OT - Argos Yay or Nay?

[Pitt the Elder]

Yupp, go Argos!

The Canadian game is a lot more exciting than the American version. It's all just bells and whistles (and commercials).

 

[OG6ix]

Ratings Schmatings.. This team is done in Toronto. No one wants to own them.. I don't know a single person in my demographic 18-35 that remotely cares about the Argos/CFL.

Those viewers are the 905 area code old folk. They are either xenophobic or grew up with Argonaut nostalgia.

This team will either fold or ship out soon. Toronto outgrew CFL football a long time ago.

 

[Neely2005]

Ratings Schmatings.. This team is done in Toronto. No one wants to own them.. I don't know a single person in my demographic 18-35 that remotely cares about the Argos/CFL.

Those viewers are the 905 area code old folk. They are either xenophobic or grew up with Argonaut nostalgia.

This team will either fold or ship out soon. Toronto outgrew CFL football a long time ago.

So now you're just going to discount the ratings? Obviously the interest is there. People just don't like watching Football at the Rogers Centre, it doesn't matter if it's NFL or CFL.

I still think that MLSE buys the Argonauts and moves them to BMO Field.

The interest is there:

"At an average of 703,000 viewers a game, the CFL stands second only to hockey as this country's most-watched sport. They're ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays' 540,000, a comparable number since the Jays generally play six games a week while the CFL offers up four.

Combined ratings on TSN and French-language RDS averaged 758,000 viewers per game, an increase of 3.6 per cent over 2012. The RDS numbers are down a tad, but considering how far the Montreal Alouettes have fallen there's no real surprise there.

But while overall ratings increases give the league something to crow about, that's not the real big news. The big news is that they're being driven by the most unlikely source of all: Southern Ontario. Ratings for games involving the Toronto Argonauts were up 26 per cent from last year while audiences for Hamilton (Guelph) Tiger-Cats games rose 14 per cent.
Ratings for all CFL games were up 18 per cent from last year in Southern Ontario and the Hamilton-Toronto clash on Thanksgiving Day drew the league's fourth-largest TV audience of the season with 956,000 viewers."

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/e...ease-surprise-southern-ontario-183017606.html

Also the CFL gets better ratings than the MLS on ESPN.

 

[Tak7]

I'm a huge fan of all Toronto sports, and I just couldn't care about the Argos anymore.

As a brand, they are boring, flat, and lacking any real excitement or energy around them. Add the fact that the crowd numbers are pathetic.

You can skip on the Argos and you won't be missing much

 

[Ratboy]

I find it hard to watch football in general. That said, they should look to expanding to more middle to small markets. They eat this up in the prairies.

 

[Your old Jofa helmet]

I like the Argos history. If the NFL ever comes to Toronto, Argos will not survive as a CFL team. I'd be all for new NFL team taking Argos identity. The CFL team may be called "boatmen" and have an old logo. It's a win-win situation

 

[londonHK]

Ratings Schmatings.. This team is done in Toronto. No one wants to own them.. I don't know a single person in my demographic 18-35 that remotely cares about the Argos/CFL.

Of course the Argos must have a fanbase in the GTA, but I would have to agree - I don't know anyone in the 18-35 demographic here in the GTA who cares about the Argos or the CFL at all. (To be honest, I don't know anyone of any age in the GTA who cares about the Argos or the CFL, but maybe I just don't know a lot of people outside of that age group outside of through work, so I won't even try to come up with an explanation for it.) Obviously I haven't done a study to prove this, but I do suspect that this has something to do with the young 20 something/30 something downtown crowd not finding the Argos as cool/hip as the other teams in town.

To be fair, maybe it's just a product of my social and professional circles, but the sports fans I know are fans of the Leafs and/or Raptors and/or Jays and/or TFC (with the Leafs being above and beyond the most popular) and those who aren't sports fans may occasionally mention the Leafs/Raptors/Jays in some way (even if it's not actually about the team and its performance - i.e. something like "oh I guess I'll go this way to avoid the crowds leaving the Leafs game", meaning that they actually know there's a Leafs game), but no one ever mentions the Argos in any context.

 

[Menzinger]

Some of you need to stop assuming that your anecdotal survey's are the end all. I'm in the the 18-30 demographic, and I know several people within my age range who are not only Argo's fans, but seasons ticket holders too!

Regardless, every single statistical outliner indicates that the Argos are as healthy as ever!

 

[londonHK]

Some of you need to stop assuming that your anecdotal survey's are the end all. I'm in the the 18-30 demographic, and I know several people within my age range who are not only Argo's fans, but seasons ticket holders too!

Ok, either you're referring to other posters on this thread or you didn't actually read my post - I'm not assuming that my anecdotal survey is the end all be all - that's why I said "to be fair, maybe it's just a product of my social and professional circles"...

 

[RiceCooker]

Some of you need to stop assuming that your anecdotal survey's are the end all. I'm in the the 18-30 demographic, and I know several people within my age range who are not only Argo's fans, but seasons ticket holders too!

Regardless, every single statistical outliner indicates that the Argos are as healthy as ever!

You and the several people you know may be the only Argo season ticket holders.

 

[Neely2005]

You and the several people you know may be the only Argo season ticket holders.

I have Argonauts Seasons Tickets too.

 

[TheThrill81*]

I have Argonauts Seasons Tickets too.

