Are The Argos About To End Their Strained SkyDome Relationship?
December 6, 2009 · By Matthew Campbell
It is and isn’t shocking to learn of an open letter to Argos fans from team President Bob Nicholson remarking on what so many CFL fans have been talking about ever since the SkyDome first opened its doors 20 years ago: the love-hate relationship between the team and it’s current facility. In an ironic twist on the original drive the former Premier Bill Davis had to see a more suitable team for the Argos, the SkyDome quickly became a Blue Jays-centric facility in both design and marketing. when you drive by the facility on the Gardiner today, massive banners highlighting Toronto’s baseball heavyweights are all that you see; you’d be pressed to know that the Argos still exist from walking around the facilities and surrounding courtyard. With current facility owner Rogers Communications also owning the Blue Jays franchise and actively courting the Buffalo Bills, the love-starved Argos are even worse off today than they were when they first moved from the old Exhibition Stadium at the end of the 80s.
A thoughtful study will first begin to consider if things can get worse though, which in the case of Toronto’s boatmen can’t be a distant possibility. Within 35 years, the Argos have gone from being one of only two pro sports teams in Toronto (and exclusive owners of the summer sports season) to being the poor cousin at a table that includes baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer and, most recently, another team, albeit inferior, which plays football encroaching on the Argo’s turf.
Geography isn’t helping the franchise as the downtown SkyDome is largely inaccessible to out-of-towners who can’t rely on the GO system (which is now literally designed for the ACC teams) and more an artifact of the past than a central landmark. Moving to the new BMO Field would bring the Argos back to their old stomping grounds (literally, given the site once housed Exhibition Stadium), but with Toronto FC already occupying the residence and the same accessibility issues for the demographics that the Argos need to attract, it’s important for the team to recognize that the site isn’t the same place it was 20 years ago.
The deeper one analyzes the team’s problems, which are shared with the fellow poor-attendance-last-in-the-division Blue Jays, the more one concludes that Toronto is still a remarkable city with different pockets of different interests, and the old city may not be the best place to set up shop for such a sport. The Bills generated excitement at first, but the new kid on the block always gets some extra attention that quickly fades with time (as it is with the plagued NFL team).
Demographically and geographically speaking, with Old Toronto being a burden, the old North York area might just solve the Argo ills perfectly. First, it’s more central than the downtown is, giving easier access to the CFL-less 519 and 705 regions, as well as York Region; parking is cheaper and more readily available, and in York University, the team would have a reliable partner with a young football base to grow the attendance rate with (the Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Montreal Alouettes have similar deals with their local schools); sharing a football field with another football team is always easier than mixing with a baseball or soccer club. Demographically, the Argos have the same problem the NDP has: their fanbase is predominantly white and growing grey. This doesn’t need to be as York is proving: northern Toronto has a large group of football fans who, unfortunately, are more interested in the NFL right now and frankly too poor to pay the extravagant prices that playing in the SkyDome forces the CFL team to charge. Moving to a closer, cheaper location makes the game more accessable to what are very persuadable football fans.
On a final note, the Argonauts aren’t going to solve all their ills with a change in postal code; the team was still the only franchise this year that everyone knew wasn’t going to make the playoffs by August. It’s a building season for the boatmen unlike one they’ve experienced since ending their long, three-decade drought back in 1983. Such seasons are necessary for all franchises from time to time, but they’re also the most dangerous for the team’s long-term interests. Strong teams in Ottawa and Montreal have folded under more optimistic scenarios, and die-hard football fans in Hamilton almost lost their team back in the mid-90s. Toronto isn’t as fortunate as the team isn’t seen as pivotal to Toronto’s makeup any longer, except to the CFL itself. That’s why, as much as the Argos need a move to start recruiting fans again, they also need some good management to properly steer the team (be a Jason, if you will!) to at least a playoff appearance or two within the next few years. Lowering costs and distance help to get fans into the stands, but giving them something worth seeing is the only way to keep them there!
The Rogers Centre is a horrid facility, the spectator is miles away from the action.
Rogers has taken a beating with the Bills game as most of the attendees were freebies. The Bills might be looking to relocate but Toronto is not their new home, LA is already courting the Bills.
A billion dollar price tag and the incoming HST, how much will the ticket price be?
Toronto is also having a hard time keeping the Jays, then again Toronto’s demographic are now 51% foreign.
Maybe a cricket team might be the answer.
On the comment about the NDP having a white-haired base…the latest polling nationally has the NDP in the lead with young voters. Also, it always amazes me that political parties of all stripes like to use words like “young” and “new” when talking about ideas and candidates. In Aboriginal culture, the most respected people are the elders because they have lived, experiencing all of life, both good and bad, and have learned what does and does not work.
If “young” and “new” describes the direction Saskatchewan’s economy is going at the moment…I’ll take the “old” and “tired” NDP, who know how to balance budgets and create surpluses.
As for domed stadiums…we are in the process of being talked into one in Regina, where we already have an over abundance of sports and entertainment facilities. I have no problem with building that kind of facility, as long as the private sector takes on all of the debt involved in building it and maintaining it. But we all know that is never how things turn out…
I still remember when the skydome was described as an egineering marvel.
Now it’s been reduced to “more an artifact of the past than a central landmark”. I’d hate to hear what you’d say about the Big-O… At best, we called it an expensive eye-sore.
Stadiums should have a lifespan greater than 20 years. Look at Fenway park…Wrigley field. These are not in the perfect part of town either and yet the fans always flocked to see the game.
While someone might want to complain about location, there’s no excuse in this case. The argos used to fill that stadium back when the team was good. Now that they stink, people don’t go.
You can’t stick a “state of the art” retractable roof stadium, in the heart of Canada’s most populous city, enjoy years of sellouts (at least with the Jays) and then complain about location. Quite simply put, the product is the problem.
In Montreal, the als sellout percival molson stadium but first the fans have to walk up mount royal, then either sit on a concrete seat or a wooden bench so narrow that you end up straddling the pretty girl in front of you (if you’re lucky). There is virtually no parking either. Also, since you’re near the summit of mount royal, you’re being blasted by the cold wind. The reason they sell out the place is because the team is amazing and it’s a privilege to watch them play. Of course, when the team turns bad, the fans will bolt.
If the team had to leave skydome, it would be best to work out a deal with Toronto FC. There’s no way to justify the expense of a stadium build for a team that doesn’t bring in very much money. The private sector is all about profit and there’s no profit in building a stadium for the argos if the bleachers are empty.
Also, NDP — old white haired men? I’d say of the major parties, the NDP probably runs the most minority candidates of the major parties and in turn target the minority vote more agressively. With respect, I think you missed that one by a mile.