Where to find 1/2 Stadium of Fans

[Gill The Thrill]

the whole city didn't abandoned the team, but they need reasons to attend. Too much negativity. They need to win and be talked about. The players need to be talked about - A.J. needs to have more games like the first. Needs a champion, someone who will challenge the Fan 590. Compare the caliber of talent the CFL has to the very weak draft pool the NHL has if necessary - you need to shut them up. 75000 playing NCAA football 19-25 year olds - 1500 playing Major Jr. A ages 15 to 19. What league do you think would net you a higher caliber player? In fact football has as many playing football as all the other NCAA sports added together! NOW THATS A TALENT POOL. Also as many playing Usports football with 28 teams as there are playing Major Jr. A hockey with 60

The CFL also has the game itself as a marketing tool - it is fun to watch and you don't have to make your own entertainment

Also the fans need positive news, must have positive news, like the stadium is sold out, like the team made money, like the TV ratings are increasing. They are building the foundation but will have to make sure the other items are addressed.

Bell could be a major sponsor - take up the shortfall so that the team makes money. Or don't and let the team loose money and create more negativity and let the fans sit on their hands. Either way its the same amount of money for Bell.

Hockey is hockey and football is football. It's comparing apples and oranges when you talk about the development system for both, but I'm familiar with both sports. You do forget Tier 2 Jr. A hockey which is played in many more communities than Major Junior and saw a player drafted in the first round this year directly from the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Players that play in Tier 2 prefer that because it allows them to pursue an NCAA scholarship, something that cannot be pursued if you play Major Jr. Canadian hockey players also develop into pro players playing in the NCAA, so if you're suggesting they're just as many football players being developed as hockey players in the "system", you're sadly mistaken.

Very few high schools really run decent football programs anymore, but there are good summer private football programs in leagues such as the Ontario Football Conference (OFC), and the Ontario Varsity Football League (OVFL). They both run Jr and Sr football leagues for high school aged kids, and it is in these teams where football players are developed in Canada, not really in the High school system as much because they can play 10 games a season, where as you're lucky to get 6-7 games in a high school season because of scheduling, weather and possibly even insurance. High school football is still a development or feeder in the process, but with many schools having trouble filling rosters and the money involved in fielding a team, many schools have bowed out over the last 30 years and have not returned.

The Argos need to be pro-active about teaching CANADIAN FOOTBALL and trying to get kids not 25 yr olds that have already had a favourite sport for 15 yrs to be fans. They've got to get kids addicted to playing and following Canadian Football, making it their favourite sport that they'll want to follow and be a part of as fans for the rest of their lives. God bless them for their anti-bullying initiative and campaigns in schools, but if the kids in these schools they visit have no idea what or who the Argonauts are and what they play, then they are not developing fans as the empty stands indicate. They need to actually and DIRECTLY teach football, providing children with T-shirts and mini rubber footballs, or nerf footballs that kids could play with in the schoolyards instead of just the basketball and soccer balls which is all you see in most school yards now.

Your post is not wrong, but it points out to how much name recognition is a problem in this city, and it may have been inadvertent in your case, but it's interesting that you referred to (I presume) SJ Green, as AJ. AJ Green is a WR for the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL who is also high profile player on his team.

[Argofan_1000]

Hockey is hockey and football is football. It's comparing apples and oranges when you talk about the development system for both, but I'm familiar with both sports. You do forget Tier 2 Jr. A hockey which is played in many more communities than Major Junior and saw a player drafted in the first round this year directly from the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Players that play in Tier 2 prefer that because it allows them to pursue an NCAA scholarship, something that cannot be pursued if you play Major Jr. Canadian hockey players also develop into pro players playing in the NCAA, so if you're suggesting they're just as many football players being developed as hockey players in the "system", you're sadly mistaken.

Very few high schools really run decent football programs anymore, but there are good summer private football programs in leagues such as the Ontario Football Conference (OFC), and the Ontario Varsity Football League (OVFL). They both run Jr and Sr football leagues for high school aged kids, and it is in these teams where football players are developed in Canada, not really in the High school system as much because they can play 10 games a season, where as you're lucky to get 6-7 games in a high school season because of scheduling, weather and possibly even insurance. High school football is still a development or feeder in the process, but with many schools having trouble filling rosters and the money involved in fielding a team, many schools have bowed out over the last 30 years and have not returned.

The Argos need to be pro-active about teaching CANADIAN FOOTBALL and trying to get kids not 25 yr olds that have already had a favourite sport for 15 yrs to be fans. They've got to get kids addicted to playing and following Canadian Football, making it their favourite sport that they'll want to follow and be a part of as fans for the rest of their lives. God bless them for their anti-bullying initiative and campaigns in schools, but if the kids in these schools they visit have no idea what or who the Argonauts are and what they play, then they are not developing fans as the empty stands indicate. They need to actually and DIRECTLY teach football, providing children with T-shirts and mini rubber footballs, or nerf footballs that kids could play with in the schoolyards instead of just the basketball and soccer balls which is all you see in most school yards now.

Your post is not wrong, but it points out to how much name recognition is a problem in this city, and it may have been inadvertent in your case, but it's interesting that you referred to (I presume) SJ Green, as AJ. AJ Green is a WR for the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL who is also high profile player on his team.

Freudian Slip - sorry S.J. didn't mean to mix the names.

Seriously though, it is very hard to find that many hockey players at a level that can move up when there are 75000 playing NCAA football. also 1.1 million playing High school football in the US plus Jr. Football teams on both sides of the border, plus I am told 1000 senior football teams in Canada. Highest growth sport in N.A. - flag football. I was just trying to make a point that this is heavily weighted in footballs favour and an advocate of the league (us/TSN) need to use it when necessary.