World cup

[ArgoFan1]

It's not only the time of the 2026 CFL schedule that worries me.... as I am sure there will be a long construction schedule in which I am sure they will not have any fans being able to attend the stadium. We may be out of luck the latter part of 2025. If the World Cup ends in July, we will be okay after that. I am thinking that would be a good year to host the Grey Cup with all those extra seats. I am pretty sure those seats will only be temporary, this being Canada, and nothing in this country gets enough support to warrant a 45,000 seat stadium. Maybe only Blue Jays on opening Day.

[paulwoods13]

It's not only the time of the 2026 CFL schedule that worries me.... as I am sure there will be a long construction schedule in which I am sure they will not have any fans being able to attend the stadium. We may be out of luck the latter part of 2025. If the World Cup ends in July, we will be okay after that. I am thinking that would be a good year to host the Grey Cup with all those extra seats. I am pretty sure those seats will only be temporary, this being Canada, and nothing in this country gets enough support to warrant a 45,000 seat stadium. Maybe only Blue Jays on opening Day.

It would be utterly ridiculous if they needed nine months to put in temporary stands, and even more ridiculous if they installed permanent seats to make the stadium far bigger than is normally needed. Of course, I would not put it past those in charge to do either of those things. Let's hope not.

[Argo57]

It would be utterly ridiculous if they needed nine months to put in temporary stands, and even more ridiculous if they installed permanent seats to make the stadium far bigger than is normally needed. Of course, I would not put it past those in charge to do either of those things. Let's hope not.

When government is involved anything is possible.

[under30ArgosFan]

The FIFA World Cup will be the biggest sports event the city will ever see barring an unlikely winning bid in the Olympics, so the city needs this. As for the Argos at BMO, Canada will not be getting any Quarter Finals games so the last possible game at BMO would be July 5-7 but the Fan Festival area that will be built within the CNE grounds will continue until the final on July 19. They would need a few weeks to take everything down. Taking into account TFC's schedule, realistically we won't see a home Argos game until end of July, first week of August.

The Argos and Lions will probably play 5 away games + bye week at least before they play a home game in their cities. The CFL will likely have to move the schedule around, keeping in mind that the vast majority of the country will be all in on the World Cup. From a macro level this world cup will be a boon for Association Football. The league really needs to get its shit together or it will fold by the end of the decade

[Scooter McCray]

The FIFA World Cup will be the biggest sports event the city will ever see barring an unlikely winning bid in the Olympics, so the city needs this. As for the Argos at BMO, Canada will not be getting any Quarter Finals games so the last possible game at BMO would be July 5-7 but the Fan Festival area that will be built within the CNE grounds will continue until the final on July 19. They would need a few weeks to take everything down. Taking into account TFC's schedule, realistically we won't see a home Argos game until end of July, first week of August.

The Argos and Lions will probably play 5 away games + bye week at least before they play a home game in their cities. The CFL will likely have to move the schedule around, keeping in mind that the vast majority of the country will be all in on the World Cup. From a macro level this world cup will be a boon for Association Football. The league really needs to get its shit together or it will fold by the end of the decade

Until the Argos played 4 road games in a row in 2013 (they won them all in Zach Collaros' coming out party for an injured Ricky Ray) that had never happened in professional football (4 road games in a row). The Argos have done that at least one other time since 2013.
They cannot play 5 road games. That is a massive competitive disadvantage in the game of football. 4 games to be honest is insanity, but for the sake of World Cup it's a one time thing. But 5 games is seriously pushing it. Push the whole season forward by a couple of weeks to avoid doing this, especially on 2 teams.

[bluto]

Until the Argos played 4 road games in a row in 2013 (they won them all in Zach Collaros' coming out party for an injured Ricky Ray) that had never happened in professional football (4 road games in a row). The Argos have done that at least one other time since 2013.
They cannot play 5 road games. That is a massive competitive disadvantage in the game of football. 4 games to be honest is insanity, but for the sake of World Cup it's a one time thing. But 5 games is seriously pushing it. Push the whole season forward by a couple of weeks to avoid doing this, especially on 2 teams.

Devil's advocate:
But that necessarily means that we would then likely get a big run of home games. Could be viewed as a competitive advantage.

[paulwoods13]

Devil's advocate:
But that necessarily means that we would then likely get a big run of home games. Could be viewed as a competitive advantage.

Potential competitive advantage, IF the team can survive the gigantic road trip in the meantime without being 1-and-5 or something like that. But definitely not a commercial advantage. Football works best when fans go roughly every second week to the stadium. Asking them to show up five or six weeks in a row is a big ask.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the Argos will not only lose their home field for many weeks, they will undoubtedly also lose access to their entire facility. I'm sure the Argo locker room will be used for the World Cup, and probably even Lamport. The more I think about it, the more I expect we will have a season similar to Hamilton's in 2013, i.e. much of it to be played in Guelph or somewhere like that. Grrr.

[Scooter McCray]

Devil's advocate:
But that necessarily means that we would then likely get a big run of home games. Could be viewed as a competitive advantage.

That's true, but having your first 5 out of the gate on the road, you could dig yourself too big a hole to climb out of and lose your season before you've even played a home game. It's a massive risk unless your the odds on favorite best team in league.

["Issues"Mcgee]

The FIFA World Cup will be the biggest sports event the city will ever see barring an unlikely winning bid in the Olympics, so the city needs this. As for the Argos at BMO, Canada will not be getting any Quarter Finals games so the last possible game at BMO would be July 5-7 but the Fan Festival area that will be built within the CNE grounds will continue until the final on July 19. They would need a few weeks to take everything down. Taking into account TFC's schedule, realistically we won't see a home Argos game until end of July, first week of August.

The Argos and Lions will probably play 5 away games + bye week at least before they play a home game in their cities. The CFL will likely have to move the schedule around, keeping in mind that the vast majority of the country will be all in on the World Cup. From a macro level this world cup will be a boon for Association Football. The league really needs to get its shit together or it will fold by the end of the decade

This whole tournament is nothing more than a desperate bid, by one of the most corrupt sports organizations in the world, to get Americans to watch soccer and nothing more. When it is all said and done, Canada will be an afterthought and more money will be lost than gained.

It sounds like Canada is just going to end up with all the games the US won't want to host anyway.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

This whole tournament is nothing more than a desperate bid, by one of the most corrupt sports organizations in the world, to get Americans to watch soccer and nothing more. When it is all said and done, Canada will be an afterthought and more money will be lost than gained.

It sounds like Canada is just going to end up with all the games the US won't want to host anyway.

True.

[SkalbaniasGhost]

It's not only the time of the 2026 CFL schedule that worries me.... as I am sure there will be a long construction schedule in which I am sure they will not have any fans being able to attend the stadium. We may be out of luck the latter part of 2025. If the World Cup ends in July, we will be okay after that. I am thinking that would be a good year to host the Grey Cup with all those extra seats. I am pretty sure those seats will only be temporary, this being Canada, and nothing in this country gets enough support to warrant a 45,000 seat stadium. Maybe only Blue Jays on opening Day.

They will use the expanded seating for an NFL International Series game.