Howard Sokolowski and David Cynamon may or may not be underwritten by David Braley and can’t make money at the Rogers Centre despite playing rent-free thanks to a handshake with the late Ted Rogers. And now the Toronto Argonauts co-owners are talking about bastardizing Toronto FC’s home stadium, BMO Field, for their CFL team?
God bless you, Jeff Blair
The battle to keep the Argos out of BMO Field won't be won with emotion. It will be won with cold, hard logic. And with the support of mainstream journalists like Blair ('cause let's face it. Joe Sports Fan typically isn't reading The 24th Minute - if he were I'd drive a better car)
The talking points:
1 - Football will fundamentally alter the integrity of the playing surface. The Argos have alternative stadium options. TFC and soccer do not.
2 - Yes, government spent $40 million or so to build BMO, but it was the first significant investment into soccer ever. The CFL has received about $500 million in handouts in the last decade alone. Why should soccer be made to feel guilty about BMO Field?
3 - The Argos pulled out of the York University deal to take a sweetheart, rent-free agreement at Rogers Centre. In doing so they left the soccer community hanging. Why should soccer be accommodating to the Argos now, when the Argos appeared to care less about soccer then?
4 - In 136 years the Argos have never owned their own stadium. Even MLSE's partial investment into BMO Field is greater than anything the Argos have ever done in that regard.
5 - The Argos playing at BMO Field requires them to bastardize the very rules that make CFL unique. It's bad for football. Both kinds.
Now is not the time for loud protests. It’s time for behind the scenes lobbying and to reach out to CFL fans who have issues with the move too. It absolutely isn’t the time to insult the CFL and its fans. They could be the soccer community’s best allies in this fight.
6 comments:
i think it's time to put on our dresses and get to work lobbying.
Andrew says:
One thing that hasn't got a lot of mention yet is the issue of the locker rooms. Currently in the TFC dressing room there are 22 seats for players (http://web.mlsnet.com/t280/stadium/locker_room/index.jsp). I haven't been able to find a definite number for how many CFL players dress for a game but some simple math (12 offence starters, 12 defence starters, special team players and backups) will tell you that a CFL team will need somewhere between 3 to 5 times as many spots as that.
Now I'm no expert on the layout of the underbelly of BMO but in my opinion I would think that a dressing room expansion of that magnitude would take up virtually all of the space under the west end stands. My bet is there simply just isn't room for that.
And of course there's the old question of who's going to pay for it?
This just doesn't make sense for anyone involved.
Perhaps we need to take a look at how the Argos would make BMO field look if they were to move there. I've heard numerous times now how the field would be able to fit the NFL and not the CFL. Has anyone considered that perhaps Cynamon and the other guy might actually be looking to set the Argos up for a move to the NFL, perhaps buying the Bills franchise as had been an option not too long ago?
Yes this is a stretch, but weirder things have happened. Just throwing the theory out there...
Jeff,
The NFL have strict stadium guidelines. I don't think the Rogers Centre as it currently stands would be allowed to house a permanent NFL team. An NFL stadium needs seating for around 60k-70k at least.
Are you averaging one dress comment per post? I love it! (Sorry.)
Anyway, Jeff Blair deserves his own statue somewhere in the city. Best columnist, bar none, in T.O.
We need a reason why it's bad for the city.
Anyting that points to the past bad behaviour of the Argos won't persuade councilors not to let the Argos play at BMO Field.
Having the Argos move to BMO Field hurts businesses near Rogers Centre, reduces the ability to grow soccer in the city, reduces growth of the Liberty Village business thriving with soccer culture, comprimises the MLSE/City partnership focused on Youth programs and facilities, comprimises Toronto's ability to be the CSA home field (back to Edmonton we go, plus Montreal will have a new stadium), etc. etc.
How do we argue against the fact that the City will make rent from the Argos if they play at BMO Field? Will they make more rent from Soccer events and friendly?
Any way to tie this to the Pan Am Games new field hockey stadium or retrofit of Varsity Stadium and suggest the Argos play there?
Help us craft a letter to our Councilors that follows up on the one you wrote before. A thank you for their vote, and a request to continue to support a soccer specific BMO Field.
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