What will it take for Toronto to love the Argos?

[PullTogether73]

One factor which I have never heard mentioned in terms of media coverage (which I will mention now) is this...

Of the professional sports teams in Toronto - Maple Leafs, Marlies, Raptors, Rock, FC, Blue Jays, Argonauts (The Wolfpack are too new to impact this discussion imo) - which play the least amount of regular season games?
Answer: Rock and Argonauts.

My point is that the teams who play ~ 80-160 regular season games will automatically get more media coverage by default, if only because there are games to be covered and highlights to be shown more frequently.
By no means is this the only or most important factor - fan interest is most important - but it is a factor nonetheless. Even though TFC does not have a broad following outside of its core fans who actually attend the games, they still have 34 games which are covered on TV and radio sports reports. The Argonauts (and Rock) only have 18 regular season games on which to report. Conversely, the Blue Jays play almost every day from April to September, while the Raptors and Maple Leafs play every two to three nights.

I think this is a factor in terms of media coverage.

[Shatto]

All the factors mentioned by posters are in all likelihood true to a greater or lesser extent. Also, let us not forget the horrendous schedule forced upon the team by Rogers in the last few years the team was in the Dome. Can we ever forget having to play a home game in Fort McMurray or league games at the crucial time in the season having to be played in Hamilton? How many so called home games had to be played somewhere else? Difficult to follow a team when one doesn't even know where the home games are going to be played.

[paulwoods13]

Have to diagree with your first point. tFC gets probably 10x more media exposure and hype than the Argos. To be perfectly frank, TFC is hype and cool and the Argos are not. Most people in the office i work know who Sebastian Givinco, Michael Bradley and Jose Alterdore are and very few have even heard of Ricky Ray. Sad as it to say.

Where is this 10x media exposure happening? I read the Star and Sun daily and listen to sports radio most days. The Sun provides much less TFC coverage than Argo coverage; the Star provides about the same (not much for either team). TSN1050 and Fan590 rarely mention TFC.

[Will]

All the factors mentioned by posters are in all likelihood true to a greater or lesser extent. Also, let us not forget the horrendous schedule forced upon the team by Rogers in the last few years the team was in the Dome. Can we ever forget having to play a home game in Fort McMurray or league games at the crucial time in the season having to be played in Hamilton? How many so called home games had to be played somewhere else? Difficult to follow a team when one doesn't even know where the home games are going to be played.

The problem was no less pronounced prior to 2015.

[Scooter McCray]

I don't know how many of you follow Mike Richards and his career in sports radio but he posted his show on YouTube today at rawmikerichards. He goes into detail about how he was let go from TSN 1050 shortly after the Argo home opener at BMO in 2016. Very timely given our discussion on this post. It sums up a lot of what's wrong with media in our city. Mike is one of the good guys.

[R.J]

I don't know how many of you follow Mike Richards and his career in sports radio but he posted his show on YouTube today at rawmikerichards. He goes into detail about how he was let go from TSN 1050 shortly after the Argo home opener at BMO in 2016. Very timely given our discussion on this post. It sums up a lot of what's wrong with media in our city. Mike is one of the good guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=ElSZvm5MnAI

SMH

[Argofan_1000]

I don't know how many of you follow Mike Richards and his career in sports radio but he posted his show on YouTube today at rawmikerichards. He goes into detail about how he was let go from TSN 1050 shortly after the Argo home opener at BMO in 2016. Very timely given our discussion on this post. It sums up a lot of what's wrong with media in our city. Mike is one of the good guys.

you know when you are watching or listening to something you don't like your reflexes are so fast in turning the station or channel? I have found myself turning the channel or station whenever there is talk of Jays, Raptors, Leafs and TFC. I do it so fast now it has become a habit. I listen to TSN 1150 from Hamilton on the drive in and the drive home. They have a lot of CFL coverage and I like it - I would Bet you Rogers didn't expect this when the spewed their CFL negativity a few years ago

[Argo57]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=ElSZvm5MnAI

SMH

You wonder how some people can pull this crap at work then go home to their families and look themselves in the mirror?

[Neely2005]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=ElSZvm5MnAI

SMH

Anyone who is familiar with how Bell operates won't be surprised. CFL fans like to complain about Rogers but having worked in the industry in the past I can tell you that Rogers treats their employees much better than Bell does.

[ArgoRavi]

Anyone who is familiar with how Bell operates won't be surprised. CFL fans like to complain about Rogers but having worked in the industry in the past I can tell you that Rogers treats their employees much better than Bell does.

I have always found the Bell Let's Talk stuff the ultimate in hypocrisy given how they do treat their employees.

[Neely2005]

I have always found the Bell Let's Talk stuff the ultimate in hypocrisy given how they do treat their employees.

Definitely:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...alth-1.3950097

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/bell-...gets-1.4418876

[Scooter McCray]

I just went onto the TSN 1050 site so I could listen to archives on the Ricky Ray injury. There are 2 posts. An interview with Chris Shultz and an interview with Mike Hogan. They are both 1050 employees but the interviews were on Hamilton TSN 1150.????????

There is simply no excuse for that. Nothing anyone can say to justify why a Toronto sports radio station would not discuss a serious injury to the QB who has won 2 championships for Toronto.

That is outright negligence and dereliction of journalistic duty. And they own the team. No matter what management does if that is going to continue to be the position of the Toronto media the team's fortunes will never improve.

