Can we just hit the "re-set" button to this CFL season already??

Who are you even arguing with? No one has said Ottawa is going to fold.

The Last Word

Jun 22 2019, 06:31 PM

Quote
Consider:

  1. Calgary had a poor crowd of only 26,000 for their season opener. That is disappointing coming off a Grey Cup victory and a Grey Cup hosting year

  2. Edmonton had crowds of 25,263 and 24,016 for their first two home games. I heard from an Esks fan on another forum that these are the two single worst crowds for an Esks game since the early/mid 90s when the CFL was in full crisis mode

  3. BC Lions drew 18,000 for their home opener - worst home opener attendance since 1998. All that hullalaboo about the BC front office signing all these new season ticket holders in the off season quickly dissipated as is obvious from this opening day crowd.

  4. Hamilton drew 22,287 which is their worst attendance for any game at Tim Hortons Field at full capacity ever…nearly 2,000 short of a sellout. Pat was right about the canary in the coal mine comment a few years back with lots of no-shows at THF.

  5. Ottawa drew 23,453 for their home opener. This is the first time they did not sell out their home opener and it their worst crowd for an opener ever.

Lots of concerning trends occurring with CFL attendance, especially with the league being so gate dependent. This will be a good thread to update on a weekly basis to see what trends emerge as the season progresses.
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Who could read that and think people are predicting Ottawa will fold.

Do you plan a funeral when you get the flu?

Well I guess that all depends on who yer cheering for now doesn’t it ?8) ;D

Not referring to on the field matters

As of the end of May, Major League Baseball was down as well (interesting idea of the flash sale the Twins did):

Major League Baseball’s overall average of 26,854 through Wednesday is 1.4% below the 27,242 through the similar point last season, which wound up below 30,000 for the first time since 2003.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred attributes this year’s drop to fewer season tickets but emphasizes day-of-game sales are up 6%.

“Given the explosion of entertainment alternatives and the growth of the secondary market, it is not surprising that season ticket sales can be challenging,? he said. “The clubs are responding to this challenge with creative and effective approaches. For example, sales of subscription tickets are double what they were a year ago. And the Twins recently had a $5 flash sale that produced crowds of over 30,000 in three of four games, and the largest single-game attendance since 2016.?


https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/may/30/mlb-attendance-down-another-14-4th-straight-drop/

baseball is a dying sport who’s heyday was generations ago. Not a league to emulate

Correct Mark. Thank you for carefully reading my initial post. Games aside (and even then there haven’t been many edge-of-your-seat final minute drives for the win thus far), I was referring mostly to off-field issues…with the obvious exception the Simoni Lawrence cheap shot and injury to a quarterback.

I didn’t even include the 11th hour firing of Mike Sherman and still-yet-to-be-determined ownership of the Alouettes. :-\

…the coincidental colossal distraction of a Raptors NBA final game coinciding with the CFL season’s first game…

…the list is ominously long eh? let’s hope it all finishes better than it started…

A “dying” sport?

:o

Well we’re all dying, but here’s betting that MLB will survive in basically its present form until long after anyone reading this thread has passed away.

Way too early to hit any kind of reset or panic button. Especially looking ahead to the next couple of months. What else are Canadian sports fans going to watch?

Raptors completely sucked up ALL the media attention the last month. Half of an hour long Sportscentre or Sportsnet Central was about them. 12-15 pages of an 18-20 page Toronto Sun sports section and almost every front cover of the main section of newspapers was all about them.

Over previous summers it seems there has almost always been a World Cup, Olympics or in 2016 and 2017 Jays runs that sucked up a ton of viewers and interest.

Last year even with the World Cup running to mid July the CFL TV ratings were up 4 - 5% from the year before for the regular season. (Unfortunately followed by disappointing ratings for the post season).

But for the next two months - with the Jays in a total rebuild mode - what else is there? NO significant sports competition that I can think of. If the CFL can’t take advantage of that to generate some interest, boost attendance and TV numbers - then we might have reason to talk.

But until then relax and enjoy the games. (Picked up a (cheap) pair to Friday night’s game here in Hamilton yesterday (not one of the four games I had already bought tickets for. Credit this email from the Cats for spurring me to ‘act quickly’ - lol.

In celebration Saturday's 64-14 win over the Toronto Argonauts (tied for the widest margin of victory in franchise history), and the Black & Gold starting the 2019 CFL season 2-0, we're running a [b]flash sale until 5 p.m. today![/b]

BONUS: We’re kicking off the Canada Day long weekend in proper fashion with a postgame fireworks show after the final whistle on Friday night. You can watch fireworks from the field!

BUY > Click here to select your $20 seats using the promo code HOTSTART19. Flash sale offer expires Monday, June 24 at 5 p.m., act quickly!


What can I say? I’m a sucker for football and fireworks! (And should have a great views of both. Last row baby! lol

Yes, dying.

You’re getting too hung up on that term. The sport has been trending downward for decades now, but that doesn’t mean it will be extinct anytime soon. It just means its getting less and less popular with the masses.

…time to inject another steroid-fueled home run contest?

Wow! Canadian football and fireworks!

A winning combination in my buck. Now if only they’d be selling hot dogs for $1.00 and popcorn or Pepsi for $0.50 as well… Hey, it would bring out the kids and everybody says that the CFL has to start appealing to a youger demographic.

I know I will face fierce opposition on this point from those who don’t want to freeze their arses off on cold metal benches in late November, but there are considerable drawbacks to a mid-June launch and starting preseason games in late May that I don’t think many (including our Commissioner) really thought through. Or took seriously. The NHL-NBA playoffs being the biggest challenge (maybe an outlier this year due to Raptors fever but could just as easily be Jets, Flames, or Leafs fever occupying the national interest), but there are several other factors.

I don’t know what the answer is (other than shortening the season which isn’t likely). The CFLPA wants more byes, Ambrosie wants to wrap up the season before the last week of November, and interest in the league peaks on and post-Labour Day when more is on the line.

All I know is that there appears to be tepid interest in Spring football which kills any traction the league hopes to realize, and starts a really bad narrative about attendance and overall interest/strength in the league.

…spring is a relative term…March/April while you are enjoying cherry blossoms on the west coast and the boys in and around the centre of the universe are at least seeing the last snows melt away and the ground thaw underway Edmonton/Calgary/Regina/Winnipeg are still dealing with blizzards and daily minus temps…pretty tough to start training camp with no training facility…I hear what you’re saying, but moving the season up isn’t practical, and moving the season later isn’t practical for much of the same reason, so it is what it is I guess…

People have been saying that for decades and yet their revenues keep growing.

Well - the Ti-Cats are doing this every game… (which I hope to take advantage of if I can get out of work a bit early on Friday) :slight_smile:

$5 DRAUGHT BEER FROM GATES TO KICKOFF EVERY GAME!

I agree! I’d vote in favour of eliminating the byes for teams and holding the Grey Cup game around November 30th as it’s been done for the last 75 years or more. This would enable reverting to a mid-July start to the season.

Well then kudos to the Tiger-Cats organization! Believe me, I’m still a kid at heart.

:slight_smile:

I’d like to see this promotion revived though:

https://www.asimplertime.com/assets/product_images/1048D.jpg