Quote Originally Posted by Joe Barnes View Post
OSEG made Lansdowne Park an entertainment hub, fixing up the hockey arena, and stadium, while adding restaurants, bars and a Cineplex to the formerly popular site that used to host the Ottawa Exhibition. Made the area a 'go to' place for entertainment, even when there is no game on. Mlse already runs BMO and Ricoh (Coca-cola now), on Toronto's formerly popular exhibition grounds (I say formerly because the ex ain't what it used to be). The immediate area also has the Ontario Place site (including Cinesphere and the Budweiser Stage) as well as the Queen Elizabeth Theatre and Medieval Times. It seems to me that if you cleaned up the area a bit and added a few permanent bars and restaurants, you could have quite an entertainment attraction there. It's already a hub for a lot, but it's disjointed and not the place to be if you aren't already attending an event there. Synergy between the venues and connection by strategically locating bars and restaurants throughout the site. I realize this is much bigger than the Argos, but all stakeholders would benefit, and if anyone has the clout to drive a thing like this, surely it's MLSE.
Yes they are kind of similar areas but Liberty Village is very close and full of trendy bars and restaurants. No need to put in restaurants and bars beside BMO when Liberty is already there.

As for getting fans back by offering "cheap" tickets, that hasn't worked because that is not the problem in Toronto. This is rich Toronto where fans pay big bucks for entertainment including Raptors/Leafs/Jays/TFC. Look at the prices people pay for season tickets to the other teams. Very few of the "cheap" tickets were sold last game and still looks like thousands available for next weeks game. The cheap tickets aren't selling because pricing is not the problem.
Whats the problem? I'm sure MLSE/Argos and their marketing department have been trying to figure this out for a couple of years, if they knew what was wrong and it was an easy fix they would do it.