Quote:
Originally Posted by Snakeeye
The building should, and maybe it eventually will. Given that there was virtually no lacrosse community in Calgary when the Roughnecks were formed in 2001, to pull in over 100,000 fans this year shows remarkable growth. It takes time to build a product.
And relating this back to the topic at hand, the Roughnecks have generally done a good job building an entertaining product that people want to see. Your letter to the paper regarding the Vipers places a lot of blame on the fans, whereas I believe the greater fault lies with Gidney and Young failing to build a product that will entice people back to the ballpark.
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I was heavily involved with the former Calgary Cannons throughout the mid to late 90s. The Cannons owner, Russ Parker, was willing to invest alot of his own money into a new stadium downtown or massive improvements to Foothills Stadium. However, the city never offered any assistance. That was the beginning of the end for the highest level of baseball you can get without being in the majors. Foothills park was by far the worst AAA park in the league and most players said that it was in the bottom half of single A parks.
To be honest, I think Calgary's fans are fickle and really only want a hockey team and the CFL. Lacrosse has been successful so far, but their format (1 game every few weeks) and the facilities allow for fans to become more engaged with the product. Calgary has tried basketball and a variety of baseball with limited success.
I agree that Young hasnt run the team well, but even if he had, I dont think the results would have been that much different. The stadium is terrible, the location is terrible, the product (Independent baseball....compared to AAA) is poor and there isnt any sign from the city that they are interested in anything other than the NHL and CFL.