Watching TSN's coverage of Elks games in 2021, I'm noticing they're employing the kinds of camera tactics American broadcasters did with AAF games, low-level bowl games and the like: avoiding crowd shots, blurring background imagery and doing close-ups on players, and the like. The reason for this when employed is simple - a relative dearth of fans in the stands.
In some places this is more noticeable than others, and Edmonton is definitely one - Commonwealth Stadium has seemed empty throughout the season, even on home dates when they've allegedly had approaching 40% capacity. My question is... why?
Is it lingering COVID reluctance? Onset of cold weather? The team's performance this year? A beef about the rebranding? I'd be curious to hear what locals have to say on the subject.
Rebranding was part one. The team tried to put this āthe whole community is behind usā spin on that debacle. Truth is - none of them stood up to anybody or changed the conversion with the people they needed to.
Then there would the fact that while they lost game after game there was nothing from the GM. No changes, no help, no OC (because Elizondo i the only coach EVER in football who never played football in collage) no change.
Now, suddenly, while facing the worst record in 58 years they suddenly spring to action. Pick up Moncrief, trade away Harris and bring in Arbuckle.
Thatās not enough. Not in a City that is used to winning.
For me, it was the getting rid of the so called players that were supposed to be toxic and not re-signing those who were supposed to get a salary raise. Also, what they did to Dwayne Mandrusiak tells me that they created a toxic culture and not alleviated one. A lot of us consider the Elks and Eskimos a different franchise. I hear Jason Maas might be available after the season. He was a good coach in the previous franchise.
Down here in the US though away from where I was living in Florida, I noticed that crappy trend more around 2013 or so when watching the ads during games in Canada or when visiting my sister and her family in and around New York City.
Clearly it seems like still a whole lot of folks are stuck in the prior decade with all that hipster whatever as predominates in certain cities far more than others, and well, that trend mercifully seems to be on the decrease now.
Much like with the hippies and later with the grunge crowd and āplayasā in prior generations along with other examples, folks get married or attached and then have kids and then figure out life wonāt be like it was on some college campus or some traveling adventure for months with all your stuff back at home with your parents. Folks grow up and have a whole lot more to pay for and no time for all those luxuries of youth.
I hear you - that still seems to be the growing issue in many cities out west including down here in Seattle, Portland, Austin, and Denver. Except for Austin, people are fleeing those places either for the suburbs or rural areas or altogether.
Thankfully the trend is on the unwinding in more of the other places where you had pockets of such folks also trying too hard to be so hip.
The big difference here is that we've been fed a steady diet of socialism for over 50 years, so much so that there are people here that think the socialist conservative party are too far right.
Always hard to tell in Regina, so many fans travel to games that the seats fill in from what we see at the start of the gameā¦
Same as Edmonton. For a long time Edmonton has had the most walk up ticket sales in the league. Itās also why not having parking near the stadium negativly affects attendance. I remember the seat holders on one side of us for many years were from Lacombe - about 130km south of the city.
The sticking point in our negotiations came down to obtaining that key to the executive washroom across the street at the gas bar. Those guys behind the counter wouldnāt take their eyes off of it. Sorry.
