Argos at BMO Field

[R.J]

I've heard the north is fully going (Picture 1) but the south it's only the first 6 rows (Picture 2). The first 6 rows will be either retractable or movable.

I've heard the same and pretty sure we've seen the mock ups of the design. I'm still not a fan of going 28,000 instead of 25k, should have both stands retractable.

[gilthethrill]

Those pictures of BMO, are those soccer dugouts on the sidelines?

[Argoholics]

Those pictures of BMO, are those soccer dugouts on the sidelines?

Yes sir.....

[Gill The Thrill]

I've heard the same and pretty sure we've seen the mock ups of the design. I'm still not a fan of going 28,000 instead of 25k, should have both stands retractable.

Is the previous design up, the one will be seeing. Are the end zones still going to be slightly shorter at 17-18 yards?

Gotta disagree with you about capacity...28,000 is a much better number than 25,000. 3,000 seats is still 3,000 seats and if the ambience is good, they'll be at or near capacity in no time. I know you don't want supply to exceed demand like it did by 20,000 even in a good year at Skydome, but you also don't want your supply to be that scarce also, like 25,000 in Toronto would be. The Argos in Toronto should be playing in the largest stadium in the East in terms of capacity.

[R.J]

Is the previous design up, the one will be seeing. Are the end zones still going to be slightly shorter at 17-18 yards?

Gotta disagree with you about capacity...28,000 is a much better number than 25,000. 3,000 seats is still 3,000 seats and if the ambience is good, they'll be at or near capacity in no time. I know you don't want supply to exceed demand like it did by 20,000 even in a good year at Skydome, but you also don't want your supply to be that scarce also, like 25,000 in Toronto would be. The Argos in Toronto should be playing in the largest stadium in the East in terms of capacity.

I disagree, I have very little faith in the Argonauts selling 28,000 tickets on a weekly basis. Odds are much better for the Argonauts to sell 25,000 (not including the premium seating selections). I'd much rather see the stadium full and intimate than 3,000+ seats empty. As a sports business you want the supply to be scarce, it drives up demand even further and allows for ticket price increases. This is about the long term future on the Argonauts, 25,000 right now is perfect for what the Argonauts currently needs are and will help drive up demand, then once the demand is there, you can add the 3,000 seats. BTW if TanenBELL did decide to go with 25,000 they'd be tied with Montreal for highest seating capacity in the East and if they were to sell out BMO they would lead the East in attendance.

Why should the Argonauts be playing in the largest stadium in the East, haven't they been doing that for the past 27 years with little to no success ?
Is this theory just because the Argos play in Toronto which is the biggest City in Canada ?
Sorry, but this logic is flawed.

[Argo57]

I disagree, I have very little faith in the Argonauts selling 28,000 tickets on a weekly basis. Odds are much better for the Argonauts to sell 25,000 (not including the premium seating selections). I'd much rather see the stadium full and intimate than 3,000+ seats empty. As a sports business you want the supply to be scarce, it drives up demand even further and allows for ticket price increases. This is about the long term future on the Argonauts, 25,000 right now is perfect for what the Argonauts currently needs are and will help drive up demand, then once the demand is there, you can add the 3,000 seats. BTW if TanenBELL did decide to go with 25,000 they'd be tied with Montreal for highest seating capacity in the East and if they were to sell out BMO they would lead the East in attendance.

Why should the Argonauts be playing in the largest stadium in the East, haven't they been doing that for the past 27 years with little to no success ?
Is this theory just because the Argos play in Toronto which is the biggest City in Canada ?
Sorry, but this logic is flawed.

Attendance of 25,000 in a 28,000 seat facility would be great with the option of higher attendance as popularity increases it's not like we are talking 40,000 with 15,000 empty seats which would adversely affect the game experience.
Set a stretch goal and go for it!!

[AngeloV]

Attendance of 25,000 in a 28,000 seat facility would be great with the option of higher attendance as popularity increases it's not like we are talking 40,000 with 15,000 empty seats which would adversely affect the game experience.
Set a stretch goal and go for it!!

Just a question, are we talking 25k sideline seats and 3k end zone seats? If that is the case, I would like to see them do a deal with someone (Metro? Loblaws?) in which the end zone seats are only available through a promotion with the retailer, making cheaper tickets available.

[Argo57]

Just a question, are we talking 25k sideline seats and 3k end zone seats? If that is the case, I would like to see them do a deal with someone (Metro? Loblaws?) in which the end zone seats are only available through a promotion with the retailer, making cheaper tickets available.

Call the Argonauts office immediately, they are looking for a brilliant marketing mind like yours Angelo!!👍

[R.J]

Attendance of 25,000 in a 28,000 seat facility would be great with the option of higher attendance as popularity increases it's not like we are talking 40,000 with 15,000 empty seats which would adversely affect the game experience.
Set a stretch goal and go for it!!

I agree we should aim high, but imo going from 17,000 current attendance to 25,000 is aiming high enough. Again we have to create demand, you don't do that by overestimating the fanbase. Winnipeg did that with IGF, the last thing the Argos need is 20k showing up in a 28,000 seater.

Just a question, are we talking 25k sideline seats and 3k end zone seats? If that is the case, I would like to see them do a deal with someone (Metro? Loblaws?) in which the end zone seats are only available through a promotion with the retailer, making cheaper tickets available.

Yup, 25,000 sideline and 3k in the south endzone, at least if the two design leaks can be trusted.

[ArgoRavi]

Just a question, are we talking 25k sideline seats and 3k end zone seats? If that is the case, I would like to see them do a deal with someone (Metro? Loblaws?) in which the end zone seats are only available through a promotion with the retailer, making cheaper tickets available.

