Argos need new training facility

[Mulder]

old one burnt down.

[Will]

We needed a new one anyways, but aren't the coach's offices there too?

[marcwagz]

no news?
I hope thats not a joke, or i do... or... I dont know

[AngeloV]

Looks like this is true.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111224/fire-argos-training-centre-111224/20111224/?hub=TorontoNewHome

[Mulder]

Nope. no joke

http://www.argofans.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12&d=1324739369

12

[Will]

I hope they had back-up copies of anything important. The coaching offices are also located at this facility.

[shayman]

On the bright side, let's be thankful this happened now, and not during the season, and that nobody got hurt.

[1argoholic]

I agree with Shayman. Thankfully no one got hurt. There would have been contracts in there and other important info. Sad day and I remember how excited I was being a Port Credit guy that I could hit practice. Spent some great times around those facilities.
It was a pyro PO'ed Eskimo fan. haha

[ArgoRavi]

On the bright side, let's be thankful this happened now, and not during the season, and that nobody got hurt.

Furthermore, on the bright side, hopefully this forces the team to come up with a "major-league" training facility sooner rather than later rather than the embarrassment that one was.

[R.J]

Sad day, but thankfully nobody was hurt. Tsn.ca (http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=383457) has post some news about it as well as a video.

[Will]

In retrospect this pretty much signifies the way that the entire year of 2011 went for the Boatmen didn't it?

[R.J]

Also kind of a funny coincidence, since Suitor wrote an article the other day about a new facility being on the Argos Christmas list. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=383425

As far as a pleasant surprise goes, well I'm going to go off the map here and go with the announcement that owner David Braley is going to build the team a state of the art practice facility. It would be a gift that would take a while to build but is long over due and would truly send the message to new potential Argo fans that Braley is in it for the long haul and so is the team in Toronto.

[ArgoGabe22]

This was taken an hour ago, firefighters are still hosing it down https://p.twimg.com/AhdM65zCQAAcMq4.jpg

[Mulder]

oddly enough, I tweeted back in April to the Argos about teaming up with TFC on their new training facility at downsview park.

They replied that they were already working on plans for a new training facility. But I can't find that tweet now.

[argotom]

Maybe this is a positive sign of what needs to be done asap.
Of the few I have seen, this by far is the worst pro team facility.

[marcwagz]

training facilities take a while to build, i hope they find somewhere temporary to use for the season

I don't want to cry foul play, but how on earth could a fire like this happen and just in that section of the building?

[Mulder]

coldest day of the year, heaters working harder than they have been all year.

[1argoholic]

Wouldn't take much for those to go up in smoke. I think it would take time to build a sweet proper facility. But as they say everything happens for a reason.

Word on the streets is that an older guy dressed in Lions Grey Cup Champion merch was seen walking fairly fast from the facility. I heard rumors that more insurance was taken out on the coaches office last month. haha.

[Padre29]

Funny thing was, Glen Suitor had "a state of the art practice facilitiy" on his Christmas wish list for every team under the Argos banner...:D

Glad no one was injured in the fire.

[ArgoFan1]

It would be great if Braley decides to build a decent training fcility. To me, the only bright side of such a fire would be if the offensive playbook was completely burned with it and every copy destroyed as well.

[gilthethrill]

It would be great if Braley decides to build a decent training fcility. To me, the only bright side of such a fire would be if the offensive playbook was completely burned with it and every copy destroyed as well.

The Argos did not have an offensive playbook last season...it was an offensive play page....it was taken out along with the former OC....

[paulwoods13]

So far all I've seen on other forums (and to some extent this forum) are jokes about how nothing valuable could possibly have been lost. I suspect that is far from the case. Leaving aside the possible loss of uniforms and equipment, which is replaceable, it seems probable that some team memorabilia (posters, etc.) is gone. The Argos have not preserved much of their heritage through all of the ownership and location changes. Any memorabilia lost in the fire might be gone forever.

And from a competitive standpoint, there could be serious ramifications if their video archive was damaged or destroyed. Every team has game tapes -- as far as I know raw game footage is shared among all teams -- but I imagine each team also has its own specific packages that it puts together. For instance, the Argos might have put together a package showing every second-down play the Alouettes ran all of last season, or the last three seasons or whatever. If game tapes were lost, I imagine the league will mandate the other teams to make copies for the Argos, but there is no way they could get copies of any tapes made specifically by the team itself for its own purposes if the originals were destroyed. They would have to replicate this stuff from scratch. Hopefully all game tapes are now digital and stored electronically off-site.

