Most fans in Alberta? Oilers or Flames?

[Yrebmi]

Oilers had a lot of early success and a 1 year head start.

I know growing up in Rocky Mt House we were heavily outnumbered, but seems to be a pretty even split these days.
I have met several Flames fans in the states and out of province, and honestly cannot recall even one Oilers fan. Of course I typically wear Flames hats and such, which would cause fellow fans to speak up - where as any Oilers fans would more likely not say anything.


Edit - for some reason I had thought Oilers began 1970

[Jordan!]

Originally Posted by Dienasty

I agree with you, in grade 9 (2001) I was the only Flames fan on my AA Bantam hockey team half were Oilers fans, some Canucks, Avalanche, Detroit, Canadiens and Leafs fans.

Oilers had Weight, Guerin, Arnott, Cujo, ripped off the Islanders in every trade, had wild first round battles with Dallas every year. People must really forget the "young guns," basically no playoffs in the 90's, not getting out of the first round from 89 to 2004. Moving MacInnis, Suter, Mullen, Roberts, and finally Nieuwendyk was the ultimate decline in fan support. After Nieuwendyk was traded my grandpa went back to cheering for the Rangers his team as a kid.

Even in 2004, there were more Canucks fans going into that 1st round series at my high school.

Iggy and the cup run really turned around the teams popularity.

I’m just a couple years older than you. This post nailed my point 100%

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by wired

More like delusional, heavy drinking, rose coloured glasses wearing fans. I am in that group by the way...

You're ... an Oilers fan??

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[Hockey_Ninja]

There’s more Oiler fans due to the 80’s dynasty and McDavid and Leon currently.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Dienasty

I agree with you, in grade 9 (2001) I was the only Flames fan on my AA Bantam hockey team half were Oilers fans, some Canucks, Avalanche, Detroit, Canadiens and Leafs fans.

Oilers had Weight, Guerin, Arnott, Cujo, ripped off the Islanders in every trade, had wild first round battles with Dallas every year. People must really forget the "young guns," basically no playoffs in the 90's, not getting out of the first round from 89 to 2004. Moving MacInnis, Suter, Mullen, Roberts, and finally Nieuwendyk was the ultimate decline in fan support. After Nieuwendyk was traded my grandpa went back to cheering for the Rangers his team as a kid.

Even in 2004, there were more Canucks fans going into that 1st round series at my high school.

Iggy and the cup run really turned around the teams popularity.

Originally Posted by Jordan!

I’m just a couple years older than you. This post nailed my point 100%

Just because there weren’t many hardcore flames fans, doesn’t mean there were tons of oilers fans.

I recall lots of people cheering for the Oilers in those 90s playoff series as an underdog, but none of them were oilers fans. But that was in the late 90s. It was in the era of Canadian teams almost leaving, Flames dark days and no salary cap. It was common, and still is amongst casual fans, to cheer for any Canadian team to win the cup.

I didn’t meet hardly any oilers fans in high school during the early 2000s. By then, even though the flames still kind of sucked, Iggy had brought the flames back to respectability.

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by Jordan!

Calgary was a deeply Oilers town until 2004

In the mid 90s when Oilers were a mess, it was hard to find anyone in Edmonton admitting to be an Oilers fan, let alone Calgary.

If you're judging a team's fanbase after they've missed the playoffs 4+ years in a row at a time when the other team is a competitive playoff team, it's going to feel that way. That stuff is cyclical.

[1qqaaz]

We should note that outside of hockey, Calgary as a city is much more well-known than Edmonton is. Anecdotally, I would say at least 80% of the people around here have never even heard of Edmonton. Calgary, on the other hand, is at least a city that people have heard of and heard great things about. Whether it's the ski hills, national parks, zoo, Olympics, badlands/fossils, Stampede, airport, of simply the size, Calgary is better for tourism.

In fact, I think even Banff might be as well-known as Edmonton. According to WorldAtlas, Banff is the 9th most visited city, Calgary is 5th, Edmonton isn't in the top 10.

