Who's More? Rider or Bomber fans?

[TecnoGenius]

For the fans who went to both LDC and BB, which team's fans travelled better?  Or, if you couldn't make either game, what did it look like on TV?  You might have to abstain if you went to one game but not the other, as you probably can't compare the vastly different views fairly.

I know what I saw... I'll wait to say what until after.

And I wonder if the results differ over the years?  Maybe someone can speak to that, too.

(And yes, the grammar on both the subject and question is probably wrong: what a strange quirk of English that this is strangely difficult to put into words!)

[bomb squad]

I have to abstain because I didn't go the LDC. What I have noticed though is there is less and less Rider Fans at the BB every year. Used to be a lot more say 7 years ago. That's understandable considering the number of times we've throttled them in this game in recent years. Not much fun for them. No, we don't win much either at the LDC, but at least we're usually somewhat competitive.

[buckzumhoff]

They had alot of fans at the game. We had a lot of fans at labor day. I'd say about the same. Bomber fans had seats all over and so did they.

[bwiser]

I have to abstain because I didn't go the LDC. What I have noticed though is there is less and less Rider Fans at the BB every year. Used to be a lot more say 7 years ago. That's understandable considering the number of times we've throttled them in this game in recent years. Not much fun for them. No, we don't win much either at the LDC, but at least we're usually somewhat competitive.

I have noticed that as well. There are much less Rider fans at games now compared to a few years ago. I think there are probably a couple reasons. The Riders usually lose the Banjo Bowl and their fans get tired of losing. The Banjo Bowl was sold out early so any Rider fans who were going to come but hadn't got tickets likely got shutout.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I have noticed that as well. There are much less Rider fans at games now compared to a few years ago. I think there are probably a couple reasons. The Riders usually lose the Banjo Bowl and their fans get tired of losing. The Banjo Bowl was sold out early so any Rider fans who were going to come but hadn't got tickets likely got shutout.

Could be the Rider fans that showed up are already living in Wpg., from reading a couple of forums their fans were not enthusiastic about making the trip to Wpg. cause they knew a beatdown was likely instore.

[lockman]

Way more Bomber fans at LDC. The hotels do well in Regina that weekend. Met a guy in full Bomber gear who grew up and lives in Langevin. Has never cheered for  the Riders.

[GOLDMEMBER]

Way more Bomber fans were at the LDC. Rider fans were sparse at the BB.

[Nic16]

Way more Bomber fans were at the LDC. Rider fans were sparse at the BB.

Agree! Hotels on the East side of Regina were full of BB fans.

[TecnoGenius]

From my vantage point at both games there were way more Bomber fans @LDC.  I was actually surprised how relatively few green jerseys there were @BB this year.  I had the binocs at both games and was scoping out the other side and the EZs.

Both games had the (probably?) bus groups taking up big chunks in 1-2 sections.  That's always good to see.  But the random other-colored-jersey in the stands was far less @BB.  My guess is the random fan attendance was 2X or 3X more WPG @LDC than SSK @BB.  Maybe even more.

I could have sworn there were more green jerseys at last year's BB.

And so few SSK fans stayed to go on the field after.  Sure they just lost and were bummed, but going on the field is a heck of a lot of fun, and from what I can tell Mosaic never allows it.  I stayed really late @LDC and they never opened the field.  In fact, there don't appear to be any/many ramps to get down from the stands!  I totally would have gone on the Mosaic field had they allowed it, with the 3 of us in our Bomber gear.

[TecnoGenius]

That's understandable considering the number of times we've throttled them in this game in recent years. Not much fun for them. No, we don't win much either at the LDC, but at least we're usually somewhat competitive.

Is that it?  I guess it could affect things on the margin.  There are a lot of people who can't bear watching a loss.

Maybe the fans here who've been to 10 or 20 LDCs can tell us whether the WPG attendance @LDC used to be worse when we were sucking bad.  Likewise, did more SSK show up when we stunk in 2012-2014?

