Argos/Als

[blueandgoldguy]

23 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Giving a team to the Maritimes is a huge mistake. If they really wanted a team they'd have packed the park. They didn't. This whole thing is a joke. That's all the CFL needs is another team in constant financial crisis.

Nah, the prices were ridiculous.  $130 - $150 at centre field to 30s, Nearly $110 from the 20s to the back of the goal lines.  Nearly $90 for end zone seats.  They waited too long to reduce the prices as people had already allocated their disposable income to other things and the price points left a bad taste in their mouths.  Leblanc and his group of promoters blew it.  Speaking of which, this Touchdown Atlantic apparently had little buzz...no week of events leading up to the game with the players promoting the game around town like the first two games around 10 years ago.  Sounds familar.

[JCon]

Just now, blueandgoldguy said:

Nah, the prices were ridiculous.  $130 - $150 at centre field to 30s, Nearly $110 from the 20s to the back of the goal lines.  Nearly $90 for end zone seats.  They waited too long to reduce the prices as people had already allocated their disposable income to other things and the price points left a bad taste in their mouths.  Leblanc and his group of promoters blew it.  Speaking of which, this Touchdown Atlantic apparently had little buzz...no week of events leading up to the game with the players promoting the game around town like the first two games around 10 years ago.  Sounds familar.

Those prices aren't that out of line. 

[blueandgoldguy]

22 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

So they were supposed to present their proposal in June and now its the end of next month. They've gone from a stadium costing $190 million to $130 million and one that will only hold 12,000 with the ability to expand to 20,000. This situation just screams circus down the road.

https://www.thestar.com/halifax/2019/08/25/schooners-partner-anthony-leblanc-on-the-halifax-stadium-debate-and-whether-council-will-get-on-board.html

The article I recall reading a few months ago with the new proposal for a $130 million stadium would include a 12,000 seat permanent grandstand similar to the one in Hamilton with the club seats, suites, locker rooms and training facilities on one side.  The end zones would have some seats and the opposite grandstand would be temporary (also be similar to Hamilton) seating with general seats.  Grand total was said to be around 25,000 - 26,000 seats.  I think the temp seats would be the kind that last 10 years or close to that number of years, not the kind that have short duration as we have seen for Grey Cups. 

[blueandgoldguy]

20 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Well, if they want a team then they should have embraced this game. They didn't. Now the stadium issue is a problem. Time for the ownership group to walk away. Remember how fans in Winnipeg reacted when fans had to pony up for season tickets? There was absolutely no doubt that Winnipeg wanted the NHL back. The Maritimes can continue being the back water of Canada.

Your views are the Maritimes are, shall we say, misinformed.  Sounds like a stereotypical Albertan

[blueandgoldguy]

4 hours ago, Goalie said:

It was a sell out. Those empty seats were sold to the ppl sitting on the grass. U know like how 5500 fans chill at the rum hut all game here. 

No there was a good number of blue dots on ticketmaster still available a few hours before the game.  I am pretty sure they did not sell.  They had a fan zone in one end of the stadium and a party zone in the other end.  One of those zones was a brighter shade of blue on ticketmaster indicating there were still a decent number of tickets left there as well.  I suspect a true sellout would have been at least 11-12,000 although they may try to spin this event as such.

[blueandgoldguy]

23 minutes ago, JCon said:

That kind of fits in with the CFLs demographics.

 

My recollection is that any team in the Atlantic provinces would require a lot of fans from outside the area. So, they'll need to draw people from NB and NS to get this thing to fly. So, why not start in Moncton and hope to keep some of those fans? 

The majority of season ticket holders are usually within a 1 hour drive of a stadium/arena in most if not all cities.  This will also apply to Halifax if they are rewarded a team.

[JCon]

Just now, blueandgoldguy said:

The majority of season ticket holders are usually within a 1 hour drive of a stadium/arena in most if not all cities.  This will also apply to Halifax if they are rewarded a team.

Majority, yes, but Regina relies on the traffic from Stoon to fill Mosaic. You may not sell them season tickets but you can still sell lots of seats to those outside the one-hour catchment area. They're going to need it!

[blueandgoldguy]

18 minutes ago, JCon said:

Those prices aren't that out of line. 

They most certainly were.  When the original price points were released, most, if not all, were significantly higher than comparable sections in all CFL cities.  Those $80 end zone seats are a good example.  Most stadiums have $25 - $35 end zone seats, some are even lower.  Bombers sell their seats for $45 - $55, not including discounts for kids.  Keep in mind these are also temp benches too.  Party zone seats were also priced poorly - around $80.  

