Originally Posted by
greatwhitenorf
Yes. Day One SSH.
I believe it was built on time and on budget. But that's got SFA to do with the stories I mentioned.
I read about the stadium problems the CFL is having in Hamilton and Winnipeg, plus the very-foreseeable drop in ticket sales in Ottawa(which will only continue), and I worry that we're see preventable problems descend onto TFC's, and our, doorstep.
The CFL works anywhere but Toronto. It has been operating a financial shell game for ages, robbing Peter(Dalla Riva) to pay Paul(Pearson).
This TV money comes from Bell-TSN, long-time CFL rights owners and former Argos owners. After losing the NHL contract, they've had to do something strong to bolster remaining properties, particularly the CFL. A crumbling, eroding CFL means a diminished product and they lose viewers, sponsors and the whole thing becomes a vicious circle.
It's great that TSN props up the CFL. The western clubs truly merit that, but a not-so-distant past littered with repeated bankrupt franchises in the east makes it very hard to have any faith in this league.
One of the biggest scams is this whole Argos deal. For years we were told they were owned by Cynamon and Sokolowski. When they got out of that deal, they revealed that current owner David Braley had actually given them half the money to buy them from the league, who were operating the Argos because they had gone bankrupt under Sherwood Schwartz, the second time the club achieved this dubious distinction, tying it for the Eastern Conference lead with Ottawa, one bankruptcy up on Montreal. Braley was also underwriting half their operating losses. In effect, he has been Argos owner since 2003.
As a reward for his generosity, the CFL has given one of Braley's two CFL clubs the right to host the Grey Cup in three of the past four years, an even that normally generates a healthy profit. By most estimates, Braley has netted at least $25 million in clear profit from those three cups. In addition, he has received government grants worth about $10 million for the 2012 Grey Cup in Toronto, that being the 100th cup final. And the Edmonton Eskimos were somehow coerced into trading top QB Ricky Ray to Toronto to give them a competitive hand up, a very shady deal that Edmonton fans to this day can't fathom or condone.
(Wanna know the payback? Edmonton MLS referee David Gantar's brutal calls in Columbus and Chicago. Karma, baby. But I digress.)
So, that's our man Braley netting $25 million in four years in profits and a probably a decent chunk of the $10 million in grants, through various machinations of the league and sympathetic government agencies. He's a very wealthy man by anyone's estimation, enough to routinely give away many millions of dollars in philanthropic gestures every year.
How come we haven't seen any sense of vision and direction or commitment of money from Braley to get the Argos a proper home? You can also slap that charge on the CFL itself, because they've clearly been in close co-operation with everything going on with the Argos.
Braley's been at the helm, one way or the other, for more than 12 years, yet the Argos remain one of the most pathetic, inept, unpitiable operations in all of sport. And TFC fans are supposed to be understanding and sympathetic to their plight and let this Ship of Fools dock at BMO Field without serious concerns?
They claim that the Rogers Centre is a bad home for them. I've really enjoyed watching their games from the upper levels, but they closed the top deck years ago. They say being the second-string tenant, they can't establish any sort of cultural footprint to bring the fans they have closer to the team and the sport.
None of that is going to change at BMO Field. They'll still be the unwanted, second-string tenant by the vast majority of fans who turn out to watch the prime product, soccer.
They're gonna wreck the pitch, with the lusty approval of their fans, and set up even tangier pissing matches between supporters.
There's nothing to suggest they won't descend into further financial peril and make ever-more pathetic pleas for help. Based on past circumstances, this is hardly the sort of situation likely to attract some administrative genius to suddenly elevate them from the disastrous management we've seen for three decades. And it will only get messier over time.
Let's drop this wishful thinking about some Argo salvation at BMO Field. If the Argos are to have a proper chance to succeed, the city needs to prod Braley and the CFL to spend the money they have wisely. Invest in a proper home for the Argos at the Pan Am stadium. The subway will run right to it and there are plenty of nearby highways to bring in their surviving fans from their retirement communities in far-flung, hinterland outports.
Toronto FC and MLS aren't bulletproof. The club and the game have done very well at BMO Field. That needs to be protected and further cultivated under the best possible circumstances. The Argos will find that's exactly what they need to do. Somewhere else. And if they can't make it work, we won't have a mess to deal with at BMO Field.
