Bob Young disses the Argos and calls Ticats Canada's team for S. Ontario area

[Argonauter]

http://twitter.com/#!/CFL_News/status/194917464281317376

Bob Young:"The Ticats are not just Hamilton's team but this part of Canada's team."




ArgoDiva got him back though,

http://twitter.com/#!/ArgoDiva/status/194918820736020480

Uh, I don't think so, Bob

[Mulder]

http://twitter.com/#!/CFL_News/status/194917464281317376

Bob Young:"The Ticats are not just Hamilton's team but this part of Canada's team."




ArgoDiva got him back though,

http://twitter.com/#!/ArgoDiva/status/194918820736020480

Uh, I don't think so, Bob


By 'This part of Canada' he means the armpit of Ontario.

[ArgoRavi]

I just got back from a Commissioner's lunch that the Ticats hosted for businesspeople in the Niagara Region. The college at which I work had a table there and it was an impressive event as the Ticats try to "regionalize their brand" as the corporate types like to say. They are aggressively working the Niagara Region. It was a full house today and this was only the second such event that they have had after holding the first one just last fall. What was especially impressive about today is that they had all of the key people in the organization out including Bob Young, George Cortez, Scott Mitchell, Henry Burris and Peter Dyakowski. Angelo Mosca, who lives in this region, was also there along with former Argo Charlie Bray who they joked was there because he played one game for the Ticats. Anyway, I imagine that Chris Rudge and the Argos are doing similar events in the GTA and I believe that this is the kind of thing that Larry Smith did regularly to build up the Als in Montreal so hopefully we will see similar results in time in southern Ontario.

BTW, they had an open bar and a great free lunch so the Ticats are certainly not sparing any expense!

[1argoholic]

By open bar and lunch did you a mean an open bottle of Wild Turkey and a box of Timbits?

[LLB997]

cmon now, if bob young put on this shindig, then i am sure it was 1st class all the way.

[R.J]

I would have to agree with Bob Young, at least for right now.
Hamilton is often called the "Riders of the East", I have often stated that if the stadium was built at Longwood/Aberdeen instead of staying at Ivor Wynne, IMO the team could easily be one of the strongest "brands" off the field ($$$).

[Will]

I say take it as a challenge and a reason for the Argos to get off their butts and fix this!

[zontar]

As mentioned earlier he's just trying to build a larger brand and if that stokes the rivalry then its better all around.

[Will]

As mentioned earlier he's just trying to build a larger brand and if that stokes the rivalry then its better all around.

It's up to the Argos to try to work out Barrie way or east towards Trenton or Belleville.

[argotom]

I just got back from a Commissioner's lunch that the Ticats hosted for businesspeople in the Niagara Region. The college at which I work had a table there and it was an impressive event as the Ticats try to "regionalize their brand" as the corporate types like to say. They are aggressively working the Niagara Region. It was a full house today and this was only the second such event that they have had after holding the first one just last fall. What was especially impressive about today is that they had all of the key people in the organization out including Bob Young, George Cortez, Scott Mitchell, Henry Burris and Peter Dyakowski. Angelo Mosca, who lives in this region, was also there along with former Argo Charlie Bray who they joked was there because he played one game for the Ticats. Anyway, I imagine that Chris Rudge and the Argos are doing similar events in the GTA and I believe that this is the kind of thing that Larry Smith did regularly to build up the Als in Montreal so hopefully we will see similar results in time in southern Ontario.

BTW, they had an open bar and a great free lunch so the Ticats are certainly not sparing any expense!



Sounds like a great time and well planned out by the Cats.
Which brings me to the Argos.
How come they are not attempting the same thing in the GTA.
For example, for years they used to have an Argo Oshawa practice and meet and greet.
No longer, why not?
Why not start some sort of a ticket bus package at various malls in the city and GTA?
If not the team on its own, surely they can have some corporate sponsors get involve or underwrite the costs.

[R.J]

Sounds like a great time and well planned out by the Cats.
Which brings me to the Argos.
How come they are not attempting the same thing in the GTA.
For example, for years they used to have an Argo Oshawa practice and meet and greet.
No longer, why not?
Why not start some sort of a ticket bus package at various malls in the city and GTA?
If not the team on its own, surely they can have some corporate sponsors get involve or underwrite the costs.
Chris Rudge has stated that he has had corporate sponsor dinners, at least two, I'm basing this on Radio interviews Rudge has done.

[argotom]

Chris Rudge has stated that he has had corporate sponsor dinners, at least two, I'm basing this on Radio interviews Rudge has done.


That's great, how about doing some sort of a caravan throughout the region?

[KCargosfan]

Hamilton is often called the "Riders of the East", I have often stated that if the stadium was built at Longwood/Aberdeen instead of staying at Ivor Wynne, IMO the team could easily be one of the strongest "brands" off the field ($$$).

Unlike the Riders, their fans don't do a good job of buying tickets.

Bob Young may be the second saviour of the CFL behind Braley. I read somewhere that he's lost something like $30 million on the team over the last 10 years.

Perhaps I'm being hard on Hamilton fans as I just remembered they haven't had a lot to cheer for prior to 2009 the first part of this century. If they had had Sask's success from 2000-08 I'm guessing Ivor Wynne would be much fuller than it usually is?

[Argocister]

My husband (a Ticat season ticket holder....... Is that grounds for divorce?) received an invite/request for a similar luncheon or get together to bring a couple of guests , in order to promote further seasons ticket sales. This was in the K-W area. I'm thinking this is part of the monies to promote the CFL in southern Ontario. Probably the province has been split up between the 2 teams.
The Ticats do have a lot of fan/season ticket holder events and promos that I don't see happening with the Argos. It has been said on this forum as well, it would be nice to have a Drew Edwards/Scratching post type of blog.
Mind you I haven't been able to attend the few events the Argos have put on ..... So far....... But I will.

