2019 CFL Season

[Andy6]

Well, if that didn't sell the locals on CFL football, nothing could. Two of the lesser teams in the league put on one of the two or three best games of the season. The flea-flicker that ended up as a long-bomb TD to Quan Bray was about as well-executed a play as I've seen.

I think the Argos have to stick with MBT now. He looks like a Mike Reilly in the making.

[Andy6]

If I'd been the CFL or ownership group, I would have done more "local colour" features for the TV broadcast, so that Atlantic Canadians would see the potential value of a franchise for promoting awareness of the region.

[Andy6]

Moncton actually looked quite pretty, not at all the crumbling-concrete wasteland that I vaguely recollected from my one three-day visit to the city in 1984. I wouldn't have minded seeing a little more.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Moncton actually looked quite pretty, not at all the crumbling-concrete wasteland that I vaguely recollected from my one three-day visit to the city in 1984. I wouldn't have minded seeing a little more.

A lot can happen in 35 years. Ever hear of the Moncton Miracle (how the city rebounded after the closure of the CN shops, CFB Moncton and the Eaton’s Catalogue Centre)? The city would have doubled in size in 35 years. It’s now the second largest CMA in the Maritimes. It has the second lowest office vacancy rate in the region (lower than Halifax). There are currently five active tower cranes operating in the city.

That’s not to say there still aren’t a few grimy neighbourhoods, vagrants and panhandlers, but things are definitely looking up

[NewIreland]

More than enough to support a team imo... graphic by me.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Andy6

the crumbling-concrete wasteland that I vaguely recollected.

That's a new one on me, I wonder where you were. Sure it wasn't Saint John?

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by elly63

That's a new one on me, I wonder where you were. Sure it wasn't Saint John?

Yep, visiting my friend in Dieppe. I remember little except that everything around it was nice, but the city itself was a doughnut hole of not so niceness. And I was from Winnipeg, so I had advanced-level expertise in urban decrepitude.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Andy6

Yep, visiting my friend in Dieppe. I remember little except that everything around it was nice, but the city itself was a doughnut hole of not so niceness. And I was from Winnipeg, so I had advanced-level expertise in urban decrepitude.

Dieppe is great, maybe you're thinking of the road to the old airport, as I think about it, it ain't so hot. But I really can't think of too many places that could be described as crumbling decay.

It's funny the impressions you get of a place. I went to a company thing in Hamilton and all I thought of was you could make a million there as a landscaper because no one had any grass on their front lawns, I swear I saw tumbleweeds blowing by

[Andy6]

I’m sure my memories are what in philosophy we used to call “non-veridical” ... as most of my fondest memories tend to be.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by elly63

^What would you say was the makeup of the crowd: young, old, mix? Local folk, people from away, fans of the league or there for the event? Were they loud, support one team over the other, and do you think they would get behind and be passionate about a regional team. I'd appreciate your impressions.

1) - Crowd makeup - mostly young to middle aged (20-65), skewing a bit to the middle aged demographic. Not many kids. Also, not many elderly.
2) - Local vs CFA - a mix, but mainly Monctonian, with a liberal number of people from other Maritime cities. There were at least 12-15 chartered busses from elsewhere in a university parking lot.
3) - Fans or event goers - the vast majority were knowledgeable football fans. The heartland for football in Atlantic Canada is central NS and southern NB. This is probably where most of the crowd came from.
4) - Loud, partisan - The crowd was appreciative for good plays. I would say the crowd tended towards Argonaut supporters, but they were not particularly partisan. Of the two teams, it was actually the Alouettes who tried hardest to engage the crowd.
5) - Would they be passionate about a regional team? - I would say that people within a one hour drive of whichever city has a team would be most passionate. People from further away would be relatively disinterested. This is a problem for Halifax in that Moncton is the nearest regional city to them, and it is still a 2.5 hour drive. I personally would attend games in Halifax, but probably no more than once a year. Counteracting this of course is that the population base within a one hour drive of Halifax is probably approaching 550,000.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by NewIreland

More than enough to support a team imo... graphic by me.

