August 8, 2015: Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. Toronto Argonauts

[Will]

Good on rudge? Are you kidding me this guy has been the most useless employee the Argos have ever had in there history. Braley/rudge era have disrespected and insulted the small fan base like no other. Now numnuts rudge comes out and actually does something for a change and you sound like you want to step up a parade for this useless loser. We even had Jim barker take time off his busy schedule last year to write to the fans before numnuts rudge ever did anything. This is the friggin gm of the team addressing the fans before numnuts the so called CEO of the Argos!

Would you rather the team not have addressed the complaints they received from fans over the metal detectors at Rogers Centre?

[argolio]

A six minute delay opening the gates? Yeah, like I believe that was an accident.

[Will]

A six minute delay opening the gates? Yeah, like I believe that was an accident.

There are no coincidences when it comes to anything Rogers does vis a vis the Argonauts.

[T-Bone]

A six minute delay opening the gates? Yeah, like I believe that was an accident.

I doubt it was intentional. It came down to lack of proper organization and personnel on hand. Rogers should be embarrassed but they don't care about costumer service.

[QBall]

Just got the following e-mail from the team:

What else can you say besides fuck Rogers ?

[Will]

Can we try to not use swear words in here even if it is in regards to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood?

[mchesher03]

yeah I am not giving Chris Rudge one ounce of credit over this. This was entirely predictable that this was going to happen - predictable it would be that bad? no but still entirely predictable that Rogers would understaff and throw a bunch of hacks on there in 'training'

getting to gate 5 at 6:30 looked like the team was giving away bobbleheads again - shockingly finding out that we have 20k in attendance and not the 50k you'd have guessed by the massive lineups and crowd outside. This one is not just on Rogers but on Rudge and the Argos for not proactively getting in front of this one.... so they have to run us through metal detectors - maybe bring a few more out then the 4 or 5 i saw for gate 5. I'm guessing half the crowd in attendance went through those 4 or 5 metal detectors - completely unacceptable. Can't wait to be rid of this nickel and dime routine from this 'regime' and where fans are actually treated with a little respect again. end of rant.

[T-Bone]

yeah I am not giving Chris Rudge one ounce of credit over this. This was entirely predictable that this was going to happen - predictable it would be that bad? no but still entirely predictable that Rogers would understaff and throw a bunch of hacks on there in 'training'

getting to gate 5 at 6:30 looked like the team was giving away bobbleheads again - shockingly finding out that we have 20k in attendance and not the 50k you'd have guessed by the massive lineups and crowd outside. This one is not just on Rogers but on Rudge and the Argos for not proactively getting in front of this one.... so they have to run us through metal detectors - maybe bring a few more out then the 4 or 5 i saw for gate 5. I'm guessing half the crowd in attendance went through those 4 or 5 metal detectors - completely unacceptable. Can't wait to be rid of this nickel and dime routine from this 'regime' and where fans are actually treated with a little respect again. end of rant.

We don't know who's call it was in regards to how many staff were on hand. Maybe Rogers said we can handle it with x amount and they were trying to save cash. My guess is it was Rogers call otherwise why wouldn't they issue a rebuttal saying something along the lines of "We told you we needed more staff but you were not willing to pay for it."

[Will]

The explanation of Rogers is piss poor from another perspective. It isn't like this is the first event to be held since installation of the metal detectors. The Blue Jays have played whatever many home games they've played so far, and the crowds weren't as high before the trade deadline. Your telling me that Rogers hadn't developed an understanding of how different crowd sizes might affect the time needed to get into the building?

[Rich]

Funny this story about long lineups at the Argos game got prominent treatment on CTV and CP24, and also in The Star, but not on Rogers outlets. It actually turns into pretty good free exposure for the Argonauts in the middle of all this Blue Jay mania, getting their name out there and showing they have enough popularity to create lineups. When I looked there were 7 comments on the Star article, most of them people complaining about how long it took to get into the Argos game. Not one said "I didn't think they had enough fans to create a lineup".

[paulwoods13]

yeah I am not giving Chris Rudge one ounce of credit over this. This was entirely predictable that this was going to happen - predictable it would be that bad? no but still entirely predictable that Rogers would understaff and throw a bunch of hacks on there in 'training'

getting to gate 5 at 6:30 looked like the team was giving away bobbleheads again - shockingly finding out that we have 20k in attendance and not the 50k you'd have guessed by the massive lineups and crowd outside. This one is not just on Rogers but on Rudge and the Argos for not proactively getting in front of this one.... so they have to run us through metal detectors - maybe bring a few more out then the 4 or 5 i saw for gate 5. I'm guessing half the crowd in attendance went through those 4 or 5 metal detectors - completely unacceptable. Can't wait to be rid of this nickel and dime routine from this 'regime' and where fans are actually treated with a little respect again. end of rant.

That's exactly what it is -- a rant. And one with a whole lot of unproven assumptions built in. I'm fairly sure the Argos can't just add their own staff to the front doors of Rogers Centre. They can ask the landlord to staff the event for a projected crowd of x, but I highly doubt they can do anything other than ask. Even insisting vociferously isn't gonna cause Rogers to budge. They won't budge on schedule dates, why would they budge on staff levels?

[Rocket]

That's exactly what it is -- a rant. And one with a whole lot of unproven assumptions built in. I'm fairly sure the Argos can't just add their own staff to the front doors of Rogers Centre. They can ask the landlord to staff the event for a projected crowd of x, but I highly doubt they can do anything other than ask. Even insisting vociferously isn't gonna cause Rogers to budge. They won't budge on schedule dates, why would they budge on staff levels?

