Yes, Mr. Braley is smart, driven, focused and wants to win and I'm assuming wants to win under the rules. Nothing wrong with that in my books. He doesn't lack personal integrity from what I can see.
Now does the CFL lack organizational integrity because they don't have a rule stating that one person cannot own 2 teams? Well, that is all subjective and a value judgement that can't be measured scientifically and is open to all sorts of interpretations and most importantly assumptions that often are not well thought out in the first place.
Yes, I think he should sell the team, but there's no rush. And only for a high price (this would raise the value of the others teams as well) to someone with deep pockets, preferably local. Someone like Jim Pattison comes to mind. IIRC, he made an offer to buy the Lions ten or more years ago, but the deal foundered as he wanted management of BC Place in the bargain and this was not acceptable.
I never understood why Rough Riders and Roughriders was such a big deal. First off they are different names. When they were established were in different leagues. In the SEC you have the Auburn Tigers and LSU Tigers and I have never heard anyone say that is embarrassing and they play in the same six team division. Put you’re entitled to your own opinion.
The two Rough Rider issue , IMO was only a Toronto Media issue, Just as Braley owning two team,s is a Toronto Media issue, -They will make issue of anything that can destabilize the public opinion of the CFL, That's what they get payed to do. If another owner came along like a Bob Young , then yes he should sell the Lion,s . but only if a quality owner came forward.
Hey, if the NBA is still alive even though the majority of the fans accuse (know) the league fixes games, then I think the CFL will be OK with one guy owning two teams.
You got that right Chief about the NBA and yes Mass, our media loves to say something like two names that sound the same are the same and yet leave out similarities to other leagues. Gotta love the media, oh yea. It's often what's NOT said that's the crucial part of any conversation, as the saying goes.
Thank god for braley or we just might not even have a league. Sell the profitable lions and just keep the godawful argo's. I would have perfered to see the argo's sink and get rid of them.
The sad part pikk is that there's a group of losers in Toronto who also wish the Argos would fold and then the city of Toronto wouldn't even be able to vie for Lord Grey's mug and be the national football champs of Canada. That is just pure sad. Why any city wouldn't want the opportunity to win this cup every year is beyond me. :?
I think fans are just going to have to accept the fact that Braley owns 2 teams. Someone suggested that there are 8 people in Canada who can afford to own a CFL team. Thats rather irrelevant if they can afford to own them, the reality is that there aren't 8 people who can afford to own a CFL team that want to. If there were, they'd have lined up to buy the Argos, and if there really was a demand for teams, then the community owned teams would be privately owned. CFL fans should be thankful that Braley bought the Argos because the way things were looking, it would not have been long before Cynnamon and Sukulowski walked away from the team and the CFL ended up taking over the franchise.
So what if there’s criticism and that? So what? Every league has that. Prove to me that the image that will be surely tarnished for the CFL with this dual ownership will result in poorer TV ratings, poorer attendance and I suppose in the end, the end of the leaugue. Prove it and you can’t, no one can. Give me a definition of image and what that will exactly mean for the CFL in 2 years time or whatever years time.
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I can't tell you what will happen in 2 years, no one can. You're right. But you start the league down a slippery slope. I can tell you what has happen with other sports entities with image problems.
NBA 1970’s “Just a game for inner-city kids, most with drug issues.” As recent as 1980, the Finals were shown on tape-delay…at 11:30 at night. The emergence of Bird Magic and Jordan along with Stern cracking down saved that league.
NFL Pre-1958 “A bunch of guys who couldnt get a real job after college.” Rozelle’s manipulation of TV drove that league to dizzying heights. His 1963 suspensions of Hornung and Karras just for knowing gamblers showed the public that his league would be clean.
NHL To this day in a lot of market. 50 years of bad, short-term decisions and weak owners have left this league with TV ratings worse than NASCAR, bowling and god-knows-what-else in the US.
Blue Jays Current “The dome is a bad place to watch baseball.”
Montreal Expos “They’re a farm team for the rest of baseball.”
CFL 1970s-1980s Blackouts and a failure to honour their traditions have hollowed out the Southern Ontario market so much that people would sooner watch the completely-mediocre Bills. The NFL has cultivated their image so much that a lot of people in the GTA (unfortunately) have cried for a team in TO for over 20 years.
I could go on but hopefully I’ve answered your question.
Hey, C & S were shisters, in a very passive aggresive nice way, fact is and I've read some stuff on Friends of the Argonauts, they actually set the franchise back in many respects despite them being viewed superficially as "saviours of the Argonauts". Gag,gag and more gag. :thdn:
First thing they should have done was give the Argos first class training facilties, as Suitor mentioned on TSN, show right up front you're serious. They were in it for a quick buck, glad those 2 are gone and hope they never come back because they aren't serious with the CFL.
No one can prove that the same person owning two teams will not hurt the league’s image. Opening up the league to extra criticism will not help.
Image protection is important enough for many people to make good livings out of providing it for celebrities, politicians, corporations, etc.
And you're right c-way, Braley owning 2 teams could be a huge disaster for the CFL, Argos and everything.
That's my point, at this point, there is no proof, tangible proof, one way or another, that Braley owning 2 teams is ok, better, worse, disaster etc. We'll just have to wait and see.
One thing we all know as fact is that it's not agains't the rules, right? Also one thing we know is that C & S were ok owners - at the very best, correct?
A lot of things in the past year have either been leaked to the media or have come from C&S’s mouths that have set the franchise (and league) back.
The money Braley lent them to buy the team made those two look like small time players. Moreover, the league took a huge credibility hit.
The “feasibility study” for playing at their home games at BMO Field, and a public pronouncement that they’d like to play their game there before it was complete (they can’t and now have to spin the merits of continuing to play at Rogers Centre to their fan base).
The revenue sharing they wanted and felt they deserved.
The partner they tried in vain to find (why was the partner search not kept hush-hush? When they couldn’t find him - we now know Daryl Katz turned them down - it made the Argos franchise look undesirable, 3rd rate, and a bad investment).
Lets be honest here... I have no objection to Braley owning two teams as long as everthing(SMS, trades, FA signings re kept above board).. is on the level. Ohterwise, we basiclly have one onwer with a 33% interest in the teams. Call me crazy, but I feel that is a huge deal omings the torch runners
