Shakedownsports.com

One would think that giving away free tickets has to lead to a win-win, positive PR, good feelings-all around kind of situation. That sort of thing is just hard to screw up. Nevertheless, the Toronto Argonauts were up for the challenge.

The Argos, with sponsors such as Rogers Cable and 7-11, offered free tickets to the last four games of the season. According to the Argos, several thousand cashed them for earlier games. But many more apparently saved them for Saturday’s home finale against Winnipeg, overwhelming ticket sellers.

“Unfortunately, because of capacity and attendance last game going over 40,000 we ran out of room,” said Argos spokesperson Beth Waldman.

“There aren’t enough adjectives to register my disgust at the callous way that all of us were treated,” says Warren Dalton, one of an estimated 1,000 football fans holding free ticket vouchers that proved worthless Saturday.

The team is calling it a “best-case worst-case scenario”, which sounds a lot like what happens when Jonathan Papelbon starts dancing. The team will make it up to fans who were turned away by giving them a ticket to a playoff a game or one of next year’s regular season games.

While the Argos weren’t able to please all their fans, they’re already the envy of the Devil Rays, Hawks, and Royals. Those teams are still trying to figure out how to get people to use the free tickets they give away.

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The Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL are finding that the difficulties of threading a seam in the Cover 2 pale in comparison to those of a booming real estate market. With the CFL season set to being tomorrow, skyrocketing housing prices have left about 20 Eskimo players without a place to live. Many of the players didn’t even know if they would make the team until last week, and the booming market has made it difficult for them to find places they can afford.

For now the players will stay at a hotel, but if they want somewhere free the city’s citizens are happy to accommodate them. They team has received 200 calls and emails offering apartments, spare rooms, and even empty couches. If any Eskimos accept an offer, they will join Ricky Williams as the only CFL players to routinely sleep on a stranger’s couch.

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