12 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

Did you hear about the latest Argo fans meetup? It was held in the Janitor's closet at BMO and there was still room for more.

I thought the argo fan meet up was just bluto having alone time

1 hour ago, bluto said:

Yeah, you may need to workshop some new talking points and subject matter.

Honestly, if you'd just hang on until BMO gets its 45k seat conversion, the jokes will write themselves.

They're putting 15000 temporary seats in BMO. Most countries use a world event like the WC to build legacy structures. Our sports infrastructure in this country really sucks. The biggest city in Canada has a stadium currently seating 27,000.

3 hours ago, WinnipegGordo said:

Looks like the Falcons aren't going to re-sign Alford.

 

Not a surprise.  He had a bad season and was targeted/picked on a ton.  Also dealt with injuries all season so maybe he bounces back next season.

The path is obvious, we sign Alford and have the highest paid but most dominant CFL secondary.

3 hours ago, bluto said:

Yeah, you may need to workshop some new talking points and subject matter.

Honestly, if you'd just hang on until BMO gets its 45k seat conversion, the jokes will write themselves.

Renting 15,000 seats from the Riders for a season?  Win/win, they won't be needing them.

2 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

They're putting 15000 temporary seats in BMO. Most countries use a world event like the WC to build legacy structures. Our sports infrastructure in this country really sucks. The biggest city in Canada has a stadium currently seating 27,000.

I’ve honestly never seen Toronto as a great sports town. It’s basically Leafs fans and then fans of teams if they are winning. Blue Jays attendance at times makes me think Winnipeg could do that also lol. 

18 minutes ago, Goalie said:

I’ve honestly never seen Toronto as a great sports town. It’s basically Leafs fans and then fans of teams if they are winning. Blue Jays attendance at times makes me think Winnipeg could do that also lol. 

Raptors have developed a really dedicated fan base.

Mexico City has a 72,000 seat stadium. Guadalajara has a 45000 seat stadium. The NFL has 11 NFL stadiums hosting events. Canada has 2 stadiums. BMO & BC Place with a capacity of 52000 seats. They could have used CWS in Edmonton with a capacity of 58000 but decided not to. 

17 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

They're putting 15000 temporary seats in BMO. Most countries use a world event like the WC to build legacy structures. Our sports infrastructure in this country really sucks. The biggest city in Canada has a stadium currently seating 27,000.

Adding 17k temporary seats make the most sense.

Argos/TFC haven't shown that they need a permanent facility for more than the 28k that BMO can hold.

And we still have the concrete pimple if we need a place to hold 50k for something.

Just now, bluto said:

Adding 17k temporary seats make the most sense.

Argos/TFC haven't shown that they need a permanent facility for more than the 28k that BMO can hold.

And we still have the concrete pimple if we need a place to hold 50k for something.

There should be a 75000 seat soccer stadium in Toronto for international matches like most countries have in one of their cities. If there is no push by govt to build that size of facility than I don't see any way for an NFL team in Toronto to come to a fruition.

5 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

There should be a 75000 seat soccer stadium in Toronto for international matches like most countries have in one of their cities. If there is no push by govt to build that size of facility than I don't see any way for an NFL team in Toronto to come to a fruition.

In this environment, you're good with the Federal government contributing a large amount of money to help Toronto pay for a stadium that will cost over one billion dollars? I'm not.

10 minutes ago, rebusrankin said:

In this environment, you're good with the Federal government contributing a large amount of money to help Toronto pay for a stadium that will cost over one billion dollars? I'm not.

No, never said that. I just looked at the stadiums in Mexico & the US. You have to wonder why we're even involved. Edmonton has a much better venue than TO & CWS hosted World Cup qualifiers before yet politics played a hand in giving Toronto a series of World Cup games. Just because...

Edited March 7, 2025Mar 7 by SpeedFlex27

Soccer is a popular sport. Every kid plays. It’s cheap it’s simple it’s a ball and cleats. 
 

problem is soccer isn’t a draw in Canada. 30k is a big crowd for soccer here and the US really. You look at those soccer only mls stadiums and they aren’t that big. Why have 72000 seats when you can’t regularly draw 30000. 

19 hours ago, 17to85 said:

I thought the argo fan meet up was just bluto having alone time

 Might add to the end of that sentence, 'with his special thoughts'.

1 hour ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

No, never said that. I just looked at the stadiums in Mexico & the US. You have to wonder why we're even involved. Edmonton has a much better venue than TO & CWS hosted World Cup qualifiers before yet politics played a hand in giving Toronto a series of World Cup games. Just because...

