Reasonable attendance expectation for Wednesday?

[mint83]

I'm with 1argoholic.

This is the saddest I've ever been watching the Argos. It wasn't supposed to be this way in 2016. No excuses for such a small crowd. I always clung to the concept that there's lots of Torontonians who watch on tv and will go to the BMO. Guess not.

This drags down the whole league. TSN has even given up on the Argos. They rarely get any talk on the radio. Every time the Argos were mentioned on Rogers radio in Calgary today, they talked about ticket give aways for the home opener and how many would show up tonight.

Feels like Rogers and the TFC crowd have won.

[Will]

It was a pretty deflating crowd size for sure, and it gives the Rogers and TFC types plenty of ammo to use in the next few weeks. I grow weary of excuses though.

[Jayahre]

Well we were there and it was pretty lonely up on the east upper deck , I did notice a huge crowd over at Ontario place at the Duran Duran concert.

[Will]

Well we were there and it was pretty lonely up on the east upper deck , I did notice a huge crowd over at Ontario place at the Duran Duran concert.

Which, IMO, significantly nullifies the excuses of what might have been happening in or around the Exhibition grounds.

[Scooter McCray]

Was there tonight. If there were 15000 people there I'd be surprised. Very deflating. This game was for first place. And the cherry on top for my support of this team for 34 years is to offer me my seat to the Grey Cup for $600. Are you kidding me? The new owners must have seen a rabid fan base and sellouts galore. They are dreaming in technicolor if they think they will sell GC tickets in this city for that much. The sad thing is they have just turned their back on the real football fan. They would rather turn it into a superbowl where it is a bunch of corporates who don't really care what is going on down on the field. A frustrating night all around.

[Gill The Thrill]

Actually I was disappointingly shocked at how low the attendance was as I walked over the Dufferin St bridge at the Dufferin Gates. It was 7:30 already as I was running a little late but my heart sank looking at all the empty seats on the 200 level east side from the angle that I was looking at from the Dufferin Gates.

In reality, the Redblacks draw is extremely poor compared to Hamilton, they hardly drew any fans last year at the dome, as that was also a poorly attended game and that was a weekend. The fans that were there were fairly enthusiastic, but to be honest you can't question why there aren't more road team fans...if you work in Ottawa, there's little chance you could make it to a weekday game that's over 4 hrs away, but can the same be said about the GTA...don't think so.

Let's not panic and exaggerate, anyone that thought that a change in stadium would mean instant sellouts was being naive.

Truth is Bell and the Kilmer group did little to promote this team until the middle of June...what do you expect?

To those who thought that the Argos organization wasn't waiting to long to advertise, I guess you've been proven wrong...let's hope this is the lowest attendance for the season.

[Scooter McCray]

They had three weeks to sell tickets since the home opener and advertise and create a game day event. The team helped them out with 2 good road wins. I thought every game was going to be an event.

[Will]

Actually I was disappointingly shocked at how low the attendance was as I walked over the Dufferin St bridge at the Dufferin Gates. It was 7:30 already as I was running a little late but my heart sank looking at all the empty seats on the 200 level east side from the angle that I was looking at from the Dufferin Gates.

In reality, the Redblacks draw is extremely poor compared to Hamilton, they hardly drew any fans last year at the dome, as that was also a poorly attended game and that was a weekend. The fans that were there were fairly enthusiastic, but to be honest you can't question why there aren't more road team fans...if you work in Ottawa, there's little chance you could make it to a weekday game that's over 4 hrs away, but can the same be said about the GTA...don't think so.

Let's not panic and exaggerate, anyone that thought that a change in stadium would mean instant sellouts was being naive.

Truth is Bell and the Kilmer group did little to promote this team until the middle of June...what do you expect?

To those who thought that the Argos organization wasn't waiting to long to advertise, I guess you've been proven wrong...let's hope this is the lowest attendance for the season.

I agree, but an attendance of 12,000 is still much lower than what most of us had hoped it would be.

[1971GreyCup]

Was there tonight. If there were 15000 people there I'd be surprised. Very deflating. This game was for first place. And the cherry on top for my support of this team for 34 years is to offer me my seat to the Grey Cup for $600. Are you kidding me? The new owners must have seen a rabid fan base and sellouts galore. They are dreaming in technicolor if they think they will sell GC tickets in this city for that much. The sad thing is they have just turned their back on the real football fan. They would rather turn it into a superbowl where it is a bunch of corporates who don't really care what is going on down on the field. A frustrating night all around.

