Luke Willson goes off on the CFL..

GOLDMEMBER · July 09, 2025, 12:37:08 PM

Saskatchewan is to high.
They can barely half fill there glorious new stadium, while the team is always competitive and they get number 2? Pffft, nope!

theaardvark · July 10, 2025, 03:49:17 PM

Much of the Bombers financial success comes from the on field success.

Its much easier to be a booster of a winning team. When your bandwagon sells seasons tickets and has a waiting list, you know things are good.

Other teams see blips of fan base surge when they have some success, and huge drops when they struggle. EDM's dynasty kept that huge stadium full, and now they have to give tickets away.

New ownership in some cities is making an impact, for sure, and getting rich corporate owners in places like TO and CGY to invest more in promoting the teams would go a long way to making a difference.

TecnoGenius · July 12, 2025, 01:37:09 AM

Quote from: The Zipp on July 05, 2025, 11:22:48 PMLuke calling out the ticats fans for not travelling the 45 mins to toronto to watch their team.

Haha, considering the TOR fans don't travel the 35 mins to get to their own stadium! LOL. If I lived in any of those cities I'd go to all HAM, TOR, OTT and MTL games. I love driving.

TecnoGenius · July 12, 2025, 01:42:41 AM

Quote from: The Zipp on July 08, 2025, 07:30:33 PM9) Hamilton Ticats - there seem to be a few awesome fans but overall what a fraudulent gong show

HAM is a split base. There's tons of "normal" fans like you'd see in WPG, who sit and love watching. Tons of passion. Tons of pain from not winning those 2 GCs. But they are great fans.

Then there are the rowdy rough drunks, who, a TOR friend of mine who goes sometimes tells me, give the fan base a bad name.

HAM, once always full (probably 3rd place in attendance), suffered from the same effect as SSK and EDM the last few years: perpetually losing and showing no respect to the fans by trying to improve caused tons of STH to quit for good. None of those 3 teams have been able to get those fans back. They'll need to generate new fans.

Luke is right about CGY: very fairweather. And they all show up late, like really late. With the "real" tailgates, CGY may be the true "it's a big party" rather than a football game.

TecnoGenius · July 12, 2025, 01:45:57 AM

Quote from: theaardvark on July 10, 2025, 03:49:17 PMMuch of the Bombers financial success comes from the on field success.

Its much easier to be a booster of a winning team.

Ya, but then I'll once again mention, as I always do, that WPG was selling tons of tickets, even some sell-outs, when they stunk rocks in '13-'15.

As long as the team and org shows respect for the fans, and shows continued efforts to improve, I think WPG fans will remain loyal even if we lose badly for 3 years. The Can Mafia may have taken a looong time to "get there", but they always showed effort and respect.

Jesse · July 12, 2025, 02:03:14 AM

Quote from: TecnoGenius on July 12, 2025, 01:45:57 AMYa, but then I'll once again mention, as I always do, that WPG was selling tons of tickets, even some sell-outs, when they stunk rocks in '13-'15.

As long as the team and org shows respect for the fans, and shows continued efforts to improve, I think WPG fans will remain loyal even if we lose badly for 3 years. The Can Mafia may have taken a looong time to "get there", but they always showed effort and respect.

We've also had season where the number of people in the stands were counted in the hundreds, not thousands.

Those years after the stadium were built were kind of inflated. We had a bunch of new season ticket holders due to the promise of being able to pick seats in the new stadium and those boosted numbers held strongish during those tough years. Thankfully, the team started turning it around or it would have gotten rough.

TecnoGenius · July 12, 2025, 02:20:20 AM

Quote from: Jesse on July 12, 2025, 02:03:14 AMThose years after the stadium were built were kind of inflated.

Then what's New Mosaic's excuse? They have their new "beautiful" stadium too.

RebusRankin · July 12, 2025, 02:51:35 AM

Quote from: Jesse on July 12, 2025, 02:03:14 AMWe've also had season where the number of people in the stands were counted in the hundreds, not thousands.

