2017 CFL Season - Page 54

Marty_Mcfly · #**1061** Posted **Nov 18, 2017, 2:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaidso

It would almost certainly be the 24,000 seat stadium minimum. The CFL would want something smaller than that. The word 'multi-purpose' in conjunction with 'stadium' makes me nervous. It's fine as long as there's no athletic track and the other sports would be soccer and rugby.

It would be nice to have a stadium that both SMU and Dal could use but if things go that route it needs to be built on the Halifax peninsula. Getting to Dartmouth Crossing is a pain in the neck unless you have a car. I know that locale gets tossed around but it's not ideal imo.

My favoured location is that field between the campus of Dal and SMU. It would be awesome there although area residents would go ballistic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I watched the interview with Mayor Savage, and it seems clear to me that the stadium will be nowhere in the central/southern areas of the peninsula, and will very likely be off peninsula. Given the proposal is for residential/commercial components and easy access to the regional highway network, and given that the four locales being considered are not municipally owned, I think they are telegraphing sites like Dartmouth Crossing, Bayers Lake or Bedford Commons.

If a central peninsular location is to be promoted, then city council will have to get much more active on this file. Otherwise, I'm sure you will see this stadium built in a far flung suburban part of the city.

Is Shannon Park in Dartmouth still an option?

someone123 · #**1062** Posted **Nov 18, 2017, 5:10 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

Is Shannon Park in Dartmouth still an option?

I am not sure. I think this is still a preferred site, and it is something the CFL promoters are still talking about.

Canada Lands is developing that area. In 2015 they asked the city to confirm if they wanted to pay for land set aside for a stadium at at that time they said no. But this doesn't mean that two years later a stadium would be incompatible with development plans. So far I think only demolition has happened there.

It's funny. If you google Shannon Park you'll get news articles from 2014-2015 with Waye Mason quoted on how the stadium (14,000 seat) was a medium term municipal funding priority, 5-10 years out from a vote circa 2013. A few years before that, in 2011, the city earmarked $20M for a stadium for the 2015 FIFA women's cup that was contingent on other funding sources and eventually fell through. A few years before that, ~$700M of funding was promised for the 2014 Commonwealth Games bid, and that included something in the ballpark of $150M for a stadium.

One interpretation of all this is that there's nothing new under the sun and the city is always debating the construction of a stadium that never seems to happen. But another observation is that the project seems very close to being viable and that public funding for the project has been secured at various times.

craner · #**1063** Posted **Nov 18, 2017, 5:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

Doesn't really say anything new in that interview, but I'm glad it sounds like city council is open to negotiate.

2018 seems like it might be too quick to get everything ready for a conditional franchise, though.

I agree, it's encouraging to see the mayor being supportive of the idea and not just dissmissing it right off saying "it's not going to work".

Acajack · #**1064** Posted **Nov 18, 2017, 9:56 PM**

http://torontosun.com/sports/soccer/mls/...nds-we-wouldnt-allow-something-to-happen

isaidso · #**1065** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 1:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

http://torontosun.com/sports/soccer/mls/...nds-we-wouldnt-allow-something-to-happen

But if some team in the Premiership allowed an NFL team to play in the same stadium, these same people would then think it's ok. Oh wait, that happened already. Never mind; they're just so used to being unreasonable and absurd they think it's normal behaviour.

esquire · #**1066** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 3:53 AM**

I get having some general level of concern over the field of play, but those guys take it to a near-pathological extreme. I swear some of them are more interested in grass than in soccer itself.

Andy6 · #**1067** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 5:03 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

I get having some general level of concern over the field of play, but those guys take it to a near-pathological extreme. I swear some of them are more interested in grass than in soccer itself.

It was very important to them that Toronto have its own soccer stadium. This meant that the sport had "arrived" and allowed them to engage in the usual mimicry of European soccer-lingo by referring to it as Canada's revered "national football stadium" or whatever. Sharing it with the lowly Argos, their deplorably unsophisticated lower-middle-class "supporters", and their graceless fatso players (whose cleats tear up the holy turf) is one massive come-down.

elly63 · #**1068** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 12:33 PM**

elly63 · #**1069** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 2:02 PM**

"While tomorrow is going to be an incredible day and the biggest crowd the Argo's have seen since moving to BMO, you the fans deserve a pat on the back for being a big part in it"
Argos Sr. Director Ticket Sales and Serivce

^I wonder if he's forgotten about (or including) the first game at BMO. Because if he is including it, today will damn near be a sellout. Last I heard was 23k sold noontime Saturday. Hope this is correct.

Andy6 · #**1070** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 3:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by elly63

"While tomorrow is going to be an incredible day and the biggest crowd the Argo's have seen since moving to BMO, you the fans deserve a pat on the back for being a big part in it"
Argos Sr. Director Ticket Sales and Serivce

^I wonder if he's forgotten about (or including) the first game at BMO. Because if he is including it, today will damn near be a sellout. Last I heard was 23k sold noontime Saturday. Hope this is correct.

And the sun just came out!

elly63 · #**1071** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 3:31 PM**

Hey, love the name, ranks up there with The Dead Kennedys and Lee Harvey Osmond

• Video Link

esquire · #**1072** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 3:39 PM**

I don't even like the Argos or the Riders but I certainly wish I was going to be at that game in Toronto today... looks like it'll be a great afternoon!

I want to say that I think the Argos will win, but I just can't... between the impressive Rider 1-2 punch at QB, the formidable offensive weaponry that now includes a solid ground game with Thigpen, and the Gainey factor... I think the Riders will squeak by.

