MLSE interested in Argos with eye on NFL in Toronto

[1argoholic]

Still blows me away with the total lack of respect between pro sports organizations in Toronto. The Argos being the oldest just truck along winning championships here and there while the others do little. The Argos don't bash the others. Yet everyone wants to keep bringing up the bloody NFL and crap on the Argos. Rogers and MLSE have no class when it comes to the Argos. The high and mighty types in Toronto have always made me puke. No wonder TO is hated by the rest of Canada. When all they read is this type of BS article. For those that don't think TO is hated then go live out west and talk proud about TO. I never took the BS crap slinging. Have I mentioned that it's great to be back in Ontario!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[moeajram]

You are so correct in everything you say 1argoholic, my wife is from Edmonton and I have tons of family out in calgay, and it is like day and night, i been to game out west, and they are so much fun to watch. I was driving home today and on the fan 590 there talking about the bluejays whom are already out of the playoff race, lets be honest they were out back in april, and then 1050 was talking about the leafs, which still have not even open trading camp. I was so pissed off yesterday at the 1pm hour show on the fan, there were making fun of the argos playing on a tuesday night, maybe they should have been talking about the first place team in the cfl east instead of talking about the last place team Blue jays. If it is not major league in Toronto then we cant support it, look at jr hockey in the gta, how it has struggle for many years while the leafs sell out. The Toronto Rock play out of the Air Canada Center and MLSE even gives them prime time, they will give them a Saturday night at 7pm or Sunday afternoon. Thats another team that i have been supporting for many years.

[Argo57]

Still blows me away with the total lack of respect between pro sports organizations in Toronto. The Argos being the oldest just truck along winning championships here and there while the others do little. The Argos don't bash the others. Yet everyone wants to keep bringing up the bloody NFL and crap on the Argos. Rogers and MLSE have no class when it comes to the Argos. The high and mighty types in Toronto have always made me puke. No wonder TO is hated by the rest of Canada. When all they read is this type of BS article. For those that don't think TO is hated then go live out west and talk proud about TO. I never took the BS crap slinging. Have I mentioned that it's great to be back in Ontario!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

True Argoholic, but MLSE only cares about the all mighty dollar, period!!!

[Rocket]

Hard to be too down on Braley, maybe there is no Argonaut franchise if he didn't step up and buy the team!!
MLSE ownership doesn't exactly give me the warm and fuzzy feeling given their track for the last 45+ years.

Yes I do support Braley in a way that he does pay the bills for this team. But what i want to see is the Argos being relevant in the market of toronto. We need a leader or president for this team to speak up it let it be known that the nfl is not welcomed here in toronto by the many football fans of toronto.

[Argo57]

Yes I do support Braley in a way that he does pay the bills for this team. But what i want to see is the Argos being relevant in the market of toronto. We need a leader or president for this team to speak up it let it be known that the nfl is not welcomed here in toronto by the many football fans of toronto.

Admirable sentiment Rocket, I would love to see the Argonauts return to their former glory in Toronto but in truth the NFL would be welcomed with open arms in T.O.

[Rocket]

Admirable sentiment Rocket, I would love to see the Argonauts return to their former glory in Toronto but in truth the NFL would be welcomed with open arms in T.O.

I am a fan of the nfl I watch there games on tv but I would never welcome a team to toronto. Mark my words I will not spend one dollar for a ticket to see them if they come to toronto with the Argos being here!

[Ballstothewall]

Admirable sentiment Rocket, I would love to see the Argonauts return to their former glory in Toronto but in truth the NFL would be welcomed with open arms in T.O.

I don't think so, once the novelty of the NFL wears out in T.O after a few years, getting 75,000 paying fans down to every game would be a challenge for T.O. There is no measurable data that points to the NFL being in high demand In T.O. If anything the data is not great for the NFL in T.O. NFL TV rating in T.O are lower then the CFL TV ratings. The Bills series which gave NFL fans the opportunity to show how much they want the NFL is a huge failure with as little as 18,000 tickets being paid for with the rest of the Dome being papered. ( anyone read how the Rail links corporation was given thousands of $ worth of free Bills tickets and how in their internal memo to management it stated that Rogers is having a hard time selling tickets, so request how many tickets you want for free to there staff)mand yes I have heard all the excuse of why the Bill series failed.

[argotom]

I don't get this possibility. MLSE which has been putting down the Argos for years gone by now want a part of them. Maybe it is the TSN ownership portion. That would make sense.

[Rich]

Corporations, such as MLSE, can't own a majority share of an NFL team, correct?

I think it was pretty much understood last time this came up that Larry Tannenbaum would be the owner of the Toronto NFL franchise, he would sell his 7.5% of MLSE and would have no trouble raising the rest of the money he needed.

[flafson]

They are saying now that Rogers is renewing the lease with the Argos for another 5 years. Read it on the Blue Jays forum and they claim it's coming from multiple sources.

[Rocket]

They are saying now that Rogers is renewing the lease with the Argos for another 5 years. Read it on the Blue Jays forum and they claim it's coming from multiple sources.

Lets just hope that the Argos have a different guy who is going to negotiate this lease deal then the previous guy. Argos can't just agree with everything with what Rogers says.

