Braley making plans to sell Lions, Argos
Toronto’s new three-year lease agreement with Rogers Centre is likely the final one
TORONTO Sen. David Braley is planning to sell the B.C. Lions and the Toronto Argonauts by the time he celebrates his 75th birthday in three years, and he said he is “well down the road” in discussions with more than one city to build a stadium for the Argos, the problem child of CFL franchises.
On Friday, the Argos announced they had reached a lease agreement with Rogers Centre, which has been their home since 1989. The lease will expire on Dec. 31, 2017, and it will likely be the last lease the football team signs with the downtown stadium.
“Fundamentally, I’m talking to three communities — four as of Tuesday of this week — with regards to land and with regards to building a new stadium of somewhere around 27,000 to 29,000 people for football and soccer,” Braley said Friday. He did not identify the communities.
“I don’t think that’s something that I’m going to answer at the present time, because I think we’re dealing with confidentiality with regards to the communities,” he said. “But I have been working on it now for several months.”
Braley has been a dominant figure in the CFL for decades, having rescued more than one franchise from the abyss. He has served as league chairman and was, in 2002, its acting commissioner. He has owned the Lions since 1997 and the Argos since 2010.
He said “six or seven” parties are interested in buying the Lions. Braley does not plan to own both teams much longer.
“You wouldn’t want to have me around much longer than 75, which is three years from now,” he said.
The Argos, who have struggled to find a place in Toronto’s entertainment landscape for decades, will be a tougher sell than the Lions.
The Argos have an option to end their lease with Rogers Centre before 2017, but without an alternative stadium in place, that option is not likely to be exercised. BMO Field, the city-owned, soccer-specific stadium a short streetcar ride away from their current home, is another option that is being explored.
While a move to BMO Field is technically possible — it would need renovations to fit a longer, wider CFL field — it would not be easy. BMO Field has a natural grass surface and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment chief executive Tim Leiweke said a move to artificial turf would prevent the soccer team from attracting top-flight international talent.
Canadian football is not kind to natural grass. One of the reasons the Argos have to move in the first place is that Rogers Communications Inc., which owns both the dome and its primary tenant, the Toronto Blue Jays, is seeking ways to install a natural-grass field.