Madani: Boatmen's ship is sinking, on the field and off

[1971GreyCup]

Madani: Boatmen’s ship is sinking, on the field and off
Posted on October 4, 2016 by Arash Madani // 0 Comments
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Editor’s Note: Arash Madani is a reporter and commentator for Rogers Sportsnet. He is a weekly columnist for 3DownNation.

The Grey Cup is coming to Toronto next month. If you’d like tickets, Section 205 is available.

No, no, not a seat. The section.

Prefer the other side at BMO Field? No problem. About five rows are sold in Section 221. There are 20 other empty rows to pick from that are up for grabs there.

Want to be closer to the scoreboard? Over in Section 225, there are about as many vacant rows as there are pairs sold. You can shell out over a grand to take yourself and a friend.

For over $400 apiece, you give yourself the right to sit in the top row of the stadium around the 10-yard-line. Surrounded by… nobody.

Meanwhile, for under $250 down the street, you can get a 200-level ticket into an elimination game for the American League Championship Series – should Toronto get that far. The fate of the Blue Jays may be decided tonight. Those of the Argonauts pretty much have: don’t expect to see them anywhere near the 104th Grey Cup on Nov. 27.

The Titanic hit the iceberg Sunday afternoon, and Scott Milanovich knows it. Not just because his Argos were humiliated 38-11 in Montreal, but because the boat his men occupy is now taking on more water than they can handle.

On the radio broadcast, nearing the end of the drubbing, Argos analyst Jeff Johnson pointed to a real lack of leadership on the defensive side of the football.

Milanovich was as direct. “We’ve got some good football players here that I’m not sure are really committed to what we need to have take place,” the head coach told reporters after the four touchdown loss at Molson Stadium.

That’s where they are now, in finger-pointing mode with four games left.

“It’s little things like being late, not showing up prepared, screwing around and that’s where we’re at,” Milanovich said on Sunday.

So the next day, pink slips were issued. A team that can’t score points sent away four receivers, including two starters. Kevin Elliott, released. The Argos touchdown leader, Tori Gurley, now gone. So is Phil Bates. A Winnipeg source said Vidal Hazelton was dangled in trade talks by Toronto, but there was no interest. So he was released too. ‘The Big Three’ are now ‘The Street Three.’

After, in a team-issued press release, Milanovich was quoted as saying, “We remain committed to winning this year.”

Winning what, exactly?

Gurley and Hazelton were two of the Argos featured players in pre-season promotional shoots for the new adidas uniforms. Handpicked by the team. How far they’ve fallen, and fast. They weren’t making much money. Perhaps a raise was in their future, but if the plan is to win now, then what is the urgency to cut them loose with a month to go in the season?

Taylor Stubblefield is the gentleman that is the receivers’ coach of the Argonauts. What “screwing around” could have been going on in that meeting room, once the players presumably decided to show up for work, for it to regress this quickly?

Drew Willy, of course, will be safe. Nor should there be any reason for him not to be. But the panic to bring him in — at the cost of two draft picks, including a first rounder — speaks to how quickly the ship is sinking. Willy would have been released by Winnipeg in January because of the bonuses due in a cap hit that occupies $400,000. Now, the quarterback holds the leverage in case his new team approaches him about a re-structuring, er pay cut, in the new year. It was pure desperation that led to the September trade with Winnipeg, one brought about by making the wrong decision on the quarterback. Twice.

The Argos once had Zach Collaros and Trevor Harris, of course. Allowed both to reach free agency, and inexplicably didn’t make it a priority to lock them up long before their walk year. The Argos stayed committed to Ricky Ray, who has seemingly spent as much time on injured reserve as the active roster the past three seasons. They didn’t reach the playoffs last year. They hoped that with Ray heathy in 2016 — wishful thinking — and their receiving corps intact, they’d be back in the post-season this November.

