I say whoever buys this team should just relocate the franchise. Don't be fooling yourself if you think it's going to kill the CFL. The only popularity this team recieves is from the older suburban folks that like to remember "the good ol days." Truth is Toronto ,as a city, has matured and a product like the CFL has worn out its welcome. I can't find anyone to talk to the CFL about in real life... it's not that they don't hate it, it's that they are in different. There are even people who wish the league would just fold, but those are NFL fans of whatever team. This board is filled with politics about the league rather than actual on field talk (how do we get the league more popular? where should we expand? the NFL failed at something look look!) it's sad.
It's sad with their rich history and what not, but it has to be done. There is just going to be a revolving door of owners, and the inevitable is going to happen at some point.
Move it to a place out east. The CFL can survive without the GTA.
i, as a cfl fan, think it would be sad to not have the argos in toronto, but it is true that they aren't supported as much there as they would be elsewhere. maybe that is why they are in the game in Moncton, give the fans a taste of what they might get.
The Argos have such a rich history in Toronto, and they have some great fans. It's the only team that interests me in Toronto really, being from Hamilton. I'm totally indifferent to the other teams there that are mainly just a corportate package of 0 soul, to me. I wouldn't pay a dime to go watch the Leafs but that's just me. With Rogers just putting a photo of the Bills player, forget about getting my money for the Blue Jays ever again but they nor MLSE cares about me, that's fine, I don't care about them. But I don't wish anything bad on the Leafs or Blue Jays or Raptors, all the best to them, don't care about them but all the best nevertheless. They packed the RC for the Grey Cup there recently and the Argos weren't even in it. And the Argos do average around 25,000 even with a bad team. And I'll be back in Toronto for the next Grey Cup, I had a great time there at the last one, it's great meeting Canadian football fans from around the country who understand what the Grey Cup is about.
It would be a shame if the city of Toronto didn't have a team to vie for Canada's national football championship, very sad.
If you don't like the board here Toronto guy, don't come here, we enjoy talking politics with the league and that, if it's not your cup of tea, that's fine.
You see Torontobased, the CFL is like a microcosm of Canada, fighting to be a separate country from the US and be somewhat distinct in our own right. Most of us here like talking the politics of the CFL as it mirrors Canada in many aspects. Imagine a pro Canadian sports league surviving in the midst of all the American media and business we receive here. That's cool. Imagine our health care system surviving when there are so many American companies wanting to come in here and privatize it all. Cool. If we want to be Canadian, we have to fight for things and iconic cultural symbols are one of these things. Look at the Leafs, people want to keep them going as an icon of Canada with the maple leaf on the jersey and that, I often see in games in the US on TV people wearing a Leafs jersey and waving a Canadian flag at NHL games. That's cool.
Don't underestimate the symbolism of the CFL or the Grey Cup, it isn't the big NFL or Super Bowl, but it's ours, think about it, we control it as well, unlike the NHL for example. Being a CFL fan in Toronto, or Canadian footbal fan, might not be the cool thing to do or be the "in" thing to do with some, but man I do respect every Canadian and CFL football fan there, they "get it", just like fans of our game and league all over Canada. It's more than just the game if you will, much more at stake. Not that we are agains't American culture, hey I love the NFL too, but just that we understand that we don't like too much overkill of American culture in our lives to the point it squashes everything else. So we need to keep our cultural symbols to some extent, alive and active. This is important to many of us.
For all we know the Argos are a successful, profitable franchise, especially when you factor in the $5+ million profit earned with the Grey Cups.
The Argos are the oldest football franchise in N.A. and their fan support is higher than some other teams, so why don't the Als, Bombers and Ti-Cats relocate first?
That's fine, I still think that just because Toronto has teams that play in leagues which have more American teams (due to more population) are less patriotic. You can see the Canadian flag being waved at any venue for any Canadian team. Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, TFC, MLL lacrosse.
Take all those times the Jays and Expos were in the playoffs, you'd see people waving Canadian flags. In Montreal I believe they used to have the quebec flag a lot.
It might have worked better if they had gotten that field around York University.
It's important to me to be patriotic because I respect this country and what it gave my family and myself. I don't take it for granted, never. Now don't get me wrong, I do watch Blue Jays, Raptors and Leafs and even a bit of that game called soccer with TFC, even a bit of lacrosse, it's entertaining and I'm paying big cable bills so I better watch more than just the CFL. Yes, you can show patriotism at anything in Canada, not just the CFL. But the CFL is so special as it controls the Grey Cup, a trophy that symbolizes the Canadian struggle to be unique in some way from the American culture. It's not worth much compared with the Stanley Cup or other trophies for MLB, NFL and NBA, I'm sure. But it's cultural symbolic value is priceless I think.
Does anybody seriously think that the CFL would AVOID cities such as London, Moncton, Quebec City, etc. if an owner and a stadium were readily available? Not a chance. You need someone with big pockets and a passion for the game to make the CFL go in cities outside of where we are now. Where would you move the Argos to?
Right now they may or may not be making money at 25,000 fans per gamefor what amounts to a really lousy team. Sure they get lost a bit in the sports market due to everything else going on but there is a core of fans. And I think these owners are doing an excellent job at building a base. IF they were competitive, I would not be surprised to see 30,000 plus each game and that would be very respectable.
As I have posted in another thread I see no reason to move the Argos at all. The current owners just need to get the house in order and put a good competitive team on the field and you will have 30,000+ at most home games.
Yes, they are in some turmoil and I can fully appreciate that for any owners it must have been a difficult decision when C & S bought the team to go into the BMO thing or stay at the RC, these are big decisions and there is a fair bit of money involved. Still big decisions, but that's life, and you don't get a free ride to the Grey Cup just because your team happens to be in Canada's largest city, it's a battle and everyone wants to win the Cup, of course. I do hope though that the CFL community works with C & S, they have been excellent owners and it would be a shame to see them sell if they really don't want to but are looking at other ways to make it work there.
Ticats would not relocate before the Argo’s. Ticket sales may not show it, but every single fan in this city loves the CFL and enjoys talking Ticats. People think that it’s just the losing that keeps the fans at home but it’s not. The stadium’s not very comfortable compared to your sofa, there are a few idiot fans that turn people off, the economy hit Hamilton pretty hard, etc. Labour day is the one day that everyone puts all that aside and enjoys some Ti-cat football. Ticat’s are averaging about 20,000 per game and the stadium oversold on labour day with over 30,400 people. Not to mention we only have 2 professional sport’s franchise’s and there’s not a hope in hell of prying the Cat’s away from us.
Very eloquent Earl. Rarely has it been stated better what the CFL is to Canada. The Argos should stay where they are. They are part of the magnificent history of Canadian football, and even if they aren’t today’s flavour there, there will likely always be a passionate following of those who “get” the team’s place history and importance to Canadian culture.
Yes rpaege, agree and thanks. We are in this thing called Canada together, we need to keep it going, it's a decent country afterall, from what I've heard anyways.