World cup

[ArgoFan1]

I am betting the Argos will be getting stiffed in 2026 as BMO field get renovated to host the World Cup games. Maybe they will keep all those additional seats a while and host a Grey Cup that year, but I am full of dread that Argos will be playing home games at Guelph, or Tim Horton Field for the most part.

[OV Argo]

I am betting the Argos will be getting stiffed in 2026 as BMO field get renovated to host the World Cup games. Maybe they will keep all those additional seats a while and host a Grey Cup that year, but I am full of dread that Argos will be playing home games at Guelph, or Tim Horton Field for the most part.

NO WAY !

MLSE would never allow the Argos to play second fiddle to soccer.

Wait, hold the phone - MLSE and their bean counters have just determined that soccer is much more a Canadian sport and more "world class" than paltry Canadian football.

[kellynjk]

I just saw on the news that MLSE will indeed be relocating the Argos during the World Cup, although they didn't mention where. Also it will cost the taxpayers $25 million to add 18,000 additional seats to BMO stadium for the World Cup games. Taxpayers are also on the hook for cost over-runs and lack of revenue. Obviously they are hoping for a huge return on investment with crowds flowing to the city and games etc. but you have to wonder if the costs will outweigh any financial benefits to the city / province.

[Argo57]

I just saw on the news that MLSE will indeed be relocating the Argos during the World Cup, although they didn't mention where. Also it will cost the taxpayers $25 million to add 18,000 additional seats to BMO stadium for the World Cup games. Taxpayers are also on the hook for cost over-runs and lack of revenue. Obviously they are hoping for a huge return on investment with crowds flowing to the city and games etc. but you have to wonder if the costs will outweigh any financial benefits to the city / province.

MLSE are brilliant, they know the half wits at City Hall will give them whatever they want and also absorb any financial risks involved.

[Scooter McCray]

Pack up your troubles in the old "kit" bag.
I shouldn't have had all that cough syrup this morning.
How many World Cup games are being played at BMO? How many weeks do they need to be displaced? They can go on one of their insane 4 game road trips, plus a Maritime home game and fit in 2 bye weeks. That should keep them out of Toronto for almost 2 months.

[paulwoods13]

How many World Cup games are being played at BMO? How many weeks do they need to be displaced? They can go on one of their insane 4 game road trips, plus a Maritime home game and fit in 2 bye weeks. That should keep them out of Toronto for almost 2 months.

Canada was originally promised 10 games, which likely meant 5 or 6 at BMO, but the number of games in the tournament has expanded from 80 to 104, so there will likely be a few more in Canada. It's hard to imagine Canada will get many (if any) games in later rounds. The tournament is scheduled to end on July 19, so games should be finished here by around July 5, I'd guess. However, it's conceivable a team or two might have Toronto as a home base past that date. The Lions are also going to be displaced by the tournament. Hopefully both teams don't end up with utterly terrible schedules, but we probably will (especially considering MLS schedule will also be compressed in 2026).

["Issues"Mcgee]

This is most disturbing news. The last time the Argos were displaced, it was painful and humiliating.

For all the talk about revenue for the city hosting these games, big deal. So the owners of a Sheridan or a Boston Pizza will make some cash, but it means nothing to the average Johnny Punch Clock paying for this with their taxes.

Also, Toronto can't even build a train that works right now. After the Pan-Am games were revealed to be a logistical and financial nightmare, I have zero faith in the powers that be to run a World Cup stint smoothly. This will be disastrously over budget. Just watch.

Looks like the Argos are gonna have to win a few more Cups and sell out BMO before they get any respect around here.

Too bad Tory's double life was revealed after the World Cup bid. Things may have gone differently.

That's my rant for the day.

[Scooter McCray]

Canada was originally promised 10 games, which likely meant 5 or 6 at BMO, but the number of games in the tournament has expanded from 80 to 104, so there will likely be a few more in Canada. It's hard to imagine Canada will get many (if any) games in later rounds. The tournament is scheduled to end on July 19, so games should be finished here by around July 5, I'd guess. However, it's conceivable a team or two might have Toronto as a home base past that date. The Lions are also going to be displaced by the tournament. Hopefully both teams don't end up with utterly terrible schedules, but we probably will (especially considering MLS schedule will also be compressed in 2026).

2026 could be a year to have the Grey Cup played indoors (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal), and schedule a later start to the season to avoid the scheduling hassles for the Lions and Argos.

[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.

[kellynjk]

Well I worked at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports during the Pan Am games, so I can tell you that putting in extra seats in a stadium can be done in a matter of weeks (4 - 6 weeks), so I don't think we need to worry about it taking months to do this. Plus temporary seats are far easier to put in than permanent seats, so I imagine the idea is temporary seats only. But I will say that for the lousy maybe 10 games that Toronto MAY get to host, it will hardly make up the cost to the city ($25 million plus). Plus I really don't trust the costs over-runs which the city will also be responsible for (extra security and the rest). I seriously don't see this as a win for the city, province or MLSE. Plus as we are sharing the hosting duties with the US, I have no doubt that the premium matches (who knows quarter-finals, semis and finals) will be played in the US, not Canada.

[ArgoRavi]

Well I worked at the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports during the Pan Am games, so I can tell you that putting in extra seats in a stadium can be done in a matter of weeks (4 - 6 weeks), so I don't think we need to worry about it taking months to do this. Plus temporary seats are far easier to put in than permanent seats, so I imagine the idea is temporary seats only. But I will say that for the lousy maybe 10 games that Toronto MAY get to host, it will hardly make up the cost to the city ($25 million plus). Plus I really don't trust the costs over-runs which the city will also be responsible for (extra security and the rest). I seriously don't see this as a win for the city, province or MLSE. Plus as we are sharing the hosting duties with the US, I have no doubt that the premium matches (who knows quarter-finals, semis and finals) will be played in the US, not Canada.

Are we also not sharing hosting duties with Mexico?

[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

[kellynjk]

Yes you're right all three countries are hosting the World Cup, Canada, US and Mexico with 16 host cities. Most of the host cities are in the US, only Toronto and Vancouver will be hosting games in Canada.

[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.

["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.

[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.