Pride events with Toronto's other sports teams
Friday night's Toronto FC match (June 23) was the team's first Pride Night. 27,000 fans on hand to watch TFC win 2-0. The Star mentioned the tie in with the You Can Play organization.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/tfc/2...l-bradley.html
At the May 26 Toronto FC match, I watched a young couple holding hands and enjoying the game. Late teenage males. No one stared, no one mouthed off. That's how comfortable their fan base is and how well that TFC knows them to hold a Pride Night promotion.
On Saturday June 24, over at Lamport Stadium, the Wolfpack hold their Pride Celebration and contest to include 20 fans when the team marches in Sunday's Pride Parade.
https://www.torontowolfpack.com/pride2017/
Recall that last year's Grey Cup Festival featured an event at Striker Sports Bar. It was loud, packed, and well received.
As of midnight Friday the 23rd, there are no Pride mentions on any of the Argonaut's media portals.
Pride is both an acknowledgement of where we are as a society and - cynically - a huge marketing opportunity. There is nothing controversial about participating in the LGBTQ's premier annual event or even putting up a Pride banner. Doing so is about as novel as sorting your recyclables. It is little effort and negligible cost to post a graphic and positive message on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
A few years back, Joe Eppele and his wife donned Argonauts jerseys and walked independently in the Parade. I was moved by his example and that of hockey coach BrianBurke's longstanding participation in Pride Parades.
The Argonauts ran the Huddle Up program on bullying. They know community engagement well. How about something for Pride?