[gilthethrill]

The building that was destroyed, did it contain the room that was recently named after Pinball?

[argomANIA]

Yes, the Pinball room was in that building. I drove by today. They tore down the structure already. Just a pile of rubble now. The locker room was not affected. But There was a bunch of memorabilia that was decorated with in the office....all gone to ashes.

[argolio]

Assuming Erindale in history, any guesses where to now?

U of T Scarborough might be a logical location.

[paulwoods13]

Finally some news coverage of this, from National Post. It sounds as if everything is gone.

Can't figure out how to put this excerpt in italics; full story at: http://sports.nationalpost.com/2011/12/26/fire-results-in-total-loss-of-argos-training-facility/.

A fire at the University of Toronto Mississauga campus early Saturday morning has resulted in the “total loss” of the Toronto Argonauts’ training facility, according to Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services.

Fire crews were called to the scene, near Mississauga Road, at 1:33 a.m. Saturday morning. Eight connected portable complexes, made of various plastics and aluminum siding, were involved, and 12 fire and emergency vehicles and approximately forty firefighters and officers worked in rotating shifts throughout the day to extinguish the blaze. No one was injured.

The connected portables housed the Argos meeting rooms, coaches’ offices, video departments and player meeting rooms.

[AngeloV]

Assuming Erindale in history, any guesses where to now?

U of T Scarborough might be a logical location.

I say get back into bed with York. Okay, I'm being selfish here. It is a much shorter drive for me.

[AngeloV]

Can't figure out how to put this excerpt in italics; .

Hi-light the entire part you want to put into italics and hit CTRL and I on your keyboard.

[paulwoods13]

Hi-light the entire part you want to put into italics and hit CTRL and I on your keyboard.



Thanks, AV.

[gilthethrill]

Assuming Erindale in history, any guesses where to now?

U of T Scarborough might be a logical location.

argomAnia posted she drove by the facility...it sounded like only one buidling was missing....Ania, can you confirm it? This is a surprise to me that all is gone.

[R.J]

Found this article (http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/cfl/blog/cfl_experts/post/Argonauts-facility-fire-short-term-blow-long-;_ylt=AmdVBbF3.P1t8cdFsdAM_9ypYQM6?urn=cfl-wp2523) on Yahoo Sports.
The fire that gutted the Toronto Argonauts' practice facility on the morning of Christmas Eve could well have significant implications for the team in both the short and the long term. According to the National Post's Matthew Scianitti, fire crews were called to the facility (on the University of Toronto's Mississauga campus) at 1:33 a.m. Saturday and wound up staying there dealing with debris throughout the morning; at least eight separate portables were involved, so this likely won't be easy to fix (the Toronto Star is saying the fire "destroyed" the facility). That could lead to some major short-term issues for the Argonauts, potentially forcing them to change their entire practice setup in 2012. However, in the long term, this may provide extra impetus to push for a new comprehensive stadium with its own practice facility.

In the short term, the Argonauts aren't saying much about how this fire (the results are seen above) will affect them. Here's the statement they put up on the team's website:

MISSISSAUGA — Early this morning, a fire broke out in the coaches building of the Toronto Argonauts practice facility at University of Toronto, Mississauga campus. Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of the fire. We would like to thank Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services for containing the fire. A fire investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the fire and we are working to help assess property damage resulting from the fire.

At this time, we have not yet determined future plans for the Argonauts practice facility. While the fire department investigates the situation, we will have no further comment on the matter. We are thankful for our many blessings and wish everyone the best for the holiday season.

It's certainly positive that no one was hurt in the fire, but there undoubtedly will be some substantial losses for the Argonauts. The coaches' section of that facility undoubtedly had plenty of technology, as well as perhaps team documents on game-planning, draft preparation and free-agent scouting reports. Insurance will help with the former, but the latter can't easily be replaced; as mentioned previously, the CFL offseason often can be a time crunch, and this may reduce some of the advantage the Argonauts had from locking up their coaching staff early. The team also will have to devote substantial time and resources to finding an acceptable practice location for the upcoming season, and that may not be easy either. Fortunately, at least the players' workout facilities are in a different location, so those still in town won't have to find a new place to train yet.

