Ticket prices.

[T-Bone]

TFC is not a whole lot better -- price freeze in effect only for four weeks -- but it's still better than an increase.

This is the third season with a price freeze for TFC and all you have to do is make a deposit before the Dec 15th deadline to get that price. I believe the same goes for the Argos regarding a deposit and the early bird price.

[paulwoods13]

I finally did an analysis of my own situation. My ticket price has been increased about 13% over last year. I have asked for justification for such an increase.

[gilthethrill]

I finally did an analysis of my own situation. My ticket price has been increased about 13% over last year. I have asked for justification for such an increase.

Someone has to pay the recently fired Mike Benevides salary!

[argotom]

Still the best deal in town.
The CFL is value for the money.

[T-Bone]

Still the best deal in town.
The CFL is value for the money.

My TFC season tickets work out cheaper than my Argos season tickets per game. Both sets of tickets are on the bottom price levels. Some may not define that as "value for the money" though.

[Neely2005]

I got my renewal today as well. Just wondering, for those that have bronze seats, what are they asking for your renewal. On my renewal, they are asking per ticket: 300.00 + 39.00 HST + 30.00 facilities fee, for a total of 369 per ticket. I don't have a problem paying it if everyone else is paying the same amount, but I'll be damned if I pay more than others for the same level in 2015 as I did in 2014.

My total price for 2 seats is $738. Up from $605 total for the same 2 seats for the 2014 season.

$300 per seat plus $60 Facility Fee and HST. So the same price as yours.

Well I just sent an email with how I feel, starting with how I paid so much more than others for the same seats last year, to the no effort fan appreciation night, to the lack of incentive to actually pay market value for tickets, when scalpers are selling them for so cheap.

Here's the response that I got:

The regular season tickets rates didn’t change much from last season (regular rate last year for the Bronze seats were $367.87 with this year’s being $369) but you did take advantage of the early bird last year that had a great savings attached.* So compared to what you paid for last year yes they went up but they are pretty much at par as far as the regular rate is concerned.* Last year our team made the decision to align our prices with the rest of the clubs in the CFL and has a result the increase was substantial and those that book early last year are essentially seeing a two year increase in one year.

Unfortunately the situation is out of the ticket reps hands as they don't set the prices and all they probably can do is pass on the messages they receive. I don't want people not to renew or buy tickets but at the same time the people that made the decision to increase prices should justify the reason for it. The e-mail I received for 2015 renewal had nothing but an attached .pdf invoice. That's just a bit tacky, not even a thank you for last years support. If they keep this up they are going to erode the hardcore foundation of their fan base. I'm going to wait until the day before the renewal date is up to renew. If they have a slow start on renewals they may reconsider the increase.

That's weird. This is what is attached to my renewal PDF:

The Argos faced many unique challenges this year but still managed to finish within a game of making the post-season. We believe in the leadership of Jim Barker and Scott Milanovich, and are confident that in 2015, we will continue building a winning organization on and off the field. We are of course very proud of our Outstanding Player Awards nominees and All-Stars, and feel especially fortunate for the opportunity to support a future Hall of Fame quarterback each week.

Through it all, we want to thank you for being part of our team. We hope that you experienced your 'Argos moment' this past season. It is the moment when you shake the hand of a player and he takes a few minutes to get to know you, or when you are sitting on the edge of your seat just as Ricky Ray drops another perfectly thrown pass into Chad Owens' hands for a touchdown, or maybe it is that moment when you are with your family and friends sharing in all of the tradition and excitement of Canadian football. Whatever your moment is, we hope that you found it, and we want you back next year to enjoy more special moments.

As you know, the benefits of being an Argonauts Season Ticket Holder are extensive. They include major discounts off the regular gameday ticket price, ticket exchange opportunities, participation in exclusive pre-sale offers, and, most importantly, being part of the Double Blue family. For details on additional benefits and other seating options, please visit the Season Tickets section, located under Tickets, at Argonauts.ca or contact your account executive.

EXCLUSIVE EARLY BIRD BENEFITS FOR 2015 (for all renewals committed prior to January 30th, 2015).

We will draw one name weekly, until the early bird renewal deadline of January 30th, for some exciting prizes including a trip to 103rd Grey Cup in Winnipeg, an ultimate road trip package to Montreal or Ottawa, game-worn jerseys, season seat upgrades and a lot more! Those who win the weekly draw will still be eligible for the remaining draws, so be sure to renew today.
*
Now is the time to renew your seats so that you can take advantage of great savings, have a chance to win terrific prizes, and be ready for another season of Argonauts football.

To renew, simply fill out the attached invoice and send it in, log into your account manager online at Argonauts.ca, call us at 416-341-ARGO (2746), or email your account executive or clientservices@argonauts.ca .

Come and discover your Argos moment again with us in 2015.

