Attendance on the rise after two home games

With all CFL teams having now had two home gates, things are looking promising for the 2007 season.

Only the Hamilton Tiger Cats had some serious slippage from this time last year. The Cats second home gate, which came on the heels of an 0 and 2 start, saw 5400 fans less in the Ivor Wynne Stands for the second game. Hamilton attracted 21542 to game number two, down from last year’s crowd of 26944 for the second game of the year.

BC and Calgary saw slight drops in attendance for the second home gate, though nothing of consequential value as the Stamps found 194 less in attendance from last year, while the Lions gate crowd was down 1469 from game number two a year ago.

The Big success of the numbers belonged to the Edmonton Eskimos who attracted, 46704 to game number two an increase of 13000 from last week and up 11699 from their second game gate of last year.

Winnipeg attracted 6000 more from last years gate for game two, while the Argos and Riders each found 2000 new friends from last years second game crowds.

With Hamilton showing some success against the Lions and Calgary totally dominating the Argos in their last home game there should be some more increases to come for home date number three for both of those teams.

By the numbers after two home gates:

Average attendance per team.

Montreal......... 20202
Toronto............29231
Hamilton.......... 24870
Winnipeg...........29533
Saskatchewan.. 26422
Edmonton......... 39871
Calgary............ 28653
BC.................... 30969

CFL AVERAGE: 28719

CFL attendance up over last season’s openers

With the exception of Edmonton and Montreal, all CFL home openers were played in front of larger crowds than this time a year ago. As 8,152 more fans picked up a ticket to a CFL home game in the first two weeks of the 2007 season.

Montreal of course neither loses nor gains in the crowd department as their stadium has been packed to the last seat game in and game out ever since Bono evicted them from the Big O. They are a faithful (if somewhat dispirited of late 20,202) group who have been making the Molson Stadium trek for a part of their party planning for a while now. Mind you with an 0-2 start though, we may soon start to see some empty seats and sad scalpers on the McGill campus (not to mention a long face or two in Larry Smith's office as he looks at those stadium expansion plans and goes hmmm) .

More disturbing for the CFL is the slight decline in the City formerly know as Champions, the Eskimos who left their fans watching from the sidelines at the end of last season, found that there was a dip in the opening night crowd at Commonwealth. With an opening night crow of 33,038 they were down some 7,453 seats from last years first game of the regular season. Perhaps all those Eskie fans had decided to save up their money for Canada’s Golden run at the World Cup U20, with Canada quickly eliminated from further pursuit of that round little ball, perhaps the discretionary family income will return to the Green and Gold Of course it might help to throw a few touchdowns and make a few sacks to show the folks you’re back in business.

But it isn’t all concern in the accounting department on the Monday morning following week number two of the regular season. There are more than a few positive signs coming out of the remaining six ball parks.

The BC Lions led the way in the gate increases with 32,893 taking in the first home game of the year, an increase of 5,354 from last year. With the Lions defence playing that mean ole smash mouth football and an offence loaded with weapons the crowds should remain high at BC Place during the season.

Saskatchewan had the second highest jump in attendance after the home opener. Sunday’s witnesses to the Slaughter of the Stampeders totaled 25,862 (and if the locals had any inkling of the carnage that was to come there would no doubt have been even more cramming the turnstiles) which came hot on the heels of the sold out pre season game in Regina. Kent Austin and Eric Tillman seem to have brought a winning focus to the riders and as the wins pile up we’re thinking that good seats will be hard to come by on the not so lonesome prairie.

Milt Stegall’s pursuit of the TD record, combined with opening night brought out 3,009 more fans than last years debut. The Big Blue performed in front of 29,533 at the home that the Asper’s bought (and hope to renovate). Already early favorites to fight the Argos for first in the East it’s shaping up to be a good year for the Blue’s players, fans and new owner.

The Double Blue had a bump on opening day, partially helped by the fact they’re hosting the Grey Cup this year and have sold more season tickets this year. Still the team found itself in the news a fair amount in the weeks leading up to the opener, a QB controversy always helps to generate the headlines and the ticket sales. 1,468 more visitors dropped into the Rogers sports emporium for opening day, pushing the beer concessions to work harder to fuel the 29,157 Argo fans in attendance.

Calgary had an increase of 707 fans on opening day at McMahon. With expectations still high in the Stampede city the followers of the Red and white took up their usual posts in the Northwest Stadium, some 29,103 strong. However, with a rather embarrassing thrashing in Saskatchewan on Sunday there will be a bit of hand holding required of the Stamps fans for the next home game July 24th. Perhaps it’s a good thing that they stay on the road this week, who really wants to listen to Calgary talk radio after that mess.

Wrapping up the attendance patrol are the Hamilton Tiger Cats who managed to attract an additional 287 fans into Ivor Wynne Stadium for Saturday’s (uhm, barn burner of a?) game with the Argos. We suspect that a few of the 28,198 in attendance were undercover Argo fans, but there was enough yellow and black in the stands to make the home side represented well. Though a few more beatings like the one the Argos provided and Ti Cat fans may be looking for a new cause to support.

Still, for the CFL having their two biggest stadiums hosting winning football this year surely won’t hurt the total attendance count by the time November rolls around. Both Toronto and BC are putting points on the board and fans in the seats, which combined with a rebirth in the heartland of the game in the West will prove to be a recipe for success.

By the numbers after one home game each.

Average attendance per team.

MONTREAL 20,202
TORONTO 29,157
HAMILTON 28,198
WINNIPEG 29,533
SASKATCHEWAN 25,862
CALGARY 29,103
EDMONTON 33,038
BC 32,893

CFL AVERAGE – 28,499

Attendance bench marks to watch for this season.

As the CFL prepares for another regular season, it will be worth keeping an eye on the turnstile count to see which teams are rewarding the fans with good football and are finding a receptive crowd in the stands.

For those inclined to count the seats and for comparison purposes, here are the team averages for the 2006 season.

Regular season

Montreal-23,025........ Molson Stadium (cap 20,202) **a
Toronto-29,677........... Rogers Centre (cap 53, 506)
Hamilton-26,732........ Ivor Wynne Stadium (cap 30,000)
Winnipeg-27,008....... Canad Inns Stadium (cap 29,503)
Regina-25,293............ Mosaic Field (cap 28,800)
Edmonton-37,870...... Commonwealth Stadium (cap 60,081)
Calgary-30,772.......... McMahon Stadium (cap 35,650)
BC-31,190.................. BC Place (cap 35,000)**b

League Average
Regular season—28,947

East semi final at Toronto—26,214
West semi final at Calgary—36,650
East final at Montreal—35,507
West final at BC—50,084

Grey Cup at Winnipeg—44,786

Notes:

**a--Montreal numbers include two games played at Olympic Stadium
**b--BC Lions only use lower bowl and one upper side for their regular season.