Lame title I know, but what I want to ask Argo fans is….Has Braley & Rudge done enough with the Argos as you had all hoped?
Braley did save the team from extinction, so he can be seen as the “saviour” or “hero” but as an absent owner, bringing little change, has he been a disappointment along with our highly experienced CEO, Chris Rudge? I thank Braley for keeping the team afloat (though, they’re probably still losing money) and it was expected that he would pretty much be invisible so I’m actually putting more of the blame on Rudge for not doing much. This post will be looking at the changes, both good and bad that were made in 2010 up to today, just before the 2014 season and then you can hopefully decide whether Braley, Rudge & co. are heroes or villains.
The Honourable Mr.David Braley took full control of the Boatmen in 2010, from David Cynamon and Howard Sokoloski. It became clear that C&S could no longer pay the bills and were more of the face of ownership than the actual owners with Braley actually helping them out with a loan. With no potential owners, Braley was our only hope. MLSE at the time did not any interest in purchasing a sinking ship and really showed no support for the Argos period! Braley, who was a more of a behind the scenes owner in BC was expected to take the same role with the Argos and has pretty much stayed away from the media.
Chris Rudge who retired as a senior executive with the world’s largest printing firm, Quebecor later became the the CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee and overlooked the “Own The Podium” campaign for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. Rudge first got involved with the CFL in 2011 by becoming the chair for the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto and was quickly named the new CEO and President of the Toronto Argonauts, replacing Bob Nicholson on January 30, 2012. Rudge, coming from the best Winter Olympics in Canadian history was coming in with huge exceptions, perhaps Argo fans were expecting too much. I do admit that I personally have not seen much positive changes since Rudge came in and I am quite disappointed based on the expectations I had.
Here the pros of the Braley & Rudge partnership:
1) Stable Ownership & Saving The Franchise
Before Braley, the Argos have had plenty of short-stint owners since the sale from Carling O’Keefe in 1988. Braley actually funded C&S’ purchase of the Argos in 2004 and has also covered their losses. The Argos have never made much of a profit, if any at all in the last few years. Braley did make a hefty profit during the 2012 Grey Cup, earning up to $10 million. One scary thought is that Braley plans to sell one or both of his teams by his 75th birthday in 2016 but the newly run MLSE look to be the front runners with a potential deal being made soon. If true, MLSE will continue being stable owners. Braley did save the team from going bust so we can thank him for that.
2) Successful 2012 Grey Cup Festival
The 100th Grey Cup Festival was named the Canadian Sport Event of the Year for 2012 as voted by the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA). A CFL.ca article writes, “The 100th Grey Cup Festival was an Invitation to Our Nation that transcended “beer and football” uniting Canadians from coast-to-coast in Toronto for a nine-day, ten-night festival which encompassed more than 50 events ranging from traditional team parties, galas and player awards to a football film festival and family fun zone at great venues including the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Yonge-Dundas Square and Nathan Phillips Square. Complete with street closures, extensive free-to-the-public entertainment and activities and youth programs, the 100th Grey Cup was a sport and cultural celebration that attracted in excess of 300,000 people.” Braley also cashed in, may be the first and only time he made a profit as owner.
3) New Rogers Centre Lease
This may be seen as bad thing for some but a final deal was made between the old Sky Dome and the Argos. The final license agreement will expire in 2017, with an option to exit earlier but cannot be extended, as the Blue Jays have plans to install grass. At least we’re not homeless!
4) A Winning Football Team
Scott Milanovich turned the Argos down before citing unstable ownership as his reason. Once everything straightened out, Milo become the HC and won a Grey Cup in his first year as an Argo. Barker has also done a fine job recruiting talent but just a note that Barker was apart of the organization before Braley and Rudge.
5) School Day Preseason Game
36,214 attended a pre-season game to watch the Argonauts beat Montreal on a Tuesday afternoon. Mostly school children, the game was a good initiative to promote the CFL to the younger demographic, even offering them and their families a discount if they choose to attend a regular season game. No one is really sure if it was successful in drawing in new fans but I applaud the effort.
