Quote Originally Posted by 1971GreyCup View Post
You're actually blaming the NHL, NBA and MLS teams for the decline of interest in the Argos? Not poor marketing, poor ownership decisions and a neglected fan base? I guess by that logic, the attendance problem that the Ottawa Senators have experienced was due to the resurgence of the CFL in Ottawa? Face the facts, Ottawa has comeback with an shrewd operator not willing to take the old, tried and true excuses for failure. A model franchise in a new era. We never miss the opportunity to attend the Argos games at Landsdowne Park and just wonder "what if Toronto could find our own Jeff Hunt"? Maybe we should be searing Newfoundland?
You mustn't have read my many posts over the years about what has caused the decline of interest in the Argos. The list is long and yes, it includes poor marketing, poor ownership decisions and a neglected fan base. It also includes the emergence of new competition for the sports fan's dollar in the form of three major league teams (all now owned by very big revenue-generating corporations) that did not exist when the Argos were the equal of the Leafs in this town.

Jeff Hunt has done a fabulous job building up fan support and media interest in Ottawa, but there is only one major-league team competing for their dollars and attention. This market has four, plus the Buffalo Bills close by. That's a reality that is simply not going away. The Argos can become a successful, profitable business but it will be at a niche level -- i.e. one that maybe generates $1M in annual profit on revenues of maybe $30-40M. The Leafs, Raptors and Blue Jays dwarf those numbers. Anyone who thinks a new commissioner can find a pot of gold is ignoring the reality that when the CFL was at its peak, there were not seven NHL teams in Canada and 31 in the league, there was no baseball or basketball team in Toronto and the NFL was not the multibillion-dollar juggernaut it has become. The CFL is exactly where it was in 1976: nine teams, three major markets, but one of those major markets now has a massive amount of competition that didn't exist back then.