Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
First, I recognize this is a Calgary board and people hate the Riders with a passion for a variety of reasons that makes them have an illogical and occasionally the arguments lack any reason or logic.
That being said, you can't be serious?
A team that hasn't missed the playoffs this millennium, who was pegged to at least contend for the West and was thought to be guaranteed a playoff spot and has appeared in 3 of the last 4 GC games has an awful, awful season filled with numerous embarrassing losses, terrible coaching, a wildly inconsistent team and you are shocked that they didn't sell out a meaningless game? Seriously?
The Riders are eliminated from the playoffs, they have been for weeks and it isn't like they were pegged to suck, this is a huge disappointment for Rider nation. Even fans like me who thought they were more of a 10-8 to 8-10 team are shocked at just how bad they are.
I've been to meaningless Stamps games with less than 10k people (I think it was in the rain against an East team a few seasons ago). Did they just fold up shop and contract the team? Did people consider Calgary had gone cold as a football market?
Again, I totally get that as Calgary fans who feel that the whole "Rider Nation" thing is shoved down their throats by TSN and hate the invading fans at McMahon totally love this.
But the announced crowd was over 25k I believe and the actual crowd was about 20k. All for a meaningless game, against a meaningless opponent on a cold, windy, fall day in Regina.
If we declared every franchise's fan base as crumbling when they only drew 20k fans this league would already be under. Again, I get that it is different for Sask because none of the other teams are declared "greatest fans in the universe" on a regular basis by TSN and other media outlets, so for the Riders to maintain that monicker they need to be the team that draws better than everyone else and still sell out when they suck. Well, IMO 20k for a meaningless game isn't bad, regardless of who the fans are. In fact, in many other CFL cities there may have only been 10k fans there. So maybe 20k wasn't so bad given the circumstances.
I do think the "bandwagon" will empty a bit heading into next season. Just like with the Calgary Flames, the fans who came on board when it was trendy and tickets were tough to get and it was the place to be will quickly fall off. I remember a day when even having sportchek zone tickets was considered awesome because you could not even get a ticket to a Flames game.
What ends up happening is that a huge chunk of those fairweather fans jump off the bandwagon, others go back to being casual fans and a relatively small percentage got the bug for life and end up being hardcores for life.
Next season most of the games will still sell out but you won't see the kind of fervor from the trendy crowd who only went because it was the popular thing to do. Frankly this is better for everyone involved. Opposing fans get to say that the "greatest fans in the universe" thing was all BS marketing conspiracy from TSN, real fans get tickets easier and cheaper and there may be less drunken baboons who don't even know what a first down is.
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Am I stating that the Riders are suddenly going to struggle to draw fans, and risk losing their team? No, not for a second. They are still a very good draw, and their fan support is still good for the league. They will still get decent crowds, along with Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, and BC.
I was speculating that perhaps the much praised Rider Nation was not as fervent in their support for the team as TSN has stated. Over the last 5 years. Rider Nation has been jammed down our throats, and yes, Stampeder fans love the fact that the team is in the basement, and that the watermelon wearing, Pilsner drinking idiots are leaving.
You can argue that Winnipeg is currently experiencing the same trendiness in terms of support that the Riders received 5 years ago, with the team drawing an all time record of 29559 fans, and moving into a new stadium next year. There are ups and downs in attendance in every sport.
The difference is that Rider Nation was acting like they were the most loyal fans in the history of sport, and that fans wouldn’t leave if the team started to lose. I guess we will see who shows up next year…