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Originally Posted by Oil Stain
If you break down the fan base of every city into optimistic, pessimistic, blindly optimistic, and clueless you will have roughly the same percentages every where.
I really don't understand the whole "our fans are better then your fans" mentality some people have. It's really pretty ridiculous when you think about it.
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You'll notice that I took some shots at the Flames fanbase in my comment. There's a certain group of fans for every team who think things are always on the verge of turning around. Whether you call them delusional or loyal, they defy rational assessments of the state of their franchise.
The Oilers do seem to have more of those types of fans. Other cities (Philly was cited by another poster) are notorious for getting on their team right away when things aren't going well. While others, like Toronto, complain endlessly but never lose the faith.
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Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Yeah I don't know if I buy that. The Eskimos used to average over 40,000 per game for decades and recently their attendance has eroded as the team has become the CFL equivalent of the Oilers.
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The CFL isn't the NFL. Business big-wigs don't try to impress clients by taking them to an Eskimos game.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
I recall 3/4 full buildings in the 90's in Edmonton just as there was in Calgary during the young guns years.
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The economy in Alberta sucked then, and it had become evident that Calgary and Edmonton couldn't afford to ice competitive teams without a cap. That's what turned fans away. And the pro sports market is a lot different now.
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Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Flames are getting pardoned this season because it's really the first year of the rebuild but if this rebuild goes as poorly as Edmonton's I don't believe there will be full houses in the Saddledome as some fans will find better things to do with their time and money than watch a perennial loser and bad product. Ottawa doesn't sell out now and they have a tem that makes or competes for the playoffs.
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The core seasons ticket base in Alberta is the business crowd. They buy their season's tickets year after year because there isn't anything else in this city that compares (outside of Stampede) for schmoozing and impressing your peers. Look around at the dome sometime. If it isn't the 55 year VP of finance in the seats, it's his 20-year-old daughter and her friends. I don't believe the win-loss has much, if any, impact on these people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
It's different with the Oilers. Every offseason the media (all local and even some national) hypes their talent like the next season is going to be the one where they turn the corner and go from worst to playoffs.
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You will have noticed in recent years in Calgary, even with a critical media (local and national), many fans deluded themselves that the Flames were fine, they didn't need a rebuild, and paying for tickets to watch a 30-something Iginla pot 30 goals is just fine, thank you very much.