I don't think you'll get offered your seat. I noticed that season ticket holders could buy a seat and the Argos confirmed that we might not have access to our seats like in 2012. Given the pricing that might not be a bad thing.

[ArgoFan1]

Very deflating to see the East stands tonight. From my seat on the West side, the West side seems pretty full. I have no clue what the upper West looked like. I imagine it has to be deflating to the players as well. But..... not an issue once the ball is snapped. We have to get away from the week night games. As I said in the beginning, the tailgating thing was being pushed when in reality there were only a few games where people would actually have time to get there and tailgate. Not sure why the CFL schedule makers are so bad at their job as well. Ticats have their own dedicated stadium and yet they put them on the road for four straight games !!! No team should ever have to play more than two weeks straight on the road. I kept saying during the game that no matter how well the Argos play, the story tomorrow will be the attendance. The press will eat that up. Too bad.

[Neely2005]

The West stands were 90+% full. The East stands were probably only 30% full. The south stands were about 50% full.

Hogie called out fans on the post game show saying that there's no more excuses not to get out to Argonauts games.

[KCargosfan]

The West stands were 90+% full. The East stands were probably only 30% full. The south stands were about 50% full.

Hogie called out fans on the post game show saying that there's no more excuses not to get out to Argonauts games.

The problem is most of the people listening were probably at the game.

[paulwoods13]

All of us hoped this could be turned around quickly. Clearly it cannot. The new org has to overcome decades of neglect and worse. We are just two games into this. Way too early to hit the panic button.

[paulwoods13]

Just bought a sausage from a food truck. The guy's son sells food at BMO and he is told what the exoected attendance is so he can plan his food supplies and he was told that there are only 13,00 tickets sold for tonight. That is not good news....but you can also blame the schedulaers with these weeknight games and having a game when roads are closed for the Indy. On top of that, there is a concert at the Amphitheater. Does anyone in this city government know how to stagger events?

This vendor was apparently telling the truth.

[1argoholic]

Well I guess we'll be attending Toronto for four days in Nov to party but not attending the Grey Cup game. The new owners have to make up for having a small venue I guess. I'm much happier living in The Kawarthas but starting my company over has been difficult. One thing I miss about Mississauga is that work used to fall into my lap.

To me when they were talking to the panel just before kickoff and the stadium was empty my heart sunk. For most of the game I had the same feelings of sitting in an empty Dome. I just knew that marketing started late and that it would take more then an outdoor stadium. This is one strange market this Toronto. They glam onto what's new and crap on history. Many on here talked positively and after game one I was excited for this fresh start but last night was lower then low. Hopefully the new owners panic because Indy and Duran Duran aside that crowd was sad. I'm not trying to be negative I've always just called things the way I see them. TSN didn't even really comment other then it was hot and difficult to get to the game.

[Double Dare]

I was going to say 15,000 when this thread started, but I felt I my post might get jumped on when other people were stating 20,000. Sad.

[1argoholic]

Looked like well under 10 thou to me.

[Treblecharger1]

They just set the expectations way to high by stating the goal was to sell out every game. I do think that last night and the Montreal game will be the toughest sell. But yeah this is going to take a long time

[Double Dare]

12,373

[Neely2005]

Well I guess we'll be attending Toronto for four days in Nov to party but not attending the Grey Cup game. The new owners have to make up for having a small venue I guess. I'm much happier living in The Kawarthas but starting my company over has been difficult. One thing I miss about Mississauga is that work used to fall into my lap.

To me when they were talking to the panel just before kickoff and the stadium was empty my heart sunk. For most of the game I had the same feelings of sitting in an empty Dome. I just knew that marketing started late and that it would take more then an outdoor stadium. This is one strange market this Toronto. They glam onto what's new and crap on history. Many on here talked positively and after game one I was excited for this fresh start but last night was lower then low. Hopefully the new owners panic because Indy and Duran Duran aside that crowd was sad. I'm not trying to be negative I've always just called things the way I see them. TSN didn't even really comment other then it was hot and difficult to get to the game.

I agree that they should have started marketing a little earlier but how much of a difference do you think that would have made?