[Flutie]

All the factors mentioned by posters are in all likelihood true to a greater or lesser extent. Also, let us not forget the horrendous schedule forced upon the team by Rogers in the last few years the team was in the Dome. Can we ever forget having to play a home game in Fort McMurray or league games at the crucial time in the season having to be played in Hamilton? How many so called home games had to be played somewhere else? Difficult to follow a team when one doesn't even know where the home games are going to be played.

Yes that final season was bad but attendance at the RC even with that short season was higher than at BMO for the last two seasons.
But the last full season at the RC, 2014, the average attendance was 26k, enough to sell out BMO every game. What happened to the Argo fans and the 8,000 season ticket holders? why didn't they come to BMO?
You can't blame lack of media coverage for low attendance or marketing. If you were one of the regular 26k fans over the last 10 years or so at the RC you know where they were playing and when. It's always the easiest excuse to blame the lack of media coverage or the owners for not doing enough marketing.

It's obvious that many Argo fans decided not to move to BMO, even though they were the ones that said that the RC was a bad atmosphere for football and they were demanding a new smaller stadium for the Argos, with a better schedule.
Why did they lose so many fans after the move to BMO? did they actually prefer to sit inside? did they just get older and retired?
Combine that with the fact that young people have more interest in the Jays and TFC in the summer and couldn't care less about the Argos, they don't see them as "major league".
Another likely reason why young people don't follow the CFL is that they are not playing football in schools. If you don't play it in your school there is a good chance you don't understand it or will watch it. They didn't grow up with the game like us old guys.
Something like 125 high schools in the GTA but only 25 left with football teams and that number is going down due to the expense, insurance costs, parents not allowing their kids to play because of concussion issues etc
Yet a sport like soccer is played all 125 high schools with not only junior and senior teams but female teams too, also there are thousands of kids in the city house leagues.

[Mightygoose]

Argos last full season at RC in 2014 had a average of 17,790. They haven't had a 26K average since 2009 which was the last under C & S ownership.

https://stats.cfldb.ca/team/toronto-...tendance/2014/

The 2014 figure included comps which have been cut down. Also, the first 2 seasons a BMO, the attendance was based on scanned entry. Not sure if they're doing the same this year

[ArgoGabe22]

I just went onto the TSN 1050 site so I could listen to archives on the Ricky Ray injury. There are 2 posts. An interview with Chris Shultz and an interview with Mike Hogan. They are both 1050 employees but the interviews were on Hamilton TSN 1150.????????

There is simply no excuse for that. Nothing anyone can say to justify why a Toronto sports radio station would not discuss a serious injury to the QB who has won 2 championships for Toronto.

That is outright negligence and dereliction of journalistic duty. And they own the team. No matter what management does if that is going to continue to be the position of the Toronto media the team's fortunes will never improve.

Jim Popp was on Vancouver's radio yesterday to discuss the Ricky Ray injury. While I do acknowledge that the latest update was released later in the evening, eastern time, but would Toronto radio even make an effort to reach out to Popp if it were a bit earlier?

[jerrym]

I just went onto the TSN 1050 site so I could listen to archives on the Ricky Ray injury. There are 2 posts. An interview with Chris Shultz and an interview with Mike Hogan. They are both 1050 employees but the interviews were on Hamilton TSN 1150.????????

There is simply no excuse for that. Nothing anyone can say to justify why a Toronto sports radio station would not discuss a serious injury to the QB who has won 2 championships for Toronto.

That is outright negligence and dereliction of journalistic duty. And they own the team. No matter what management does if that is going to continue to be the position of the Toronto media the team's fortunes will never improve.

Same old story when it comes to Argo coverage.

[rdavies]

Same old story when it comes to Argo coverage.

And has anyone made an effort to show their displeasure with the media outlets or do they just complain about it to themselves.

[rdavies]

Combine that with the fact that young people have more interest in the Jays and TFC in the summer and couldn't care less about the Argos, they don't see them as "major league".
Yet a sport like soccer is played all 125 high schools with not only junior and senior teams but female teams too, also there are thousands of kids in the city house leagues.

Since when is 10th rate soccer "major league" but in name only? And while participation rates in soccer have always been high (a myth that always seems to get perpetuated that it is some sort of recent phenomena), soccer still has no mainstream interest aside from the Olympic like cycle of the World Cup. They almost had their TSN contract cancelled because they were averaging 38k, not in Toronto, not in Ontario, but the whole of Canada.

But then you'll hear the lie about how the soccer fans don't watch TV and consume it differently, which research does not bear out, in any form, as a number significantly higher than Gen Xers or even Baby Boomers who are seeming incapable of using a smartphone to watch content.

[paulwoods13]

MLS does not get great TV ratings (yet), but international soccer is firmly entrenched on Canadian TV, and the interest is only going to grow IMO. We get tons of English Premier League games and virtually every Champions League game on TSN and/or Sportsnet, not to mention World Cup, Euro etc. I see growing interest in this stuff among younger people in particular. Eventually some of that interest will extend to MLS, which is arguably higher than the 10th-best league in the world. Its schedule is a problem that can never be solved (being unable to play in winter), but it is growing in international stature and has a number of very successful revenue-generating franchises.

[Shatto]

The success of Premier League TV ratings is both a blessing and a curse for the MLS. On one hand as TV audiences for the Premiere League grow, it might encourage some to try watching MLS broadcasts. But it also has the disadvantage that, as a number of my friends have stated "why watch MLS when I can watch real football"

It will be interesting to follow the progress of the TV ratings of MLS over the next few years. If the numbers start to climb in a significant way, we could see MLS becoming an attractive product for the networks. However, if TV numbers continue to languish with comparatively poor numbers, the networks might decide it isn't worth the expense.