https://3downnation.com/2023/11/24/id-bu...stadium-as-number-one-issue-facing-team/
‘I’d build a new stadium’: Elks’ president views Commonwealth as ‘number one’ issue facing team
The Edmonton Elks have launched a committee to review the franchise’s ownership structure, but a depleted trust fund is not the only problem facing the organization.
Team president Rick LeLacheur pointed to an aging Commonwealth Stadium for its role in the current crisis.
“We need some very high investment into this stadium if this stadium is going to go forward as a CFL stadium,” LeLacheur said, noting that this was his own personal belief and not the club’s official position. “It’s been the love of the CFL for a lot of years, it’s had a lot of events here, but it’s not the stadium of the future that we have in Regina and Winnipeg and Hamilton and Ottawa.”
“If there was an unlimited amount of dollars, I’d build a new stadium. That’s what I’d do, but I don’t have that kind of dollars.”
Opened in July of 1978 ahead of that year’s Commonwealth Games, the stadium has served as the home of the Edmonton Football Team since launch, replacing the adjacent Clarke Stadium. The venue has undergone several renovations and expansions since its initial construction and currently seats 56,302 people.
Attendance at Elks games has diminished greatly over the past two decades, falling from an average of 41,228 in 2003 to 22,239 in 2023. Almost half of this decrease has occurred in the past five years as the club averaged attendance of 31,107 in 2018.
“It’s too big for today’s environment in the CFL and the type of seats that you can sell,” LeLacheur said. “You can sell suites, you can sell party decks, we’ve seen it in those other cities. Groups are a very important part of ticket sales for a CFL team, so we’re going to be looking at everything.”
The Elks’ current lease for Commonwealth Stadium runs through the 2027 season after the team agreed to a five-year extension with the city last offseason. That deal provided for the temporary waiving of licensing fees to take some financial pressure off the franchise.
The club announced in October that they will be closing the upper bowl for games beginning in 2024, reducing their capacity to 31,000 in an attempt to create a more intimate and engaging gameday experience. Even still, LeLacheur believes that Commonwealth presents unique challenges on the business side.
“The stadium’s been great for all these years, from ’78, but you look around the CFL now and even by closing the top deck, we’re going to be the fourth largest stadium,” he remarked. “We know it’s got the track that a lot of stadiums don’t have, we know it’s got the pitch that’s a lot more gradual slope than other stadiums. That’s probably the number one (issue) I’ve seen and we can still deal with it but we all have to work at it together.”
Edmonton recently went 1,415 days without a home victory, setting a new North American professional sports record of 22 consecutive home losses. The previous mark of 20 games was set by the St. Louis Browns of MLB in 1953. That had a noticeable impact on revenue, as the franchise posted a $3.3 million net operating loss in 2022 as attendance plummeted 9.1 percent.
Since 2019, the team has reported losses of $12.6 million, with another hit of approximately $4 million expected this season according to LeLacheur. The community-owned franchise is now actively investigating private ownership to provide the capital investment needed to thrive beyond the 2024 season.
In a dream scenario, that would include the deep pockets necessary to create a more appropriate home venue.
“It’s not going to happen overnight, I fully understand that,” LeLacheur said. “But if you could get a new facility where you could play CFL football and Canadian Premier League Soccer, then that fits for both and the more days you get in a facility, the better off you are.”
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