Your numbers are a little off.

Halifax CMA - 440,000
Moncton CMA - 155,000
Saint John CMA - 130,000
Fredericton CA - 105,000
Charlottetown CA - 75,000
Summerside CA - 15,000
Truro CA - 45,000
New Glasgow CA - 40,000
Kentville CA - 30,000

[someone123]

To put things into perspective Kings County NS is more densely populated than the Fredericton CMA and has 60,000 people.

Kings, Hants, Lunenburg, and Colchester are easy driving distance to Halifax (mostly < 1 hour) and over 200,000. Central NS will hit 700,000 in a few years.

[esquire]

I wasn't able to watch the whole game in Moncton but I did catch a few minutes at the start and then sporadically throughout the game. It looked great. Honestly, I wonder if the CFL and the Atlantic Schooners gang should stop chasing rainbows for this Halifax stadium that might never materialize and put a franchise in Moncton already. Their stadium is halfway there, and if they can ramp up capacity to 20,000 I don't see why they couldn't make it work. This might be one of those instances where you just take the bird in the hand...

[25grapes]

^ From what I understand the biggest knock on Moncton is a feared lack of corporate sponsorships. And someone would need to step up as an owner who would want the team in Moncton.

In other news, Andrew Harris slapped with a 2 game suspension for a drug violation.

[MonctonRad]

Corporate sponsorship is a problem no matter which Atlantic Canadian city you are talking about.

In fact, corporate sponsorship is a problem in Canada in general. There just isn't the same degree of private wealth in this country as you see in the US. The attitude in this country towards sports ownership and sponsorship as a form of advertising, marketing and promotion is vastly different than to our south.

Two of the most influential corporate families in the entire country are based in NB (Irving's and McCains'). If they really wanted to sponsor an NB CFL team, they could easily do so. There are other lesser known wealthy families in the province too. I'm personally aware of a family in Moncton which is worth about $400M in investments, but keeps a low profile, aside from occasional generous charitable donations.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by 25grapes

^ From what I understand the biggest knock on Moncton is a feared lack of corporate sponsorships. And someone would need to step up as an owner who would want the team in Moncton.

In other news, Andrew Harris slapped with a 2 game suspension for a drug violation.

Holy smoke, he was being touted for MOP and Outstanding Canadian. Too bad, sayonara to that.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by esquire

I wasn't able to watch the whole game in Moncton but I did catch a few minutes at the start and then sporadically throughout the game. It looked great. Honestly, I wonder if the CFL and the Atlantic Schooners gang should stop chasing rainbows for this Halifax stadium that might never materialize and put a franchise in Moncton already. Their stadium is halfway there, and if they can ramp up capacity to 20,000 I don't see why they couldn't make it work. This might be one of those instances where you just take the bird in the hand...

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you consider how things have played out though. If Moncton's stadium were adequate it could have been built in Halifax a long time ago. In fact even around 2013 or so a $70-90M stadium was funded but ultimately rejected as being inadequate for the CFL. Until recently the promoters were talking about a $150-200M stadium. Moncton's stadium cost $20-30M in 2010 (and was built with a track). That could have been built with just the Halifax municipal government's budget surplus last year.

The CPL team in Halifax got started and built a stadium not much smaller than the one in Moncton during its first year or so. The Wanderer Grounds stadium could be expanded to have 10,000 or probably 20,000 seats. But the CFL promoters are not talking about that, presumably because they want a much more elaborate development of their own and not a barebones stadium.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by someone123

The CPL team in Halifax got started and built a stadium not much smaller than the one in Moncton during its first year or so. The Wanderer Grounds stadium could be expanded to have 10,000 or probably 20,000 seats. But the CFL promoters are not talking about that, presumably because they want a much more elaborate development of their own and not a barebones stadium.