[Rich]

i suspect this is more to do with the new TV contract rather than the MLSE wanting a NFL team. Bell has 50% of MLSE, why would BELL wish to Damage its 2nd largest Canadian sports package. They wouldn't, they might actually want to grow it in the area, and a move like this would ensure it. The NFL shit is just wishful thinking on the part of the reporter.

For sure Bell would be a big part of something like this.

But I wouldn't be surprised if Leiweke was behind this idea. Don't forget, he got his start trying to sell soccer in football country, so he knows something about building smaller, unpopular sports properties into profitable businesses. And then weaving them into sports empires.

For sure the guy has seen the TV numbers and how well the Argos draw on TV. He was here for the Grey Cup last year. A guy like him sees that and he sees opportunity. He probably cannot fathom all the negativity towards the CFL at the boardroom level. Well if he hasn't already he will learn soon enough about Canadians' selective inferiority complex.

But I sure hope there is something real to this story. I've said for many years the only way the Argos survive in this town is if one of the big boys becomes their owner. Maybe it's finally turning that way.

[shayman]

Everyone's favourite CEO Chris Rudge was on TSN this afternoon talking about this. He said something about negotiating a new 5 year deal with Rogers, and that they're looking at future stadium options, and that if the Jays put in grass then there's no way the Argos can play there (because moving the seats around would wreck the grass.)

I don't think they have the audio up on their web site yet but I'll keep an eye out for the link.

[Rich]

Lets just hope that the Argos have a different guy who is going to negotiate this lease deal then the previous guy. Argos can't just agree with everything with what Rogers says.

Or what? The Argos have no leverage in these negotiations. Rogers knows the Argos have nowhere else to go at this point in time. They've got us over the barrel.

[shayman]

But I sure hope there is something real to this story. I've said for many years the only way the Argos survive in this town is if one of the big boys becomes their owner. Maybe it's finally turning that way.

My main worry is that being 2nd fiddle to TFC at BMO Field is not going to be better than being 2nd fiddle to the Jays at Skydome.

Don Landry on Twitter today -

MLSE may/may not be interested in buying the Argos. But they are interested in putting them in a new stadium, a source told me last Spring.

and I asked him if he could shed a little more light on that and he said

@shayman First plan was new stadium as part of proposed casino complex at CNE. That fell thru. Maybe a revamped BMO, maybe a brand new place

[Rich]

My main worry is that being 2nd fiddle to TFC at BMO Field is not going to be better than being 2nd fiddle to the Jays at Skydome.

There'd be a world of difference if one owner owned both teams. You can be sure if Rogers owned the Argonauts we wouldn't be saddled with these terrible home dates. They would have "found a way" to get us fridays and saturdays.

[Rocket]

Or what? The Argos have no leverage in these negotiations. Rogers knows the Argos have nowhere else to go at this point in time. They've got us over the barrel.

What do you mean or what? Fans here have to stop with the stupid excuses standing up to these lazy bums who work for this team. How come in years past there wasn't such a big problem with the schedule as this year? Back when pelley was working for the Argos they had a reasonable schedule! And this conversion issue with changing the stadium from baseball to football can't be done in a day is a bunch of bull! Have been a fan of this team long enough to know that the blue jays have played a game the day before with the Argos having a game the next day no problem! Fans got to start putting the pressure on the mangement of this team to get there act in order or they can forget about any new stadium coming to town!

[ArgoRavi]

What do you mean or what? Fans here have to stop with the stupid excuses standing up to these lazy bums who work for this team. How come in years past there wasn't such a big problem with the schedule as this year? Back when pelley was working for the Argos they had a reasonable schedule!

Pelley was working under a far more favourable lease than Rudge has been working under. Cynamon and Sokolowski actually negotiated a pretty decent lease when they were co-owning the team (in 2005 after they bailed on the proposed York stadium) which gave the Argos more choice of dates. However, when C & S started losing interest and began bailing on the team, they were negligent in activating a clause in that lease agreement which would have simply renewed it for another five years with the same terms. Braley then had to come in to rescue the team and negotiate a brand new lease with Rogers - and this was before Rudge came on board - with terms that, as we have seen, are far less favourable.

[Rocket]

Pelley was working under a far more favourable lease than Rudge has been working under. Cynamon and Sokolowski actually negotiated a pretty decent lease when they were co-owning the team (in 2005 after they bailed on the proposed York stadium) which gave the Argos more choice of dates. However, when C & S started losing interest and began bailing on the team, they were negligent in activating a clause in that lease agreement which would have simply renewed it for another five years with the same terms. Braley then had to come in to rescue the team and negotiate a brand new lease with Rogers - and this was before Rudge came on board - with terms that, as we have seen, are far less favourable.

Well this lease thing is getting worse by the year. Someone needs to put a stop to Rogers.

[ArgoRavi]

Well this lease thing is getting worse by the year. Someone needs to put a stop to Rogers.

While I don't disagree with your first sentence here, the Argos have 0.0 leverage with Rogers unfortunately. BTW, your man, Rudge, has spoken out about the possibility of MLSE owning the Argos: http://www.torontosun.com/2013/09/04...xcellent-owner