In the long term, though, there may be potential for something good to come of this. The Argonauts' current situation (practices in Mississauga, games at the Rogers Centre, where they're very much a second-class tenant behind the Blue Jays) is far from ideal, and there have been some discussions about building them a new home. Those discussions haven't gone very far to date (and they may never with the budget-slashing Fords in City Hall), but there is sometimes more motivation to push when there isn't an easy status quo to fall back upon. A small stadium downtown with a built-in indoor practice facility (like the one at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium) would be perfect for Toronto, and if there's ever a time to make the case for it, it's now. If that happens, maybe this fire won't be such a bad thing.

[paulwoods13]

I presume the last two paragraphs quoted above are Yahoo's words, not the Argos'. In any case, some of this is what I was alluding to earlier. I have to assume they have lost game tapes, scouting reports and other stuff that relates to their ability to be competitive on the field. If, as seems possible, this spurs the creation of a better training facility, that will be a good outcome. But if they have to start rebuilding tape libraries and so on, this fire could set back the team's competitive efforts in 2012.

[argomANIA]

argomAnia posted she drove by the facility...it sounded like only one buidling was missing....Ania, can you confirm it? This is a surprise to me that all is gone.

Yes only the "office" building is gone. That includes the film room and all coaches offices and meeting rooms.

The locker room seemed to suffer only cosmetic damage. The equipment would have been untouched. The media is making this sound like it's all gone. The locker room and the field are fine. I'd love a new practice facility but I'm sure they can put up a couple new portables and be ready to go in June. Sure game film and all was probably lost, but we still have a place to practice. And I'm sure we didn't really have a playbook yet. Coach Milanovich would likely bring in his own.

[argotom]

I read a report today how the facilites are a write off with a value of $500K, the figure which is curious at best?

[paulwoods13]

Sure game film and all was probably lost, but we still have a place to practice. And I'm sure we didn't really have a playbook yet. Coach Milanovich would likely bring in his own.

Game film is an extremely important component of pro football, and while it's true Milanovich wll be bringing in his own playbook, it's also a safe assumption that a lot of what he is planning to do was already captured in some sort of storage medium already (possibly contained within the destroyed facility). I just hope everything was backed up off-site -- really want to hear from the team on exactly what has been lost.

[Will]

Game film is an extremely important component of pro football, and while it's true Milanovich wll be bringing in his own playbook, it's also a safe assumption that a lot of what he is planning to do was already captured in some sort of storage medium already (possibly contained within the destroyed facility). I just hope everything was backed up off-site -- really want to hear from the team on exactly what has been lost.

While you could probably e-mail the Argos to try to see if they would disclose that information to you (what was lost) I don't think we'll be hearing about it publically until closer to the season. With technology these days and I daresay the sensitivity of certain film/documents that the Aorgs would've had that it'd be backed up remotely somewhere.

[gilthethrill]

While you could probably e-mail the Argos to try to see if they would disclose that information to you (what was lost) I don't think we'll be hearing about it publically until closer to the season. With technology these days and I daresay the sensitivity of certain film/documents that the Aorgs would've had that it'd be backed up remotely somewhere.

I agree with argofan87. Confidential material would be in other places as well as the training facility. In the case of theft, like a break & enter, the team would have backup files etc stored elsewhere I would think.

It will be interesting to hear the extent of what was lost & even how the fire started.

[Mulder]

While you could probably e-mail the Argos to try to see if they would disclose that information to you (what was lost) I don't think we'll be hearing about it publically until closer to the season. With technology these days and I daresay the sensitivity of certain film/documents that the Aorgs would've had that it'd be backed up remotely somewhere.

It's 2011, and if they were still using tapes/DVD's for film then they are/were living in the past.

They are right beside a large Internet Backbone in U of T. They SHOULD at the very least have all raw data on a server in a secure location. If not most everything save for local copies.

[ticatfan]

This is awful news to hear. As said before, thankfully no one was hurt

[shayman]

Speaking of film, is it unreasonable to think that other teams might step up and donate copies? It's a small league; one team suffers a loss like this, I would hope others would step up and help.

[paulwoods13]

I mentioned earlier that I'm confident if they lost game film, it would be replaced by the other teams. I'm pretty sure there is a league-wide reciprocal arrangement where each home team films from above (the so-called Full 24 view) and provides copies to all other teams so that everyone worls off the same video database. But I also assume individual teams then break the "tapes" down themselves into packages suitable for game-planning and off-season prep. As mentioned above, the Argos might, for instance, put together a package showing every second-down play Montreal ran all season, or every second-and-less-than-five play or whatever, so that tendencies can be discerned. That type of package, if lost in this fire, would need to be rebuilt from scratch, which could substantially affect off-season prep for 2012. I hope Mulder is right that the Argos likely had everything digitized and stored off-site, but this is the CFL, where resources are limited, so I'm not optimistic about that.