6) Return to Varsity Stadium
I consider this a fluke but I did enjoy watching the Argos play outdoors at home for the first time in decades. The team really had no days available at the Rogers Centre so one staff member proposed Varsity and the rest is history. Note: It was 55 years since a CFL game was last played at Varsity. I sure hope the game didn’t disturb any nearby Annex residents.
7) Continued Community Support
Huddle Up Bullying Prevention, Level the Playing Field , & Argo-Cise have all done wonders in the community. I specially like Level the Playing Field, where the Argos support bringing back or creating new football programs to high schools in Toronto. The Argos are no longer involved with a past initiative called Stop the Violence.
8) Argos on Social Media
The Argos twitter page is very informative but still lacks detail. The Toronto media does not the cover the Argos as much as the other cities do to their respected team. Their really is no Argos beat writer so the Argos on social media have done a fine job but I always do expect more from them. More video, more interviews, more behind the scenes stuff is needed for fans like myself. I really enjoy watching Stamps TV and hopefully Argos TV will play a bigger role in 2014. it’s nice to see them cover Argos mini-camp, which was buried in the local news and most are probably not even aware of it taking place.
That’s all I could really think of on the positive side. Not very great is it?
Now for the cons:
1) There Still Is A Lack Of Marketing
Has anyone ever seen any marketing from the Argos from 2010 until now? There are a few ads out there but it’s mostly TSN from what I can see. We did have a controversial “Home is where the heart it is, its also where we hurt people” subway ad featuring Ricky Foley but that came before Rudge and it sure didn’t bring any fans in. Argos merchandise is also rare to find these days, outside of the Jays shop of course. The Argonauts online shop isn’t very exciting either.
2) No New Stadium
Braley will not spend money on a new stadium. While he says he’s looking into various locations in the GTA, as well as funding but as an temporary owner, its quite clear that this will never happen. We could be homeless by 2017 but if the stars align, the Argos will be shared tenants with TFC at BMO. Those in the loop know Braley is just bluffing about a new potential stadium and will not build us one in a million years. He’s just looking to strike a deal soon.
3) No New Practice Facilities
The Argos and their fans have been complaining about UTM for quite awhile. On the outside, it looks very unprofessional to have the oldest pro football team practice next to a bunch of portables for a locker-room with a barley maintained grass field. Then the portables caught fire and Braley and Rudge were discussing a new Training Facility, which never happened. The Argos stayed at UTM and then skedaddled to various nearby high-schools. It seems, the team finally got kicked out of UTM after many years and have announced that 2014 Training Camp will be held at York University, with no word where the team will practice during the season. Once again, if MLSE is involved, expect them to practice at Downsview.
4) Less Fan Activities
Ever since Rudge got involved, whether he’s to blame or not, there have been less opportunities for fans to interact with another. What I mean is, the Argos no longer have “See You On The Field” after home games, which is a favourite for the younger fans (which we desperately need) but the Rogers Centre may be at fault for this one. The Argos no longer have a 50% discount at the stadium store/kiosks on the last home game, also known as Fan Appreciation Night. It also looks as if Rudge & Braley completely removed the fan favourite – locker room sale. Every team in the CFL had one this season except for the Argos. Since 2012 the Argos did not sell any merchandise (specifically game-worn) after the season with the exception of unsold Grey Cup gear in 2012, which doesn’t count in my opinion as a locker room sale. This also may not be entirely the fault of management but there was no Fan Day scheduled in 2013, with UTM maybe playing a role. They did however schedule one in for 2014 at York University.
5) Declining Attendance
Here are the numbers. Despite a better team, a championship winning team, the Argos attendance did not jump as one would have thought for 2013. Horrible home schedules in the past couple seasons ( I blame Rogers) have surely not helped. 2012 saw a little increase after a horrendous 2011 season but then decreased after the GC win. You would think Toronto fans would go crazy to finally watch a championship winning team.
