CFL Soundtrack: Once, the Argonauts were kings of Toronto, now they vacuum the turf at Skydome

We're continuing on with our CFL Soundtrack series, a look at each of the CFL's nine teams and what musical acts they compare to. Next up, the Toronto Argonauts and their resemblance to Moxy Früvous.

The deepest comparison between the Argonauts and legendary Toronto band Moxy Früvous isn't about the band at all, but rather one of their songs, the famous "King of Spain." The song's about a Spanish monarch who switches places with his peasant friend and winds up working minimum-wage jobs in Toronto, and it's very apropos for professional football's oldest continuous franchise (and North America's oldest sports franchise still using the same name). The Argonauts have won the Grey Cup 16 times, three more than the second-place Edmonton Eskimos, and they have an amazing 16-6 record in the big game, most recently claiming the 100th Grey Cup in front of a hometown crowd in 2012. That's CFL royalty for you. However, the Argonauts' stadium situation has gotten so bad that they're now perhaps lower in the hierarchy than the guy who vacuums the turf at SkyDome:

Yes, the Argos still play at the SkyDome (or as it's now known, the Rogers Centre), and that's never been a great football venue. It's particularly bad when the cavernous building is less than half-full, as is often the case at Argos' games; sure, that could improve by them drawing more fans, but it's not an easy place to draw fans to, and a stadium with a more appropriate capacity would be much better. The turf isn't great, either.The largest issue at the moment is the scheduling, though, with the Argonauts coming in so far in priority behind the Rogers-owned Blue Jays (and even other concerts and events) that they're often been forced to play games on ridiculous days. Last season saw two home games on Tuesdays, which unsurprisingly drew terrible attendances (announced as 20,064 and 18,863), and one on a Thursday (which drew 18,478). Fortunately, this year's schedule looks a bit better for them, but they still have a Tuesday home game (August 12 against the Blue Bombers). What, was the weekend fully occupied with turf-vacuuming?

Unsurprisingly, the Argonauts would like a better stadium situation, and for a while, it looked like they might get one. The Toronto city council's approval of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment's plans to renovate BMO Field included prominent mentions of making the facility suitable for Canadian football as well as soccer, and while that posed significant concerns for soccer fans (given the surface issues caused by sharing a field between football and soccer), it looked like a great outcome for the Argos. That would have given them a beautiful outdoor stadium, one with a more reasonable capacity, and one with way less scheduling issues; it also wouldn't have led to the financially-struggling franchise putting up much money of its own. However, the Argos' inclusion in that deal appears to have fallen by the wayside for the moment, and it may stay that way given the strong opposition from soccer fans. Meanwhile, even if the Rogers Centre being subpar for football wasn't enough of a problem, the Argos are faced with a ticking clock there; their lease is only good through 2017, and it won't be extended thanks to the Jays' plans to bring in real grass. Perhaps the team can save up some extra cash for a stadium solution of their own by working at Pizza Pizza, driving the Zamboni for the Leafs or running Video Bargainville, but it certainly doesn't seem promising right now. The whole future of this team's in question until they have a stadium sorted out (the long-rumoured sale to MLSE seems highly unlikely to happen without that), and at the moment, they're far more pauper than prince. The glory days of the John Candy-Wayne Gretzky-Bruce McNall Argos being one of Toronto's biggest attractions are long gone, as are the days when Doug Flutie was leading the team to back-to-back Grey Cups in 1996 and 1997; the team can't be stuck in the 90s any more. (Interestingly enough, Moxy Früvous did write a song about Flutie shortly after that, when he went to the Buffalo Bills in 1998:)

There are some on-field questions for the Argos too, and ones that resemble Moxy Früvous a bit. The band hasn't been active (except for a couple of one-off performances) since 2001, but their members are still prominent on the Canadian music scene. The biggest name is Jian Ghomeshi, one of Canada's biggest media personalities, who hosts Q on CBC Radio and regularly appears on CBC TV, but Murray Foster has toured with Great Big Sea and currently plays in The Cocksure Lads with Mike Ford, who also performs in classrooms across Ontario and has been involved with bands from The Barenaked Ladies to The Arrogant Worms. Meanwhile, Dave Matheson was long featured as part of The Ground Crew on the set of CBC's Royal Canadian Air Farce; he's also worked as a producer, a composer and more.

Similarly, plenty of Argos' personnel have left to go on to new gigs, but they're still prominent on the CFL scene; the most notable are former defensive coordinator/assistant head coach/assistant general manager Chris Jones (now the head coach in Edmonton) and former special-teams coordinator Mike O'Shea (now the head coach in Winnipeg). Similarly, 2012 Grey Cup MVP Chad Kackert won't be on the field any more, as he retired this offseason after being unable to return from injury; while he's stayed with the organization, unlike the other two, he won't be contributing on the field this year, which makes three pieces integral to the 2012 Grey Cup win who aren't back. How will the Argonauts do without them?

In terms of players still around, though, things look relatively good. The Argos have the East Division's reigning Most Outstanding Player in quarterback Ricky Ray (whose phenomenal numbers last year likely would have led to him claiming the league MOP award if he hadn't missed so many games thanks to injury), a thrilling receiver/returner in Chad Owens, a reasonably solid offensive line and a defence that generally looked good last year and has been further bolstered by offseason additions, such as Canadian linebacker Shea Emry. There are some questions around them, to be sure, particularly about their depth at receiver and running back. Still, while there are issues around the team's long-term future, the immediate on-field present looks pretty decent. Might as well open the window and play some Nintendo:

Prediction: 11-7, first in East, East Final win, Grey Cup loss

Stay tuned to 55-Yard Line for more team previews, plus our league-wide preview chat Thursday at noon Eastern!