Braley sells the Argos to Bell and Kilmer

[sj-roc]

Argos move to BMO Field and TFC fans see red

[snip]

Soccer fans concerned.

But it sounds like Braley came out OK, as he usually does.

Being a CFL fan, I am glad for the stability it presents to the Argos.

The Argos bullying around the other team with whom they share their home venue?

That's a switch.

At a location where they've already built plenty of history, no less.

TFC players for their part don't seem concerned. Mind you, no one would expect them to go all Ricky Foley about it, anyway. But I would think they would just keep quiet about it and not make it into a big thing.

TFC players not worried about Argos moving in
John Molinaro
May 22, 2015, 2:40 PM

TORONTO – Can the Argonauts and Toronto FC live in harmony at BMO Field?

MLSE president Tim Leiweke has stated categorically and publicly they can, and he’s gone to great lengths to explain how he believes the new hybrid surface (that is mostly grass) that will be installed as part of the next round of renovations to BMO Field can accommodate both teams without it getting eaten up by the CFL club.

Leiweke also promised when the Argos do move in that it won’t affect the soccer experience in the slightest—that soccer fans would never know a CFL game had been played there.

Some TFC fans have their doubts about Leiweke’s promises, and they haven’t been shy about voicing their concerns ever since it was announced on Wednesday that the Argos will move in starting next year.

The Argos’ pending arrival at BMO Field has become a hot-button issue with soccer fans in this city, but the players are taking a more “wait and see approach.”

“It’s a long time between now and next year. To be completely honest, it’s not something that we’re worried about at all at the moment. All you have to do is look at the stadium, (our) training ground, everything that has been put into our club to understand the commitment from MLSE to Toronto FC and to or fans,” TFC captain Michael Bradley stated.

Bradley said he’s had talks with Leiweke, general manager Tim Bezbatchenko and coach Greg Vanney, and that they all agree that MLSE’s commitment to ensuring TFC remain as the primary tenant at BMO Field is unwavering.

“Once we get through this season and Phase Two of the stadium renovations begin, then we can start talking about (maintaining the integrity of the field for soccer). In our minds, it’s about tomorrow and worrying about this season,” Bradley said.

Teammate Justin Morrow agrees.

“Our ownership has made a great commitment to our team and they’ve done a great job with the renovations,” the veteran defender offered.

Vanney feels multipurpose stadiums where different teams share the same venue is the direction that sports business is headed in North America. He also feels MLSE will live up to its promise about soccer not being adversely affected by the Argos’ presence at BMO Field.

“As they’ve been doing the renovations, there’s been a lot of discussion between the company and us, and the commitment they have to TFC and our fans and the quality of our games,” Vanney said.

“That will all be there. Between scheduling and our great (grounds) crew and the number of things we’re committed to in terms of the field, for me, I have absolutely no worry it’s going to be anything different than it is.

“The priority there is soccer and I think it will remain that way, and I don’t think the experience will be any different for anybody, especially the players.”

TFC fans' grousing over this smacks of entitlement. Even the Leafs have to share their building with the Raptors and that's a private concern. BMO is public; TFC doesn't own it. Not only that but they play on former Argo grounds from which they might never have left under different circumstances, and would have had to share anyway (unless they opted for Varsity Stadium like the old NASL Blizzard). They've been fortunate to be the sole tenant at BMO for as long as they have. Heck, they're lucky there's even a continent-wide pro soccer league for them to support in their city.

They also come off like TFC's use of the field — they play about twice as many games there — wouldn't be a detriment to the Argos as far as their field quality concerns go. That's not a given, if we're going to accept the same possibility for TFC. Everyone will have to get along like adults.

[sj-roc]

Before everyone gets too outraged by this, I could all but guarantee that if this were to happen in Vancouver (i.e. Braley handing over ownership to the Aquilini Group and playing at a new outdoor stadium) on the same day that Friedman had just tweeted that Babcock had just signed to coach the Canucks, SOMEONE would have asked the same question at the presser. Guaranteed.


DH

Oh I agree. Not sure that necessarily makes it right, though. He did get a fair bit of flak for it.

[DanoT]

The timing or should I say miss timing of the Argo sale announcement that coincided with the Babcock/Leafs signing has become a story itself and as such has given the Argo sale a bit more extra media coverage. There is no such thing as bad publicity, especially in this case.

[KnowItAll]

The timing or should I say miss timing of the Argo sale announcement that coincided with the Babcock/Leafs signing has become a story itself and as such has given the Argo sale a bit more extra media coverage. There is no such thing as bad publicity, especially in this case.

but there is bad media. very very bad media

[Toppy Vann]

meh, he's saying everything that we all say

He might have been more politically correct but your post nails it for me.

