Week 10 - Non-Champ Edition

[SpeedFlex27]

3 hours ago, JCon said:

Just promote them. Try something. Kids go free with paying adults. I don't like giving away tickets but we need some youth in TO to get interested. 

Or, try to get the young adults interested by making it a party. 

 

I was reading TFC fans complaining about the lines from the CFL on field, which is a totally legit complaint, but it's not the reason TFC has such poor crowds this year. The product is terrible and Torontonians are not interested in terrible teams. Except the Leafs, of course. 

Blue Jays are popular again because they're good. 

I look at it the opposite. I hate soccer lines on a football field & how it despoils it. 

5 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I would think the best option would be to double in a Usports venue and upgrade the seating and stuff. 

 

QFT

I think if you get into one of the closer suburbs, you'd have a tremendous ability to draw from those stronger outlier communities. The difference in driving to brampton vs driving to the stadium in toronto is huge. (worst city to drive in with in country wide imo) 

The online streaming is a good point too. I could see selling domestic rights to a SN type, and really going forward trying to focus on getting a strong streaming partner. I mean thats how I watch I stream on TSN. I know a LOT of expats who are constantly trying to figure out ways to watch from their new homes. + you could tap into a bit of the global market. Im sure a bunch of germans would love to watch hansen play .

 

They have an 11,000 seat stadium at Western in London. Make it 25,000. Put a team there. 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

6 hours ago, wbbfan said:

Ive wondered about moving the argos to some fringe area of the GTA where they could garner more of a small market interest. 

Already been done. They are called the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

In a city of 6mil TOR has got <8k die hard fans. 

Could move them to 5k stadium and tell the media they sell out every game.

Or give Maple Leaf/Raptor season ticket owners season tickets for the Argos. I doubt they would notice the $100 increase in price 😂

[SpeedFlex27]

3 hours ago, Wideleft said:

Promotion and marketing is absolutely the key, but it won't be an instant fix by any means.  Not only do you need to hold the fans you have (and their kids), you need to attract a whole new and disparate type of crowd.  The CFL fan-base is lily-white and that needs to change quickly.

Someone needs to sit down the CFL braintrust & tell them that TSN needs to modernize their broadcasts. It's just not good enough. How else can you sell your game to young kids if not by television?? More cameras. better angles. Younger broadcasters. Get rid of that godamned putrid, awful shitty Canadian country they keep pushing on us. The product on TSN at times is just awful. Yet, it's allowed to continue. Nothing ever changes. It's times for Rod Black & Glen Suitor to go. Suitor has been on TSN for nearly 30 years for crissakes. Dustin Neilson & the guy they had on last night can pick up the load of work Black does. Surely they can find an analyst better than Suitor. Status quo is not okay year after year. The perception is that a joke of a tv production makes it a joke of a league to a lot of non supporters. 

5 hours ago, wbbfan said:

I would think the best option would be to double in a Usports venue and upgrade the seating and stuff. 

 

QFT

I think if you get into one of the closer suburbs, you'd have a tremendous ability to draw from those stronger outlier communities. The difference in driving to brampton vs driving to the stadium in toronto is huge. (worst city to drive in with in country wide imo) 

The online streaming is a good point too. I could see selling domestic rights to a SN type, and really going forward trying to focus on getting a strong streaming partner. I mean thats how I watch I stream on TSN. I know a LOT of expats who are constantly trying to figure out ways to watch from their new homes. + you could tap into a bit of the global market. Im sure a bunch of germans would love to watch hansen play .

 

I have read thar TSN ratings for Argo games is actually pretty good. They just don't go to games. 

[17to85]

Would it be so hard, if they're not selling them anyway to just take those tickets to schools and give em out wholesale and get the youngings into the stadium,  perhaps with mom and dad... I dunno just seems like MLSE is going with the "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas man" excuse

[JCon]

2 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I look at it the opposite. I hate soccer lines on a football field & how it despoils it. 

Fine but the stadium was built for soccer. For TFC and the national team. A couple of weeks ago they didn't even scrub the paint off. MLSE is just embarrassing. 

[SpeedFlex27]

2 hours ago, JCon said:

Fine but the stadium was built for soccer. For TFC and the national team. A couple of weeks ago they didn't even scrub the paint off. MLSE is just embarrassing. 

Here in Calgary there was a years long fundraising effort to build 3 football only articial turf fields for minor football here at Shouldice Park along with a new home for the Calgary Colts. It took many years & hard work by volunteers to raise the money needed to tear out the old grass fields in West Calgary by Canada Olympic Park & install the new ones.

The majority of the money was raised privately but they fell a bit short so they approached the provincial government for the remainder of funds to complete the project which included a 1500 seat grandstand on the main field as well as a plaza for concessions & new locker & meeting rooms. The government would only grant the money if minor soccer was included. So, soccer gets to use the facility without having spent a penny & football can't get into the facility if coaches want to run football camps because of time booked by soccer.