Sincerely,

Chris Rudge
Chief Executive Officer
*
Early Bird renewals represent full or partial payment of at least 1/3rd on 2015 renewed season tickets on or before January 30, 2015

[AngeloV]

My total price for 2 seats is $738. Up from $605 total for the same 2 seats for the 2014 season.

$300 per seat plus $60 Facility Fee and HST. So the same price as yours.

Yeah. I figured out that I just got screwed a year eariler than the rest of you. What a terrible way to keep any of the remaining fan base around.

[Argo57]

We are moving further west from Burlington next summer, my 11 year old son is a diehard Ticat fan, decided not to renew with the Argonauts and purchased 4 Bronze seats with the Ticats.
Ticat bronze seats are more money ($429/ea) but factoring Go transit costs ($400/season) cost is a wash, with less aggravation getting there.
Sadly the game day experience coupled with transit time made my decision easier than I thought.
Went to one Ticat game this year and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and passion of their fans (reminded me of 30 years ago at the Ex).
Still a true Doubleblue Argonaut fan and will proudly wear my jersey when Toronto is in town!!!

[AngeloV]

We are moving further west from Burlington next summer, my 11 year old son is a diehard Ticat fan, decided not to renew with the Argonauts and purchased 4 Bronze seats with the Ticats.
Ticat bronze seats are more money ($429/ea) but factoring Go transit costs ($400/season) cost is a wash, with less aggravation getting there.
Sadly the game day experience coupled with transit time made my decision easier than I thought.
Went to one Ticat game this year and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and passion of their fans (reminded me of 30 years ago at the Ex).
Still a true Doubleblue Argonaut fan and will proudly wear my jersey when Toronto is in town!!!

Wear your jersey proudly whether the Argos are in town or not. Sad to see this happen, but not surprised.

[Ron]

Last year our team made the decision to align our prices with the rest of the clubs in the CFL and has a result the increase was substantial and those that book early last year are essentially seeing a two year increase in one year.

Bob Young did the same thing with Ticat tickets. But only for new customers. Existing season seat holders were not screwed with big increases. (nor will they be)

And that's with a season ticket base at least 4 times larger than the Argos have to deal with.

[moeajram]

I have been a season holder for 7 years, but last year was my first year not buying season tickets due to a number of factors. I still made my way down 2 games all year,which has been the lowest amount in the past 10 years for me.

I wish the Argos would have similar packages to the Toronto Rock, in terms of value and costs. I am still on the fence about getting season tickets due to the sechedule we have been given for the past few years, and also due to the experience of watching a game at the dome. I love the dome, but at the moment it does not feel like we are there to watch a football game. Again for me, i am coming from north, so i need the tickets to be resonable priced such as family deals wound work for me and i wish we could change the atmposphere are the rogers center to make it more football friendly.

[T-Bone]

That's weird. This is what is attached to my renewal PDF:

Maybe it's just Blue level they don't care about then. I know a few people with Blue level tickets that got just an attached .pdf in their renewal e-mail. Thanks for posting that, it's good to know what I missed out on: Early Bird Draw 2015

We are moving further west from Burlington next summer, my 11 year old son is a diehard Ticat fan, decided not to renew with the Argonauts and purchased 4 Bronze seats with the Ticats.
Ticat bronze seats are more money ($429/ea) but factoring Go transit costs ($400/season) cost is a wash, with less aggravation getting there.
Sadly the game day experience coupled with transit time made my decision easier than I thought.
Went to one Ticat game this year and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and passion of their fans (reminded me of 30 years ago at the Ex).
Still a true Doubleblue Argonaut fan and will proudly wear my jersey when Toronto is in town!!!

Unfortunate but understandable. I picked up a season ticket at Tim Hortons Field this past season and as an Argo fan I'm a little envious of what they have going on there.

[herrington2828]

EXCLUSIVE EARLY BIRD BENEFITS FOR 2015 (for all renewals committed prior to January 30th, 2015).

We will draw one name weekly, until the early bird renewal deadline of January 30th, for some exciting prizes including a trip to 103rd Grey Cup in Winnipeg, an ultimate road trip package to Montreal or Ottawa, game-worn jerseys, season seat upgrades and a lot more! Those who win the weekly draw will still be eligible for the remaining draws, so be sure to renew today.

Wow, this really entices me to renew and spend the money now without seeing the schedule. A few giveaways, nothing else. I will be a June 1st decision, but as mentioned before, 6 seasons in bronze will at the MOST become 4 in blue. $2,000 spent with 6 guys at every game VS $1,000 and 4 guys. Not alot of money, but start multiplying that the others in my situation and it quickly grows to exponential losses!