[TecnoGenius]

The Banjo Bowl was sold out early so any Rider fans who were going to come but hadn't got tickets likely got shutout.

That's a good point.  Those sell-outs can hurt the last-minute attendance by visitors.  However, the aftermarket sites always have stuff available, and usually somewhere around face value.

I didn't look at the BB situation before the game, I guess I should have.  I had a friend visiting from out of town just for this game, and they had to use stubhub and paid a bit of a premium for upper-corner seats.

I was watching the east-side noseleeds the whole BB and there were many (50-100) gold-color seats that never had any butts in them.  So I'm guessing those were still for sale on TM... unless young'ns use those last cheap tickets as ways to just get in and hang out at the Rum Hut?  If so, it must be an east-side thing because on my west side, the sections between the 35s were basically at 100% attendance.

Good for both clubs!!  I bet both Prez's are pleased as punch.  And both got the result they need to sell more tickets for next home game!  This may end up being a record attendance year for IGF, except for maybe the inaugural new-stadium year?

[TecnoGenius]

Way more Bomber fans at LDC. The hotels do well in Regina that weekend. Met a guy in full Bomber gear who grew up and lives in Langevin. Has never cheered for  the Riders.

So where's the main SSK fan hotel spots in WPG for BB?  I would assume the only close-to-IGF hotels are pretty busy?  The 4-Points and the whatever-inn beside it near the perimeter, and the BW+ and Holiday Inn north down Pembina?  Or do the fans like to stay downtown, or around Polo?  No idea.

We're a bit different from SSK because we don't have nearly the same across-the-province 2+ hour drive-in contingent that they do.  Whenever we stay in Regina half the hotel is SSK fans from 2.5+ hours away.  Besides our resident Winkler guy, I can't think of any forum members who are way out of town.  I'm talking like Flin Flon or Swan River people.  I'm sure they exist, just not in the numbers they do in SSK because of their spread out population.

[blue_or_die]

My theory is that Rider fandom peaked in the Durant era and although they have very passionate fans still, taking it to the next level and travelling to even Winnipeg is just not something they're going to do in numbers like 10+ years go when they were contenders just about every year. That's not a slight on them- they still travel very well and there's green in the stands every away game, but what they were doing before wasn't sustainable.

See how nice I've become to Rider fans after a good beatdown?

[TecnoGenius]

I think it was Milt on the panel said (and I think Barker agreed?) that Bomber fans are now the best fans in the league?  In terms of attendance, support, volume, etc.  I think he's right.  I think we beat SSK avg attendance even though their toiletbowl barn is bigger.  That must have driven the greenies into a rage!

I will hand it to SSK fans, they represent at nearly every game in every city, even when Riders are not playing.  For some reason those greenies visit other cities a lot and remember to take their jerseys.  I think the general opinion here was wearing a jersey to a team not playing is gauche.  I dunno, if I ever get to BC Place or wherever for a game and Bombers aren't playing, I'm still wearing B&G.  Call me gauche.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I think it was Milt on the panel said (and I think Barker agreed?) that Bomber fans are now the best fans in the league?  In terms of attendance, support, volume, etc.  I think he's right.  I think we beat SSK avg attendance even though their toiletbowl barn is bigger.  That must have driven the greenies into a rage!

I will hand it to SSK fans, they represent at nearly every game in every city, even when Riders are not playing.  For some reason those greenies visit other cities a lot and remember to take their jerseys.  I think the general opinion here was wearing a jersey to a team not playing is gauche.  I dunno, if I ever get to BC Place or wherever for a game and Bombers aren't playing, I'm still wearing B&G.  Call me gauche.

I don't think Rider fans travel to many games, fact is Sask. does not offer much so many of their citizens leave for better economic opportunities elsewhere.  They show up at away games in green because they're proud of being from that ********, but happy they left.