I hate soccer. Not the sport but the asshats running the soccer associations here. Back in the mid 2000's they tried to get football kicked out of Shouldice Park by booking fields during the same time that community & high school football would have booked it for their seasons. Which would have left football in the City homeless. I remember going to a meeting & the Football Alberta rep there who was also a football coach was incensed. Turns out that the City of Calgary Parks & Rec wouldn't give soccer the fields at the time they wanted kicking football out but I never forgot that. What dirty pool. Backstabbers. Soccer knew the tim that football wanted the fields. Now we have soccer lines painted on all 3 fields. Spit.

Edited October 8, 2021 by SpeedFlex27

[wbbfan]

12 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Someone needs to sit down the CFL braintrust & tell them that TSN needs to modernize their broadcasts. It's just not good enough. How else can you sell your game to young kids if not by television?? More cameras. better angles. Younger broadcasters. Get rid of that godamned putrid, awful shitty Canadian country they keep pushing on us. The product on TSN at times is just awful. Yet, it's allowed to continue. Nothing ever changes. It's times for Rod Black & Glen Suitor to go. Suitor has been on TSN for nearly 30 years for crissakes. Dustin Neilson & the guy they had on last night can pick up the load of work Black does. Surely they can find an analyst better than Suitor. Status quo is not okay year after year. The perception is that a joke of a tv production makes it a joke of a league to a lot of non supporters. 

I have read thar TSN ratings for Argo games is actually pretty good. They just don't go to games. 

This year the only games they've had good viewership for is us once, the riders and in hamilton. other wise they have been 150k-200k under the average. 

[JCon]

For tomorrow night's game: Stamps at Riders. 6pm Central from IG Field (West). 

 

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

42 minutes ago, JCon said:

For tomorrow night's game: Stamps at Riders. 6pm Central from IG Field (West). 

 

Damn- the fugly doesn't stop at the unis, even the stump's roster graphic looks like dogshit. 

[bearpants]

3 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Damn- the fugly doesn't stop at the unis, even the stump's roster graphic looks like dogshit. 

I don't hate those Calgary Unis as much as other do... or maybe they just look really nice compared to dog-**** green coloured jerseys they have been beside the last couple weeks... they probably look ugly beside Championship royal blue... 

[Goalie]

Toronto is a big city with a big city mentality.  In their view the Argos are equivalent to the Marlies eventho in Canada the CFL is pro and ahl is not really. They are Americanized... however even the Bills Said no thanks after a while so... perhaps the problem is the population or younger families... maybe they grew up with soccer... very popular around the world and Toronto is pretty diverse. Maybe you can't draw more in Toronto anymore cuz MLS is there too. 

[17to85]

Fans aren't born, they're created. You can't just expect people to show up you have to get asses in the seats and make people care about the game by being entertained. 

I heard a bit from the new bc owner and he said something along the lines of I don't care how you do it, get kids into the stands. Pay to bus them in, buy them hotdogs, whatever. And he is right. 

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

11 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Fans aren't born, they're created. You can't just expect people to show up you have to get asses in the seats and make people care about the game by being entertained. 

I heard a bit from the new bc owner and he said something along the lines of I don't care how you do it, get kids into the stands. Pay to bus them in, buy them hotdogs, whatever. And he is right. 

Whatever, I popped outta my mum bleeding Blue and Gold.

[Wideleft]

9 minutes ago, wanna-b-fanboy said:

Whatever, I popped outta my mum bleeding Blue and Gold.

[TrueBlue4ever]

My brother went to a Bills game and he said it was the greatest football game he had ever seen. When I asked him details about the game he really couldn’t give me any. His entire opinion was based on the pregame experience with the fans. That is something that the CFL just cannot provide, with liquor laws as they are. And I think that is the perception that hinders the league in Toronto. It’s a mindset that “it’s the NFL so it has to be the coolest”. I have attended 3 NFL games live, one being the pre-season debacle in Winnipeg (I got free tickets, and still feel like I overpaid due to the time lost watching it). It is loud as can be and the tailgating is neat, but as for the games themselves I was bored more than not. NFL sells the spectacle. And they have the best athletes because they pay the most. 

I also hate Naylor’s pandering to the XFL process like it is the only way to save the league. Spring NFL-style football has been tried countless times and it keeps failing. USFL had a shot because it could compete with NFL salaries at the time and in the beginning was not trying to be a direct rival of the NFL, but now WLAF, World league, NFL Europe, XFL 1, 2, and 3 (am I missing any) all come and go in rapid suggestion. Why Naylor thinks this is a sound model to re-brand the CFL as is beyond me. Unless he hopes it is a MLSE springboard to an actual NFL team in Toronto and he can get in as an in house  club media rep a la Tait or Lawless.

