The Big Atlantic Canada Statistics Thread

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Indeed. I think there could be a golden opportunity for Halifax here, given it's international airport.

You could easily see some Canada + Iceland routes starting and ending in Halifax. That would be a perfect opportunity for it!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

You could easily see some Canada + Iceland routes starting and ending in Halifax. That would be a perfect opportunity for it!

Indeed (Halifax/St. John's/Reykjavik)

Perhaps a route up the St. Lawrence too (Halifax/Sydney/Charlottetown/Quebec City)

Smaller cruise ships could explore smaller ports in the region too (like Lunenburg, Chester, St. Andrews, Summerside, Shediac, possibly even Baddeck in the Bras d'Or lakes. The Americans do something similar along the New England coast.

Saint John of course is a popular cruise ship port as well, but, given it's location, I wonder if it would not remain a stop on cruises originating in New York City heading to Halifax.

[sailor734]

I wonder if one way cruises between Halifax and Montreal (and vice versa) might work?......Maybe packaged with a land based option following the cruise as well. Sort of a fly/cruise/drive thing. I know that is offered elsewhere.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I wonder if one way cruises between Halifax and Montreal (and vice versa) might work?......Maybe packaged with a land based option following the cruise as well. Sort of a fly/cruise/drive thing. I know that is offered elsewhere.

I don't see why not. Lots of opportunity here, especially for Europeans wanting to avoid toxic Trump America.

[ivegotaname]

Overnight cruises are not my thing. I would rather take a 3 hour ferry and less down the eastern seaboard car and walk on. Maybe have leave from st.andrews to Carolina or wherever you want

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Could definitely see cruises from Montreal and Quebec City to Halifax being viable with stops on the way in PEI, Cape Breton, and maybe even Shediac one day. I could especially see this happening if Quebeckers continue to skip their vacations to New England.

Personally, I don't think we'll be mad at the Americans forever, and things will relatively go back to normal. Travelling to the US has sucked for while anyways, with the low Canadian dollar and all... but travelling to Canada is quite a bargain for the millions of upper middle income Americans with disposable income.

While we may never get the "Boston Boat" back with service between Saint John and Boston, I think we could at least get a bus service back up and running between SJ and Boston. Nova Scotia would also benefit from this bus service, since it would get travellers from the US to the Digby Ferry in Saint John... all they need to do is connect Digby with a bus to Halifax.

[ivegotaname]

How many people do we need in atlantic canada to have a professional sports franchise not 1 city but two in 2 provinces

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by ivegotaname

How many people do we need in atlantic canada to have a professional sports franchise not 1 city but two in 2 provinces

I think Moncton and Halifax could both support CFL and CPL teams. Halifax already has a CPL team. Moncton should work on getting a stadium built that could work for both a CPL soccer team and a CFL team. A CPL team really shouldn't be that hard for Moncton to get if they get any sort of proper stadium built.

As for the CFL... I refuse to believe that the long proposed Atlantic Schooners CFL expansion in Halifax would be supported by all of Atlantic Canada anything like the Saskatchewan Roughriders are supported by people outside of Regina.

However, I could see a Moncton CFL team under the New Brunswick banner being supported by the entire province somewhat similar to the situation of the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina.

A big part of what makes the Saskatchewan Roughriders so great is their rivalry with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and just how crazy and rowdy the Saskatchewan fans are. New Brunswickers are similarly prideful in their province, down to stuff like Alpine beer being the a symbol of the province, just like Ole Time Pilsner is a symbol of Saskatchewan/ associated with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The New Brunswick Alpines vs the Halifax Schooners could be the Roughriders vs BlueBombers rivalry of the East Coast, right down to the beer sponsors (Alpine in for Pilsner) and (Schooner in for Labatt Blue)

I sure as hell wouldn't cheer for the Halifax Schooners if they ever get a CFL team, but I would definitely cheer for a NB CFL team in Moncton.

[someone123]

Moncton already has a stadium although it has a track. It is CPL sized but not CFL sized.

