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Now, there were extenuating circumstances. The heat was unbearable, 35C at Pearson airport if a little cooler by the waterfront, but with humidity that made you wonder when Toronto was relocated to a jungle. The area around BMO Field was a mess thanks to preparations for Sunday’s Honda Indy, with road closures and the concrete walls of the race course making it hard for even foot traffic to get around. The walk from the stadium to The Shipyard was literally down the race track, but if you lost your balance there were at least walls of rubber tires to break your fall. There was a Duran Duran concert across the street at the Amphitheatre. And it was a mid-week night, never the best time for a CFL game but particularly so in a market that is far from attuned to the league’s schedule.

But it is a bad look to be compiling excuses for why fans passed on your game, particularly when one of them is a nearby appearance by a pop group fronted by a 57-year-old. The Argos had the city to themselves from a sports perspective on Wednesday amid baseball’s All-Star break. The Argos next home game is on a Monday night when the Blue Jays will be playing down the street at the old home they used to share. The two games after that take place during the CNE, which will make parking spots scarce, and by then the Jays could be in a pennant race, and hockey season will then be starting and it will get chilly outside by the lake.

There’s always going to be something, in other words. This is football, it’s not like you can skip a game and come back the next day to see them because it was hot out. The Argos need to get to a place where fans come to their games in spite of various distractions and inconveniences, as is the case in other CFL markets except, perhaps, Vancouver.