Empire Field after the glow

[smphantom]

Hey there,

I'm willing to bet the economic fallout was substantial, but completely offset and eclipsed by the Olympics.

A few years ago a buddy and I used to go to a pub in Port Moody to watch away games. We'd get there early, have a few pints, an appetizer, some more pints, and then lunch/dinner. I smoke, and he bums them from me when we're out. When Port Moody passed a bylaw that we couldn't smoke on their balcony any more, we told the manager flat out that we wouldn't be coming back, and we pointed the math out to him:

6-8 beers, nachos & two burgers = 120.oo or so.
x 9-10 games = 1200.oo or so

Smoking bylaw = 0.oo

And that's just two guys. Imagine what 10,ooo would look like? Now I'm not here to argue the merits of smoking (increased sense of self, beauty of mind) but you can see pretty quickly how a few pints adds up pretty quick.

My sister is a waitress at a pub, and the success or failure of her year is linked in very real terms to the success of the Canucks. The more games, the more people go out to the pub to watch them, the more pints, the bigger tips. She lives in fear of a first round playoff exit.

Incidentally, the distance to downtown pubs is one of the reasons I'm really hoping the Dome gets finished in time for next season. That was a major drawback this season.

Cheers,

James

Those same pubs and watering holes are also suffering more now, due to the recently implemented absurd drinking and driving laws.

[David]

But this does have to be disconcerting to Skulsky and Braley: "The Lions drew under 25,000 five times and twice less than 22,000. The team averaged over 28,600 in 2009."

I kind of rolled my eyes when I read this in the paper today. Talk about a negative spin! Fact is, the club averaged 24,327* fans over 9 home games (24,370 if you include preseason). That is nearly 89% of capacity - for a club that didn't win its first home game until nearly mid-September and had the most expensive end-zone ticket prices in the CFL! There was only one home attendance that I expected to be much higher, and that was (coincidentally) our first home win - the September 11 afternoon game against Toronto (following a big upset over the Als the previous week in Montreal).

The Edmonton game two weeks ago (21,414) raised some eyebrows in the media, but let's not forget this came only 5 days after a devastating loss in Winnipeg. That kick in the nuts probably cost the club 2,000 - 3,000 tickets.

DH

* cfl.ca lists the first game as 29,517. I think this was a misprint as it's over capacity. However, The Province's Ed Willes attributed this to standing room only.

[xon100]

I for one will be glad when BC Place is finished. Getting to the game and the before and after game things to do are so much greater Downtown, without the need for a car. Empire took a few games before things started to run a little smoother, the last few games were much better. Getting to Empire just isn't as easy as BC Place.

Attendance at Empire was not that bad. Most of the "seats" had bums in them, it was the bleachers that suffered the most. Those tickets were overpriced for what they are. And as others have said, if we had a winning record they would have sold more of the bleachers.