Where to find 1/2 Stadium of Fans

[Topshelf]

The only way to fill BMO at this time is a halftime show by Drake.
As everyone has said, Toronto is an event town.
Argos are not perceived as an event anymore.
TFC had a huge advantage in the Beckham signed with MLS, seasons tix immediately sold out, the media embraced the atmosphere at BMO. The team rode that for marketing for years, until the past three seasons when there was actually an exciting product in the field.
For a time, you couldn't give tfc tix away. Team went back to year one pricing, the haters loved to remind everyone that one of tfc own players said they were "the worst team in the world"
Argos need a positive image to begin with. Why is it that MLSE allows a no argos at bmo sign to fly at every tfc game? How many tfc fans have been told to hate the argos as a result?
This is going to take a long time to fix. But to begin we need a big personality on this team to build some interest. Every jolt of Argos excitement has begun with a big signing,

[Argos1983]

As everyone has said, Toronto is an event town.
Argos are not perceived as an event anymore.
But to begin we need a big personality on this team to build some interest. Every jolt of Argos excitement has begun with a big signing,

I could not agree more ---- if you are not "the place to be" in this city then you will eventually languish in obscurity especially if you are perceived as "minor league" (we are an "event" town - even a major league team will be affected --- watch the Jays cease to be an "event" next April and May all of a sudden as people leave the bandwagon - I'm predicting a solid 400,000+ overall ticket drop (5000 a game maybe, next season if they are average team again (and going down if the losing continues) -- look at our attendance in April - July 2015 and then the huge upswing in August-September 2015 until now --- lots of evidence to show there were only about 25000 die hard Jays fans going to games from 1995-2014 and sadly I was one of them at what I like to call "choose your own row night" at the ballpark), unfortunately this idea of the sports "purity" of the CFL selling itself is just not happening in the Toronto marketplace, people here need to be "Wowed" - again, I wish it was not so as I love this game, but facts are facts, there is no latent 25,000 base of fans that just love the CFL enough to show up regularly at BMO anymore unless you give them a reason to do so and the football alone isn't it I'm afraid.....the Toronto Rock won lots of championships in their first 10 years and had some really nice attendance numbers, and now they languish in obscurity in front of a few thousand diehards - they went from about 17,000 to 10,000 from 2005 to 2010 and even a championship in 2011 only took them back to about 11,000 and now they sit in the 9500 range and drawing 6200 and 7300 to playoff games this year....it has become a niche sport for diehards only.....now obviously the CFL has a huge TV contract and much more exposure in the media (although some would say not so much on these boards), but the notion that neither one of these sporting events is "the place to be", and anything beyond a "novelty" to most (especially to the under 35 crowd), is there for both of these franchises....a lot of "who are these guys", and "what are the rules again?", and "why should I care about a 8-10 team league"?

Remember this is not about us on these boards who are I would assume to be the most ardent of CFL and Argos supporters, and I love the passion I see on these boards for this game and if I appear to be beating a dead horse here (sorry), its only because I actually care about this thing succeeding at some point beyond just the niche audience -- there aren't enough of us type of fans (diehards and likely over 40/50 years old) to fill the building, so now you need to reach out to a much different audience who needs to be catered to differently....I guarantee if the Argos take a huge upswing in attendance it will be because a "splash" of some kind has been made, and maybe one needs a splash to be made constantly for a few years to get this patient back off of life support (and it will cost money, as I said we need an owner who is willing to lose money here (this is a charity job at this point if you want it to work), and no it's not the way most of us would like this to happen (ie. organically), but they need some jolts and some jolts and some more jolts to get this thing going again before maybe you can have an established core of fans near where it needs to be (15-20K STH)......but until then in this market they are an afterthought to the average fan under 35 who sees them as a curiosity (if thought of at all) more than anything, especially once the NFL season kicks off in September....

Someone mentioned earlier about the majority of fans not being from the 416 as being an issue (not sure if that's true but let's say it is) -- if that is the case why is there not targeted marketing, meet and greets all over the 905 (519) on a regular basis (on every homestand in multiple locations throughout the GTA players should be sent out to various restaurants (dave and busters with a bag of tokens and pizza at 400/7, Mississauga, Brampton, Ajax, Oshawa etc.?) for Meet and Greets, free pizza and video games with an Argo/Cheerleader) - go to where your fans live and say hello if it's not the 416, make a connection, more than once a season in June on Fan Day or after the game at BMO/Liberty Village as the fans you are chasing aren't there at the moment they are still at home watching on TV if at all (Ok we got one fan day --- this has to be constant throughout the season, at this stage, for this team) --- some may not believe this but I remember a time when my Dad had a store in 1992-1993 and we had Jack Morris, a 20 Game winning, World Series MVP award winning pitcher (sorry Jays fans but he's still a Tiger to me and frankly sucked for the Jays despite winning 21 games) come to us in Thornhill (sent for and paid by the team) to sign autographs for a few hours and other Jays were sent all over GTA as well -- I mean he was north of Steeles and everything (OMG?!), he made it all the way up there (ha ha ha), and this was during the season, and the Jays were a WS championship team selling out SKYDOME for every game and surely didn't need to market themselves at that point....and believe me Jack Morris was not known as Mr. Warm and Friendly as most of you who remember him....ha ha ha.....


I like the 4th of July idea, the digital "oar" idea someone had earlier, why am I feeling we are more innovative then the team we are rooting for....that's what frightens me.....