Argo Sale

[Neely2005]

I recently spoke to a friend of mine who is in Sales for Telecommunications Services. One of his clients is MLSE so I asked him if he had heard anything about MLSE purchasing the Argonauts. He told me that he had been told that they weren't going to be purchasing the Argonauts but they were preparing for them to move into BMO Field. He said that they had just placed an order for additional Voice & Data services at BMO Field and that they intended to resell those services to the Argonauts at about 5 Times what they were paying for them.

Take it for what it's worth.

[argofandave]

David Braley turns 73 today so I guess he has 2 more years to sell the team.

[1argoholic]

Unless he pulls a Ralph Wilson. haha. I wish no harm to him it's just a JOKE!!!!! I don't need some politically correct BS coming back my way. It's a JOKE!!!! I act 6. SNL fans will get that one.

[D-Gap-Willie]

Unless he pulls a Ralph Wilson. haha. I wish no harm to him it's just a JOKE!!!!! I don't need some politically correct BS coming back my way. It's a JOKE!!!! I act 6. SNL fans will get that one.

MAy I quote the Queen, " we are not amused "

[Double Dare]

MAy I quote the Queen, " we are not amused "

I am, I think it's funny, but I have a sick sense of humour.
Weekend at Braley's ...

[1argoholic]

If you don't laugh, you'll cry. I'd rather laugh.

[D-Gap-Willie]

I'd rather laugh too, but sometimes I can't help but cry about the Argos' woes.

[1argoholic]

It's always years of crummy Argo news after a year or so of good feeling Argo news. No building off Grey Cup 100 or very little. At least they seem to be in a better place for camp etc.

[Will]

Apparently that's what McCown said.

[argotom]

Like this clown really knows?

[Will]

MLSE will not buy Argos and move them to BMO. Asking price was 10 million+ percentage of future Grey Cup revenue. Deal is dead.

— Bob McCown (@FadooBobcat) June 30, 2014

[Treblecharger1]

I also would not pay 10 million bucks plus grey cup revenue... the league needs to step in here.

[Wobbler]

How much debt is the team carrying?

[Treblecharger1]

This is pretty much a bluff BTW.... MLSE is choosing to negotiate in the media right now. I see this deal eventually getting done but the league needs to start stepping in.

[AngeloV]

I also would not pay 10 million bucks plus grey cup revenue... the league needs to step in here.

Agreed. If someone is going to buy the team, why in the world would they give up any revenues? The whole thing makes no sense.

[argotom]

If true, this could be nothing more then typical negotiations going back and forth.

[paulwoods13]

Braley does not have the upper hand in this negotiation. It could blow up if he's not careful. And there clearly is no Plan B, so he better be careful.

[Argocister]

I wonder if off the wall options have been considered? .... Like a community owned team as in a couple places out west.... Or the CFL takes over the team for a couple years like the Arizona coyotes in the NHL.
I would think a city in the GTA may consider one of these type options as viable for a few years and take the team to their town .... Vaughn or Markham.
If that's the character of the CFL teams .... Getting the community to rally around them, that may be the better option.
They can still be Toronto Argos.... Don't some New York teams play outside the city?

[shayman]

I would think a city in the GTA may consider one of these type options as viable for a few years and take the team to their town .... Vaughn or Markham.

Where exactly are they going to play in Vaughan or Markham?

There's really only one option other than Skydome: BMO Field. Anything else requires hundreds of millions of dollars which do not seem to be forthcoming.

[ArgoRavi]

I wonder if off the wall options have been considered? .... Like a community owned team as in a couple places out west.... Or the CFL takes over the team for a couple years like the Arizona coyotes in the NHL.
I would think a city in the GTA may consider one of these type options as viable for a few years and take the team to their town .... Vaughn or Markham.
If that's the character of the CFL teams .... Getting the community to rally around them, that may be the better option.
They can still be Toronto Argos.... Don't some New York teams play outside the city?

Community ownership is something that gets floated on this forum every so often but I don't think it would work in Toronto. All five western teams had that kind of ownership until the late 1980s when community ownership broke down in Vancouver and Calgary. Ottawa tried something like that in the late 1980s and it was disastrous. My suspicion is that it works in Winnipeg, Regina and Edmonton, in part, because they have been doing it for so long in those places. If they tried doing something like that in Toronto, I just don't think that enough capital would be raised to make the team viable.

MLSE truly is the best (only?) option for the Argos and one that needs to happen soon for this franchise.