I was watching the 1988 Grey Cup game on TV the other night. It was in Ottawa, and it looked pretty sold out to me.
The 2004 Grey Cup was a huge success - sold out.
Now I'm watching the Mitchell Bowl on the lousy Score (note, the Score is good for something, that being broadcasting CIS games, but they still are head-over-heels in love with the NFL and tend to pay minimal attention to the CFL). The game is in Ottawa, and it looks like there's a really good crowd there, for university ball. The stands between the 35's are completely packed with people.
As for the Renegades, they had 20,000 people out to games when they had the worst owners in the League. Not too long ago, Hamilton, Toronto and BC all had worse attendances.
Ottawa fans have had to deal with crap ownership (and that's being REALLY nice) for the past 20-30 years, and they still come to the games. If Ottawa gets a good, strong, committed owner, they'll be fine.
Periods are to get rid of dead eggs, and capital letters are how we let our politicians in Ottawa know what a crappy job they are doing. Actually, too bad we cant use periods on those dead eggs as well.
Actually Iceman may have a point.
Here in Winnipeg I seen hundreds of fans from Calgary, BC, Edmonton, Sask, Toronto, Montreal, and even Hamilton, but up until the end of today, I only saw 2 fans from Ottawa. If Ottawa wants a team then their fans have to get up off of their ass and start being part of the CFL again.
Also, you can't really compare fans from a city that doesn't have a team to fans from a city that does ...
Thankfully I've never had to deal with losing my team - I've come close - but I can imagine I'd be pretty bummed out about it. It would probably put a damper on wanting to do anything football-related.
Not having a local team to cheer for means there's that many more people who don't have the Grey Cup at the front of their mind ... out of sight, out of mind, after all. Which is why Ottawa needs that strong, committed owner.
I am sure their could have been more fans from Ottawa, but I had a hard time finding them. I know Ottawa does have alot of fans, but they need to start making themselfs known.
No need to put down The Score, they do a great job with university ball here. And the CFL Snap show is great and most CFL games, Sara or someone is there for a postgame. Of course they have to cover the NFL just because it is a major league and has so many fans, no reason to put them down for this.
Despite the fact that Ottawa does not have a team at present, it would be nice if the profile section on this site would allow a person to choose Ottawa as a ‘favourite team’. I might even change my alias when ‘the announcement’ comes.
I don't know man, Ottawa isn't that great of a sports town. The football fans taht this city does have are ok, but the city didn't really support the Grey Cup as well as they should have. A tone of tickets were just given away, and many fans left after the first quarter. No parade either, but I think that had more to do with Watters.
And the radio station here, the Team 1200, is the worst sports station in the country. During the entire CFL playoffs as well as the Grey Cup, they played NFL countdown. They hardly ever talk about the CFL, and when they do, its with far less passion. They, like the rest of the Sens fans here (worst hockey fans ever by the way) continually bash their own team, and when they do talk CFL, they bash it as well.
I'd rather see a second team in Quebec than have one here, we just don't deserve one.
Ottawa fully supported Grey Cup 2004. Events were very well organized, and very well attended. The game was a complete sellout, of course they gave away a few towards the end of the week, like every other city does.
The Team 1200 talks CFL all the time. Try listening to Kulka's show. Of course they wont talk CFL as much as other cities - THERE IS NO TEAM HERE.
Oh yes, Sens fans are horrible. Them and their 103% of capacity attendance. Terrible.
you must have attended a different GC game in 2004 then the one I was at. You are right about the GC parade though…but the week long festivities were great
I thought they have done a good job this year particularly since we no longer have a team…I’m a Leaf fan so can’t comment much on the Sens fans other to say they are passionate and have high standards…more importantly fans show up to their games
With the Score, I do like how they have a half-hour show devoted to the CFL - pathetically, neither TSN or Sportsnet do, but they do for the NFL - but when it comes to the NFL, I find the Score can't stop themselves. Sunday is 99% NFL coverage. "NFL Blitz", a ticker devoted to the NFL ... I didn't watch the Score during the GC game (obviously), but I wouldn't be surprised if the GC score took the same precedence (if not less) as NFL scores. You can find an NFL score 100% of the time on Sunday afternoons, but you probably couldn't find even the Grey Cup score as often as the Indy-Dallas score. My guess is that it was looped in with NFL, NBA, and NHL scores. Hopefully I'm wrong, please correct me if I am ...
Personally, I think if the national championship of your own country's league is going on, it should get more attention than any other sports.
