[cfl alive and well]

[tellitslant]

I was aware before I moved that CFL football is much bigger in western Canada than it is in the east, but, wow, is it ever true. The bar I watched the Grey Cup in was full of other Edmonton fans, for example, and in chatting with my dad this weekend I learned that the Toronto team are being moved to a new stadium with a smaller capacity, less than half of Edmonton's. I have no idea what the reason behind this is - I mean, in Saskatchewan the Roughriders are the only pro sports team, I think, but Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver have hockey as well. It makes me kind of sad, but it does help explain how hard I found it to get people together to watch the games.

I guess that if the crowds are smaller, it'll be cheaper to get tickets to games here. And I'll feel less worried about wearing the opposing team's colours. There are a lot of teams I'd root for over Toronto. *g*

Comments

[jae]

I anticipate you discovering certain new-hometown allegiances. :)

-J

[tellitslant]

I BEG YOUR PARDON. *gasp of mortal offence*

I might bring myself to cheer for Toronto if they're playing, say, Calgary or Winnipeg. But I'll never be a fan. ;)

[jae]

It sounds like they need your love more than the Esks do, though (I show you it, my warped sports-allegiance logic!).

-J

[tellitslant]

Yeah, but they're not my team! :P (I have a whole hierarchy developed about which CFL teams I can cheer for against whom. Toronto's kinda... middling.)

I might feel bad enough to become a Maple Leafs fan, since I don't have previous hockey allegiance, really...

[hobbitbabe]

Yeah, I think having NHL teams is a big part of why the CFL teams struggle in those markets.

I grew up outside Hamilton, with Tiger-Cat fans. (True fact - Hamilton used to have TWO football teams, the Tigers and the Wildcats, and they merged). From the viewpoint of across the lake, the Argos were the big city bad guys. Facebook tells me that my old classmates who now live in Toronto still pay attention to the Tiger-Cats.

And when I was a small child, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Vancouver didn't have NHL teams yet (although there were no Raptors or Blue Jays either). It kind of makes sense that the CFL allegiances might be about what one's dad watched. I didn't know the names of any NFL teams until after I was grown up and there were sports channels on TV.

[tellitslant]

Huh, I hadn't actually realised that NHL franchises were so recent out west! I don't really have any sense of hockey time, though, tbh - I don't know when the original six expanded or anything. That definitely does explain it a bit more.

And I still don't really know the names of many NFL teams - and not very many NHL ones, either. :P

[livii.livejournal.com]

The Skydome was always a terrible fit for the Argos - we went to a game once and it was nearly empty and felt cavernous. Really didn't work. You were so far from the field, too. Looks like BMO Field holds 25,000 - I think that's a very generous number for the Argos fanbase. I'm surprised to learn Edmonton holds 50K+ then! I know it's different out west too, but didn't realize it was that different.

We went to Regina once a few years ago, and on game day 95% of the town was walking around in gear or colours. It's still surprising to me, because I lived in Halifax for three years, and there's no pro sports at all, but no one other sport dominated like that - in fact there wasn't a huge sports culture generally.

[tellitslant]

Yeah, Commonwealth seats 56k - it doesn't sell out often any longer, but I remember it doing so regularly when I was younger, a couple of times in the last few years, and for the Western final this year.

Saskatchewan is ridiculous for football - half the province drives in for the games, it seems. I know they keep talking about floating a team in the Atlantic provinces, but man, I don't know... *g*