Not that I want to turn this into a CFL debate. The renegades/rough riders drew close to 13,000-15,000 fans every game even though the team was abysmal and the ownership/management was horrid. That 13,000-15,000 fans that showed up no matter what. When (not if) a CFL franchise returns to Ottawa and it has ownership that cares and management that know what they're doing people come back and support the team and will easily average 20,000 fans a game.
Is averaging 20,000 actually enough for the team to survive? I would have guessed the average would need to be between 25k and 30k. What do the Ticats and Argos average.
For me though, I always question the number of die-hard CFL fans people claim are in this city. I gauge it by two things:
- how often do I hear somebody call / e-mail in to the TEAM1200 wanting to discuss the CFL
- how often does someone I work with want to chat about the CFL around the water cooler
The answer to both questions is "virtually never".
The standard reply to this is "well, why would people be interested when we don't have a team?"
To which I point out that we don't have an NFL team, but there are tons of people in my office who like to talk about that league. We don't have a soccer team of any kind, but there are quite a few people I know who follow and discuss the various European soccer leagues. And we don't have an F1 racing team, but after hockey that is probably the most discussed sport in our office.
So, I guess I just don't buy that there is really that much interest.
I there is nothing better than watching football on a warm summer evening at Frank Clair. If you've never had the pleasure you don't know what you're missing.
I went to only a couple Renegades games, but I thought they were great. Lots of action, and the atmosphere is so much more party like than the way things have become for the Sens games at SBP.
And yeah, drinking a few beers on a warm summer evening watching 24 guys chase a leather ball is definitely a fun thing.
As for baseball another kettle of fish. This whole country seems to have lost it's taste for baseball. There used to be quite a few AAA teams in Canada they are all gone now, the Lynx were the last to leave. I hope this franchise suceeds, but don't hold out much hope.
Baseball was killed in this city by what happened in 1994. This was Expos country, and I was as big a baseball fan as anyone. After the Expos had their best season truncated, I've never attended another professional baseball game at any level.
back at you for beleiving that CFL football will survive here in Ottawa...
