A BC Place observation.

[Hambone]

I didn't make it in for last night's game but assume it was the same. Is it just me or does BC Place finally have it figured out....at least on my side of the stadium? For years I had a season ticket 2 rows from the exit to the concourse in what is now Section 243. It was always a big challenge bordering on impossible feat to wait until the 1st half before commencing the usual halftime routine; go for a whiz, have a 3 minute chin-wag in the concourse with somebody, buy beer and get back to my seat in time for the 2nd half kickoff. If anything I'd usually miss a minute or two of the second half unless I ducked out of the 1st half with under a minute to play. Now I sit 15 rows lower in 242 and it seems like the same routine can be pulled off and still get back to my seat with minutes to spare prior to kickoff. Maybe the difference is those club seats in the top dozen rows because those folks don't have to go to the main concourse with us peasants.

[Upper Bowl]

Yep........gotta give PavCo its due, things are running smoothly.

Being upstairs, It's always been quicker to hit the can or concession, but the in-and-outs are even faster now.

[Sir Purrcival]

Refillable pop sure helps Buy a drink at the beginning of the game and then you can refill at your leisure without waiting in a line.

[Hambone]

Refillable pop sure helps Buy a drink at the beginning of the game and then you can refill at your leisure without waiting in a line.

I recommend expanding that to cover beer. Then you'll see some sellouts.

[SJ46]

I know I'm not alone when I say I'd like to see them get off the "Let's make some noise" theme. We don't need to keep being told to make noise. It's already plenty noisy in there.

[TheLionKing]

Angus Reid was saying on his afternoon radio show that with all due respect to Rider fans and Mosaic Stadium, the fans at BC Place are louder especially with the roof closed. The noise bounces off the roof and back onto the field making it impossible to hear.

[notahomer]

I know I'm not alone when I say I'd like to see them get off the "Let's make some noise" theme. We don't need to keep being told to make noise. It's already plenty noisy in there.

No, you are definately NOT ALONE in that! I whine about it after EVERY HOME GAME in the post game comments. I think its another counterintuitive thing. Everyone assumes if you tell people to make noise, they will BUT, do they?

It doesn't work for me. Part of the problem is NOBODY likes being told what to do. I think the decibel meter thing works better because we know how to make it rise (make NOISE) but we aren't being told to do so.

Sometimes they say "MAKE SOME NOISE" at the wrong times like when the Lions are recieing a kickoff. SO, you need to tell me to scream to get a game started, get excited BUT then be quiet for the offence? Dumb, IMO. The Riderfans quickly caught onto the graphics. It was like a library in there sometimes while the Lions were on offence. But then Gameday Staff would 'remind' us to be quiet (SHHH!) for the Lions offence. Riderfans clued in and started making noise! Or starting "Lets go Riders" chants hoping to be drowned out by Lions fans disrupting their teams homefield advantage.

Gameday stuff needs some work, IMO. Somethings have gotten much better, IMO. Like STATS, replays. I'm with you though, lose the "MAKE SOME NOISE".

[David]

Sometimes they say "MAKE SOME NOISE" at the wrong times like when the Lions are recieing a kickoff. SO, you need to tell me to scream to get a game started, get excited BUT then be quiet for the offence? Dumb, IMO. The Riderfans quickly caught onto the graphics. It was like a library in there sometimes while the Lions were on offence. But then Gameday Staff would 'remind' us to be quiet (SHHH!) for the Lions offence. Riderfans clued in and started making noise! Or starting "Lets go Riders" chants hoping to be drowned out by Lions fans disrupting their teams homefield advantage.

The thing is though, their numbers were fairly small so whatever attempt they made at 'making noise' and disrupting us on offense had a negligible effect. Rider fans come out when they play here but their numbers are MUCH smaller than at McMahon or Commonwealth. I would estimate that only about 10-15% of the crowd was cheering for Saskatchewan last game. When they play at Edmonton or Calgary I would estimate the number to be about 40%+.

Regarding Chris Palliser, I think he's the right guy for the job. Overall, he does a pretty good job and appeals to the right demo, but I am with you guys. Sometimes "less is more" and we don't need to be hit over the head every defensive series with "MAKE SOME NOISSSSSSE!!!." I thought a couple of weeks ago it was a nice blend of scoreboard/MC, but this past game it was too much of the latter which ultimately, loses its effectiveness when it's really needed.


DH

[almo89]

I thought on Saturday that it got the loudest when the fan o meter was on the big screen. They should do that on every defensive play instead of having the guy yelling into the microphone. I actually dont mind the current guy. He's much better than the last guy we had but I think the fan o meter works the best

[notahomer]

The thing is though, their numbers were fairly small so whatever attempt they made at 'making noise' and disrupting us on offense had a negligible effect. Rider fans come out when they play here but their numbers are MUCH smaller than at McMahon or Commonwealth. I would estimate that only about 10-15% of the crowd was cheering for Saskatchewan last game. When they play at Edmonton or Calgary I would estimate the number to be about 40%+.

