24K is consider a sell out for Argos? We got 30K with no hype or anything for our home opener.
24K is consider a sell out for Argos? We got 30K with no hype or anything for our home opener.
A friend of mine went to the game and took some pictures.
No Argo cups?
Pre-game TSN pimping kept saying more than 26,000 expected etc. ....Originally Posted by TFC07
LMAO!
I guess BMO field staff members didn't get a memo from TSN/Bell to lie and act like Argos/CFL is greatest thing in history of mankind.
How sad it is that you can't sell out your home opener in new stadium against a team that plays their home games 45 minutes away from you? This is major fail and I hope media start asking questions why Argos failed to sell out.
Argos capacity is 26100 to 26500 depending on various sources i have seen.
difference between argos capacity and TFC capacity is 1228 "soccer seats" mostly in southstand. (discussion a few pages back on this)
So TFC "real" capacity 27328 to 27728 (makes sense since they took down the whole north side ... don't know where the club gets the 30,228 from since that is basically capacity with northside)
Eastside looked way fuller tonite in the 10mins in saw than any TFC game on tv -- actually fullest i've ever seen it - you couldn't even make out the maple leaf (always look there because thats where my pair are and i see if i can see myself on tv). Southstand looked to have way less than TFC, which make sense. Difference might be the westside which i didn't see.
field looked ok.
Last edited by Onyx; 06-23-2016 at 11:24 PM.
yes, thats where i expect the wear based on games from frisco, houston, carson, sandy. This grass is strong right now, so don't expect this to start to show up until October. This middle of the field thing is nonsense unless its a massive down pour in november.
Last edited by Onyx; 06-23-2016 at 11:28 PM.
The north stand was never as big as the south one, so subtracting the north stand but retaining those small north-end sections with six rows of seats probably keeps capacity around 30,000. In all of the estimates I've read about stadium capacity, it was stated that BMO Field would hold at least a few thousand fewer seats for Argos games rather than TFC games. It's possible that other seats around BMO aren't used for pointy ball, such as the west-side field-level seats, or some seats that might have an obstructed view for a CFL field configuration.
No matter how the pro-Argos media tries to spin it, 24k is not a sell-out for the Argos. And the fact that the Argos couldn't sell out their home opener in their "new" stadium, all while giving away a plethora of tickets, is pretty sad.
Here are the additional "soccer seats" by section for TFC configuration:
112 32
113 137
114 180
115 90
116 180
117 137
118 32
128 24
129 72
130 24
101 24
102 72
103 24
Westside fieldseats 198
Total 1226
Only 240 seats replaced the northstands ... those race car seats that are never filled that are now in north end (section 128-130; 101-103). IIRC the northstand was well over 2000 including all the fieldseating. If you back that number off 30000, you get high-27ish as well.
so 30,228 or whatever is some just number that TL pulled out of his ass before he left. what is the point of releasing attendance numbers if your just making up a number.
Last edited by Onyx; 06-24-2016 at 02:07 AM.
So with all the hype given to this game by the Toronto media, TSN having like a 5 hour pregame radio show lol, they were playing the Ticats who I'm sure probably had a few thousands fans of their own and still can't seem to sellout this game. Since 2007 TFC have never received a fraction of the coverage the Argos received for this game . Remember they only play 9 home games, this game should have been an easy sellout. I know there are freebies at TFC games but I'm just wondering how many freebies were given out to this game. If there was 24000 actually then how does that compare to other home openers at the Dome for the Argos, I'm thinking even last year even at the Dome they announced a number close to that at their home opener at the Dome last year. Let's see how things go for the rest of the season, however, apart from last year the Argos always seemed to average around the 20000 mark more or less in the last few years, which is probably what they will average at BMO this year, so in the end what will be the difference, how will this be a big Argo revival when the attendance will probably be the same as it was the last few years at the Dome?
You couldn't see the maple leaf because they covered the area with tshirts. The upper east side was less then we see for TFC. The westside was not good.
BTW, if we are not going to trust MLSE numbers for seat capacity, we really shouldn't trust 2/3 of MLSE for a seat capacity base to begin equations on numbers.
Last edited by OgtheDim; 06-24-2016 at 06:28 AM.
You could definitely see it later in the game - everyone left early to get back to Hamilton.
Toronto 'til I die - but I think they're trying to kill me.
It was weird.
I attended the Argo game at BMO. I did not sit in my regular section, was down in 119, so I can't really comment on the crowd size. It did not look like a sellout. Before half time I spotted somebody from the stadium security staff collecting up the Argo t shirts draped on the seats in the south end that had not been occupied. It seemed a fair collection of shirts.
The pitch looked in fine condition - all along I have been worried about October-November impact on the pitch, not the June-July honeymoon. Overall I felt my TFC fan sensibilities were protected, the Argo invasion is dialed low, every Argo signage was a temp cover, you did not feel that the stadium could be stopped from bouncing back in a day or two.
