Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
That, frankly, is complete nonsense. The Hitmen and Roughnecks are among the highest drawing teams in their leagues. And we host successful events in numerous sports on top of that.
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The NLL is the "major league" for (box) lacrosse and its pretty widely televised.
As for the Hitmen, that's probably the exception to the rule because its hockey, but I'll give you that one. There's still a long history of poorly supported pro or semi pro teams in Soccer, Basketball, Baseball as well as poorly supported University sports generally.
As a city, we also seem to be okay with aging facilities (Saddledome, McMahon, Foothills, etc.) relative to the offerings in Edmonton, Regina or Winnipeg. Whether that's an issue of public or private funding is a separate issue, but the fact is our facilities are becoming less and less competitive, which doesn't help.
I think its a pretty fair statement that sports teams in Calgary have a tough time. I think much of that is the thought that we're too "big fish", like Jimmy Stang noted. I have a bit of that bias myself for soccer, so I'm hopeful CPL can be a decent product.