[R.J]

Unlike the Riders, their fans don't do a good job of buying tickets.
Stadium location plays a huge part in that, I've been to Ivor Wynne, biggest pain in the behind to get to if you're driving. Ticats fans, the City and Bob Young/Scott Mitchell have all brought up that Ivor Wynne is not an ideal location and hurts the team (only stayed at Ivor Wynne due to $$$).
Ticats eclipsed 1+ million in merch sales, something not all teams can do.

Also glad that you brought up that the team has been crappy for quite awhile.
Win/Loss/tie record from 91-2011
3-15, 11-7, 6-12, 4-14, 8-10, 8-10, 2-16, 12-5-1, 11-7 (Grey Cups winners in 99), 9-9, 11-7, 7-11, 1-17, 9-8-1, 5-13, 4-14, 3-15, 3-15, 9-9, 9-9, 8-10
Only 5 winning seasons in 20 years, 8 season with 5 or less wins.

[ArgoRavi]

Sounds like a great time and well planned out by the Cats.

BTW, argotom, Cohon said at this event that CTV recently informed him that 25 million Canadians viewed some part of the Grey Cup coverage on Grey Cup Sunday which made it the second most watched TV event in Canada in 2011 only behind the federal election.

This event was the second annual Commissioner's Lunch in the Niagara Region with the first one being last October. The money that the league has directed towards the Ticats and Argos is likely being used for events such as these but the Ticats did start doing this last fall before they even got this money, I believe. They held a practice on Thanksgiving Monday in St. Catharines last year and I believe that they have more such events planned. On CHCH, it was mentioned that only 5% of ticket sales come from the Niagara Region so there is quite a base here to be tapped. They are going to start running shuttle buses from St. Catharines to Hamilton for games this season.

[KCargosfan]

Stadium location plays a huge part in that, I've been to Ivor Wynne, biggest pain in the behind to get to if you're driving. Ticats fans, the City and Bob Young/Scott Mitchell have all brought up that Ivor Wynne is not an ideal location and hurts the team (only stayed at Ivor Wynne due to $$$).
Ticats eclipsed 1+ million in merch sales, something not all teams can do.

Also glad that you brought up that the team has been crappy for quite awhile.
Win/Loss/tie record from 91-2011
3-15, 11-7, 6-12, 4-14, 8-10, 8-10, 2-16, 12-5-1, 11-7 (Grey Cups winners in 99), 9-9, 11-7, 7-11, 1-17, 9-8-1, 5-13, 4-14, 3-15, 3-15, 9-9, 9-9, 8-10
Only 5 winning seasons in 20 years, 8 season with 5 or less wins.

Thanks for the info on the stadium location, that kind of blows. Wish Young had gotten his wish to have a stadium somewhere else.

Also, that 05-08 time period must have fizzed out a lot of fans.

It will be interesting if their home opener against Sask draws close to a sellout? If there are a lot of Rider fans in southern Ontario (I have no clue), then I would think that game could get 27K or 28K?

[LLB997]

Well i saw a story on tonights CBC local news about a kids tag football game. One group of kids had Argos tshirts and the opponents had Als tshirts. 1 boy said this was the greatest day of his life. It was nice to see. I think the Argos need to focus on the immediate GTA. People from places like Orillia, Peterborough etc. are not likely to attend more than 1 game a year. Maybe throw a little something towards the outskirts but focus needs to remain where the main population lives.

[argotom]

BTW, argotom, Cohon said at this event that CTV recently informed him that 25 million Canadians viewed some part of the Grey Cup coverage on Grey Cup Sunday which made it the second most watched TV event in Canada in 2011 only behind the federal election.

This event was the second annual Commissioner's Lunch in the Niagara Region with the first one being last October. The money that the league has directed towards the Ticats and Argos is likely being used for events such as these but the Ticats did start doing this last fall before they even got this money, I believe. They held a practice on Thanksgiving Monday in St. Catharines last year and I believe that they have more such events planned. On CHCH, it was mentioned that only 5% of ticket sales come from the Niagara Region so there is quite a base here to be tapped. They are going to start running shuttle buses from St. Catharines to Hamilton for games this
season.


Ravi, any other info from the commish on the status of the upcoming contract, talks etc?

[ArgoRavi]

Ravi, any other info from the commish on the status of the upcoming contract, talks etc?

No, there was no earth-shattering news from Mark Cohon. He talked about all of the new stadiums and said that as long as shovels are in the ground by this summer in Ottawa, their team can start play in 2014.

I forgot to mention something that Henry Burris said that might get some on here worked up. There was a Q & A session that Peter Dyakowski did with George Cortez and Burris and during this session Burris said that he thought that he would end up in Toronto but was happy to end up in Hamilton because Hamilton is passionate about football whereas Toronto is passionate about ballet. That elicited much laughter in the room with Angelo Mosca, who was sitting at our table, especially approving of that remark.

[argotom]

No, there was no earth-shattering news from Mark Cohon. He talked about all of the new stadiums and said that as long as shovels are in the ground by this summer in Ottawa, their team can start play in 2014.

I forgot to mention something that Henry Burris said that might get some on here worked up. There was a Q & A session that Peter Dyakowski did with George Cortez and Burris and during this session Burris said that he thought that he would end up in Toronto but was happy to end up in Hamilton because Hamilton is passionate about football whereas Toronto is passionate about ballet. That elicited much laughter in the room with Angelo Mosca, who was sitting at our table, especially approving of that remark.



Yes a good line, but unfortunately true.
Thanks for the summary.