Toronto sports media ..Not Argo friendly(SUX2012)

[zark]

http://www.argofans.com/showthread.php? ... p-coverage.
http://www.argofans.com/showthread.php? ... edia-Watch
From Argoravi
I am not sure how much attention anyone will pay to the local media this week but it will be fascinating to see the answers to the following questions:

Will Bob McCown talk about the Argos at all this week? If so, how much? Will Greg Brady continue to believe that nobody cares about the Argos? Will Jim Lang's love for the Argos and CFL be resurrected this week? Will Damien Cox argue that only 25k tickets have been sold for the Grey Cup and that Chris Rudge has papered the rest of the house? Will Stephen Brunt only hear crickets chirping? Will the Toronto Star include more than one article per day this week on the Argos? Will the individual who has inhabited Steve Simmons' body for the last month remain or will the old Steve suddenly show up again? Will Jeff Blair continue his conspiracy theories about how the league has arranged for the Argos to be in the big game?
From Zontar
I''ve grown accustomed to Brunt going in the tank for Rogers after he prostituted himself out in the early days of the Bills/Rogers Centre deal but it's sad hearing about MCown for awhile he was the only one left from the old FAN that talked positivley about the CFL and so now he caves to his corprorate master too....Blair too. Used to see him at TC training camps with his family.

At school I used to hear left wing types decry concentrated media ownership and its effects on journalism. Now i get it.

Suggestion : Divorce yourself of anything Rogers in your life and use social media to call them out.
It seems Toronto media is not 100 percent behind the Argos or CFL. Can WE make noise?

[TheLionKing]

Not surprised the media is still obsessed with those laughable Laughs

[Toppy Vann]

This doesn't surprise and this is something that these clowns making decisions to close practices to the media need to take heed of. The game needs the media. Look at the hype of media with hockey. They can keep this lock out going for three years and the media and fans calling in will still be talking about hockey.

The CFL needs to get its marketing act together as these teams this year have done some dumb things like the Riders closing most of their practices to the media and fans and then the BC Lions doing this during the prep for playoffs (until the CFL stepped in).

When I mentioned that some on this board start saying not a big deal but they must not know people in the media and what happens if you don't cooperate with them even if and when you don't want to. I have known many in the media who trust you and will tell you that they personally agree with you but their editor doesn't so the dump on you continues.

I often read the coverage of teams in their media and I must admit it is not often I'd read the Toronto papers as there was not much there on the CFL and their team.

[sj-roc]

Just checked the home spost page of the Tor Star: http://www.thestar.com/sports

Right now the stories on that main page are, in order:

(1) Raptors game coverage
(2), (3) and (4) three articles about hiring of new Blue Jays manager
(5) and (6) two articles about NHL lockout
(7) finally some Grey Cup coverage, but only about how the Stamps won't be allowed to have their TD horse at the game
(8) more Raptors game coverage
(9) European soccer coverage
(10) and (11) two more articles on new Blue Jays manager
(12) article about Ti-Cats playing at UGuelph next year
(13) Vanier Cup article

So out of 13 articles, two are on the CFL and only one of these, buried halfway down the page, is about the Grey Cup, and a rather frivolous one at that.

I'm not saying those other stories have no place in sports news, but...

[Ravi]

The good news this week, folks, is that there has probably been more Argos/CFL coverage over the last couple of days than there has been since the 1982-83 era. The Grey Cup is THE hottest ticket in the city and the hottest ticket that the city has seen in a while. If anyone is able to watch any of the Toronto television stations, you will see tons of Grey Cup coverage and much positive press.

