Looks like the discussions are underway! is this too early or should it have been done from the start? Thoughts?
Expansion of city-owned BMO Field considered
Looks like the discussions are underway! is this too early or should it have been done from the start? Thoughts?
Expansion of city-owned BMO Field considered
Uh Oh....Arrrrrrrrrrgoooooooooooo's.
The Only issue I see is that if they do expand, the design will be to accomodate the Argo's.
I don't really see this having anything to do with the argos. This seems like because of the success of the team (and the fact that tickets are the hottest thing in Toronto) they want to put more fans in seats. At least that's how I read it. I really don't think the argos will ever play at BMO.
Argos are coming. No wait, they're not. Yes they may be coming, let's hold a protest. Oh, they're not, let's scale back a protest. Now another news story.
Fuck this, we need to go ahead with full scale protests. Until we ever get a definite, official public statement its not going to happen, this monkey will always be on our back.
Last edited by MisterMacphisto; 06-20-2008 at 08:35 AM.
I hope your right, but they do talk about the expansion being discussed would also target luring the Argo's from the Rogers center right?
Nice timing on the article. The day after the Star article about the 1st quarter numbers this Globe piece comes out talking about how it's supposed to make money this year and how it's been used for 1400 community use hours.
Coincidence?
Argos might come to mind with this piece of news, but the other side which i think will be good, is that if they expand they will be expanding mostly cheap seats. Which will be better for us and will have the opposite effect of creating so much demand and too little supply...exactly what they have done at the ACC.
NO ARGOS.
Let me know when and where the protest is.
NO ARGOS!!!!! I don't want the BMO pitch to look like Wigans when they play after a rugby match
i want BMO Field to expand, but not this way. 30,000 seats is way to big. we'd never fill it and we'd lose the buzz of being a "hot ticket". if anything attendance would drop until we are no better than the kkkrew...oh, and fuck off argos
I didn't mean for this to go off topic with the anti-argos rant that we've all come to love, I just wanted to open the discussion on the expansion and what the potential problems could be. I agree with NF-FC that 30,000 may be a bit too big but what would the magic number be? 10,000 more cheap seats may not be too bad...
Why is 30,000 too many? Aren't there something like 7,000 people on the waiting list for season tickets?
^^ ya, that was kinda my thought. lets add the seats and rock the place!
i'd prefer to expand in phases, keep the buzz up. throwing 10,000 extra seats into the market may dilute the value to much
MLSE. Buy the stadium. Tell the city to piss off. Expand the stadium. Keep the profits. Put in grass. Lure back the MNT.
Everyone is happy and you have a brand new stadium that is wholly your own to control. On the Ex grounds no less.
i say this now I have no trouble with remore all my banners and replaceing all of them with (THIS IS OUR HOUSE Argos GET YOUR ASS OUT )
our next MLS home game after this saturday game is not in till july 19 I'm going to get very bored with no MLS home games and when I get bored I make banners......
Last edited by nascarguy; 06-20-2008 at 09:50 AM.
for once, I think MLS will step in and do something about this argos bs. The league has been promoting having its own S.S.S. for its teams.
i don't think the argos are as likely as you think at BMO for several reasons
1. argos have been at the Skydome since 1989, almost 20 years. argos fans would have to give up their seats in the warm and cosy skydome for real outdoor weather, which can be pretty rough going into the fall
2. i haven't heard any hue and cry from argos fans wanting to move outdoors
3. would ted rogers sit quitely and loose a key tenant without fighting back?
4. my TFC sales guy tells me that he understand's the argos owners would be on the hook for the cash to make BMO Field capable of holding an argos game, and then returning it to a soccer field. the master lease says BMO Field must be returned to a soccer field after other events, such as concerts and other sports activities.
From their point of view, adding 10,000 seats won't cost twice as much as 5,000 seats. I'm sure they'd rather have 5,000 seats empty 75% of the time if they can sell 30,000 seats the rest of the time. The numbers tell the story - $98,000 annual profit on a $72 million investment (or on an $18 million investment, if you ignore 'free money' from other levels of govt). If the extra seats bring in enough revenue that the city doesn't need the Argos as a tenant, we're much better off.
When they look at the numbers, adding 10,000 seats in a soccer configuration will be much cheaper, and pay for themselves much quicker than changing the south to accomodate throwball.
Actually, the NFL point is very important: if T.O. gets an NFL team (e.g. the Bills), they would have to stay in the Dome to accomodate the fans; 30,000 wouldn't be enough. (And if we got an NFL team and the Argos didn't fold or move, how many fans could they realistically draw?)
I think all 8 bills games are just about sold out . ted rogers has fround his cash cow just like the mlse has with the leafs
Can we fuck off on the Argos? Lets have a discussion on BMO Field instead please.
Anyways, if they do expand, what should be put forward is redirecting the "part-timers" out of the South End and giving more control to the Supporter groups over the south end.
"Initial design work is under way by MLSE on how to add 10,000 seats for soccer games, either retractable or removable"
Any discussion of retractable or removable seats = Argos. Don't forget that.
If it weren't for the Argos why would they need to be retractable or removable??
So no we can't fuck off on the Argos
1. the argos are looking for a cheap home, the now the bills will move
here sooner or later...sooner i hope and kill off the CFL in TO for good.
2. No the argos fans have said they like the dome...
3> rogers will have the Bills in there soon enough, so losing the argos
is no worry to him
4) thats thats big catch the argos cannot afford the changing back to a soccer venue on a regular basis, they can afford good players so thats one on our sdie.
Yeah, screw this.
Put in 10,000 -- that's a good number. But make them PERMANENT. And never have the Argos set foot in the place.
Why don't the Argos owners get together with the Rugby Canada people and build a nice 25,000 seat CFL/Rugby stadium up at Downsview?
That would solve everyone's problems.
When I ordered my half-season pack for this year I asked the person about the possibility of getting season tickets next year. She said that they were looking at increasing the size of the stadium either end of this season or next season to increase the number of season ticket holders due to the large demand.
Also the original stadium was designed to add on a 2nd tier to the East side.