However, Bob Irving’s opposite take is not the right approach either. His spin is “this league has been around for 100 years, it doesn’t need saving, it will always be around” is a little too blind to the financial problems facing it in modern times. Keeping things status quo because it is how it always has been that way is wrong-headed too.

I don’t know what the cost of running a pro football team is. The Bombers’ open financial books seem to peg it at around $30 million a season, with only 18% going to player salaries. I know NFL teams push in at around $108 million on average. Unless we get a Sportsnet to come in with a ridiculous TV contract like their NHL billion dollar deal, then ticket prices will carry the load. How much can teams cut costs, and what is the effect (we can kind of see what no advertising or marketing dollars in Toronto looks like)? And to answer the question of what properties Sportsnet owns (asked earlier) they have NHL rights in the fall and winter and Blue Jays rights in the spring and summer, so they may be disinclined to pick up the CFL as a competing enterprise. With no competition, TSN has no need to spend more on its product. 

[JCon]

2 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

However, Bob Irving’s opposite take is not the right approach either. His spin is “this league has been around for 100 years, it doesn’t need saving, it will always be around” is a little too blind to the financial problems facing it in modern times. Keeping things status quo because it is how it always has been that way is wrong-headed too.

I disagree with this assessment of Bob's position. He knows the league is in trouble and spoke to it many times but he believes the problems are ours and the solutions must be ours. 

[Bigblue204]

6 minutes ago, JCon said:

I disagree with this assessment of Bob's position. He knows the league is in trouble and spoke to it many times but he believes the problems are ours and the solutions must be ours. 

I was going to say the same thing. He seems to know the league has issues. He just doesn't think joining with the XFL will produce any solutions.

[TrueBlue4ever]

12 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

I was going to say the same thing. He seems to know the league has issues. He just doesn't think joining with the XFL will produce any solutions.

I know he sees the problems, but sometimes it comes out as “there are always outsiders coming around to tell us how to run the league, they will not make it better”. I get what he is trying to say, but at the same time all avenues may need to be explored given where things are at, even distasteful ones to the purists (and I count myself among them). Anyway, respect others who read his comments differently than I take them. Could just be my biased interpretation.
 

Naylor’s approach that “well clearly the NFL model is the ONLY obviously right way to go, we are blowing it by not bowing down to it” leans too far the other way, and sure looks agenda driven from his perspective. Just trying to figure out exactly his agenda is. 

Edited October 8, 2021 by TrueBlue4ever

[Mark F]

Toronto people didnt buy tickets for the Bills either, when that team played in Toronto.

but probably with the bills being a good team now, they would go.

maybe it is just a shitty sports city.

or....more likely,  just a shitty city full stop.

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by Mark F

[Brandon]

I'm torn... I always want the Riders to lose... however I think Calgary is a much tougher out come play off time .... 

[Blue_Dragoon]

Always cheer against the Riders.

[Noeller]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

I'm torn... I always want the Riders to lose... however I think Calgary is a much tougher out come play off time .... 

Exactly... Just like 2019........................ 

[bearpants]

7 hours ago, Brandon said:

I'm torn... I always want the Riders to lose... however I think Calgary is a much tougher out come play off time .... 

I’m not… never cheer for the riders under any circumstance*…
 

*exception: a rider win in the final week that gets the bombers in the playoffs…. Don’t see that happening this year….

[wbbfan]

17 hours ago, Mark F said:

Toronto people didnt buy tickets for the Bills either, when that team played in Toronto.

but probably with the bills being a good team now, they would go.

maybe it is just a shitty sports city.

or....more likely,  just a shitty city full stop.

 

I'm a raps and jays fan. They get great and good support. But the fan bases are often a toxic mess. 

 The live event going fans are generally not sports fans in to. Other than the leafs. It's more a unique live event crowd. It's the worst market to try to sell sports in in Canada imo. 

2 hours ago, bearpants said:

I’m not… never cheer for the riders under any circumstance*…
 

*exception: a rider win in the final week that gets the bombers in the playoffs…. Don’t see that happening this year….

Only way is if their win is our only way to the play offs. That's it. 

[HardCoreBlue]

21 hours ago, 17to85 said:

Fans aren't born, they're created. You can't just expect people to show up you have to get asses in the seats and make people care about the game by being entertained. 

I heard a bit from the new bc owner and he said something along the lines of I don't care how you do it, get kids into the stands. Pay to bus them in, buy them hotdogs, whatever. And he is right. 

My son has played football since he was seven and was automatically drawn to the NFL and no where near the CFL.

I know its been debated a million times but make a real pro CFL video game and that will help create a larger fanbase.