Quote:
Originally Posted by O-Town Hockey
This Moncton vs. Halifax is a non-debate. Moncton has 140k people in its metro whereas Halifax has over 400k. Unless Moncton is expected to have fans that are at least as crazy as Sask (draws from two different metros well over 200k) then they are going to have a hard time filling seats. With a 30k seat stadium, 1 in every 5 people (including babies and seniors) would have to be attending every football game, which is not very likely. I know they had great crowds for a few concerts in recent years, but those were huge international bands who drew folks from 100's of km away and further; many even drove in from Halifax. A regular season CFL game against the Argos is not going to have that kind of drawing power. Halifax is less of a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 just based on population but the lack of real ownership interest or pre-franchise fan support suggests both would be a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵.
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Good post. I agree.
At first, I thought Moncton could easily support a CFL team as long as they could get the necessary expansion to a 25,000 seat facility with 30 or corporate suites and 500-1000 club seats. However, after giving it some consideration I think the city would be a longshot. I will never say never, but the likelihood of a city of 100,000 supporting a CFL team longterm, and breaking even at that, is extremely small.
It seems one of the arguments that is continually brought up in favor of Moncton over Hamilton is the larger number of people within a two and half to three hour drive - a little over a million or so I told. Let me tell you, that number should be of little relevance (not saying no relevance but little) for either city when it comes to their capabilities of supporting a team.
Not too long ago, on RiderFans, I read about the number of season ticketholders (or total ticketholders) that were from outside Regina, and that number was suprisingly small. 80% or so of the ticketbuyers were from Regina, while only 15% or so were from Saskatoon (about a two and half hr. drive) and 5% from the rest of the province( and possibly out-of-province). So logic dictates that if the vast majority of the ticket-buying public in football-mad Saskatchewan comes from the city in which the football team is located, then it's safe to assume that the majority of the season ticketholders (and suite holders) for the Moncton Whatevers would have to be from Moncton.
I'm sorry, but I can't see 80% of 18 - 20,000 season ticketholders coming from a city that's 2/5ths the size of Regina, and has a fraction of its wealth and corporate support..plus no history of supporting a professional team outside of the AHL.
When you think about it, Halifax would be risky as well - less so with nearly 4 times the population and a much stronger corporate base, but risky nonetheless. If I was a prospective owner of a CFL team in the maritimes, I would make it conditional upon getting deposits for multi-year commitments on all my suites and AT LEAST 15,000 season tickets.
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All joking aside though, no one could have asked for a smoother inaugeral event. No rain (as was forecasted) no hitches, and Milt Stegall himself did a nice little sermon, and threw some free footballs that he himself signed! I caught one!
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