Andy6 · #**1073** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 3:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

I don't even like the Argos or the Riders but I certainly wish I was going to be at that game in Toronto today... looks like it'll be a great afternoon!

I want to say that I think the Argos will win, but I just can't... between the impressive Rider 1-2 punch at QB, the formidable offensive weaponry that now includes a solid ground game with Thigpen, and the Gainey factor... I think the Riders will squeak by.

There are gale-force winds at the moment for some reason. Being next to the lake on a gusty November day could make for a chilling experience.

I am 100% certain that the Argos will win. 101%, even.

elly63 · #**1074** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 3:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

I don't even like the Argos or the Riders but I certainly wish I was going to be at that game in Toronto today... looks like it'll be a great afternoon!

I like the Argos because of the struggle. A Toronto team fighting for survival in what has been a hostile marketplace may finally being seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. I don't think I am being too hyperbolic here, the above was and is true.

And I'm also perceiving some of that hostility is abating

Looks like the Argo management will actually commit to selling one ticket at a time which will lead to true growth not just bandwagonning.

I just hope this doesn't end in the usual one step forward two steps back scenario. Win or lose, as long as it is close, the Argos will win the day, for the future.

Coldrsx · #**1075** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 4:59 PM**

Eskimos!!!!!

Acajack · #**1076** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 5:31 PM**

There seems to be a lot of talk about the fact that it's all people from Saskatchewan who will be filling the stadium in Toronto.

I find that's a bit disingenuous as the Argos say they've only sold a couple hundred tickets at the most to people from SK postal codes. Obviously there are some people in Toronto and southern Ontario with ties to Saskatchewan who will go to the game, but if there are tons of them that is fairly new as Rider games in Toronto this year and in the past haven't had significantly higher averages than what the Argos usually get.

In any event, if more people originally from other CFL cities start going to games in their new cities (like Toronto) when their old home team is in town, this is actually a plus for the league overall.

In addition to being good for the bottom line it also make the game experience a lot more fun as can attest anyone who has attended a Senators game when the Habs or the Leafs are in town.

Andy6 · #**1077** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 5:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

There seems to be a lot of talk about the fact that it's all people from Saskatchewan who will be filling the stadium in Toronto.

I find that's a bit disingenuous as the Argos say they've only sold a couple hundred tickets at the most to people from SK postal codes. Obviously there are some people in Toronto and southern Ontario with ties to Saskatchewan who will go to the game, but if there are tons of them that is fairly new as Rider games in Toronto this year and in the past haven't had significantly higher averages than what the Argos usually get.

In any event, if more people originally from other CFL cities start going to games in their new cities (like Toronto) when their old home team is in town, this is actually a plus for the league overall.

In addition to being good for the bottom line it also make the game experience a lot more fun as can attest anyone who has attended a Senators game when the Habs or the Leafs are in town.

It's not as though no one in the GTA has ever heard of the Argonauts -- as I've said before, a surprising number are totally unaware of them, but the other side of the coin is that there are hundreds of thousands of people in the area who have been to a game at one time or another. The CFL in Toronto has to grow by word of mouth and find its own audience. It has a lot going for it - it is a solid entertainment product, it has great tradition, a Canadianness that many people appreciate, athletes that are mostly likeable "real people" -- and it's cheap compared to NBA and NHL (plus a great stadium with a potentially great atmosphere).

HomeInMyShoes · #**1078** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 5:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy6

There are gale-force winds at the moment for some reason. Being next to the lake on a gusty November day could make for a chilling experience.

I am 100% certain that the Argos will win. 101%, even.

Given Saskatchewan's previous luck against the Argonauts in the playoffs, I'd say that's pretty accurate.

Acajack · #**1079** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 6:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy6

It's not as though no one in the GTA has ever heard of the Argonauts -- as I've said before, a surprising number are totally unaware of them, but the other side of the coin is that there are hundreds of thousands of people in the area who have been to a game at one time or another. The CFL in Toronto has to grow by word of mouth and find its own audience. It has a lot going for it - it is a solid entertainment product, it has great tradition, a Canadianness that many people appreciate, athletes that are mostly likeable "real people" -- and it's cheap compared to NBA and NHL (plus a great stadium with a potentially great atmosphere).

Another thing is that reading some of the articles this weekend it seems like it's almost the third time I've heard about the Argos turning a major corner in the Toronto sports marketplace.

People were saying that when they signed Raghid Ismail and were owned by Gretzky-McNall-Candy about 25 years ago, and they also said it when they won the Grey Cup at home only five short years ago. That game apparently was watched by half of the TV sets in the GTA at one point. The following year they averaged about 21,000 per game at SkyDome and they hosted Hamilton in the eastern final before about 35,000 fans.

So I really don't know what to think. How many times will they turn the corner and then quickly fall back to where they used to be?

elly63 · #**1080** Posted **Nov 19, 2017, 6:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

There seems to be a lot of talk about the fact that it's all people from Saskatchewan who will be filling the stadium in Toronto.

That's baloney because there were lots of articles stating that most of the tickets were sold before people knew the Riders would be in the game.

It's not helping that TSN's fan shots are usually showing Rider fans but that may be because the locals aren't sporting as much team swag.

Clueless folk crap on Rod Black but he saved the day so far. The broadcast had a very shaky opening with one panel mic going down and totally screwing up the national anthem, Black brought back some stability and a level of excitement.

So I missed Dwayne Gretzky on the anthem (they must be crushed) but kudos to the Toronto crowd for taking over the national anthem.