According to TorontoSports, you fit the following critera:

Those viewers are the 905 area code old folk. They are either xenophobic or grew up with Argonaut nostalgia.

 

[Neely2005]

According to TorontoSports, you fit the following critera:

Well I'm in my thirties and my wife is from a different race than I am, so I guess that I don't fit his/her criteria.

 

[Neely2005]

MLSE still open to Argonauts playing at BMO Field

MLSE still open to Argonauts playing at BMO Field:

http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/sports/cfl/story/1.2656196

 

[Rosalie]

I don't live in the GTA and I care for the Argos.

 

[613Leafer]

Not in the slightest. I'd rank them below all of Leafs, Jays, Raptors, Marlies, and TFC.

I've been to CFL games in ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto, and CIS football at Laurier, Toronto's was by far the worst. A half empty stadium kills the atmosphere.

 

[Neely2005]

Not in the slightest. I'd rank them below all of Leafs, Jays, Raptors, Marlies, and TFC.

I've been to CFL games in ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto, and CIS football at Laurier, Toronto's was by far the worst. A half empty stadium kills the atmosphere.

The Argonauts at the Rogers Centre are having the same problems that the Alouettes had at Olympic Stadium. They need to move to a smaller stadium too. They have to be out of the Rogers Centre for the 2018 season, hopefully they leave sooner than that.

 

[Neely2005]

A great read for Argonauts fans

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/07/16/argonauts-off-field-foes-spell-trouble-for-franchise-and-league

 

[Bionda]

I really don't understand the hatred the Argos receive from some people in my age group (18-24). Don't like the CFL? Don't watch, why bother bagging it ceaselessly?

This attitude is also why the CIS doesn't receive substantial student support outside a few schools.

It all ties into the penchant for self-loathing this city seems to have. It's disgusting.

The Argos need a proper stadium and better facilities. Such a historic franchise should not fold.

 

[OG6ix]

I really don't understand the hatred the Argos receive from some people in my age group (18-24). Don't like the CFL? Don't watch, why bother bagging it ceaselessly?

This attitude is also why the CIS doesn't receive substantial student support outside a few schools.

It all ties into the penchant for self-loathing this city seems to have. It's disgusting.

The Argos need a proper stadium and better facilities. Such a historic franchise should not fold.

There's not a hate... it's just that the team is irrelevant, yet they play the political "Canadian" card that allows them to be propped up every decade. There isn't an appetite for the CFL in this city anymore. Its outgrown the minor league status that it once had.

The Argos are a team that never makes a profit yet they destroy playing surfaces. I know Jays fans want them out for grass purposes... I know TFC fans hate the idea of sharing a playing surface with gridiron football.

If they can make it on their own then so be it.. if they can't then let the fold.

 

[ACC1224]

MLSE has started their play for the Bills.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/footb...rogers_bid_for_buffalo_bills_takes_shape.html

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi is part of a Toronto group that has retained a banking firm and submitted paperwork expressing interest in buying the Buffalo Bills, three people who have reviewed documents regarding the sale process told The Associated Press on Friday.
It is unclear if the group would eventually want to move the NFL team to Toronto. The club is on the market after owner Ralph Wilson died in March.
The group includes Larry Tanenbaum and the Rogers family. Tanenbaum is chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which controls the Maple Leafs and Raptors. The Rogers family includes Edward Rogers, who is deputy chairman of Rogers, the Toronto communications giant.

 

[GojuLeaf]

There's not a hate... it's just that the team is irrelevant, yet they play the political "Canadian" card that allows them to be propped up every decade. There isn't an appetite for the CFL in this city anymore. Its outgrown the minor league status that it once had.

The Argos are a team that never makes a profit yet they destroy playing surfaces. I know Jays fans want them out for grass purposes... I know TFC fans hate the idea of sharing a playing surface with gridiron football.

If they can make it on their own then so be it.. if they can't then let the fold.

You think the jays make a profit, lol!

They lose more most seasons than the Argos could in 5

 

[OG6ix]

You think the jays make a profit, lol!

They lose more most seasons than the Argos could in 5

Unlike the CFL the MLB has a real TV deal. The Argos won the grey cup two seasons ago and have terrible attendance. Rogers has creative accounting.. if the Jays were not an asset Rogers would have dumped them a long time ago.

If the Argos were an asset.. to anyone that's not just a wannabe pro sports owner.. they would have their own stadium and we would not be having this convo.

Heck TFC is already has a better future than a 100+ year old franchise... sad really...

 

[Hyperglide]

Leafs > Raptors >>>>> Jays >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> TFC>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ARGOs

Could care less about Football in general and especially CFL Football.

 

[hoglund]

Not in the slightest. I'd rank them below all of Leafs, Jays, Raptors, Marlies, and TFC.

I've been to CFL games in ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto, and CIS football at Laurier, Toronto's was by far the worst. A half empty stadium kills the atmosphere.

when the Argos played at exhibition stadium in the 70's, they'd get 50,000 on most nights because it was a football stadium, since they playing at the sky dome or roger's centre, there are NO good seats and even the most die hard fan can't enjoy the game.
Toronto has become a NFL wannabe city, but I'm not sure they can even do that until they get a new stadium. The Bills experiment showed that Toronto may not even be an NFL supporter, but I think it has more to do with the stadium, and same with the Argos, a better stadium would increase attendance.