Rekindled Argos Love Affair

[Tau Ceti]

It sounds like James lost interest in the early 1990's. It was 1993-1994 when attendance really started to plummet. The team's 20-52 performance from 1992 to 1995 may have played a factor.

The early '90s are key. If the emergence of the Jays in '77 started the Argos decline I think the two World Series wins confirmed it. This, the Gilmour Leafs, and the appearance of the Raptors in '95 are the seminal events for late Gen-X and early Millennials in creating sports viewing affiliations in Toronto.

By the mid-1990s the Argos were firmly of B league status. They were the team my grandfather listened to in his den.

[Rich]

The early '90s are key. If the emergence of the Jays in '77 started the Argos decline I think the two World Series wins confirmed it. This, the Gilmour Leafs, and the appearance of the Raptors in '95 are the seminal events for late Gen-X and early Millennials in creating sports viewing affiliations in Toronto.

By the mid-1990s the Argos were firmly of B league status. They were the team my grandfather listened to in his den.

This is all true, and it's also important to remember that the prevailing wisdom by 1996 was that the CFL was at death's door. The aborted US expansion was an unmitigated disaster, and stories abounded about near-bankruptcies and missed payrolls. Furthermore the "American Bowls" at the SkyDome were in full swing and everyone was led to believe that a Toronto NFL team was imminent. To top it all off, the League and the Argonaut organization spent very little on marketing to counter these perceptions at the time. All of this helped create a deeply-rooted negativity towards the Argos and the CFL that I believe we are only now beginning to crawl out of.

[argos1873]

This is all true, and it's also important to remember that the prevailing wisdom by 1996 was that the CFL was at death's door.

Heck, much of this wisdom was being flung around by the mid-80s. The folding of the Alouettes/Concordes/Alouettes. Stability issues in Saskatchewan and Calgary. The end of the at the time massive O'Keefe TV deal. Declining attendance in Toronto and much of the league. The death knell was being heard for nearly a decade by 96, they were just about to bury the body by that time.

[rdavies]

The aborted US expansion was an unmitigated disaster

There is a school of thought that this experiment helped save the league (through the expansion fees), the rest of course was a disaster.

[argos1873]

There is a school of thought that this experiment helped save the league (through the expansion fees), the rest of course was a disaster.

I agree, and was going to post something similar in my above post. The expansion fees, the 94 Grey Cup which gave some Canadian pride, some renewed interest or just attention via the spectacle of American teams and the return of a franchise in Montreal that, by accident, turned into a viable franchise, were unintended consequences (save the expansion fees) that did help to save the league.