The highlight had to be The Shipyard - the pre-game licensed area where $4 Buds are cold and the chance to throw a football at a target truly got this old man ready for a night of Canadian football. However the line-ups for food were too long and became motivation for getting to the stadium early where the poutine line was incredibly short.
The lowlights - I am picking two. The Argos have no ideas on how to promote their players. No stats on the screen, you have no idea who is a vet Argo and who is a rookie. Who comes from a high profile college and who comes from an obscure one. If you arrived having no name awareness of players, you leave the same way. They are crying out for an app that fans can dip into for player info and stats. And better use of the scoreboard.
The other lowlight has to be the Ti-Cat fans. I was sitting in a section dominated by them. I salute their dedication to their team, but it can seem sometimes that TC love is competing with Argo hate in their heads. Which underlines, in my thin book, a scary situation. It seems a very old demographic, a rough and ready lunch bucket group, and they can seem as if they have been sealed underground since 1983. Hating the Argos without understanding that the Argos are not even on the sports radar for the VAST majority of Torontonians just seemed weird. It was as if they were incredibly proud of the ability to punch air. And the few dedicated Argo fans around all seemed as if they had been sealed in the same 1983 underground chamber. My sports passions are the world of soccer, TFC and the Raptors. The Euro has been fantastic and I was using my phone to figure out how the NBA draft was proceeding last night. The dedicated TiCat and Argo faithful seemed to be people who would NEVER have an interest in those topics. Could they provide a take on how the Brexit vote was going in the UK or plans for the summer or an interesting non-CFL antecdote? They just seemed like a sub-culture hanging on to something that used to be mainstream. I salute the attempt to revive the Argos, wish it was happening in a dedicated stadium, but money losers (Argos) can't be choosers. The CFL problem in Toronto is not going to snap back with the stadium switch band aid and $4 Buds...they may stave off the next stage of decline for a while, but the Argos have truly lost their bounce....
I still think there's a chance that the 30k number is valid, depending on how you add up the seats. I'm much to lazy to add them section by section, but that might be a good way to get a rough estimate of BMO's soccer capacity. Then it might make sense to subtract the number of seats not used for the Argos.
Other areas that have always been grey are the capacity of BMO's executive suits, as well as accessible seating areas. They might seem like a small number of seats, but they can add up, and private boxes can be oversold above their traditional capacity - hence why we never see a hard figure like what existed at Maple Leaf Gardens back in the day.
Nice read SK. Thanks.
Yes, thanks for that, a good read.
The Ti-Cat insights are interesting. I remember seeing a picture from the 1982 Grey Cup parade in Hamilton of a few guys at the end carrying a banner that read, "Argos Suck." I didn't understand why they would even mention the Argos, they weren't in the Grey Cup game, they had nothing to do with it. And now, as you say, nothing has changed since then.
The rest of the tickets sold are the Patio (general Admission Standing Room) which is a standing ticket making up about 1500-2000 people.
The boxes are also a variable in the overall attendance number as you can more tickets that you have seats. TFC has also sold those $20 GA tickets for a couple games when everything else is pretty much sold out. The Argos price point is much higher than TFC when you consider how cheap our season tickets are for the amount of games played almost double.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Did anyone notice the fact that there were no Argos logos on the field?
Yea. The President of the Argos said there would be no logos on the pitch, that all the advertising would be digital. I'm wondering, how did the south end sound and look last night?
The only time I think you will see a logo on the field is Grey Cup.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
112 was filled by the Argo Notes band, playing their tunes during the game.
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
Oh what a compliment.
After 155 pgs this is the natural progression of disappointment.
Last edited by Fort York Redcoat; 06-24-2016 at 08:47 AM.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
it actually looked nice.
less cluttered.
I have to admit, the stadium looked fantastic last night. The Argos on the other hand were brutal on the pitch. If they hope to revive interest in the club in this town, they have to have a better on field product than that.
Reading the Sun's take on the game last night.....writers seem quite down on the fact that the game was not a complete sellout (called it at 95% capacity).....they're already playing the "if they can't sell out the home opener, in a new stadium, against their best rival, what does that say moving forward?" narrative.....
That's incorrect. All articles I've seen from 2010 when the North End expansion took place indicate that in fact there were only 1400 seats added to the north end. In any case even if there were 2400 seats added, BMO's capacity last year was 30,991 - 2400 = 28,591 + 1226 + 240 = 30,057. So it would still be above 30K.
On another issue, Argos supporters are messing around with the BMO field wiki page, anyone actually have a wikipedia account to upload the latest TFC BMO field pictures to wiki commons, so they can be added to the page. I've removed the Argos BMO pic for now.
Anyone who was at the game know if the giant TFC logo on the north end was covered up or not?
your double counting the soccer seats - they are just removed for football.
30991 - 2400 = 28591
Based on repeated aerial shots cause, you know, we've never seen an outdoor stadium before, no red on the outside was covered.
They really were pushing that aerial view of the stadium - it was on the shirts too.
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