[blueandgoldguy]

1 minute ago, JCon said:

Majority, yes, but Regina relies on the traffic from Stoon to fill Mosaic. You may not sell them season tickets but you can still sell lots of seats to those outside the one-hour catchment area. They're going to need it!

Of course, but this Halifax team will be made or broken by the financial support from those in Halifax and its immediate surrounding area.

[JCon]

1 minute ago, blueandgoldguy said:

They most certainly were.  When the original price points were released, most, if not all, were significantly higher than comparable sections in all CFL cities.  Those $80 end zone seats are a good example.  Most stadiums have $25 - $35 end zone seats, some are even lower.  Bombers sell their seats for $45 - $55, not including discounts for kids.  Keep in mind these are also temp benches too.  Party zone seats were also priced poorly - around $80.  

For a premium game, the end zone is $80. Again, these were not out of line for a CFL game. If you can't sell out a 10k stadium, at normal CFL prices, somethings up. 

 

 

[SpeedFlex27]

1 hour ago, blueandgoldguy said:

Your views are the Maritimes are, shall we say, misinformed.  Sounds like a stereotypical Albertan

An Albertan who grew up in Winnipeg.  Sure. all we need is another welfare team propped up by the others just because Randy Ambrosie wants a team there. Every Commissioner since Jake Gaudaur wanted a team in the Maritimes & it never happened. Everything Ambrosie touches turns to lead.

[SpeedFlex27]

1 hour ago, JCon said:

For a premium game, the end zone is $80. Again, these were not out of line for a CFL game. If you can't sell out a 10k stadium, at normal CFL prices, somethings up. 

 

 

Exactly. The tickets weren't overpriced. They should have packed the place.

[blueandgoldguy]

1 hour ago, JCon said:

For a premium game, the end zone is $80. Again, these were not out of line for a CFL game. If you can't sell out a 10k stadium, at normal CFL prices, somethings up. 

 

 

It is not a premium game lol.  Bomber end zone seats for out premium Banjo Bowl game are $60.  You are wrong.  The sideline seats were more expensive than most if not all CFL stadiums at their original price points ie. $108 for seats at the back corner of the end zone...no team has tickets at that price point in the back corner of the end zone.  If the promoters were smart the seats would have only been priced similarly to the last TD Atlantic - $40 - $80.

Poor ticket sales in Moncton will certainly not provide a forecast of future support in Halifax for a CFL team. 

Edited August 26, 2019 by blueandgoldguy

[blueandgoldguy]

41 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

An Albertan who grew up in Winnipeg.  Sure. all we need is another welfare team propped up by the others just because Randy Ambrosie wants a team there. Every Commissioner since Jake Gaudaur wanted a team in the Maritimes & it never happened. Everything Ambrosie touches turns to lead.

It's a poorly formed opinion backed with little research.  Halifax and Nova Scotia are growing.  There was not an interested ownership group in the past, but there is now.  If the ownership group has enough financially backing to run the year-to-year operations of a CFL team - and Ambrosie and the BOG believe they are at this point - then they will be rewarded with a franchise...assuming the city/province will provide the funding for a stadium.

 

Ambrosie has done a good job.  CFL 2.0 is a great initiative that will take years to bear fruit.  Ambrosie realizes that the CFL's revenues have been maxed out in Canada and unlike previous commissioners he has decided to do something about it - marketing the CFL in other countries with a good probability it will bear fruit in the form of increased exposure and revenues in the next 5 - 10 years.

He has also handled the Montreal ownership crisis as well as anyone could have given the circumstances - a massive team debt, a outdated, small stadium and a fickle market.  I am confident in saying no other commissioner would have expedited the process in a quicker fashion.

[SpeedFlex27]

29 minutes ago, blueandgoldguy said:

It's a poorly formed opinion backed with little research.  Halifax and Nova Scotia are growing.  There was not an interested ownership group in the past, but there is now.  If the ownership group has enough financially backing to run the year-to-year operations of a CFL team - and Ambrosie and the BOG believe they are at this point - then they will be rewarded with a franchise...assuming the city/province will provide the funding for a stadium.

 

Ambrosie has done a good job.  CFL 2.0 is a great initiative that will take years to bear fruit.  Ambrosie realizes that the CFL's revenues have been maxed out in Canada and unlike previous commissioners he has decided to do something about it - marketing the CFL in other countries with a good probability it will bear fruit in the form of increased exposure and revenues in the next 5 - 10 years.

He has also handled the Montreal ownership crisis as well as anyone could have given the circumstances - a massive team debt, a outdated, small stadium and a fickle market.  I am confident in saying no other commissioner would have expedited the process in a quicker fashion.

Don't agree at all.