[Downtownfan]

I'm torn right now. I have two seasons in bronze, nominally one for myself and soon to be 8-year old. The soon to be 6-year old was to get his own ticket this year, bringing my total up to three, but the schedule sucked so badly this year that the kids did not make it to a few of the games (a bit too late on a Friday some times). Now, the saving grace is the exchange, which allows quite a bit of flexibility. But again, the sked sucked this year, and does not promise to improve much next year... I also want to know what, exactly, is going to happen to the franchise in terms of ownership and stadium; I was convinced that we would be moving to BMO Field by 2015 or 2016, but now that looks tentative.
I am really torn, but want to support the franchise. I am convinced that many people have not renewed or are staying home as a sort of protest to the high ticket prices, or are waiting until BMO.

[Neely2005]

Maybe it's just Blue level they don't care about then. I know a few people with Blue level tickets that got just an attached .pdf in their renewal e-mail. Thanks for posting that, it's good to know what I missed out on: Early Bird Draw 2015


Unfortunate but understandable. I picked up a season ticket at Tim Hortons Field this past season and as an Argo fan I'm a little envious of what they have going on there.

How does the new Hamilton stadium compare with the new Ottawa stadium?

Here's the response that I got:

The regular season tickets rates didn’t change much from last season (regular rate last year for the Bronze seats were $367.87 with this year’s being $369) but you did take advantage of the early bird last year that had a great savings attached.* So compared to what you paid for last year yes they went up but they are pretty much at par as far as the regular rate is concerned.* Last year our team made the decision to align our prices with the rest of the clubs in the CFL and has a result the increase was substantial and those that book early last year are essentially seeing a two year increase in one year.

My reply:

I know that you don't set the prices and you've been a very good ticket representative for me.*

However I question the wisdom of increasing prices when announced average attendance was dow‎n 4,135 per game to only 17,791 for the 2014 season.*

The Argonauts play in a stadium that seats 52,230 for CFL Football. That means that for the 2014 season the Rogers Centre was at an average capacity of 34%. That's something that the other CFL teams that you're comparing yourself to for pricing aren't dealing with.

Also as per the pricing below that I've found online the Argonauts are among the most expensive at the low end of Season Ticket prices.

The Season Ticket price ranges are as follows:

BC $271 - $1050
Edmonton $235 -?*
Calgary $222 - $839
Saskatchewan $315 - $755 (Student and Senior pricing available)
Winnipeg $254 - $1092
Hamilton $288 -?*
Toronto $255 - $819
Ottawa ‎$229 - $918
Montreal $178 - $839

So I'm not sure who is setting the pricing but I think that they really need to reconsider the prices for Season Ticket holders as they are your most loyal and it's my understanding that you don't have that many left. Especially since I could have just waited for the in season promotions and paid less for tickets.

[T-Bone]

Wow, this really entices me to renew and spend the money now without seeing the schedule. A few giveaways, nothing else.

I have to admit that there are a lot of nice early bird prizes. This is the most I've ever seen for early bird renewal.

How does the new Hamilton stadium compare with the new Ottawa stadium?

I was in the south stand at TD Place and it was very similar to Tim Hortons Field. The seats at THF are bigger though and a bit more comfortable.

[Neely2005]

I have to admit that there are a lot of nice early bird prizes. This is the most I've ever seen for early bird renewal.


I was in the south stand at TD Place and it was very similar to Tim Hortons Field. The seats at THF are bigger though and a bit more comfortable.

Hopefully the cup holders are in a better location at THF than at TD Place. I can only imagine how many people are going to trip over them.

[Argocister]

I like both THF and TD Place.
They both have their own character and will develop that further as games are played.
The Als stadium at McGill is one of the most picturesque ..... yes even football stadiums can be picturesque. ( I think Soldier field in Chicago is one of those)
Both TD Place and Molson stadiums are in areas where there are restaurants, parks, other things to do while you are visiting. THF not so much, but they do have some fun tailgating at THF.
If you have a chance to go to either, you should. Yes it will create some envy, but hopefully the Argos will get their own stadium that will be a better home than just boarding at the dome.

[ArgoRavi]

I like both THF and TD Place.
They both have their own character and will develop that further as games are played.
The Als stadium at McGill is one of the most picturesque ..... yes even football stadiums can be picturesque. ( I think Soldier field in Chicago is one of those)
Both TD Place and Molson stadiums are in areas where there are restaurants, parks, other things to do while you are visiting. THF not so much, but they do have some fun tailgating at THF.
If you have a chance to go to either, you should. Yes it will create some envy, but hopefully the Argos will get their own stadium that will be a better home than just boarding at the dome.

I suspect that much of the reason why we heard some discontent among Argos players is because they saw the new facilities in Ottawa and Hamilton and started asking, "Why not us"?

[Argo57]

I suspect that much of the reason why we heard some discontent among Argos players is because they saw the new facilities in Ottawa and Hamilton and started asking, "Why not us"?

Kind of ironic, the oldest franchise in the CFL in Canada's largest city is being run like some backwoods semi pro team, I'm sure the Toronto players do have tremendous resentment, you can bet this also hinders some free agent signings as well.
You really have to feel bad for Jim Barker, Scott Milanovich and the rest of the football operations!!