Well, for the time being the Toronto Argonauts belong to David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski, but that could change any day.

It’s no secret that the two men who have owned the boatmen since 2003 are looking to sell, and that David Braley is looking to buy. The problem in many people’s eyes is that Mr. Braley is also the owner of the B.C. Lions. The league has no rule against owning multiple teams, nor does it outlaw one team loaning money to another.

Braley helped Cynamon and Sokolowski pay half of their purchase price, half of their losses. In return, he was repaid with profits from a successful 2007 Grey Cup hosted in Toronto.

TSN’s Dave Naylor reports that the Argos are projected to lose close to $6 million this upcoming season. The reason for this comes from the mediocre product on the field. The team was a miserable 3-15 last season, and has no head coach in place after Bart Andrus was fired in December.

The team has a glorious opportunity to win back disgruntled fans this summer. The Blue Jays were marred by a brutal winter in terms of public relations. They dealt their best player (I know it was the sensible business/baseball decision to make, but the fact is it won’t get the average fan to the ballpark) and raised some season ticket prices by over 50%.

The CFL is the easiest league in which to rebound after a terrible season, what with 75% of its teams qualifying for the playoffs. My take on this is that although the $6 million mark is rather staggering — and I’m by no means a business major — it might be best to hold on for one more season. I don’t think that if Cynamon and Sokolowski wait for one more year Braley would lose interest, unless his goal is to buy low.

***

In other CFL news, commissioner Mark Cohon announced that he will once again be taking suggestions from fans on rule changes. Whereas last year he kept the floor open to all changes (thank God the single remained untouched!!), his only question to fans this winter is whether the overtime format needs to be changed.

The current format sees teams alternate possessions from the opponents’ 35-yard line. The team that scores the most points in a round wins. If after two rounds there is still no winner, the game ends in a tie.

To change this would be ridiculous. NFL fans moan and groan about how their sudden-death format is often decided by the filp of a coin. The current “shootout” overtime the CFL has is one of the reasons why three-down football is the most exciting around. I love the fairness, and it often turns into a great chess match between the coaches. If you go first, do you put the points on the board and hope your defence can hold, or do you go for the gusto?

The CFL would be nuts to change this system. The 2005 Grey Cup between Edmonton and Montreal went to double overtime, and it’s one of the most exciting games I’ve ever seen. Please Commissioner Cohon, don’t mess with a good thing.

- Marc Tessier

College of Sports Media Game of the Night:

There’s no baseball game tonight. In the NHL there are no Canadian teams in action. The NFL leaves Friday night for high school and college football. So what does that leave us with….CFL Friday night football. More importantly they’re rivalry games which are always more fun to watch. The early game has the Hamilton Ti-Cats making the trip down the QEW to take on the Toronto Argonauts. In the past this series has been lop-sided in the Argos favor, but this season the Argos are absolutely terrible. Since bringing in former Tennessee Titan offensive assistant Bart Andrus and allowed the first time CFL-er to call his own plays the teams offence has been – offensive. Not having a reliable quarterback or core of receivers do not help the matter. The defence has played well, but they spend far too much time on the field and in that situation it’s only a matter of time before the opposing team scores. On the other hand the Ti-Cats have gotten better. Granted they’ve lost four in a row, but they’re 6-9 on the season and tied for second with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the East. You also have to remember the Steel-town Tabbies haven’t sniffed the playoffs in five years.

In the late game it’s another provincial showdown as the Edmonton Eskimos battle the Stampeders in Calgary. Calgary sits in second place in the West with an 8-6 record. Edmonton (7-8)  is only three points behind, but are currently occupying the bottom spot in the conference. A win today for the Stamps and they clinch a post-season spot. This will be the fourth team these teams have met this season and so far Calgary has won two of three games. Both teams feature potent offences. Eskimo’s QB Ricky Ray is second in the league with 4097 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. Calgary’s Henry Burris is right behind him. Burris has thrown for just under 4000 yards and 19 touchdowns. On defence, Calgary has the clear advantage. The Stampeders are second in the league in points allowed (25.3) and turnover differential (+7).

