Grey Cup champion Argonauts are banking on MLSE bump

The Argonauts began celebrating their 150th anniversary on Friday, with an eye to rebuilding the fan base of a team that was once the toast of Toronto.

The oldest pro team in North America (with its original name) will have a Grey Cup banner to raise before their June 18 home opener against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at BMO Field, and believes momentum is on their side as the only champions under MLSE ownership.

“We are at the point where I don’t know if all the buttons have been pushed,” Argos GM Mike (Pinball) Clemons said. “We have tremendous trust in MLSE, the business they have and how they’ve grown it. We are now that piece that the focus is on …

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but hopefully we’ll get built up again a little quicker than that.”

They also unveiled a 150th anniversary logo at the Argonauts Rowing Club, with MLSE chair Larry Tanenbaum and director Dale Lastman on hand.

Attendance at Argos games — 40,000-plus a few decades ago — has been a target for improvement by MLSE, which bought the CFL club in December 2017, not long after another Grey Cup victory. That was followed by a pair of 4-14 seasons and then the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out the 2020 campaign.

Crowds crept back slowly, with last November’s East Division final win over Montreal drawing a season-high 21,331 (capacity for Argos games at BMO Field is 25,111).

The Argos, who open their pre-season in Hamilton on Saturday afternoon, have plans for a season-long celebration including the addition of quarterback Damon Allen and slotback Derrell Mitchell to the list of the club’s all-time greatest players, bringing the total to 26.

To Clemons, success — and with it the potential to attract new fans — takes time.

“When we look at last year and what took place, it has been a building process. But it wasn’t just built upon last year; it was built upon the year before as well,” Clemons said. “We took first place, but we didn’t win in the Eastern final (in 2021). So this is a growth pattern, yes. But if what you did yesterday still sounds good to you today, then you haven’t done much today.”

Argos president Bill Manning hired Clemons in 2018, and head coach Ryan Dinwiddie has been at the helm for first-place finishes the past two seasons. But on the field, the Argos are taking a calculated risk.

While their offensive and defensive lines, secondary, running backs and receivers should all be among the league’s best, they are banking on a relatively inexperienced Chad Kelly to run the show at quarterback — without much backup. Kelly has only 53 CFL completions in his career, while the other three passers on the depth chart have none.

Kelly’s last appearance, though, produced 10 second-half points on the way to a Grey Cup victory in relief of injured quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson, now playing for New Orleans in the USFL.

“I think this year we have a really dynamic quarterback who will excite the people in Toronto,” Manning said. “I think, slowly but surely, we’ll continue to grow the fan base. Under the direction of Pinball and Ryan, we’re going to be a really good team for a while, too.

“I think better days are ahead for the Argos.”

The first 10,000 fans at the home opener will receive replica Grey Cup rings.

Mark Zwolinski is a Toronto-based sports reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @markzwol