Hey paulwood before you start up a petition to get statues of Braley and rudge at bmo field don't you think that if we had a different CEO then rudge ie.keith pelley,Tim lewike that there would have been negotiations through out the years to have a better working relationship with the people from Rogers? Sure Rogers could have acted better and not been jerks but have you ever had the thought that maybe Rogers just got sick and tired of Braleys cheapskate ways and just said screw them? Don't you think that it could have been braleys choosing to tell Rogers to not hire so many workers on game day so the cheapskate can save a couple of extra bucks for himself? Is it not Chris rudge job to look after game day operations to know what type of crowd they are to get and to talk to Rogers on how they can handle it? These metal doctors have been at skydome for months it is inexcusable for these two morons to make up excuses to what happened on game day.

[Wobbler]

Nobody benefits from gate access delays preventing patrons from getting to their seats. It is a security hassle, which is bad for the venue. It makes it harder for people to purchase from vendors, which is bad for the venue. It annoys patrons, which is bad for the venue.

Occam's razor: mild incompetence seems a lot more plausible than any sort of conspiracy.

[mchesher03]

We don't know who's call it was in regards to how many staff were on hand. Maybe Rogers said we can handle it with x amount and they were trying to save cash. My guess is it was Rogers call otherwise why wouldn't they issue a rebuttal saying something along the lines of "We told you we needed more staff but you were not willing to pay for it."

See but my counter would be - even if rogers is trying to save cash and go spartan with their staffing - i don't care. i expect to be able to get into the stadium in under 10 minutes, sorry but anything more is ludicrous. especially when the argos aren't exactly selling out currently. I honestly think it's just the rogers centre giving the middle finger to the argos and rudge is yet again taking it. at least team braley is gone next year and there is no way this nonsense will happen under team bell / tannenbaum.

That's exactly what it is -- a rant. And one with a whole lot of unproven assumptions built in. I'm fairly sure the Argos can't just add their own staff to the front doors of Rogers Centre. They can ask the landlord to staff the event for a projected crowd of x, but I highly doubt they can do anything other than ask. Even insisting vociferously isn't gonna cause Rogers to budge. They won't budge on schedule dates, why would they budge on staff levels?

yup it's 100% a rant but I would hope it doesn't happen again, especially cause it was so damn predictable the first time. Remember this is the same facility that ran out keith's on draught behind section 110 before the 2007 grey cup game had even started! predicting staffing levels based on attendance (and let's be serious, attendance was not outside of what anyone would have predicted) is NOT the rogers centre mgmt' forte.

[T-Bone]

have you ever had the thought that maybe Rogers just got sick and tired of Braleys cheapskate ways and just said screw them?

We all get you are not a fan of Rudge or Braley but your persistence to blame everything that goes wrong solely on them is getting tiresome. Have you ever had the thought that maybe that's not the case? Probably not.

See but my counter would be - even if rogers is trying to save cash and go spartan with their staffing - i don't care. i expect to be able to get into the stadium in under 10 minutes, sorry but anything more is ludicrous. especially when the argos aren't exactly selling out currently. I honestly think it's just the rogers centre giving the middle finger to the argos and rudge is yet again taking it. at least team braley is gone next year and there is no way this nonsense will happen under team bell / tannenbaum.

See Wobbler's post above, it makes a lot of sense.

[Rocket]

See but my counter would be - even if rogers is trying to save cash and go spartan with their staffing - i don't care. i expect to be able to get into the stadium in under 10 minutes, sorry but anything more is ludicrous. especially when the argos aren't exactly selling out currently. I honestly think it's just the rogers centre giving the middle finger to the argos and rudge is yet again taking it. at least team braley is gone next year and there is no way this nonsense will happen under team bell / tannenbaum.

We can defiantly hope the circus that Braley/rudge brought on to the Argonauts organization
The last few years disappears with the new ownership and that a more professional and serious approach takes its place. But so far I am not impressed with the new guys they couldn't even schedule there major annoucment of taking over the Argos scheduling it on the same day of the maple leafs hiring of new coach. Then couple days later he is talking to media in Toronto about getting the nfl to Toronto.

We all get you are not a fan of Rudge or Braley but your persistence to blame everything that goes wrong solely on them is getting tiresome. Have you ever had the thought that maybe that's not the case? Probably not.

T-bone what is tiresome is you and everyone else who supports Braley/rudge. Have you ever thought to stop and think on how the low the Argos have gotten since these two guys took over? We fans and owners and everybody associated with the Argos has to learn from there mistakes. We have to have people accountable for there mistakes in to bettering ourselves. Sitting back doing no work for the team and pointing the finger at everybody else that goes wrong with this team and trying to make people feel sorry for the team is not going to bring in new fans.

[paulwoods13]

Sitting back doing no work for the team and pointing the finger at everybody else that goes wrong with this team and trying to make people feel sorry for the team is not going to bring in new fans.

Or at one person. But you would never do that, right?

[Rocket]

Or at one person. But you would never do that, right?

No I ain't blaming the Argos troubles on one person I putting at least 95% of it on two individuals David Braley and Chris Rudge. Look Paul just because you worked with them two before into allowing you to sell your book on the concourse of Rogers centre doesn't make them into a great owner or CEO put aside the side deals you had with them. They did a lousy job running the Argos lets just hope as Argo fans that we won't have to deal with crap like this in the future.

[paulwoods13]

i have seen the light.

[argofandave]

Global News did a story tonight about the delays in getting fans into the stadium. Both Chris Rudge and Lori Bursey were interviewed. Rogers officials did not respond to interview requests.