Nothing in his 140 character tweets that I haven't heard on sports talk radio or read from interviews or heard from friends.

But the new owners are already shooting themselves in the foot saying the NFL is coming. How will that motivate ticket buyers? Laughable.

[sj-roc]

The timing or should I say miss timing of the Argo sale announcement that coincided with the Babcock/Leafs signing has become a story itself and as such has given the Argo sale a bit more extra media coverage. There is no such thing as bad publicity, especially in this case.

Good point. You could also add the TFC fan grousing to that file. A group of soccer fans unveiled a "No Argos @ BMO" banner during a TFC home game a couple weeks ago but were quickly ordered by Leiweke & Co. to take it down. One of the fans from the group was interviewed for about 6 mins on Fan 590 in Toronto by Bob McCown (cue audio to 37:40 mark). What a shocker, he goes on about world class this and world class that.

[DanoT]

I have just recently learned of the existence of the Red Patch Patch Boys forum and have found that spending time lurking on their anti Argo thread is quite entertaining. They are doing a fine job of bring media attention to the Argos move to BMO.

[sj-roc]

I have just recently learned of the existence of the Red Patch Patch Boys forum and have found that spending time lurking on their anti Argo thread is quite entertaining. They are doing a fine job of bring media attention to the Argos move to BMO.

Sort of like the Streisand effect.

Someone on the argofans board put it like this: "... [H]as one person who it will really affect, a TFC player, ever complained publicly that the sharing of the field is a concern to them? If so I haven't heard anything. I really believe this is an 'its my toy and I won't share it' situation by certain entitled fans. The same types that think they are smarter than you for liking soccer over football, and more worldly than you because they wear a scarf and sing songs at a soccer game, sorry I mean football match. Not that there's anything wrong with that, if that's what you are into. Just don't try to tell me that you are smarter, more sophisticated or entitled to something that you don't own, as a result of that."

[Coast Mountain Lion]

Terms of the deal set the transfer date as not until Dec 31, 2015. This means the new ownership will not incur losses on the 2015 season.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFd0fdPWYAI23H8.jpg

The irony is that the Argos are back on the site of their former home, the old Exhibition Stadium, some 35 years after public sentiment was in favour of abandoning the facility for an indoor (or indoor-optional) facility after the rainy 1982 Grey Cup. Most of those voices from that era are probably dead by now.

The original CNE Stadium was affectionately dubbed the "Mistake by the Lake" (borrowed from Cleveland) by quite a few residents. It was poorly designed for both baseball and football. We'll see what MLSE can do with modern technology to make the weather conditions easier to bear in late fall. Toronto FC has never qualified for the playoffs once in their 9 seasons so it hasn't been an issue.

Well the "original" CNE Stadium consisted of the north grandstand which was mostly covered and smaller open bleachers on the south side. That always worked well for football and reasonably well for CNE concerts and other shows. But they built a new south grandstand when the Jays moved in in 1977, which involved turning the football field about 30 degrees away from the north grandstand so it was sort of in line with the south, but the result was that it never lined up well with either. The south worked reasonably for baseball but left the north with just a small section at the west end for the left field bleachers. Neither side was appealing for watching football, and the configuration of the new south grandstand just made the patterns of wind coming through that much worse.

[BC 1988]

A group of soccer fans unveiled a "No Argos @ BMO" banner during a TFC home game a couple weeks ago but were quickly ordered by Leiweke & Co. to take it down. One of the fans from the group was interviewed for about 6 mins on Fan 590 in Toronto by Bob McCown (cue audio to 37:40 mark). What a shocker, he goes on about world class this and world class that.

TFC plays a home match at 2pm PDT today vs Portland. I wonder if there will be any attempts at vandalism to the "Welcome Argos" signs that have been put up inside the stadium.

[sj-roc]

Terms of the deal set the transfer date as not until Dec 31, 2015. This means the new ownership will not incur losses on the 2015 season.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFd0fdPWYAI23H8.jpg

The irony is that the Argos are back on the site of their former home, the old Exhibition Stadium, some 35 years after public sentiment was in favour of abandoning the facility for an indoor (or indoor-optional) facility after the rainy 1982 Grey Cup. Most of those voices from that era are probably dead by now.

The original CNE Stadium was affectionately dubbed the "Mistake by the Lake" (borrowed from Cleveland) by quite a few residents. It was poorly designed for both baseball and football. We'll see what MLSE can do with modern technology to make the weather conditions easier to bear in late fall. Toronto FC has never qualified for the playoffs once in their 9 seasons so it hasn't been an issue.

