![Quote](styles/nexus/misc/quote_icon.png)
Originally Posted by
paulwoods13
I've made this point in other threads and on other forums, but it bears repeating: even if it is true that the majority of Argo ticket-buyers live in the 905 area code, that is a massive agglomeration of many communities stretching from Oshawa/Whitby/Pickering in the east to Burlington/Hamilton/Niagara in the west. Someone living in Pickering is pretty unlikely to go to a game in Mississauga, say, just because the two cities share an area code.
The traffic woes last night, documented elsewhere in this forum, may actually enhance the case for BMO or some other downtown location, because at least with a downtown stadium there is an option from the suburbs that does not involve fighting traffic (GO Transit). If the stadium is put in any of the suburban locations that have been suggested, anyone who is not originating downtown will have virtually no choice but to drive. I would wager that traffic in all parts of the GTA (not just into and out of downtown) is only going to get worse in the next few decades.
I realize there are many Argo fans who would prefer to drive and feel it would be easier to drive to Woodbine/Downsview/York/etc., and for at least some of them (perhaps many of them) that is undoubtedly true. But there are others who would find getting there harder than it is currently, and there is a risk that those fans would not go to the new location. As I've said before, the Argo brass need to weigh that risk -- if they are reasonably sure they can pick up enough new paying customers to offset current paying customers who might be lost because of a move to the suburbs, then they can and should proceed if a suburban stadium is the best option. Personally I would be reluctant to risk chasing any existing fans away, considering the franchise needs more ticket buyers than it has now. But it's a fairly straightforward calculation they should be able to make.
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