Toronto has a multi-cultural population chock full of soccer fanatics from around the world and it's a hub for 15 million people close at hand.  Hold games in Edmonton and it'll be a curiosity that draws farmers from Lacombe and Leduc, the vast majority of Calgarians wouldn't bother driving that far to watch a soccer game.

Edited March 7, 2025Mar 7 by Fatty Liver

22 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

The path is obvious, we sign Alford and have the highest paid but most dominant CFL secondary.

I can’t imagine we give him 200k or any thing. But he’d be sick to get back. 

On 2025-03-07 at 8:39 AM, bluto said:

Adding 17k temporary seats make the most sense.

Argos/TFC haven't shown that they need a permanent facility for more than the 28k that BMO can hold.

And we still have the concrete pimple if we need a place to hold 50k for something.

My point is Toronto doesn't deserve to have a WC game. Edmonton would have been a better choice. It was completely a political choice. 

On 2025-03-07 at 10:45 AM, Fatty Liver said:

Toronto has a multi-cultural population chock full of soccer fanatics from around the world and it's a hub for 15 million people close at hand.  Hold games in Edmonton and it'll be a curiosity that draws farmers from Lacombe and Leduc, the vast majority of Calgarians wouldn't bother driving that far to watch a soccer game.

That's why there was a couple of WC qualifying matches against Mexico in Edmonton played in the December 2023 cold & snow & had 52000 fans in the stands. Those damned curious farmers who love soccer, there are nearly two million of them in Edmonton. And another two million farmers in Calgary. Oh & another 105,000 in Red Deer. And another 100,000 northern farmers in Fort MacMurray.

Edited March 9, 2025Mar 9 by SpeedFlex27

11 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

My point is Toronto doesn't deserve to have a WC game. Edmonton would have been a better choice. It was completely a political choice. 

Don't get me wrong, Bluto. As a city, I like Toronto but as a city to host the WC, there were better. 

6 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Don't get me wrong, Bluto. As a city, I like Toronto but as a city to host the WC, there were better. 

Hard disagree.

You're welcoming the world to your country. You don't send them to Edmonchuk.

 

(I say this as someone who quite likes Edmonton and have extended family there who I'm overdue to visit. Never been there in winter though)

On 2025-03-07 at 10:58 AM, SpeedFlex27 said:

No, never said that. I just looked at the stadiums in Mexico & the US. You have to wonder why we're even involved. Edmonton has a much better venue than TO & CWS hosted World Cup qualifiers before yet politics played a hand in giving Toronto a series of World Cup games. Just because...

Have you ever been to BMO? I love Edmonton, used to live there and always enjoyed watching CFL games at Commonwealth. But the only thing "better" about it compared to BMO is the seating capacity (and that's only better if you want to sell as many tickets as possible). BMO is an intimate facility with fantastic sightlines, and a short walk to a thriving nightclub/restaurant district. 

   

18 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

My point is Toronto doesn't deserve to have a WC game. Edmonton would have been a better choice. It was completely a political choice. 

Commonwealth is a dump with a poor design for either type of football because of the track.  That's the problem.  They care less about seat count.

It was political tho. But also Toronto is the only city with a soccer only (eventho argos play there) facility. BMO is a soccer field. Commonwealth is a track n field all in one facility. BMO had soccer in mind when built. So it makes sense to put the $$$ towards the soccer stadium for World Cup soccer. Edmonton can host a commonwealth games or pan am if they do that still. 

Edited March 10, 2025Mar 10 by Goalie

25 minutes ago, Goalie said:

It was political tho. But also Toronto is the only city with a soccer only (eventho argos play there) facility. BMO is a soccer field. Commonwealth is a track n field all in one facility. BMO had soccer in mind when built. So it makes sense to put the $$$ towards the soccer stadium for World Cup soccer. Edmonton can host a commonwealth games or pan am if they do that still. 

Toronto has the national soccer stadium.  There's a 0% chance they aren't using it for World Cup.  So it came down to Edmonton vs Vancouver vs Montreal.  Montreal's stadium is a dump, Edmonton's is a dump and they lacked amenities to be part of hosting group stage, Vancouver has a current stadium that has hosted a FIFA Women's World Cup final and aligns well with other PNW sites for group stage.  If Montreal had an adequate stadium we'd probably have 3 cities hosting.

1 hour ago, JuranBoldenRules said:

Commonwealth is a dump with a poor design for either type of football because of the track.  That's the problem.  They care less about seat count.

CWS isn't a dump. IT's old but then so are a lot of stadiums. The Mexico City stadium was built in 1960. They'd obviously have to do renos at CWS like they're doing on other stadiums. As in, BMO. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of renos going into the NFL stadiums in the US.

Edited March 10, 2025Mar 10 by SpeedFlex27