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight-

- open phones with McCown from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is jim Kelley
5:20 Nick Kypreos, Sportsnet
5:40 Bart Andrus, Argos Head Coach
6:05 Don Banks, SI.COM
6:30 David Branch, CHL President & OHL Comish
6:45 Keith Law, ESPN on the ALCS & NLCS

On 640 with Brady and Watters thanks to Mike S.:

- Brian Duff of NHL Network on hockey
- hockey insiders Darren Dreger & Bob McKenzie at 6:10

Here’s your bikini of the day from bikinibeat.org:

On Fan 590 Tonight- thanks to Mike S.

- open phones with Rob Fualds from 4:05 to 4:40
- co-host from 5:00 to 7:00 is Jim Kelley
-Jack Armstrong
-Bart Andrus
-Either Stephen Walkom or Don Banks
-Stepehn Brunt
-Steve Mason

On 640 with Brady and Watters:

TBA

Speaking of Toth, I don’t think he would take too kindly to this but here goes anyway. A friend of mine and I had a chat today about the state of the CFL and this market, Toronto. John Shannon on PTS took a strip out of the Argo’s coach Bart Andrus for how he handled the Bruce situation. Shannon called him something like the American College coach coming up here and putting his stamp on things… So my friend said in response that no respectable division one football coach, coordinator or assistant coach would leave that post to take a head cfl coaching gig. My response was that I thought (and I am rather clueless on these issues) that I think it would really depend on the market in the CFL. In my opinion, a guy would rather be the head coach of the Toronto Argos or the Hamilton Tiger Cats simply because of their geography and their market size. This is not a knock on Saskatchewan or Winnipeg, but I would think that it would be harder to attract that type of coach there for the typical stereotypical reasons.

My friend who is much more up on the college football scene than I, said that in his opinion it would be virtually impossible to lure a division one football coach to a head coaching gig to the CFL. Why do I raise this? Well it lead to a different type of discussion and one I want to turn to you. I said that, should an NFL team ever come to Toronto (and no this debate isn’t about that happening!) the whomever were to own that team would take on the Argos and that the CFL should become a legitimate feeder league for the NFL. I called it the IHL (or AHL) of professional football. I think this would be a great thing for the CFL. My friend rightly pointed out that the only way that would work was if the league maintained Canadian rules/content. I have no problem with that and agree.

What I am asking is this, if the CFL was the official minor league of the NFL would you watch more games, would you take more interest? I think I would. I think that the NFL teams would ensure that all facets of the game were top notch. This isn’t a knock on how the CFL does things. I just think that if it got the endorsement, the affiliation people would pay a hell of a lot more attention to it. I was reminded again today about how knowledgeable baseball fans are of their teams. I saw a couple of fan boards and chats debating the merits of trading minor league prospects I have never heard of. There was passion about current minor leaguers. If the Dallas Cowboys were affiliated with one of the Roughriders (sorry couldn’t help myself) I think that the interest in that team would be significantly higher as fans across North America would want to keep tabs on how their farm players were doing. I also don’t think it’s a bad thing to be a minor or developmental league. I don’t think it’s a slap in the face to the CFL. I think players would make more money, interest would be higher on television, coaching would be better, it would be a win win.

I am sure there are tons of things that I am not thinking about. I know there are logistical issues, unequal amounts of teams, how would it work etc. Maybe that is how the league expands, on the backs of the NFL. I don’t know maybe I am nuts, I am sure this is insulting as all hell to loyal CFLers. I just think it would generate a lot more interest.Maybe not in Toronto, the “event” city as one loyal reader once wrote about our fans. I think it would help grow the game.

Thoughts?

Reminder TSM will be at today’s Argo game. Catch all the action including live tweets and post game posts right here and on twitter!

TSM

follow us on twitter at @yyzsportsmedia