The frustrating news is the continuing lack of coverage in the Toronto Star - the paper with the largest circulation in the city - which has been an ongoing problem for several years now. The Toronto Star of old with the likes of Milt Dunnell, Jim Proudfoot, Rex MacLeod and Rick Matsumoto is long gone. I do expect though that Grey Cup/Argos coverage will be quite heavy even in that paper over the next week starting on Wednesday. However, the sports editor is very anti-CFL and anti-Argo. The other rough spot in the media is that which is owned by Rogers Communications which is extremely pro-NFL and anti-CFL. FAN 590 (owned by Rogers) is an absolute disgrace with even Bob McCown now touting the company line. McCown used to be a big supporter of the Argos when his buddies, David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowki, owned the team and he was part of the 2007 Grey Cup committee but he seems bitter that those two are no longer the owners. McCown and Damien Cox of the Star and FAN 590 have been spouting all kinds of lies about Argo attendance with McCown claiming on Monday that some games this year had fewer than 10k in attendance (that is utter b.s.) and Cox claiming last week that there were fewer than 15k in attendance at the East semi-final which anyone watching the game could easily see was not the case. Cox has been going on about how Chris Rudge has inflated attendance figures this year but people who have been regularly at Argo games say that this is not the case at all. Rudge has said that season ticket sales increased by 50% this year and that attendance rose by 3k per game IIRC. Rudge is very much following Bob Ackles' model in B.C. Anyway, the Rogers-controlled FAN 590 is one media outlet which has been putting down the Argos this week and spending more time talking about their Blue Jays and just about anything else that they can when they are not insulting the Argos.

Again, I must emphasize that so far this week, FAN 590 and the Star have been the exceptions to the outstanding coverage that the Argos have been getting. As I said, I haven't seen anything quite like this in about 30 years. Will it translate to a stronger fan base in the future for the Argos? That is the hope. McCown and another Rogers employee, Stephen Brunt, were dismissive about this the other day but clearly there are a lot of people out there who do care at least somewhat about the Argos (as the strong TV ratings that they get indicate) and it comes down to getting those people more emotionally involved with the team and going to games regularly rather than only when the Argos get to the Grey Cup.

BTW, another reason why the Rogers folks are so bitter is the complete failure of the Bills in Toronto series which may end this year. There has been no announcement of a continuation of that series to this point so it would appear that negotiations are likely not going well. Even though they have dropped ticket prices quite a bit this year, there are loads of tickets available for the Bills/Seahawks game on December 16th. The Grey Cup has had no problem selling out - even before it was known that the Argos would be in the big game - with ticket prices that are at least as high as what Rogers was originally charging for the Bills games which they have had to paper in a huge way. That has to be a bitter pill for Rogers and their media lackeys to swallow.

[B.C.FAN]

Thanks for the update, Ravi, and good luck to the Argos on Sunday. It is good for the league that they're hosting the Cup. I wouldn't mind seeing them win it. I've had the pleasure of being in B.C. Place twice when the home team has won it, and the experience is priceless.

[sj-roc]

Ravi,

When I think of the Tor Star I think of that ridiculous "White Jays" story they printed several years ago, complete with headshots of the entire team, trying to insinuate the lack of black players on their roster was because of racism in the organisation.

[woody]

I just dumped Rogers today as my cell phone provider and went with Wind .TAKE THAT YOU CFL HATING SOB's

[JohnHenry]

Rudge has said that season ticket sales increased by 50% this year and that attendance rose by 3k per game IIRC. Rudge is very much following Bob Ackles' model in B.C.

Bobby Ackles was a strong proponent of home blackouts if the stadium isn't sold-out. Many criticized him for being "old fashioned" in this regard but the Argos have to do something to convert their strong TV viewership into fans buying tickets for their games.

I heard the Argos Pep Rally was a tremendous success yesterday, with the Argo players being amazed at the hundreds of enthusiastic fans who showed up, screaming for autographs. Hopefully many of these fans will ignore the negative vitriol against the Argos and CFL in the Toronto media and support the team in the years to come.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

http://www.facebook.com/ArgosFootball

For those who are into facebook.

[Hutch85]

It doesn't look like it's 'Rob Ford friendly' either:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/s ... oplay=true

[TheLionKing]

Heard on Team 1040 that Rob Ford was Guilo Carravatta's center when they played high school football.