Didn't Dominion have such a deal years ago with 99 cent tickets in the endzone, AV? This would be back in the Exhibition Stadium days.

[1971GreyCup]

Yes and I believe Metro did a deal in the 1990s. Two for one end zone seats. The Als have done a great job appealing to young fans with giveaway (almost) pricing that includes a hot dog and drink. 4 games for $32.00 includes hot dog and drink. Outstanding way for a young person to spend a fall afternoon IMO.

[Neely2005]

Dominion (Metro) also had $9.99 vouchers for seats in the end of the size zones in the mid to late 90's.

There was also a Pizza Pizza all you can eat pizza zone. Cheese and Pepperoni pizza, 2 slices at a time. You could go to the pizza stand in the concourse and they would bring it around to the seats a couple times too.

[timlb01]

I think 25K is good for now. If they sell out constantly and are on fire at the box office then you add seats and expand much like what Montreal did with Molson Stadium. I believe we will be close to selling out most games going forward with good promotions and publicity.

I remember early days in the dome we always had over 30k at games and it slowly deteriorated to where we were the last couple of years. I would rather see a full stadium than one with 3k empty seats half the time.

[Gill The Thrill]

3,000 empty seats in a 28,000 seater at BMO will look full compared to 25,000 empty seats at Skydome and even 25,000 empty which is what they had at old CNE stadium with a crowd of 29,000.

Those 99 cents tickets that A&P (remember them) used to be behind the end zone along the 3rd baseline for baseball after the ex was reconfigured and redone for MLB in 1976. Those seats were so far from the 25 yd end zones in those days, let alone the playing field. The fans might as well have been on the Gardiner. I remember sitting there on a game that was half full and it felt like I was a mile away from the action. This stadium will be more intimate.

As for the ticket increase argument, that's flawed, the Argos have always outpriced fans when there popularity starts to increase and they stupidly increase prices to watch the crowds fall. It's happened to this organization for the last 30 years. They get greedy and crank up prices, they've even done that in the last 3-5 years and then complain why nobody's going down. With the money that CFL teams pay their players, you can't dare compare there ticket prices to the other major sports leagues who have one player make more than an entire CFL team. Jacking up prices the way Snowrogue wants might as well see them play in his backyard. That'll make tickets scarce, but he should gladly cover the gate receipts for the game totalling about a million bucks because he's a great fan. That's real logical using his economic philosophy of let's have a race to see who can build the smallest stadium in the league while charging the most money. More Argo home games in Hamilton here we come.

[Argos1983]

Didn't Dominion have such a deal years ago with 99 cent tickets in the endzone, AV? This would be back in the Exhibition Stadium days.

There were .99 cent seats from A&P and Dominion --- I remember buying those in the 80s! --- even scarier I remember buying $1.99 seats for a playoff game back then too!!

[R.J]

3,000 empty seats in a 28,000 seater at BMO will look full compared to 25,000 empty seats at Skydome and even 25,000 empty which is what they had at old CNE stadium with a crowd of 29,000.

Those 99 cents tickets that A&P (remember them) used to be behind the end zone along the 3rd baseline for baseball after the ex was reconfigured and redone for MLB in 1976. Those seats were so far from the 25 yd end zones in those days, let alone the playing field. The fans might as well have been on the Gardiner. I remember sitting there on a game that was half full and it felt like I was a mile away from the action. This stadium will be more intimate.

As for the ticket increase argument, that's flawed, the Argos have always outpriced fans when there popularity starts to increase and they stupidly increase prices to watch the crowds fall. It's happened to this organization for the last 30 years. They get greedy and crank up prices, they've even done that in the last 3-5 years and then complain why nobody's going down. With the money that CFL teams pay their players, you can't dare compare there ticket prices to the other major sports leagues who have one player make more than an entire CFL team. Jacking up prices the way Snowrogue wants might as well see them play in his backyard. That'll make tickets scarce, but he should gladly cover the gate receipts for the game totalling about a million bucks because he's a great fan. That's real logical using his economic philosophy of let's have a race to see who can build the smallest stadium in the league while charging the most money. More Argo home games in Hamilton here we come.

That's not what I meant, but carry on.

[Gill The Thrill]

There were .99 cent seats from A&P and Dominion --- I remember buying those in the 80s! --- even scarier I remember buying $1.99 seats for a playoff game back then too!!

Put it into context though, a $15 ticket was the most expensive in 1982, I think it was even $14, so a playoff game may have been $20 at the 55 yard line, if even back then. I bet those $1.99 seats for the playoffs were in that west end zone side across from the Better Living Centre at the old Exhibition stadium. Good times, though. The Argos may not have made a mint selling those seats at such a cheap price, but it made you enough of a fan to still talk about them today, provided great atmosphere and given you (us) a great memory. These are things that didn't happen enough playing at Skydome the last 27 seasons.

[Argo57]

Put it into context though, a $15 ticket was the most expensive in 1982, I think it was even $14, so a playoff game may have been $20 at the 55 yard line, if even back then. I bet those $1.99 seats for the playoffs were in that west end zone side across from the Better Living Centre at the old Exhibition stadium. Good times, though. The Argos may not have made a mint selling those seats at such a cheap price, but it made you enough of a fan to still talk about them today, provided great atmosphere and given you (us) a great memory. These are things that didn't happen enough playing at Skydome the last 27 seasons.

Yes cheaper tickets get casual fans in the stadium who in turn may actually enjoy the experience and return, along the way they will buy food and drink and maybe some merchandise.

[Qman]

posts for the roofs going up at #argos new stadium pic.twitter.com/DoWxTLhKAc

— Qman (@Qman604) November 17, 2015

[argotom]

I certainly hope they take down that awful TFC sign.
If not, then the big A should be seen in a similar different location.