[JuranBoldenRules]

40 minutes ago, blueandgoldguy said:

It's a poorly formed opinion backed with little research.  Halifax and Nova Scotia are growing.  There was not an interested ownership group in the past, but there is now.  If the ownership group has enough financially backing to run the year-to-year operations of a CFL team - and Ambrosie and the BOG believe they are at this point - then they will be rewarded with a franchise...assuming the city/province will provide the funding for a stadium.

 

Ambrosie has done a good job.  CFL 2.0 is a great initiative that will take years to bear fruit.  Ambrosie realizes that the CFL's revenues have been maxed out in Canada and unlike previous commissioners he has decided to do something about it - marketing the CFL in other countries with a good probability it will bear fruit in the form of increased exposure and revenues in the next 5 - 10 years.

He has also handled the Montreal ownership crisis as well as anyone could have given the circumstances - a massive team debt, a outdated, small stadium and a fickle market.  I am confident in saying no other commissioner would have expedited the process in a quicker fashion.

Montreal still does not have owners.  Expedited what?

Nova Scotia is growing at a rate lower than the rest of Canada.  This growth is largely based on immigration and the rate they are able to keep immigrants lags behind the rest of Canada too.  People tend to spend a couple years and then leave for the GTA or Alberta.  There's not a lot of opportunity.  Their second biggest municipality is on the verge of bankruptcy and asking the provincial government for a bailout, which they are refusing.  The HRM is not far behind.  They've done a pretty good job of growing their tourism industry but there's not much else going on there.  I have some ties in Cape Breton.  Great place but extremely economically depressed, and Halifax not much better.

[JCon]

1 hour ago, blueandgoldguy said:

It is not a premium game lol.  Bomber end zone seats for out premium Banjo Bowl game are $60.  You are wrong.  The sideline seats were more expensive than most if not all CFL stadiums at their original price points ie. $108 for seats at the back corner of the end zone...no team has tickets at that price point in the back corner of the end zone.  If the promoters were smart the seats would have only been priced similarly to the last TD Atlantic - $40 - $80.

Poor ticket sales in Moncton will certainly not provide a forecast of future support in Halifax for a CFL team. 

You're wrong and I checked. $79. Section 144. Please go look for yourself before calling me out. Thank-you.

And, yes, if you're getting one game a year, it's a premium game. 

If you can't get people out unless you discount tickets to Toronto prices, it doesn't bode well for any Atlantic CFL experiment.

I guess West fans can look to carry another team. 

[johnzo]

Finally getting to watch this ... damn, Mike Miller looks like he's shooting a hostage video in his Touchdown Atlantic promo. 

"Do not attempt to rescue us ... we are being treated well."

[rebusrankin]

As others have said, an area that is growing at a much slower rate than the rest of Canada and which is struggling with losing young people. Plus you have a provincial government struggling to afford services such as healthcare and education. As well, older population than the rest of Canada.

[SpeedFlex27]

TSN went to great pains to tell us that the Maritimes are a football hotbed. That there are lots of high school & college teams in the area. Well then, they should have busted the doors down to show how much of a hotbed it really is. This was a chance for the Maritimes to showcase just how much they want the CFL to locate there. fFans had one job. To show up, sell out the game & show enthusiasm for the CFL in Halifax. Instead we saw lots of empty seats in a 10,000 seat stadium with excuses about prices & starting times. Eight years ago this game attracted 20,000 fans. Now, with an actual team on the line they don't even get half? They will never, ever see that level of football out there without a team & the fans stayed away, I think it does tell us just how little support a team in Halifax would get. And hw much of a fiasco it would be to put a team there.

[johnzo]

This was a pretty great game. Montreal is the most exciting team to watch in the CFL right now and Toronto always looks like they're just about to turn the corner.

[CodyT]

I’m moving to Halifax next month (mid 20s) and have been on the Halifax Reddit consistently. It seems that from the talk on there nobody wants a team.

small sample size but some food for thought 

[Mr Dee]

Thanks for giving us something to digest. 

Real talk from Halifax, that is, football folk.

The Atlantic football dream should remain just that - a dream. The stadium issue, travel, time zones, interest in a team. There’s just too much going against it.

Too bad, but that’s realty.

[Brandon]

As mentioned before Quebec City would be a much more ideal location to expand.  They have the population and way more disposable income then in the Maritimes.   They also already have fans of football and a large amount of younger folks in the demographics that the CFL should be targetting.   I could see it becoming something similar to the Redblacks where the games attract a lot of people purely for the experience. 

[Dr Zaius]

I moved to the East Coast, but moved back after a couple of years.

It's a shame because it's beautiful.

But the truth is it sucks. There's nothing to do there and that's why no one stays. It's a prettier version of Saskatchewan.

Chalk me up as someone who thinks CFL Atlantic is going to bomb.