With few, if any, venue options available and even fewer dates to access at what is allegedly their home field, the Argos were left with no choice but to scour the country to find a suitable site as a one-off for their CFL home opener.

No one could have envisioned northern Alberta as the landing spot for this beleaguered football franchise, but Fort McMurray it will be, the Argos playing host to Edmonton on June 27 in the season opener for both clubs.

Many will scoff at the Argos’ decision and a lot will be made of the need for the organization to find a full-time home that is fan-friendly, date-friendly and cost-friendly.

But it ain’t happening any time soon for a variety of reasons, even as time continues to expire on the Argos playing at the Rogers Centre.

There’s no point in revisiting how shoddy the dome treats the Argos and no point in rehashing the ego, agenda and politics that swirl over a potential lease at BMO Field.

It says a lot about the state of the Argos that their foray into Fort McMurray will probably result in a profit or, at worse, a deficit that dwarfs to the arrangements at the Rogers Centre.

When the Argos kicked off the league’s Touchdown Atlantic series in 2010 under then-president Bob Nicholson, the team made money.

Oddly enough, the game in Moncton featured the Argos and Eskimos.

There is no alternative football facility in the GTA to house a CFL game, no way the Argos were going to go to Guelph and its limited capacity and no chance of the team asking Hamilton to play at its new playpen, which will house Pan Am soccer this July.

Enter Fort McMurray, which provided the Argos with a viable alternative, despite the optics of a home game being played on the road against an Alberta-based team and the inevitable bad press and bad punch lines.

The new SMS Stadium, part of the Shell Place sports and recreation complex in Fort McMurray, by all accounts, has all the necessary features to host a CFL game and will, in fact, open its doors for the first time when Edmonton and Saskatchewan meet in a pre-season game on June 13.

The facility has 5,000 fixed seats, but can be expanded to 15,000.

Everyone knew the Argos would be facing challenges, but this year’s schedule will test the mettle of the players and coaching staff.

They persevered in 2012 when the Argos won the Grey Cup at home.

Since that victory, it’s been downhill, a spiral that may get even worse.

At no point last season did the Argos draw 20,000 to a home game.

The franchise, and to a greater extent the CFL, failed miserably to capitalize on the success of the 100th Grey Cup.

And now fans are left with a 2015 schedule that features a third successive pre-season game at Varsity, no home dates in July — the team’s first official home game is on Aug. 8 — a Tuesday night tilt on Oct. 6 and four home games to end the season.

The only team that draws sizeable crowds in Toronto is Hamilton, but the schedule features the Ticats appearing at the Rogers Centre only once.

So, for those counting, the Argos will be at home eight times during the regular season, one fewer than the norm.

Season-ticket holders will have access to an additional pair of tickets to the home opener against Saskatchewan, a playoff incentive package or credit towards next year’s schedule, which can’t possibly be as worse as this year’s embarrassment.

Whether it’s the seam-heads at Rogers, the Pan Am Games opening and closing ceremonies or the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the CFL was in complete scramble mode drawing up its 2015 schedule, the Argos once again emerging as the clear losers and victims.

No one knows just how good this year’s Argos will be with a head coach, general manager and star quarterback all entering the final year of their contracts.

David Braley will never leave his ego at the door and is forever chasing profit, leaving the Argos franchise twisting in the wind.

If anyone ever doubted just how perilous the plight of the Argos has become, all they need do is look at their schedule, one that involves four trips out West — in a row.

Anyone who tries to put a positive spin on the schedule is delusional.

A slow start, which in part led to last year’s non-playoff season, may turn fans away by the time the Argos play an actual home game in August.

The return of the home-and-home series with Hamilton is small consolation.

There are three Friday night kickoffs to end the season, but the final two are against Western teams, B.C. and Winnipeg, that historically are among the worst draws.

EARLY ROAD SWING FOR TICATS, TOO

The Ticats, much like the Argos, will begin the season with a slate of road games.

But unlike the Argos, the Ticats have a place to call home, a fan-friendly venue that helped propel Hamilton to its second consecutive Grey Cup appearance last season.

The team never lost a game at Tim Hortons Field, which will play host to this year’s Pan Am Games soccer in July, forcing the Tabbies to take their act on the road.

The marathon begins on June 26 in Calgary, a rematch of last year’s title game that ended in a 20-16 Stampeders win.

The traditional Labour Day Classic, which went ahead last year despite some issues, will be back in full swing featuring the Argos, who play host to Hamilton four nights later on Sept. 11.

The Argos will help usher in Hamilton’s home opener on Aug. 3, the first of two holiday dates pitting the two rivals.

Once Hamilton’s opening-season stretch of four games ends, the team will be home for five of six games.

The Tabbies end their season with a home-and-home set against Ottawa.