Which brings us to now, and 5-9, and the four big names sent out of town and a quarterback depth chart as dysfunctional as Stubblefield’s empty classroom. While Ray is pretty well cleared to play, he won’t for now. Some coaches in the league believe Ricky is done, no longer firing with the zip he once had, nor the requisite arm strength to be a legitimate threat anymore (if that’s true, that’s an unfortunate way to go out. Ray was the class of the league for so long, but Father Time remains undefeated). Then there’s Logan Kilgore, who has been all but written off, and Dan LeFevour is sticking around only as insurance if something goes wrong with Willy. He’s only starting because the Argos have no choice but to go with him to try and validate the trade, to try and evaluate what they have with the latest hope.

Even Milanovich admitted last week that ideally his new quarterback would get the chance to sit and learn “for four weeks.” Yet, by necessity, into the fire he went, and, well, 38-11 and 5-9 and then questions of manhood were circulated publicly.

“If you have guys with great character, you hold it together,” Milanovich said Sunday. “There are a couple of guys here and there who are maybe not on board as much as they need to be.”

Bring out the duct tape and the gum, four receivers have been cut.

This is not just a personnel issue anymore. Giving up what the Argos did in the trade to bring in Willy was a terrible move, and using the justification – that with hosting a Grey Cup comes a responsibility to try and get there – spoke to the desperation.

Then you look at the terrifying championship game ticket sales, and more blue dots on the ticket manifest than a Viagra convention. There’s the dozens and dozens of empty rows and entire sections available, and zero momentum building in the region leading into the title game, and it doesn’t get any better or easier.

The organization is expected to roll out television and radio advertisements to promote the Grey Cup after Thanksgiving. To try and sell overpriced seats in a stadium that can house around 34,000 and still is some $5 million (and over 10,000 tickets) short of sales targets. They’ll do so, knowing full well that they can’t even market the hope of their team getting there.

“We think for Toronto pricing, that’s just about right,” Sara Moore, the Argos senior VP of business operations, claimed to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun back in July, of why they’re charging what they are for Grey Cup tickets.

“It’s a championship game,” Moore also told Simmons. “I’m not worried about (sales) at all.”

“I have a deep understanding of how to bring people back (to the Argos) and get new people in,” Mike Copeland, the team’s president, told Herb Zurkowsky of the Montreal Gazette.

Oh.

The East Division is such a mess: Ottawa’s offensive line is in tatters with injuries; Collaros is banged up on a Hamilton team that’s sliding; Montreal, don’t be fooled, still is 4-9 and without a quarterback. And then there’s Toronto.

All signs are pointing toward the Eskimos competing in the East playoffs. Should Edmonton meet Calgary or B.C. on a cold November night along the lake, how would you sell that game to a city that barely acknowledges the CFL’s existence? A former Argos player sent a text message saying the 2016 Grey Cup has become the Bills in Toronto series all over again. We all know how that ended.

A crossover team playing for a championship probably means Section 205 won’t be the only sparsely attended one on Grey Cup Sunday. May need to re-think the level of worry, from top to bottom, as the Boatmen’s ship continues to sink – on and off the field.

[Will]

“We think for Toronto pricing, that’s just about right,” Sara Moore, the Argos senior VP of business operations, claimed to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun back in July, of why they’re charging what they are for Grey Cup tickets.

“It’s a championship game,” Moore also told Simmons. “I’m not worried about (sales) at all.”

All things being equal.

Moore doesn't understand that when it comes to the Argos in this market that all things aren't equal.

[doubleblue]

Sad how things have gone South so fast this year. Sounds like the Grey cup will have to be papered. There is a limit of what people will pay, and if they feel they are being ripped off big time they won't buy even if they could afford it.
Like Madani says it's the Bills in Toronto all over again.

[Ron]

Actually ... if the team is not scoring points ... releasing WR's is not a bad thing. Long overdue as many like to blame QB's for everything. (since they see the QB miss the passes but don't notice the receiver not giving an effort)

[1971GreyCup]

One receiver could be bad attitude. Bad receiving Corp = bad system, bad management.

[Antwon]

Madini is an a$$hat and thrives on writing negatively about the CFL.
But I for one thought the new owners hosting a Grey Cup in the first year was completely foolish.
I would think smart management would want to spend 2-4 years rebuilding the brand in the market before hosting the Grey Cup.
My guess, they would only buy the team if they got the Grey Cup to recoup some cash.