[Will]

I mentioned earlier that I'm confident if they lost game film, it would be replaced by the other teams. I'm pretty sure there is a league-wide reciprocal arrangement where each home team films from above (the so-called Full 24 view) and provides copies to all other teams so that everyone worls off the same video database. But I also assume individual teams then break the "tapes" down themselves into packages suitable for game-planning and off-season prep. As mentioned above, the Argos might, for instance, put together a package showing every second-down play Montreal ran all season, or every second-and-less-than-five play or whatever, so that tendencies can be discerned. That type of package, if lost in this fire, would need to be rebuilt from scratch, which could substantially affect off-season prep for 2012. I hope Mulder is right that the Argos likely had everything digitized and stored off-site, but this is the CFL, where resources are limited, so I'm not optimistic about that.

Where I work we only have three people and we have everything backed-up offsite. I'm fairly confident the Argos have a similar arrangement.

[Deerkeeper]

From the Toronto Star

"The Argos are still assessing what else was lost in the fire, which consumed one of the portable structures that houses meeting rooms and coaches’ offices. Most of the team’s essential documents were backed up on remote computers."

http://www.thestar.com/sports/football/cfl/argos/article/1108118--argos

[marcwagz]

i hope we don't continue practicing outside a burnt down building that just screams bush league

[argolio]

i hope we don't continue practicing outside a burnt down building that just screams bush leaguePretty sure they'd rebuild it if they decide to return to Erindale.

[shayman]

I'm surprised there haven't been more detailed stories about this fire in the media. I guess people are only staggering back to work now ...
This seems to be about the only piece with any detail - from the Guelph Mercury

http://www.guelphmercury.com/sports/article/646279--fire-at-training-facility-destroyed-argos-memorabilia



TORONTO — The Toronto Argonauts may be able to rebuild the part of their training facility destroyed in a Christmas Eve fire, but a lot of history that went up in flames can’t be replaced.

“I went down there the other day and almost cried,” said Argos consultant Nick Volpe. “There were a lot of memories in that building.”

Destroyed by fire was memorabilia that included signed photos going back to the early 1950s.

“Now they’re all gone, and you can’t replace that stuff,” said Volpe.

The Argos are still assessing what else was lost in the fire, which consumed one of the portable structures that houses meeting rooms and coaches’ offices. Most of the team’s essential documents were backed up on remote computers.

The locker-room appears to have escaped untouched though it is still being assessed for possible smoke damage.

[shayman]

Also I'm sad about the loss of memorabilia but it can't be as bad as when the team moved from Exhibition Stadium to Skydome; boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff were apparently just thrown away. Intentionally.

[1argoholic]

I've heard that the Argos will be putting up temporary tents at Erindale that they got cheep at a US Army Surplus now that the troups are out of Iraq. Problem solved.

[paulwoods13]

Also I'm sad about the loss of memorabilia but it can't be as bad as when the team moved from Exhibition Stadium to Skydome; boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff were apparently just thrown away. Intentionally.

I hadn't heard that but I'm not surprised. Really sad.

[R.J]

Hasn't really been too much news as of late on the practice facility. Interesting that Barker does continue to bring up that when he was brought in, he was told that the Argos would have a new facility in 2 years. Have to wonder if Braley will use some of that Grey Cup profit to build something new.

[argotom]

Boy if there was ever a crucial time for a new facility and to come out of the dark ages?

[gilthethrill]

So, where are the Argos conducting day to day business?

[shayman]

The team does have a totally separate business office downtown. Front office, sales, marketing, etc are all at 212 King St.

[Will]

The team does have a totally separate business office downtown. Front office, sales, marketing, etc are all at 212 King St.

That's correct, but I wonder where the coaching staff and player personnel people are working? They don't maintain offices at 212 King unless they have some temporary space for them at that location.

[R.J]

Some good news.
mscianitti Matthew Scianitti
Rudge also said #Argos are installing new trailers in Mississauga for coaches next month to replace ones that burned down xmas eve #cfl
32 minutes ago

[1argoholic]

The trailers are slightly used and they bought them cheap at a police auction. They may have been used as a meth lab. haha.
Sorry I had to. Man it just looks so cheesy. Oldest pro sports team in North America with looking like trailer park boys and ontop of that being treated like fecal matter by Rogers.