Well the "original" CNE Stadium consisted of the north grandstand which was mostly covered and smaller open bleachers on the south side. That always worked well for football and reasonably well for CNE concerts and other shows. But they built a new south grandstand when the Jays moved in in 1977, which involved turning the football field about 30 degrees away from the north grandstand so it was sort of in line with the south, but the result was that it never lined up well with either. The south worked reasonably for baseball but left the north with just a small section at the west end for the left field bleachers. Neither side was appealing for watching football, and the configuration of the new south grandstand just made the patterns of wind coming through that much worse.

Wikipedia has a good rundown on the shortcomings of CNE once it was renovated to accomodate baseball. Putting aside the issues with SkyDome, it almost makes you wonder, why go back there. Granted some of the issues are solved what with BMO replacing the original stadium but there's still the weather/geography issues.

Reconfiguration for baseball

In 1974 the city voted to reconfigure the stadium to make it compatible for baseball, leading to the arrival of Major League Baseball in Toronto in 1977 in the form of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Originally planned to cost $15 million before growing to $17.5 million, the renovations, which were funded by the city and province, added seating opposite to the covered grandstand on the first base side and curving around to the third base side. Football capacity was increased from 33,000 to 55,000. For baseball, it originally seated 38,522, but by the Blue Jays' second season it increased to 43,739. However, only about 33,000 seats were used during the regular season.

However, Exhibition Stadium, in its new form, was problematic both for hosting baseball and for football.

Baseball problems

As at most multi-purpose stadiums, the lower boxes were set further back than comparable seats at baseball-only stadiums in order to accommodate the wider football field. Compared to U.S. stadiums, this was magnified by the fact that Canadian football fields are considerably larger than American football fields. Many of the seats down the right field line and in right-centre were extremely far from the infield; they actually faced each other rather than the action. In fact, some seats were as far as 820 feet (250 m) from home plate — the greatest such distance of any stadium ever used as a principal home field in the major leagues. As the original grandstand was used for the outfield seats, these were the cheapest seats but were the only ones that offered protection from the elements; the Blue Jays were the only MLB team using such a stadium.

Football problems

Because the full length of the third-base line had to be fitted between the north stand (the original grandstand) and the new south stand, they could no longer be parallel to each other. As a compromise between placements suitable for the two stands, the football field was rotated anticlockwise away from the north stand. Thus the only seats as close to the field as before were those near the eastern end zone, and no seats had as good a view of the whole field as the centre-field seats before the conversion.

Problems with the wind and cold

Relatively close to Lake Ontario, the stadium was often quite cold at the beginning and end of the baseball season. The first Blue Jays game played there on April 7, 1977 was the only major league game ever played with the field covered entirely by snow. The Blue Jays had to borrow Maple Leaf Gardens' Zamboni to clear off the field. Conditions at the stadium led to another odd incident that first year. On September 15, Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver pulled his team off the field because he felt the bricks holding down the bullpen tarps were a hazard to his players. This garnered a win by forfeit for the Jays. It remains the last time in major league baseball history — and the only time since 1914 — that a team deliberately forfeited a game (as opposed to having an umpire call a forfeiture).

An April 30, 1984 game against the Texas Rangers was postponed due to 60 mph (97 km/h) winds. Prior to the game, Ranger manager Doug Rader named Jim Bibby as his starting pitcher, stating that "he's the heaviest man in the world, and thus will be unaffected by the wind." However, Bibby would never make it to the mound. Two Rangers batters complained about dirt swirling in their eyes, and Blue Jays starting pitcher Jim Clancy was blown off balance several times. The umpires stopped the game after only six pitches. After a 30-minute delay, the game was called off.

The stadium also occasionally had problems with fog, once causing a bizarre inside-the-park home run for Kelly Gruber, when an otherwise routine pop up was lost by the outfielders in the thick fog.

As a popular feeding ground for seagulls

Due to its position next to the lake, and the food disposed by baseball and football fans, the stadium was a popular feeding ground for seagulls. New York Yankees outfielder Dave Winfield was arrested on August 4, 1983 for killing a seagull with a baseball. Winfield had just finished his warm-up exercises in the 5th inning and threw a ball to the ball boy, striking a seagull in the head. The seagull died, and some claimed that Winfield hit the bird on purpose, which prompted Yankees manager Billy Martin to state "They wouldn't say that if they'd seen the throws he'd been making all year. It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man". The charges were later dropped. Winfield would later play for the Blue Jays, winning a World Series with the club in 1992.

70th Grey Cup and replacement

Exhibition Stadium's fate was sealed during the 70th Grey Cup in 1982, popularly known as "the Rain Bowl" because it was played in a driving rainstorm that left most of the crowd drenched. Many of the seats were completely exposed to the elements, forcing thousands of fans to watch the game in the concession section. To make matters worse, the washrooms overflowed. In attendance that day was then-Ontario Premier Bill Davis, and the poor conditions were seen by over 7,862,000 television viewers in Canada (at the time the largest TV audience ever in Canada). The following day, at a rally at Toronto City Hall, tens of thousands of people who were there to see the Toronto Argonauts began to chant, "We want a dome! We want a dome!" So too did others who began to discuss the possibility of an all-purpose, all-weather stadium.