[Antwon]

Also why not report that Shaw and Spencer are both aheadof the big three in production this year!!!

[Scooter McCray]

Charging the prices they are is a major miscalculation. They had no CFL fanbase regenerated in the GTA and existing fans me included were priced out. I sincerely hope the new owners are in it for the long haul as they have said and many on this site keep saying. If the GC is played in front of a half empty stadium then this mgmt group has not only hurt the Argos but the entire league in less than a year. It will take years to recover. A cynic might say they have done such a terrible job it looks intentional.

[Ron]

I also have to wonder if the price is not so much the issue as it is the venue. BMO in the end of November is not a selling point (compared to Skydome)

[ArgoGabe22]

No one can really criticize Madani on his thoughts on the Grey Cup pricing. He's bang on.

[Neely2005]

Grey Cup pricing has been an issue since 2013 so that's not really solely on the Argonauts. Plus a smaller stadium means higher prices.

Have to say though that I'm feeling pretty stupid for buying Grey Cup tickets so early when they're probably going to be giving them away in November.

[Ron]

No one can really criticize Madani on his thoughts on the Grey Cup pricing. He's bang on.

He's not quite bang on. Unless you agree with his sly assertion that the baseball playoff game is more important than the GC.

[1971GreyCup]

Madini is an a$$hat and thrives on writing negatively about the CFL.
But I for one thought the new owners hosting a Grey Cup in the first year was completely foolish.
I would think smart management would want to spend 2-4 years rebuilding the brand in the market before hosting the Grey Cup.
My guess, they would only buy the team if they got the Grey Cup to recoup some cash.

I suspect David Brailey insisted on another GC payday to release the team to new owners.

[Mr. Pike]

He's not quite bang on. Unless you agree with his sly assertion that the baseball playoff game is more important than the GC.

Exactly Ron , his comparison is flawed big time , the wild card game pricing should be compared to an eastern or western semi final, not, "The Championship G.C. game" where winner takes all .

I said this as well over at the CFL main forum , for example , my tickets on the 50 yd line row 2 second level at THF for a playoff game are $88.00 that's a far cry from $250 in level 200 and no-one knows where in level 200 , so now the comparison is completely turned around , Arash is sly indeed (and a little underhanded) by not stating this .

[Argo]

Also why not report that Shaw and Spencer are both aheadof the big three in production this year!!!

And while at he's at it, he could also report that Elliot has been injured most of the season, Hazleton's been a healthy scratch for a good chunk of the season, and Gurley made more noteworthy plays than anybody else.

[1971GreyCup]

SM will be on with Mike Hogan on TSN1050 at 2:15 to explain the rationale behind releasing much of the receiving corp last night.

[gilthethrill]

I was sure the Argos made the playoffs last season with a 10-8 record. However, I really think Willy could have been plucked in the off season as a FA after Winnipeg would have cut him.

[Argo57]

All things being equal.

Moore doesn't understand that when it comes to the Argos in this market that all things aren't equal.

The new ownership seems to have grossly underestimated the apathy that exists with the Argonauts in the Toronto market.
I believe they thought the new venue and change in ownership would bring people back in droves.....wrong!!
Regular season tickets are overpriced IMO which undoubtedly put many casual Argo fans off even purchasing single game tickets.
The crappy onfield product offered this year speaks for itself which leaves me wondering what ST renewals numbers will look like heading into 2017.

[Ron]

The crappy onfield product offered this year speaks for itself which leaves me wondering what ST renewals numbers will look like heading into 2017.

Oh my. They could fall to 10-12K

[Argo57]

No one can really criticize Madani on his thoughts on the Grey Cup pricing. He's bang on.

TBH Gabe can't argue with many of Madani's points but the smug tone in which it is presented is of no surprise, he doesn't miss a chance to kick the Argonauts when they are down.
Madani is a Rogers/Blue Jays shill plain and simple, wonder what he will do if the Jays do the unthinkable and shit the bed tonight.