Argo Hype

[AngeloV]

is that twice in 2017 AngeloV? Haha

No it's been more than that. I just don't want people talking.

[S.A.C.]

On Friday (when it was free admission, although I think you're expected to give $5 to some charity thing at the entrance) I went to the Toronto Indy and saw several people wearing Argo stuff. I heard a guy on the P.A. system mention the Argos play at the stadium, and on this 3-minute YouTube highlight video of the races on Sunday you see an Argo cap at 0:09, and the cheerleaders on the post-race victory podium starting at 2:35 .

Edit: I didn't know about this because it was before my time, but it showed up when I did a Google search.
http://www.wheels.ca/news/speeding-t...o-a-tradition/

In 1959 ... things happened that would lead to the eventual extinction of oval track car racing at the Ex ... the Toronto Argonauts moved from Varsity Stadium ... a "war" literally broke out between the football team and the racers. The Argos did not appreciate having their field -- in the infield of the now-quarter-mile race track -- periodically torn up by out-of-control racing cars. By the early Sixties, the football team had convinced the powers-that-be to kick the race cars out of the Ex once the regular CFL season started in July.

[paulwoods13]

The ticket deal for Monday's game ($19.97) is being advertised in a third-page ad in the Burlington Post.

[BATKINSON001]

The ticket deal for Monday's game ($19.97) is being advertised in a third-page ad in the Burlington Post.

Good to hear.

Anyone seen any ads in the Durham region papers?

[Tobin Rote]

In this day and age, it's very difficult for established organizations (including sports franchises) to create buzz in the ways that worked years ago (mainly with print, radio and TV). Today, people mainly create their own "buzz" on social media. One of the most clever things I've seen in connection with the Argos of late was the stuff on social media from the Leafs' Mitch Marner enjoying the home games in a private suite with his buddies.

Beyond all that... since the stadium issues have largely been fixed... the performance of the team now becomes extremely important. In this area, we're certainly off to a good start. This year's team seems committed, talented and (perhaps due to new leadership) highly professional. A strong play-off caliber season... hopefully followed up by some real noise once they get there... would go a long way towards inching the attendance numbers up as this season progresses. More importantly, it would provide a solid base for next year's season ticket drive. To that end... I really feel that the ability to keep Ricky Ray healthy and productive is actually very important to the long term future of the Argonauts.

[Stevoman]

TSN has posted a nice documentary called "Snapshot" - a Dave Naylor Essay. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video Fun to watch some of those 97 highlights again.

[argolio]

TSN has posted a nice documentary called "Snapshot" - a Dave Naylor Essay. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/video Fun to watch some of those 97 highlights again.

Nice!

[gilthethrill]

Even the morning man for the am radio station here in Stratford did a nice job breaking down tonights game. He even reported that James Wilder JR gets the start at RB.

[Will]

FWIW, I had some difficulty getting through to the Argo ticket office this morning. What that might mean in terms of actual crowd size is unknown.

[paulwoods13]

It would be lovely to have the Argos on CFTO every newscast but let's look at the factors that may have prevented it yesterday:

1. Their entire sports segment is how long? Five minutes? Less?
2. Yesterday had a dramatic ending to one of golf's major events, and the ending of the Tour de France, and of course a Blue Jays game. Plus a dozen other baseball games, and no doubt some auto racing and other live events. Sundays are like that.
3. TV needs moving pictures to make stories work -- Argos and RBs presumably did just a brief walk-through yesterday, and talking-head clips of coaches respecting their opponents does not make for great TV.

[argolio]

What's not to buy? Even John Tory admitted that the original $65,000 estimate was outlandish. They've been trying to get those stairs built for a decade.

They both bungled Presto. The TTC was part of the process and is taking years to roll out the Presto readers. But hey at least sole souring Bombardier contract is working well for the City and the TTC.

Rich condo owners have been trying to get those stairs built for a decade. The city deemed it a low (or no) priority and kept kicking it down the road. That $65,000 quote (you forgot the one for $100K) was made up by some city bureaucrat that backfired when Mr. Rich Condo Owner built his own stairs. Tory said what he had to because the city got embarrassed.

The Bombardier streetcar contract wasn't sole-sourced. It was half a billion cheaper than the next bid.

But enough about boring the rest of the board.

Even the morning man for the am radio station here in Stratford did a nice job breaking down tonights game. He even reported that James Wilder JR gets the start at RB.

Stratford breaks down an Argo game better than Toronto. That says it all.

Rogers is now marketing the Jays as a Canadian team and not just a Toronto team. When the Jays got good a couple of years ago, TSN doubled-down on their Jays coverage to compete with Rogers, which they're still doing. I don't know how the Argos can be expected to overcome that.


