East Final Attendance Watch

[gilthethrill]

Leafs only have 1 game on TSN next week, and it’s Friday night, so I have my doubts any of their players will be there promoting the game.

Then I suppose the team should get players to a TFC game to promote the Eastern Final…oh wait…never mind.

[ArgoRavi]

I am guessing by the looks of the Ticketmaster Map that they may be at 21,000 sold. I notice they do still release seats from lower bowl - but not in any crazy numbers, so it looks as though lower bowl is indeed sold out. Bleacher endzone continues to sell and should sellout.

We are at 6,000 seats left to a sellout. If the Tiger-Cats do make it in (I feel an upset brewing in Montreal), their fans should be good for 5,000. I do hope Toronto fans continue to buy. It appears that any promotion MLSE are planning to do to promote this game will occur next week only as they did last year - Leaf games, TV appearances, etc...By then Hamilton will be in the game and tickets will be gone. If Montreal get in, then those promotions will be useful.

Too bad they have not been more proactive. The tickets are selling because of organic demand for a successful Argo team. Not because of any specific marketing plan to sell the game to the public by ownership I'm afraid.

In 2017, 2021, and 2022, the bulk of the promotion happened the week of the East Final so I would expect a push to happen next week.

Leafs only have 1 game on TSN next week, and it’s Friday night, so I have my doubts any of their players will be there promoting the game.

Chad Kelly was at the Raptors game on Wednesday night. Was that a TSN game? Does it have to be at a TSN game that such a promotion would occur? The Leafs play at home next Wednesday night, I believe, so I don't see any reason why MLSE can't have players at that game to promote the East Final.

[Scooter McCray]

The TSN factor matters. Will Rogers choose to promote a game they are not broadcasting. Of course Rogers is a part owner in the team but that has never factored into their decision making on covering the team.
I guess we can expect Pinball to go on Overdrive next Friday for his annual 5 minute interview.

[Scooter McCray]

With 3 first place finishes in a row, 1 championship, and a new team record for wins in a single season. This ownership group needs to account for their lack of promotion of this team and this upcoming east final. They have had 1 month to prepare and it's been crickets. Trotting out Chad Kelly to a Rsptor game requires zero effort. I know alot of fans believe MLSE are great owners. John Candy was a great owner. Forget his fame, he worked tirelessly to promote his team. Just as Pinball has worked tirelessly to build the team on the field to a perennial contender. Come on MLSE, Bill Manning, do something.

[gilthethrill]

With 3 first place finishes in a row, 1 championship, and a new team record for wins in a single season. This ownership group needs to account for their lack of promotion of this team and this upcoming east final. They have had 1 month to prepare and it's been crickets. Trotting out Chad Kelly to a Rsptor game requires zero effort. I know alot of fans believe MLSE are great owners. John Candy was a great owner. Forget his fame, he worked tirelessly to promote his team. Just as Pinball has worked tirelessly to build the team on the field to a perennial contender. Come on MLSE, Bill Manning, do something.

Not to pile on Manning, but we all know his first priority is TFC and he has a mess to fix to appease that fanbase.

[AngeloV]

Not to pile on Manning, but we all know his first priority is TFC and he has a mess to fix to appease that fanbase.

His first priority was to hire Pinball to run the team. We should all be thankful of that.

In 2017, 2021, and 2022, the bulk of the promotion happened the week of the East Final so I would expect a push to happen next week.



Chad Kelly was at the Raptors game on Wednesday night. Was that a TSN game? Does it have to be at a TSN game that such a promotion would occur? The Leafs play at home next Wednesday night, I believe, so I don't see any reason why MLSE can't have players at that game to promote the East Final.

Yes, it was a TSN game.

[Scooter McCray]

Not to pile on Manning, but we all know his first priority is TFC and he has a mess to fix to appease that fanbase.

And he can go back to doing that 10 days from now. He can put his back into selling this game out over the next 10 days. Full court press. Sell 600 tickets per day and you have a sellout. MLSE can do that if they care to.

["Issues"Mcgee]

It LOOKS like the attendance will exceed last year's total of 21,339. The next one to beat is the 2017 East Final against the Riders at 24,929, the highest attended Argos game At BMO.

[OV Argo]

And he can go back to doing that 10 days from now. He can put his back into selling this game out over the next 10 days. Full court press. Sell 600 tickets per day and you have a sellout. MLSE can do that if they care to.

And why can't they do that - starting each off-season and all the way thru the season? Little kids at a lemonade stand could sell more Argo tickets with a demographic of 5 million plus to work with.

