Week 1 Attendence

Edmonton 25,458
Sask 29,788
Calgary 23,717
BC 20,182

Yet you are talking about charging $25 million for an expansion franchise over in the Schooners thread.

No not 25 million. More like 40 million. This a real Business operation not government hand outs.
Put up the cash or join another league. This league makes money. Anchors need not apply!!!

would you invest in something that brings a profit of 1 or 2 mil a year from a 40 mil buy-in + all other expenses? sounds like a horrible investment…since we are talking real business here and not passion for it.

Brianjoxx, I think you meant to list "Winnipeg" first at 25,458, not Edmonton.

Not sure how this compares to Week 1, last year but the league seems to start earlier and earlier (should be Canada Day). Most people (at least where I live) think of football as a Fall sport. The Lions surprisingly had decent buzz for their home opener, thanks to a creative ticket promo, but I don't see how a May start (Spring League) is going to benefit most of the teams.

Edmonton pop: 1,000,000+
Regina pop: 215,000+
Calgary pop: 1,100,000+
Vancouver pop: 3,500,000+

C’mon CFL fans!
Get off your couches and go see some great live football.

Not bad considering games this early in June is a completely new venture.

While team revenues have never been higher (the Bombers nearly matched the Riders $35M+ last year) the general perception is the league is dying because of empty seats at many CFL stadiums. My older brother, who used to be a huge Esks fan years ago, commented the attendance at the Esks first game was embarrassing and he couldn't see how the league could survive with that fan support? My brother-in-law chimed in (who used to be a fervent Riders fan but doesn't even know when the games are on now) that soccer fortunes in Canada are going up, up with the CFL going down, down (both are now bigger NFL fans after spending 6 months a year down south).

I pointed out the Esks crowd was for a preseason game (but the optics were very poor in a 55,000-seat stadium) and that league revenues have never been higher...in fact, the league has probably never been in a stronger financial position in it's history...all falling on deaf-ears because of the empty seats.

Perception is reality and unfortunately most people across Canada would say the CFL is dying or leveling off...rather than growing with a bright future.

Let's face facts, virtually every sports reporter in Canada adores the NFL, worshiping the ground the hallowed league walks on. The CFL...not so much. So many new Canadians in big cities get a slightly-jaundiced view about the CFL than traditional fans who grew up with Canadian football, (i.e. the CFL is 2nd-rate, quirky not-normal rules, inferior to the NFL and every other league, it's Canadian, soccer is far more popular and growing fast...and so on).

I do believe the league's decision to lift local TV blackouts has adversely affected ticket sales in many markets (no blackouts even with sub-20,000 crowds in Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal). Some casual fans might choose to avoid the traffic and catch home games, at home on TV...or maybe not at all. I realize blackouts may be a thing of the past, but so could the CFL which has perhaps suffered the TV blackout-lifting trend worse than other "major" leagues?

It doesn't really matter if every CFL team made millions in profits, if 20,000 fans won't come out to watch the games live, the league cannot survive. Soon all those TV fans would lose interest if they're watching a football game in front of half-empty stadiums. How popular could it be? The CFL should remember to not get too big for its britches.

Edmonton?? You mean Winnipeg

The most shocking is the no selllout at Mosaic.

It goes to show you, between the Rush's playoff championship run and the memorial cup, that is a very fragile marketplace for big sports

The CFL IS surviving and it’s because of the TSN money, game attendance is less important because of that.

The Edmonton game was in Winnipeg, so that 25K+ is Winnipeg attendance. People above are listing it as Edmonton.

And if you want to talk about perceptions, both the Winnipeg (other than the obvious exodus because of the incredibly long delays) and Sask games looked great. B.C. didn’t look good at all, and Calgary looked terrible. Other things to do is a really lame excuse, but probably valid.

Question for Stamps fans:

What is the "buzz" in Cowtown for the Stampeders so far this year? I was surprised to see what I would deem a low attendance in Calgary terms, and especially for a home opener. Is there some apathy towards the team on account of 2016/2017 Grey Cup losses after such strong seasons?

The weather was lousy, that's part of it. The second part is it's an earlier start than normal and people aren't in summer mode yet

So season ticket renewals were on par to last season? The drop came from less walk up?

I’mnot sure of the season ticket numbers but I think that’s basically the jist of it yes…less walk up.

While I hardly think the population of Edmonton is relevant to a game that was played in Winnipeg, otherwise I agree.

And the season does start too early. I see no reason why the Grey Cup game can’t be played in early December anyway. This is Canada. We’re supposed to be hardy up here. Sun worshipping sister boys need not apply.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but during the Ambrosie tour, it was determined that the majority of fans were in favour of moving the start of the season earlier. Specifically, the 4 eastern fanbases were split (I was at the Ottawa one and it was pretty split - I was and remain in favour of leaving the schedule the way it was traditionally). The 5 western fanbases were more partial to moving the schedule to start and end earlier.

Corrected it was Winnipeg. Just trying to do a total for each team for the year.
None official revenue counts are hard to get, real numbers last year show 7 teams made money.
2 were close with all revenue counts.