Bell Media support

[doubleblue]

Here is the article in question.

http://torontosun.com/sports/footbal...grey-cup-argos

The term used is 'upwards of 10 million'. Which is about as firm as an airfare to Florida 'from' $99.

Last year it was reported they lost 5 million so even with the attendance decrease, I find 10 million a stretch.

10 million for Tax purposes.

[argos1873]

I can't imagine a certain businesses lying about certain losses, and I can't imagine certain journalists inflating loss numbers for sensation /sarcasm (not saying this is the case in this instance, but it's been know to happen). Since Bell is a publicly traded company, couldn't we get the real numbers somehow? Or is it because Larry Tannenbaum is a private partner in the venture, does that make it harder to get the real numbers?

[Tau Ceti]

If you do the math on seats, a $10 million dollar loss implies the Argos could never be profitable. That just doesn't make sense. The financials released by some of the western teams give an idea of revenue and expense. You can start with numbers like these and make your own informed guess: https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.ne...-Lower-Res.pdf.

[argos1873]

If you do the math on seats, a $10 million dollar loss implies the Argos could never be profitable. That just doesn't make sense. The financials released by some of the western teams give an idea of revenue and expense. You can start with numbers like these and make your own informed guess: https://d3ham790trbkqy.cloudfront.ne...-Lower-Res.pdf.

While I somehow doubt that the 10 million loss number, here are some things to consider. If it was 10 million, it doesn't mean its 10 million per season. 10 million could have been a one off due to transitioning to BMO, office hires, excess marketing, launching a new brand, etc, etc. I think it is possible Bell/LT dropped a lot of cash on the Argos last season. I doubt anyone yet knows what they lost after this season. The other thing to note is, did Bell specifically invest in the Argos to make money off the Argos, or did they invest in the Argos to ensure one of their major TV assets, TSN, continued to have a team in the most significant TV market in Canada, for their CFL contract? Obviously they would wish to make money off the Argos, but do they actually care that much about that? Or do they think its a huge market TV wise, and that Toronto is the or at least one of the "trend" markets of Canada. If they can somehow make the CFL work in Toronto, it will only make the rest of Canada take notice and increase viewership elsewhere in the country. Again I don't think Bell is willing to lose 10 mill a year, if that's even true, but I don't think they care if they are making money directly from the team, not that they wouldn't like that, or are not trying for that.

[AngeloV]

While I somehow doubt that the 10 million loss number, here are some things to consider. If it was 10 million, it doesn't mean its 10 million per season. 10 million could have been a one off due to transitioning to BMO, office hires, excess marketing, launching a new brand, etc, etc. I think it is possible Bell/LT dropped a lot of cash on the Argos last season. I doubt anyone yet knows what they lost after this season. The other thing to note is, did Bell specifically invest in the Argos to make money off the Argos, or did they invest in the Argos to ensure one of their major TV assets, TSN, continued to have a team in the most significant TV market in Canada, for their CFL contract? Obviously they would wish to make money off the Argos, but do they actually care that much about that? Or do they think its a huge market TV wise, and that Toronto is the or at least one of the "trend" markets of Canada. If they can somehow make the CFL work in Toronto, it will only make the rest of Canada take notice and increase viewership elsewhere in the country. Again I don't think Bell is willing to lose 10 mill a year, if that's even true, but I don't think they care if they are making money directly from the team, not that they wouldn't like that, or are not trying for that.

Another thing to consider re: the 10M figure, is that they may be including the money spent on the purchase of the club. IF it's true they bought the team for 15 or 20M, they may be including a % of that over X number of years as part of their balance sheet.

[Mightygoose]

Another thing to consider re: the 10M figure, is that they may be including the money spent on the purchase of the club. IF it's true they bought the team for 15 or 20M, they may be including a % of that over X number of years as part of their balance sheet.

After the club was bought, Brian Cooper was on Prime Time Sports and mentioned the team sold around 5 to 7 million but yes they could be deferring some of that purchase price forward.

Also, the 'upwards of 10 million' could be guess, reported 5 million loss last year and STH base went down almost by half probably leads to that estimate.

[Tau Ceti]

After the club was bought, Brian Cooper was on Prime Time Sports and mentioned the team sold around 5 to 7 million but yes they could be deferring some of that purchase price forward.

Also, the 'upwards of 10 million' could be guess, reported 5 million loss last year and STH base went down almost by half probably leads to that estimate.

Interesting. I had never heard any figure for the purchase price from Braley. And where was the 5 million reported loss from last year?

[AngeloV]

After the club was bought, Brian Cooper was on Prime Time Sports and mentioned the team sold around 5 to 7 million but yes they could be deferring some of that purchase price forward.

Also, the 'upwards of 10 million' could be guess, reported 5 million loss last year and STH base went down almost by half probably leads to that estimate.

TBH, I have always had a hard time believing anything that has come out of the mouth of Brian Cooper. Even when he was part of the Candy/McNall/Gretzky management group, I used to refer to him as a big phony. Couple the fact that he gave this number on bitter McCowan's show, and to me, it adds even less credibility.