Very sad that this fine and historic football team is saddled with owners like this.

[Scooter McCray]

And why can't they do that - starting each off-season and all the way thru the season? Little kids at a lemonade stand could sell more Argo tickets with a demographic of 5 million plus to work with.

Very sad that this fine and historic football team is saddled with owners like this.

I agree OV. I sincerely hope they install Michael Clemons as President. He has put in place the Football Ops people who can take it from here, and as President he would still oversee and seal the deal with players and coaches. Continuity would not be lost. But now as President he can put in place his plan to rebuild a fanbase and rejuvenate the interest in the city. Create demand rather than push on a string. And we all know he would do it. Off the Field meeting On the Field would be something that has not happened in a very long time, and never in terms of consistency and excellence over many years put together.

[Will]

I'll reserve judgment until after the Eastern Final and until after the final attendance is known.

[Scooter McCray]

I'll reserve judgment until after the Eastern Final and until after the final attendance is known.

No issues there. My mind has been made up for awhile. 4 of the last 6 seasons the Argos have hosted the East Final, last 3 in a row with steadily improving team to one that is dominant now. Attendance at each of those Finals has been steady - 2017 being the outlier, because Saskatchewan was in the game and they had a large contingent of fans. So attendance has been steady but not improving. If Hamilton get in this year and buy up the bulk of remaining seats I don't give MLSE points for that. It shouldn't be coming down to that anymore. I have not seen anything from the business operations/ownership group these last few years. They bring token players out to Leaf and Raptor games, put some on Breakfast TV and have a few more hits on radio and that's all they do. I am glad they are doing that - it is better than nothing - but it costs them literally nothing to do those things because they own those properties. I don't see them breaking a sweat to promote the team, nothing creative being done to whip up interest and excitement. No discernible plan to move the needle. The 2,000/game improvement in regular season attendance to 14,000/game has come on the back of the onfield success. Those are simply existing Argo fans who have decided to come out to games again because the team is incredible. It is still by far the lowest attendance in the league. The football operations staff need to be congratulated for that boost - not the business operations group.
I have high expectations I suppose. I am sure glad Pinball, the Players and the Coaches don't settle for mediocrity. There is enough of that to go around in this City.

["Issues"Mcgee]

No issues there. My mind has been made up for awhile. 4 of the last 6 seasons the Argos have hosted the East Final, last 3 in a row with steadily improving team to one that is dominant now. Attendance at each of those Finals has been steady - 2017 being the outlier, because Saskatchewan was in the game and they had a large contingent of fans. So attendance has been steady but not improving. If Hamilton get in this year and buy up the bulk of remaining seats I don't give MLSE points for that. It shouldn't be coming down to that anymore. I have not seen anything from the business operations/ownership group these last few years. They bring token players out to Leaf and Raptor games, put some on Breakfast TV and have a few more hits on radio and that's all they do. I am glad they are doing that - it is better than nothing - but it costs them literally nothing to do those things because they own those properties. I don't see them breaking a sweat to promote the team, nothing creative being done to whip up interest and excitement. No discernible plan to move the needle. The 2,000/game improvement in regular season attendance to 14,000/game has come on the back of the onfield success. Those are simply existing Argo fans who have decided to come out to games again because the team is incredible. It is still by far the lowest attendance in the league. The football operations staff need to be congratulated for that boost - not the business operations group.
I have high expectations I suppose. I am sure glad Pinball, the Players and the Coaches don't settle for mediocrity. There is enough of that to go around in this City.

I see your point but I think you are going a little too far here.

The Argos are looking at an increase in attendance, tv views and merchandise sales for the first time in as long as I can remember. You're making it sound like MLSE has done absolutely nothing when that is clearly not the case. The Argos are in a unique situation where half of the city straight up hates the team. When that is the case, your marketing strategy has to go beyond "raising awareness." People are aware of the Argos and many of them wouldn't go to the East Final if admission were free or if they were paid to go. What sort of advertising do you suggest in that case?

MLSE has clearly provided the foundation for Pinball to work his magic and the team to grow organically. They made no secret that growing the team would take time.

Wait until the final attendance numbers are in. We will have plenty of time to trash ownership after that.

[paulwoods13]

The Argos are looking at an increase in attendance, tv views and merchandise sales for the first time in as long as I can remember.