Regarding Chris Palliser, I think he's the right guy for the job. Overall, he does a pretty good job and appeals to the right demo, but I am with you guys. Sometimes "less is more" and we don't need to be hit over the head every defensive series with "MAKE SOME NOISSSSSSE!!!." I thought a couple of weeks ago it was a nice blend of scoreboard/MC, but this past game it was too much of the latter which ultimately, loses its effectiveness when it's really needed.


DH

I think you might be being generous about the Riderfan percentage That was the smallest percentage of Riderfans I've seen at a game. I don't think their cheering had much of an impact either, I was just saying it only picked up at all when the "SHHH" graphic came on. IMO, had we not been reminded to be quiet, I'm not so sure Riderfans would have remembered to try to make noise.....

IIRC, I'm totally in agreement with you about how great the gameday stuff was last game (or maybe the game before). I do whine/complain (and always think there is room for improvement) but after one of those games I did recognize what I saw as improvement in the post game thread. For example, although adverts are big already at Lions games, I've been happy with the trailer of first half highlights sponsored by Global. Make use of those beautiful replay screens by showing us highlights and stats. And they have been doing that, IMO......

[David]

BTW, loooooove the pre-game video with Travis and Korey, and Angus and Ryan - the one where the rain is falling and they talk about pride. That always gets me pumped up! Wish I could post it here for the out-of-towners to see.


DH

[sj-roc]

I thought on Saturday that it got the loudest when the fan o meter was on the big screen. They should do that on every defensive play instead of having the guy yelling into the microphone. I actually dont mind the current guy. He's much better than the last guy we had but I think the fan o meter works the best

I agree that the game ops crew shouldn't be TELLING the crowd to cheer. They should be GIVING the crowd something to cheer about, i.e., they should be facilitating crowd noise via more organic means that some tiresome forced "M-M-M-Make some noise!" exhortation. The fan-o-meter is one such means.

They had another one in the mid/late 90s, when the Shark Club sports bar was a major club sponsor, called the Shark Races. Anyone remember these? It was basically just a Shark Club promo, but they would have these four crudely animated sharks of various colours on the video board: people were encouraged to pick their favourite colour and cheer for that one to "swim" across the video board fastest, and they would run some roughly minute-long canned video of these four sharks swimming across the board, jockeying the whole way with all sorts of dramatic lead changes thrown in for good measure. They changed the video from game to game so the winning colour was "randomised". I know it sounds completely hokey (prob more enjoyable after a few pops) but people would actually start cheering. Maybe they need an updated less cheesy version of this concept to get people worked up. It also gets back to one of my recurring themes on the game day experience: give the fans something they don't, won't and can't get from sitting at home in front of their hi-def sets.

[notahomer]

...... It also gets back to one of my recurring themes on the game day experience: give the fans something they don't, won't and can't get from sitting at home in front of their hi-def sets.

Send this comment to Skulsky. Brief, to the point. Certainly sums up how I feel.....

[Upper Bowl]

They had another one in the mid/late 90s, when the Shark Club sports bar was a major club sponsor, called the Shark Races. Anyone remember these? It was basically just a Shark Club promo, but they would have these four crudely animated sharks of various colours on the video board: people were encouraged to pick their favourite colour and cheer for that one to "swim" across the video board fastest, and they would run some roughly minute-long canned video of these four sharks swimming across the board, jockeying the whole way with all sorts of dramatic lead changes thrown in for good measure. They changed the video from game to game so the winning colour was "randomised". I know it sounds completely hokey (prob more enjoyable after a few pops) but people would actually start cheering.

Hilarious! Me and my friends always used to pick a colour and bet on the result. And if you thought the Sharks were crude, in the 80’s and early 90’s, they had the same race, except with different coloured dots! This would be a great replacement for the Tim Horton’s Cup, although Timmy Ho’s is a big sponsor, so it will probably stay.


As far as the crowd noise encouragement....I don’t have a big problem with it, but it should definitely be scaled back a bit. There wasn’t much need for repeated requests last game. And yes, the fan-o-meter has always been the best way of generating noise. The player video reminders could also be used in better areas.

Overall, game day presentation has improved a bunch, IMO, and Palliser is a huge upgrade over Tim Donovan, who sounded like he was always reading off a piece of paper.

[TheLionKing]

Overall, game day presentation has improved a bunch, IMO, and Palliser is a huge upgrade over Tim Donovan, who sounded like he was always reading off a piece of paper.