My impression for the CFL is that even in Regina most ticket sales are local. I think it would be a tall order in Moncton to get 20,000-30,000 people to show up regularly for games. Regina's a huge outlier in terms of the percentage attendance and Moncton would have to be even more of an outlier. I wonder as well if football is simply in decline so the window has passed. It is a bit of a "check-mate" situation with the CFL where by putting a team in Moncton they're likely giving up somewhat on Halifax, but Halifax is the much stronger market. It's only gotten more pronounced over the last few years. Population understates it somewhat. If you look at employment for example, there are just under 300k people working in Halifax and just over 400k in New Brunswick. But building a CFL-sized stadium just isn't much of a priority in Halifax and raising the capital is likely difficult anywhere else in the region.

The best hope of a CFL team would be for Halifax to build a permanent venue for the Wanderers that can handle temporary seating for 20,000-30,000, which could incrementally be developed as permanent seating. It's a bit sad the area doesn't already have something like that. I think it's the only city over 500k in North America that doesn't.

[ivegotaname]

A team in moncton just makes alot of sense to me. Centrally located for everyone in maritimes and growing like my back hair a rivalry with Halifax is fun with what the junior hockey teams have done for both cities. I wanted a soccer team in nb Saint John and Moncton and Fredericton would make the Canadian Premier league stronger and worth watching. with these city's

[MonctonRad]

The main thing we need is passionate ownership, like Robert Irving and the Moncton Wildcats. He runs this franchise like a professional hockey team.

Until we get a committed and enthusiastic ownership group (in Halifax or in NB), I can't see a CFL team succeeding.

Moncton is a football town. There is the Moncton Minor Football Association, there are six high school football teams in greater Moncton, and, we have a franchise in the Maritime Football League. We got over 20,000 fans attending the Touchdown Atlantic CFL games when they were held here at the Moncton Stadium, and we routinely get around 2,500 people at high school homecoming games at Rocky Stone Field.

Proper ownership, proper promotion, and a city and provincial government willing to build a proper CFL stadium, and I think a team here could succeed.

Ownership however is the big thing.

[Taeolas]

As noted above, the main thing we are missing, in both Moncton and Halifax, is an Uncle Pennybags type investor who has the money and connections to back the team and get other businesses on board. The closest we seem to have is the Irvings, who are already backing the Wildcats. There might be a couple other possibilities but those corporations don't seem to have any sports enthusiasm to back a team here.

Population wise, Halifax is already easily at the point for CPL and CFL as noted above.

Moncton is probably borderline for CFL; but the Maritime rivalry could give them a boost, if the rest of the stars aligned.

The other factor that is probably holding us back, is the failure of the Basketball leagues to gain any traction. Basketball is a cheap sport compared to hockey and football (soccer is probably similarly costed). The NBL and its variations have tried to start up here, but just can't seem to get any traction, and that likely depresses excitement for anyone looking to start a Soccer or Football group.

Even with the slowed down growth, New Brunswick's still on a good pace to crack 1M people within the decade. By then, we should certainly be on the radar for a team. Halifax is certainly already on the radar and just needs a few extra shoves to finally tip over, once the pieces align.

[KnoxfordGuy]

The Irving-McCain-Sobeys stadium sounds good haha. They definitely have enough money.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by KnoxfordGuy

The Irving-McCain-Sobeys stadium sounds good haha. They definitely have enough money.

Oh, we very definitely have the family wealth in the region to support a CFL team (or two), but there is a financial risk to doing this.

In particular, in most major sports, just having a franchise means that you have a solid investment as the valuation of the franchises seems to perennially increase (buy the team for $500M, sell it for $1B). If you can do this, it doesn't really matter if you make money or lose money on the day to day operations of the team.

I don't think this rule applies to the CFL however. You don't have oodles of billionaire suitors lining up to buy sports teams in Canada.

FWIW, although the Wildcats are a passion project for Robert Irving, he very much treats it as a business. I think the team actually breaks even every year in terms of costs. He doesn't skimp however, he knows that team success depends on a high quality coaching staff. He also knows the value of impressing young players who could go anywhere. This is why the team clubhouse, dressing room and training facilities are NHL calibre. He also knows that the fans are there for the full experience so he spends on amenities to support this experience like out team organist.