Those years after the stadium were built were kind of inflated. We had a bunch of new season ticket holders due to the promise of being able to pick seats in the new stadium and those boosted numbers held strongish during those tough years. Thankfully, the team started turning it around or it would have gotten rough.

100s? I'll call BS.
We've been averaging 24000+ since around 2000.

Jesse · July 12, 2025, 04:42:13 AM

Quote from: RebusRankin on July 12, 2025, 02:51:35 AM100s? I'll call BS.
We've been averaging 24000+ since around 2000.

I would call BS in that average in a few of those years, but I was talking about the late 90s. You could count the number of people in the stands.

No reason to pretend we haven't had some lean seasons. It happens to every team.

gobombersgo · July 12, 2025, 08:44:55 AM

Make sure everyone gives Luke a nice warm welcome to Winnipeg next Friday. lol

Ridermania · July 12, 2025, 01:40:18 PM

Luke was in Regina last night at the game and walked around the concourse visiting fans. He's one tall dude.

GOLDMEMBER · July 12, 2025, 02:00:13 PM

Quote from: Jesse on July 12, 2025, 04:42:13 AMI would call BS in that average in a few of those years, but I was talking about the late 90s. You could count the number of people in the stands.

No reason to pretend we haven't had some lean seasons. It happens to every team.

incorrect. Even the Tim Burke or Mike Kelly years the club would still get 22,000-25,000 consistently.

Throw Long Bannatyne · July 12, 2025, 04:28:44 PM

Quote from: Jesse on July 12, 2025, 04:42:13 AMI would call BS in that average in a few of those years, but I was talking about the late 90s. You could count the number of people in the stands.

No reason to pretend we haven't had some lean seasons. It happens to every team.

Don't agree, can't recall ever seeing Wpg. stadium more than half empty like some other stadiums have been the last few years. The lowest season ticket sales would still have been 12-15k during the lean years.

blue_gold_84 · July 13, 2025, 06:37:36 PM

Quote from: Jesse on July 12, 2025, 04:42:13 AMI would call BS in that average in a few of those years, but I was talking about the late 90s. You could count the number of people in the stands.

No reason to pretend we haven't had some lean seasons. It happens to every team.

Even during the darkest of the dark times, I don't think attendance was ever even remotely that low.

The WFC claims an average of over 20K going back to 1971: https://www.bluebombers.com/blue-bombers-history/

QuoteThe club has averaged more than 20,000 in attendance each and every year since 1971, and as a percentage of capacity the Bombers' attendance is probably unmatched elsewhere over the long run.

John Hodge appears to have done the math back in 2021: https://3downnation.com/2021/03/25/how-cfl-attendance-has-changed-over-the-past-fifty-years-with-a-close-look-at-b-c-and-toronto/

No sources cited, so take these figures for what you will. I see no reason to doubt them, though.

Jesse · July 14, 2025, 12:31:18 AM

Quote from: blue_gold_84 on July 13, 2025, 06:37:36 PMEven during the darkest of the dark times, I don't think attendance was ever even remotely that low.

The WFC claims an average of over 20K going back to 1971: https://www.bluebombers.com/blue-bombers-history/

John Hodge appears to have done the math back in 2021: https://3downnation.com/2021/03/25/how-cfl-attendance-has-changed-over-the-past-fifty-years-with-a-close-look-at-b-c-and-toronto/

No sources cited, so take these figures for what you will. I see no reason to doubt them, though.

I appreciate that. But this is where a bit of a double standard comes in that we apply to other teams but not our own.

There were some heavily papered crowds in some of those years. And if you went to some of those games in the Reinbolt years, you would not claim there were 20k people there.

We're also applying some modern standards to past data. Right now, teams averaging 20k seems like a pipedream. At the time, averaging that number was a fight for survival that nearly drove the entire league to bankruptcy many times.