Seven months later, in June 1983, Premier Davis formally announced that a three-person committee would look into the feasibility of building a domed stadium at Exhibition Place. The committee consisted of Paul Godfrey, Larry Grossman and former Ontario Hydro chairman Hugh Macaulay. By 1983, officials with Metro Toronto, the Blue Jays and Argonauts agreed to abandon Exhibition Stadium once a domed stadium could be built closer to Toronto's downtown, which would eventually become SkyDome.

[BC 1988]

http://bmofield.com/expansion/

Phase 1 Completion May 1, 2015
Additional 8,400 seats with additional washrooms and concession stands
12 new executive suites, 2 party suites and a loge box
New full service kitchen for restaurants, suites and clubs
Two new private clubs:
West Grandstand, Event Level – 230 patrons
East Grandstand, Event Level – 420 patrons
Expansion of Rogers Club – current capacity of 500 is increased to 750 with upgraded look and feel, improved food and beverage and washroom facilities
New larger full HD videoboard replacing existing north videoboard
New concourse (2nd level) around south end of stadium allowing for one continuous concourse (at the upper concourse level)
Budget of $65M

Phase 2 Completion May 1, 2016
Addition of full size canopy covering all seats with exception of North Grandstand
New sound and lighting system
Budget of $40M

So the canopy will provide some protection from the elements for all seats except the area under the videoboard.

Positive article about the Desso system for the field turf
http://www.wakingthered.com/2014/3/10/5 ... ield-argos
and one negative one during an NFL game at Wembley last fall.
http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2014/10/ ... -nfl-yikes

While they still can't do anything about fog rolling in during a game,the weather will be less of a factor then it was at the old CNE Stadium.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

Oh, and because of archaic Ontario liquor laws (yes, worse than BC's) there was no beer at Exhibition Stadium until at least the early 1980s. Though I remember quite a few people managed to bring in their own refreshments in those days.

[sj-roc]

Jerking the Argos around comes so naturally to Rogers, they just can't help themselves.

http://argonauts.ca/article/a-letter-to-the-fans

A Letter to the Fans Tuesday, August 11th, 2015

To our valued fans,

Many of you joined us this past Saturday for our 2015 Home Opener as we hosted the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Rogers Centre. Once inside the stadium, we were all treated to a thrilling ending with plenty of big plays and excitement.

What happened on Saturday night with regard to lineups and wait times to enter the stadium was not acceptable. We believe it was unfair to you, our fans, who have waited so long to see your team play in Toronto. Rogers Centre officials have since informed us that the average wait time at Gate 11 was approximately 20 minutes and even longer at Gate 5. We have heard from many of you, who experienced it first-hand, that wait times were significantly longer - more than an hour.

Entering the stadium proved to be very challenging. We were notified in advance that Rogers Centre staff would be implementing security measures consistent with those of Major League Baseball. These measures were put in place to ensure the safety of everyone in attendance. We did our best to communicate the new measures through a variety of methods. In spite of efforts to communicate the potential delays, there were a number of other circumstances that played into the challenges when the gates eventually opened.

Since the game, we have met with Rogers Centre staff to ensure this will not happen again. Some of the issues that have been highlighted by Rogers Centre officials, and contributed to the delays included a 6 minute postponement in opening the gates, bag inspections and searches designed to keep fans safe were much too long, gates were under-staffed by the stadium, there weren’t enough experienced security staff available to assist and many of those on-site were still in training. While we have been assured that there will not be a repeat of these events, we will continue to encourage fans to plan ahead and arrive to the gates early so you don’t miss a minute of the game.

Thank you for joining us on Saturday. The safety of our fans is a priority and provisions are already in place to ensure your experience while entering the stadium is safe, swift and pleasant. Our next two home games are against very competitive East Division opponents (Sunday, August 23 vs Ottawa and Friday, September 11 vs Hamilton) and we look forward to seeing you at Rogers Centre to help provide a true home field advantage for our team.

Sincerely,

Chris Rudge
Executive Chairman & CEO
Toronto Argonauts Football Club

And to think there were barely 20k fans (announced, possibly less with no-shows). What if 30-40k had showed up?

The Argonauts posted about this on their facebook page and interesting to see from reader comments that most of them are channeling their discontentment not at the Argos but right where it belongs on Rogers.

[dupsdell1]

What a fresh of breath air it is going to be for the Argos to be playing in a actual cfl size stadium , with great new owners . Hopefully this will happen to the lions one day .