Tour de France? Really?

[Neely2005]

Rich condo owners have been trying to get those stairs built for a decade. The city deemed it a low (or no) priority and kept kicking it down the road. That $65,000 quote (you forgot the one for $100K) was made up by some city bureaucrat that backfired when Mr. Rich Condo Owner built his own stairs. Tory said what he had to because the city got embarrassed.

The Bombardier streetcar contract wasn't sole-sourced. It was half a billion cheaper than the next bid.

But enough about boring the rest of the board.

Stratford breaks down an Argo game better than Toronto. That says it all.

Rogers is now marketing the Jays as a Canadian team and not just a Toronto team. When the Jays got good a couple of years ago, TSN doubled-down on their Jays coverage to compete with Rogers, which they're still doing. I don't know how the Argos can be expected to overcome that.


Tour de France? Really?

That's patently false:

"TTC chair Howard Moscoe defended the decision to negotiate exclusively with Bombardier because the company agreed to manufacture the subway cars at its Thunder Bay plant, where it would save hundreds of jobs."

"Councillors opposed to the sole-source contract said they will continue pushing for an open bidding process.

But Moscoe was unfazed by the continued criticism of the deal."

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/t...-deal-1.582730

[argolio]

That's patently false.....

It's actually patently true. I clearly referenced the streetcar contract.

[Neely2005]

It's actually patently true. I clearly referenced the streetcar contract.

It pretty much was through the usual Toronto political trickery:

"But the streetcar fiasco is a good moment to reflect. OK, we preserved jobs in Thunder Bay. But we don’t have the damn streetcars, and we’re left with far more tough talk than we have leverage.

If the bidding process for these streetcars wasn’t rigged in Bombardier’s favour, you can’t blame people for being suspicious. Skoda’s highly regarded 10T model was conveniently excluded because the TTC insisted on a 100 per cent low-floor model. (The 10T was 50 per cent low-floor; its successor is 100 per cent.) Siemens struggled with the Cancon requirement, and dropped out of the initial, aborted bidding process at*the last minute.

You certainly can’t say Toronto did everything possible to get the best deal — indeed, then-TTC chairman Adam Giambrone had hoped to aim for 50 per cent Cancon, and board member Glenn De Baeremaeker tried to have whole thing sole-sourced to Bombardier, all based on the premise that Thunder Bay will suffer if we don’t buy domestic, and that that’s the TTC’s business."

http://nationalpost.com/news/toronto...8-ec6568d186fc

[ArgoFan1]

I get super annoyed at sports radio here that talks virtually zero about the league in general. Here we are a month into what has been a season of great games with great stories and it's crickets at the sports stations. To make it even worse....they broadcast American programming way too much, when that total should be zero!!! You are never going to ever hear one thing about Canada during those. I place all the blame on the lackies that are on the air who just love to have American guests and talk hours about some running back at some college or NFL team. We need more Mike Hogans out there !!!!

[Neely2005]

Doug Flutie on the Rogers Blue Jays broadcast right now. Commentators are talking about the Argonauts too.

[argolio]

That's an opinion column, not a new story or investigation piece, but in his search for conspiracies even he admits the city got the lowest price.

Fact remains Siemens bid half a billion more before "dropping out", and the TTC got the best deal from a company who had supplied every major TTC and GO order since the early 70s without any major issues. The notion that the city screwed up in this case rather than Bombardier is ridiculous.

[Joe Barnes]

So, maybe the Argos could rent the 5 or 6 new streetcars we do have for the 2 hours prior to their games to help us out of towners get as close to BMO as possible. Even a bus or two - LOL! Hamilton adds extra buses, as do Ottawa and Montreal (the Alouette Express). With the current size of the crowds it may not be required, but the easier it is to get there, the more the crowd might grow. It is really a no lose situation to add a few buses to the routes leading to the EX: regular TTC users get better service for a couple of hours and Argo ticket holders get a free ride to the gates of the Ex. The TTC can advertise it as a goodwill gesture to Toronto sports fans (Do it for all of the teams if they don't already, due to actual demand for, say, Jays or TFC). Surely Bell could underwrite this to kindle support for the team. BMO is a great venue, but it is a total pain to get to...

[ArgoGabe22]

CFTO had a segment on the Argos. Even mentioned that Woods might be ready to go. Paul Woods is still on the IR.

[Joe Barnes]

For what it's worth, I have noticed an increase in Argos coverage in The Star the last couple of weeks. Previously it seemed the only paper covering the team regularly was The Sun. This can only be a good thing!