Are there any other billionaires out there in the region that are similarly as passionate about the CFL???

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

I think there will eventually be more prestige in owning a CPL soccer team than a CFL team... but that doesn't mean Moncton should just build a "soccer specific stadium" if something bigger is possible that could support both a CPL and CFL team.

A big reason why the Riders are so well supported in Regina, is that they are the only pro sports team in town, so the people just care about it a lot more. I think a CPL team in Moncton would be very well supported if it became basically the only professional sports team in town. I guess the basketball leagues in Atlantic Canada have technically been professional leagues, but the support and interest just is not there for them.

I think it would take CEBL teams for professional basketball to be taken seriously in Atlantic Canada. It's too bad pro basketball hasn't worked out here though, because Canada is something of a basketball powerhouse as of late, and the game is really growing across the country.

The CFL probably isn't a very enticing product for the thousands of newcomer Canadians that now call Moncton home, but a "real" football club (⚽️) sure as hell would be. Plus, a CPL expansion franchise will be a lot less costly than a CFL expansion franchise... for now.

If the CFL is going to work in the maritimes, I really think there will have to two teams, as without a regional rival I just see the fans getting super into it like they do in Western Canada where the regional rivalries are very strong. Moncton vs Halifax is pretty comparable to Regina vs Winnipeg, which I think many would consider the best rivalry in the CFL. It sure as hell isn't Toronto vs Montreal.

Maybe Moncton vs Halifax will end up being one of the better rivalries in the CPL. Hope so.

[Taeolas]

A regional rival also saves costs for all the teams too. A lone team out of the way of everyone else means the travel is more expensive since its hard to group up options.

But if you have 2 teams a stones throw away, then scheduling could have a visiting team go to Moncton and then on to Halifax and save some of the travel costs. Plus the regional rivalry means you could add extra games between Moncton and Halifax to boost local support in both cities. (Subway Battles in NYC with the NHL for example, or even just how local media here in Freddy goes on about a "Battle of the Bridge" whenever FHS and LeoHayes Highschool are playing eachother).

[q12]

Halifax already has three professional sports teams including the new Northern Super League Halifax Tides.



Attendance:
The Thunderbirds avg. attendance was 9,789 in 24-25
The Mooseheads avg. attendance was 8,221 in 24-25
The Wanderers avg. attendance so far in 2025 is around 6,500
The Tides avg. attendance so far in 2025 inaugural season 4,131 (and their record is not great)

https://www.halifaxthunderbirds.com/

https://www.canpl.ca/hfxwanderersfc

https://www.tidesfc.ca/

Nearly 7000 packed in the Wanderers ground this past Labour Day.
Highlights:
• Video Link

[ivegotaname]

It's like a punishment for us not having anything outside of hockey as if we're seen as a toothless hillbillys

[SevenSquared]

I'm shocked that there are still people who believe in the possibility of the CFL being successful in Moncton.

We saw rapidly diminishing returns in each Touchdown Atlantic that was held in Moncton. The last time was an embarrassment, with an "announced" 10,000 that was actually far less than that, despite loads of free tickets given away around the city. Sure, the Schooners group accelerated the downfall with their horrible PR job, but still....

For starters, for the CFL to work in a city of 200,000, you need assurances that the rest of the province's football fanbase will completely buy in for the long haul. All of it. This means the predominant football fan demographic in the Saint John and Fredericton regions, whose opinion of Moncton seems virtually unanimous these days, is expected to turn over a new leaf, commit to spending thousands of dollars per year on tickets & traveling here every 2nd weekend, to cheer on what would very much be a Moncton-based team. We're really expecting this to magically happen?

The current dynamic between the 3 biggest cities in this province is as far as you can get from Saskatchewan. Especially as it relates to the lightning rod that is Moncton.

Personally I'd forego spending the hundreds of millions needed to turn Medavie Stadium into a viable CFL stadium (and white elephant, let's be honest), and instead try to get a pro team in a sport that's popular among more of our local population these days. We need a community team, not a provincial one.

[ivegotaname]

Moncton will be a catalyst for other markets down the road in new brunswick after we reach million in a city not just the province reaching that mark