It wouldn't be too difficult to construct a small temporary structure as they have like the Wanderers Grounds stadium and the Lions' Pres Rick LeLacheur discussed the plus and minuses of the Empire Stadium setup they had while BC Place was being refurbished.

IIRC though, the Halifax Wanderers Stadium is to be dismantled after every season so it might not be practical to make it much bigger than its present 6k seats.

But in the long run, those ideas aren't practical for a CFL club, especially one that is aligned with Sport NS and will share facilities with them. That's part of the double standard the CFL faces unfortunately, the CPL builds a temporary bleacher stadium and it's a fantastic facility, if the CFL were to build the same, albeit bigger, it would be "Mickey Mouse"

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by someone123

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you consider how things have played out though. If Moncton's stadium were adequate it could have been built in Halifax a long time ago. In fact even around 2013 or so a $70-90M stadium was funded but ultimately rejected as being inadequate for the CFL. Until recently the promoters were talking about a $150-200M stadium. Moncton's stadium cost $20-30M in 2010 (and was built with a track). That could have been built with just the Halifax municipal government's budget surplus last year.

The Moncton Stadium (now the Medavie Blue Cross Stadium) was built as a track & field stadium to host the 2010 IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships. It was built as a bare bones stadium, and indeed compromises were made in the design of the bleachers to make sure that the stadium had the very best Mondo track surface for the championships.

The west grandstand has concessions and washrooms, but is undersized. The larger east grandstand is nothing more than a set of bleachers (although to their credit, there are 10,000 individual plastic seats to sit on). The east grandstand otherwise has no concessions, no washrooms and no concourses.

As such, the Blue Cross Stadium would require many tens of millions of dollars in upgrades and expansion in order to satisfy minimum CFL requirements on a permanent basis.

If Moncton ever were to get a team, it would probably be best to just start over somewhere else in the city and let UdeM keep the current stadium for university purposes (not that I ever expect this to happen).............

[elly63]

The idea for Halifax is to build one permanent well appointed stand (with all the facilities) and a temporary stand on the other side (paid for by the OG) So you're looking at something like 100 million for one side and 10 or so million for the other. Temporary can mean various things to various people. You could have a setup like the Wanderers in Halifax or a more elaborate setup like the Lions had in BC (see below)

Now IIRC, the people who put the stadium together, Nussli Temporary Structures stated that this kind of structure if well maintained could last for 10 years. (I am going from memory on that, I could be wrong)

New stadium set to welcome fans
Jeff Hodson Metro Vancouver June 20, 2010

Almost two decades after the demolition of Empire Stadium, a new temporary stadium opens this weekend on the grounds of the storied venue.



The $14-million, 27,500-seat and yet unnamed stadium hosts its inaugural event Sunday when the B.C. Lions take on the Edmonton Eskimos in their second of two pre-season games.

Dylan Tomlin, a Lions fan who toured the stadium last weekend, said he was excited at the prospect of watching the Lions outdoors in an intimate setting.



“Getting a glimpse last Sunday was great,” Tomlin said. “But seeing the players on the field and realizing how close and intimate the atmosphere is going to be will be something special.”

The stadium will be the home of the Lions and Whitecaps while a new retractable roof is fitted on B.C. Place.

Howard Crosley, general manager of B.C. Place, said fans for the most part will be happy with the temporary facility.



“We always hope for nice weather,” said Crosley, who will be attending the game as a fan.

“But it is Vancouver. We expect that there may be a rainy game or two, but I think people are up for it.”

Diane Douglas, secretary of the Lion Backers fan club, grew up on outdoor football in Saskatchewan.

“Everything is very close,” said Douglas, who also toured the stadium last week. “You don’t feel so far away from the players and what’s happening on the field.”

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Updated: Empire Field turf, concessions, even Lions’ honour ring ready to go
Empire Field provides great sightlines, great atmosphere