New boss Copeland embraces challenge of Argos rebuild

Mike Hogan

TSN Radio 1050, Host

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Imagine buying a home. You know you have some work to do after the purchase, but as you begin renovations you discover that there’s a problem with the foundation, the wiring, the plumbing, the roof, the chimney and the swimming pool.

Fixing those problems would be easy compared to what the Toronto Argonauts have to do to rebuild their brand.

The man who will try to do for the Argos what Mike Holmes does for dilapidated houses is Michael Copeland. The former president and chief operating officer of the Canadian Football League is about to officially take over as president and chief executive officer of the CFL team.

“I’ve got my eyes wide open,” Copeland told TSN.ca. “I’m well aware of the challenges the market and the club have faced.”

The team faces ridicule and apathy among the majority of sports fans in Toronto. Mention the Argos, or CFL to a younger crowd in the city and it’s not unusual to hear the word “joke” or the term “bush league.” Copeland knows he has his work cut out for him.

“We have to step back and say ‘What would it need to be for the 20-somethings to not have that reaction?” said the incoming executive. “It needs to be an unbelievable experience. They need to be entertained. There has to be pre-game fun. There needs to be drama on the field. If you can deliver, people will focus less on the negatives.”

Argonaut fans have heard this spiel before. Different owners have tried different tactics, but none were ultimately able to gain the attention of the city, save for maybe a week in 2012 when Toronto hosted the 100th Grey Cup. The team has battled poor attendance, limited local media attention, horrific scheduling and disinterested ownership among a lengthy list of obstacles.

So is the new regime — the ownership group of Bell Canada (parent company of TSN) and Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Group — capable of doing what previous groups couldn’t? The new president thinks it can.

“It’s a rare opportunity to take a 142-year-old brand that needs to be elevated back to where it belongs,” said Copeland. “That’s the reason I’m here. I truly believe we can be wildly successful.”

“You can’t just open the doors and hope it happens,” he continued. “We have to make it a radically different experience and football lends itself to that.”

Copeland is well aware that it’s difficult to reinvent the wheel when it comes to providing a different football atmosphere. A life-long Argo supporter and football fan in general, Copeland wants to at least in part emulate what he’s experienced with another level of the sport.

“We want to provide a really high-energy, very social football experience,” explained Copeland. “We want to be similar to the college game-day experience in the U.S. It starts well before the game with a place to get together around a tailgate. It has to be authentic, affordable and fun. In- game it’s about making it a fun place to be, it’s about entertaining fans in the stadium.”

Ah yes, the stadium. For years one of the major complaints about going to Argonaut games was the Rogers Centre — too big for the product and too sterile to have fun in. That excuse is no longer valid as the team will now be playing at BMO Field, a smaller, outdoor venue. But the move isn’t a panacea for all that ails the franchise.

“The move to BMO itself doesn’t solve the problems,” admitted Copeland. “BMO gives us a foundation, but we need the authentic tailgate experience. We need to cater to young families and we need to provide unbelievable corporate areas. No gimmicks; we have to think about producing the best post-game opportunities. We need people to say ‘that tailgate was awesome.’ ”

Helping Copeland with this monumental task will be Sara Moore. She’s left her post as the CFL’s vice-president of marketing to become the senior vice-president of business operations with the Argonauts.

“Sara is unbelievably talented and is not only aware of the issues in the market, but how to fix them,” explained Copeland. “She has unbelievably good instincts for brand in this market. At the league, in strategy and planning meetings, fixing Toronto was always the number one priority, but we feel it has to be done from the team and not the league level.”

Moore will also be the COO of the Grey Cup next year, which will be held at BMO Field.

But the Argonauts have a regular season to worry about first. Copeland says that they will be focused on season ticket holders, a group that he called “amazingly resilient.” He’s aware of the damage that has been done to the team’s brand, which has been so severe that the 2015 season caused even the most loyal Argo fans to throw up their hands in frustration.

The finishing touches are being done to the seating chart and the ticket prices for the upcoming season, and the changes have at least intrigued some fans who previously had little to no interest in the Argos, or the league. That’s the group that needs to have its passion ignited.

The first home game will no doubt capture the public’s attention, at least for the short term. So what would Copeland like to hear from fans as they leave BMO Field after that initial experience?

“I had no idea it could be that good,” he said.

A lofty goal, but it’s one the new president sincerely believes can be achieved.