[Goriders]

I’d guess oiler fans.

They are like locusts. Or maybe cockroaches?

Everywhere you look.

[taxbuster]

I'd be willing to bet that Sportsnet (as crappy as they are) did some polling back when...and they have a pretty good idea that E=NG rules the province, because their advertising is *heavily* slanted in that direction. For all that their production values are horsecrap, their business side is pretty solid and that's who would have done the measuring. Given that in most ads one barely - if at all - sees a Flames jersey and there is no shortage of Greaser colours tells me all I need to know about fanbases.

This is more evident in the regional broadcasts than the national ones, but it shows up in both. Advertisers don't like to waste their money, and when SN advertises for itself it's the No Goods most of the time.

Oh, and that comment about Calgary being an Oiler town prior to 2004? Pure poppycock. I lived there from 1978-2013 and that comment is simply off the charts stupid.

[Royal Eagle]

Now?

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Jordan!

Calgary was a deeply Oilers town until 2004

I doubt that. The Battles of Alberta in the 80's cemented Calgary as a Flames base. No battles since have ever come close to the intensity and hate of those games.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by redforever

I doubt that. The Battles of Alberta in the 80's cemented Calgary as a Flames base. No battles since have ever come close to the intensity and hate of those games.

It didn't even take that. Calgary has always hated Edmonton with the heat of a thousand suns. We hated the Oilers when the Flames were still in Atlanta – doubly so when Edmonton got an NHL team and we didn't.

Moving the Flames to Calgary was brilliant marketing. It tapped into a rivalry that had already existed for decades.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Royal Eagle

Now?

Still oilers. Will be for a while yet.

[BigT112]

Meh. Maybe the Oilers have more fans but that also means there is more people to throw jerseys on the ice.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by redforever

I doubt that. The Battles of Alberta in the 80's cemented Calgary as a Flames base. No battles since have ever come close to the intensity and hate of those games.

In the mid-80s through the mid-90s I almost never saw Oilers fans in Calgary. Not at school. Not at work. It was one girl in my high school who wore an Oilers jersey, and one guy on the 4th floor at work who had a poster of Messier. If there were Oilers fans in Calgary in any numbers, they kept their heads down.

There seem to be more around now - my daughter says lots of her classmates and even some teachers are Oilers fans. Openly. I’d guess a lot more Edmontonians have moved here for work in the last 25 years. And the hatred isn’t like it was back then. Flames vs Oilers was bigger than hockey, bigger than sports - it was intense.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by BigT112

Meh. Maybe the Oilers have more fans but that also means there is more people to throw jerseys on the ice.

They’re also objectively worse people and a lower form of human than flames fans.

[CroFlames]

Maybe it was more intense back then, but it's about to be ratcheted up a few notches.



I predict there will be tons of fights in the stands and in bars as it will be impossible to keep home and away fans separate.



Couple that with 20-something dude bros all drinking their faces off... it could get ugly.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Maybe it was more intense back then, but it's about to be ratcheted up a few notches.



I predict there will be tons of fights in the stands and in bars as it will be impossible to keep home and away fans separate.



Couple that with 20-something dude bros all drinking their faces off... it could get ugly.

Oh, it was more intense for sure. The rules of hockey have changed quite a bit since the 80s. The Battles of Alberta from back then literally left blood on the ice, regularly.

[Salt Water Cowboy #10]

Way more Oiler fans. The proof is in the 50/50 numbers

[Infinit47]

Originally Posted by Jordan!

Yes it was.. I didn't know a single Flames fan which is what brought me to Calgarypuck in 2001.

Like real Flames fan, not a single one. The dome was a library and the team was on the verge of moving. Oilers fans were everywhere and outnumbered Flames fans at the Saddledome and around the city.

While I do agree there are more Edmonton fans in AB than Calgary fans, let's not pretend the Oilers didn't have worse attendance problems and were way closer than Calgary to moving.