part of the crowd to be able to go to a Leafs game.' Sort of weird but it's one city where trying to be "cool" is of the utmost importance.

That being said, I still say a nice football specific stadium is in order there.

It was reported in last year’s Grey Cup game, Mr. Braley got to keep all the ticket revenue. The league provided the GC game for free but kept all the sponsorship revenue. Apparently sponsorships have grown to the point that the league no longer charges a rights fee for the Grey Cup game. Also last year the stadium didn’t get a “share”, the stadium was free in return for 100% of the concession revenue. So other than the team’s operating costs, the vast majority of the ticket revenue was kept by the Lions. You do the math, 55,000 x $250 = $13,750,000. The events surrounding the Grey Cup were also wildly popular and successful and likely generated additional revenue for the Lions.

The ticket revenue for the 100th Grey Cup is even higher and the events more spectacular. We can assume a similar financing agreement is in place. How much is rent for Rogers Centre, $50,000 maximum. They will earn many times that much in concession revenue from the packed stadium and soldout luxury boxes.

It was reported that the Argos could break even averaging 25,000 ticket sales. It is generally conceded that CFL teams can thrive with 25,000-30,000 fans. Depending on average cost per ticket the Argos are obviously not far off that mark and improving.

So don’t be so doom and gloom, Mickie and the other naysayers. Life is good, the CFL is strong! The Argos aren’t moving anywhere and are more successful than they’ve been in years. And now they’re more profitable too! The Argos might lose $1 to $2 million on the regular season but the tide is turning in their favour. The Grey Cup revenues are enough to cover any Argo operating losses for the next decade…and they’ll probably host another Grey Cup by then. :thup:

Let’s face facts. The NFL in Toronto was a complete failure by Rogers, the Bills and the NFL. Not only did they cancel games and massively paper the crowds for regular season NFL games in Toronto, that series has poisoned the well for the NFL ever expanding to Canada. Additionally, Toronto has been confirmed as part of the Bills regional market. Now, no team could ever move to Toronto without the consent of and compensation paid to the Bills. :oops:

Including a few minutes later when the US goalie held the ball for fourteen seconds (I counted it off). So, someone who knows the rule want to explain the difference?

Of course Hamilton will have at least 26 k this week!!!

Against Calgary (the team’s poorest draw historically, which is why last year’s game was given to Moncton) on a Thursday night, they’ll be lucky to crack 22,000. The only draw is that the Cats are playing great right now and Calgary’s QB is former Ti-Cat Kevin Glenn. That could lead to a bigger crowd than I expect, but I’ll peg Thursday’s crowd at 21,500 and be happy if it is anything above that.

Never going to happen.

No idea about the rule in soccer or how it is interpreted by different leagues, factions, governing bodies etc. Just going by the commentators while watching on TSN. :?

[url=http://www.todaysthv.com/usatoday/sports/56846378/US-coach-Canada-goalkeeper-broke-the-rule?usatref=sportsmod]http://www.todaysthv.com/usatoday/sport ... =sportsmod[/url]

Here’s more info on the Canadian goalie; she had been given a warning.
Edit; I understand this is off topic mind you, but none the less.

Oh all right. As a 'Cat fan I HAVE to say this.

NOBODY deserves the Argos.

We now resume normal programming.

Unless they win the Grey Cup then someone might decide they deserve them, other than David Braley. :wink:

Don’t know about the rule but am I mistaken or was that Andre Proulx in drag reffing that game? :wink:

90% chance of rain in the Hammer Thursday, that will have a huge effect on the
walk up crowd. Hate to admit the weather has 8 of us sitting on the fence as to
whether we buy tix or watch it on the big screen. Fair weather fan or not its a fact!
ps the guys will probably go if it looks like any chance of no rain, just not likely the gals.

That's why I get season tickets for my wife and I. Cheap ones but I've given a commitement to the team and organization up front, that I can afford. If I don't go to a game here and there, I feel good because of this commitement. I do realize though that not everyone has the means or will to be season ticket holders for their team.

Move or sell them to Ottawa. The CFL wouldn’t have to worry about an expansion draft. The new Ottawa ownership group could buy the team rather than paying the expansion fee. Ottawa gets an established team and they just have to change them horrible uniforms.