MLSE deserves credit on the merch side. There has been an absolute explosion of great stuff this year. For most of the past three decades, Argos had the worst selection of merch in the league, with very few options. Now there are literally dozens of shirts and hats, multiple scarves, tons of novelty items, etc. In my younger days I would have gone insane with desire for all of it. Manning says Argos are selling more merch at games than any other team, and I believe it based on what I've seen this year.

[Scooter McCray]

I see your point but I think you are going a little too far here.

The Argos are looking at an increase in attendance, tv views and merchandise sales for the first time in as long as I can remember. You're making it sound like MLSE has done absolutely nothing when that is clearly not the case. The Argos are in a unique situation where half of the city straight up hates the team. When that is the case, your marketing strategy has to go beyond "raising awareness." People are aware of the Argos and many of them wouldn't go to the East Final if admission were free or if they were paid to go. What sort of advertising do you suggest in that case? MLSE has clearly provided the foundation for Pinball to work his magic and the team to grow organically. They made no secret that growing the team would take time.

Wait until the final attendance numbers are in. We will have plenty of time to trash ownership after that.

The attendance and viewership increases I attribute to a coming off a Grey Cup and going 16-2 - they are a great team worth watching. The attendance and viewership I attribute to the football operations staff.
Merchandise I see your point, and Paul Woods elaborated on it. Changing back to the boat logo is great (best logo in pro sports) and they are putting that $#!t on everything. Great work. Keep it up.

I want to come back to your point on half the city "hating the Argos". Is that because they have been slowly brainwashed into liking only the NFL in Toronto? (which I blame on the media here for the last 30-40 years). You can like both leagues, but it seems people in Toronto were only given the choice of hearing more and more about NFL and less and less about CFL. I'm not sure they hate the Argos anymore - they don't even know they exist. And now legacy media is largely dying off and what is left isn't going to bother focusing any effort or dwindling dollars on the CFL. So how do you market to these people? That has to come down to how do these people consume their sports and sports media? How do you communicate with them and get them interested - in a way from scratch. It has to become a cool place to go. Other cities have done this with their young demographic - Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal, BC, Winnipeg. MLSE know how to connect with their fanbase of their other teams. Some of that knowhow exists in-house.

For this playoff game, I would simply pound the pavement in the city - businesses, residences, condos relentlessly for the next 10 days until the 6,000 remaining seats are gone. The above issues are for rebuilding the fanbase longer term. However I guarantee you the 27,000 that come to the EF will be entertained and will come back again. I think that is where some of that regular season bump this year came from. People who came out last year realized it is a great atmosphere and came to games again this year.

["Issues"Mcgee]

Anyone in Canada who has watched TSN or even Sportsnet in the last month has to know the CFL playoffs are on. The usual suspects in the Toronto media have taken shots at the Argos this season, albeit to a much lesser degree than 10 years ago.

None of the other cities you have mentioned have ever had the same kind of opposition to their CFL teams. Even a former Mayor of Toronto tried to stop the Argos from moving to BMO. What other team in sports history has had that kind of opposition from within?

It takes more than a big budget to fix that.

[OV Argo]

MLSE deserves credit on the merch side. There has been an absolute explosion of great stuff this year. For most of the past three decades, Argos had the worst selection of merch in the league, with very few options. Now there are literally dozens of shirts and hats, multiple scarves, tons of novelty items, etc. In my younger days I would have gone insane with desire for all of it. Manning says Argos are selling more merch at games than any other team, and I believe it based on what I've seen this year.

Besides at games or on-line / website buying options, is any of this Argo gear visible and widely available at stores across the GTA ? And if not, why not ?

[gilthethrill]

Today I affixed my Argo car flag (Shield Logo) to the rear passenger side window of my family vehicle. Hopefully the Stratford Theatre Crowd will pick up the phone and order tickets to the EF.

[paulwoods13]

Besides at games or on-line / website buying options, is any of this Argo gear visible and widely available at stores across the GTA ? And if not, why not ?

I don't shop much so I have no idea. There definitely is some nice merch in a sports gear store in Burlington Centre, but it's a stand-alone, not a chain. Last time I looked at chains like SportChek, they had no CFL merch of any type. That is (or was) a league issue, not an Argo issue.

[Will]

I don't shop much so I have no idea. There definitely is some nice merch in a sports gear store in Burlington Centre, but it's a stand-alone, not a chain. Last time I looked at chains like SportChek, they had no CFL merch of any type. That is (or was) a league issue, not an Argo issue.

The SportsChek at Yorkdale had some merchandise after the Grey Cup last year.