2009 (before Braley) – Avg: 26,374 , Record: 3-15
2010 (beginning of Braley era) – Avg: 22,069 , Record: 9-9
2011 – Avg: 20,017 , Record: 6-12
2012 (Rudge’s 1st season) – Avg: 23,689 , Record: 9-9 & GC Champs
2013 (post GC victory) – Avg: 21,926 , Record: 11-7
6) Failed Ethnic Nights
The GTA is very multicultural, I get it but the ethnic nights haven’t really done much for attendance or spreading the word out to these communities. Perhaps signing the next Normie Kwong or Obby Khan may do the trick. I found these ethnic nights to be very poorly organized and it’s usually a crowd of 10 or so people.
7) Half-Time Shows That No One Cares For
Remember the no name rapper at the Varisty pre-season game with the big costume head? No one will buy tickets to watch the half-time show so you can stop bringing in guys like Karl Wolf, Rock Tenors, Maestro etc. Bring back the dog show! I do respect the fact they try to bring in local artists but it’s not going to draw in any new fans in the seats.
8) Argo Fan Surveys
The team invested in and developed a fan survey to capture the demographics of it’s fans. A lot of fans did not receive or know of the survey. A lot of the questions weren’t very useful in my opinion and they could have done so much more in finding out why fans don’t attend the games in person.
UPDATE: 9) Lack Of Tradition.
Firstly, the Argonauts organization does not use the Argonotes enough. Seriously, does anyone even know the Argo fight song by Dal Richards? Other than honouring the Grey Cup Champs in 1983 and the year before with the 1971 team, there is not enough alumni events. A lot of alumni who I have talked to, have not been to game in years. Why can’t the Argos organize some sort of arrangement to have transported to games and honour them before the game. They don’t need their number retired or their name in the rafters but show some clips of the players who most fans have either forgotten or never knew they even existed. Bring back the boat logo more often, more retro merchandise, more retro jerseys etc. Those were when the Argos had packed stadiums so bring back some nostalgia and those who went as a kid, may come back to a few to games.
There are probably more out there that I can’t remember.
In a nutshell, Braley was never going to be that owner that turns the franchise into something special. He’s just a quick fix, a temporary owner who isn’t willing to go over the top to fund the team. He’s prepared to cover the expenses and loses but will not give the team a penny more. Some say that Braley only took the team over to cash in on the 2012 Grey Cup. I wouldn’t go that far to suggest that, since he’s been into the team for far longer than just one profitable season.
Rudge on the other hand deserves a little more criticism, since he’s a bit of a big talker. I haven’t seen anything done from Rudge yet that is any different from what was done in the past or anything spectacular for that matter. He came in with an impressive resume and is far from impressing me. I’m not here to bash Rudge like some have done on online forums, going on and on but I do know that many fans aren’t very fond of him.
Rudge always says that the fans are old white guys which I find troubling. While the majority probably are, I do not necessary fit in that group as I am a 22 year old, 2nd generation Canadian with a family that was not much into football before, but now is. If you want to target younger fans why not target the younger age group who are already fans and ask them how they became fans and what would they like to see at games instead of doing the same old thing that has been done before.
In my opinion, Chris Rudge has not done enough as the President & CEO and he will have to pull off a miracle before I say he was the right man for the job. I expected much more in terms of the team’s marketing and the cancellation of events like the locker room sale was a huge let down. Honestly, I really can’t think of anything that Rudge has done better than that of the last president, Bob Nicholson.
I am really interested in what other fans think about Braley & Rudge. Please share thoughts by commenting or tweet them to me @doubleblueblog
When I first heard the news that Tricky was diagnosed with lung cancer, I felt bad and started reading some great articles and thought how on earth is he not in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame ? Even more mysteriously, how is he not even an All Time Argo?
Mitchell want to leave a good locker room environment, which he thrived in, for one where he was always in the news for all the wrong reasons. It was clear that his Lions teammates were happy when he left with Andrew Harris tweeting “good riddance”. I would also think that when a club releases you to go to the NFL, that you would give your respected club an opportunity to re-sign you if it didn’t work out. But as more info becomes available, it’s becoming more clear that the NFL opportunity never materialized.
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