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Posted Feb 28, 2009, 3:20 AM
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North of Gilead
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: North of Gilead
Posts: 11,067
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Quote:
Originally Posted by @Champlain
MonctonRad, I really like reading your comments & posts on the board, but Green Bay is over 100K in population and the metro area is a quarter million people. Wisconsin is almost a synonym for football... I love football and would love to see some football action here since I'm not really into hockey, but most people here are not into football much, some get excited for the Superbowl & Grey Cup but that's it. Atlantic Canada is a hockey place. Football is strong out West, Ontario and Quebec.
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Your arguments are valid, but it's also worthwhile to explore the feasibility of pro football in Moncton. I'll re-post what I argued on SSC.
"People out east like football, but don't have cities with significantly large population bases to warrant professional sports franchises. The CFL prefers to look at cities with at least 500,000 people, but having a presence in the Maritimes has always been seen as important to the league. Halifax is, by far, the largest city at 372,858, but they never seem to have the political will to get much of anything done. Moncton is much smaller at 126,424, but has been the more ambitious city for a long time.
On the surface, both of these cities seem too small to support a team, but the beauty of the Maritimes is how geographically small it is; 133,852 sq km. There are 1.8 million people in an area one fifth the size of Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Roughriders basically draw from Regina, 198,000, and the southern third of the province, roughly 600,000 people.
Moncton is working off a smaller city to draw from, but about 3 times the regional population of southern Saskatchewan. Let's keep in mind that Moncton managed to draw 80,000 people to a Rolling Stones concert in 2005. Moncton may seem far too small at first glance, but both Halifax and Moncton are sitting quite close to a substantial population.
Another interesting comparison is Green Bay and Wisconsin. There are 301,000 in Green Bay, and 5.6 million people in Wisconsin, area 170,000 sq km. The Packers sell out 72,928 seat Lambeau Field and have 80,000 on a waiting list for seasons tickets. That's 152,928 people who would go if the stadium could hold them. Wisconsin is an extreme case, but a Maritime version of that would translate to 50,000 people at games. That may be wishful thinking, but 28,000 is doable for Moncton if they play their cards right.
This should really go to Halifax, but Moncton got tired of waiting for Halifax to get their shit together. I grew up in Halifax, but Moncton deserves it if they can pull this off. I live in Toronto now, but would fly down there 9 times a year to support a Maritime team."
My population figures for Moncton, Halifax, and Green Bay are the most current figures for the metropolitan areas of each. New Brunswick is hockey territory, but there's also never been a well organized, well funded, professionally run group committed to promoting any sport other than hockey. Football should be given a chance before being written off.
It's also a mistake to argue that the Maritmes is all hockey. Saint Mary's football is arguably the biggest deal in sports in Halifax and college basketball is arguably #2. I admit that it's a daunting task to build a successful CFL team in Moncton, but it's worth looking into. This would be the only pro sports team in the whole region. The NHL certainly isn't going to give the Maritimes so much as a glance.
If Green Bay can draw 73,000 with 80,000 on a waiting list, Moncton can draw 25,000. Hell, Regina sells out 30,900 seat Mosaic and the population from which they draw is smaller than would be the case for Moncton.
Last edited by isaidso; Feb 28, 2009 at 3:32 AM.
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