Translude15
Frank the Tank
Quit being an idiot man. Look at JN's pictures for christ's sake. There were in fact close to 40,000 people at the game. My buddy was at the game too. He recalls there being around that much as well.
Anyways, a number of things regarding this fiasco:
1) Yes, Rogers in their typical money first mentality, greatly over-charged ticket prices for this whole series. Not to mention the buy all at once format completely turned people away as well. Regardless of this however, pre season NFL games in the States don't even sell out themselves. Yes I'm aware that even the regular season games played here were disastrous attendance wise, but realistically, even if ticket prices for the pre season games were more in line to NFL standards, I highly doubt the games would have been viewed to capacity. I would attribute that to:
2) Rogers Centre as a sporting venue:
Yes it cost a shitload to build. Yes it is still a spectacle for our city. Yes it is still deemed somewhat state of the art. That aside, the venue itself offers a sort of fraudulent sporting experience, for both football and baseball. In other words, it feels completely unauthentic. It caters more to itself in a way, than to the sports fan and to the sporting atmosphere. You walk into the place marvelling at its gargantuan size, instead of engaging yourself at the event at hand. It's cold, uninviting and segregating. The mood aside, there are more problems. Poor sightlines, small, cramped seats, especially in the 100 level, where you'd expect them to be more comfortable given the ticket prices. No cupholders save for the 100 and 200 level club seats. Why the unnecessary inconveniene? I could go on and on. Regardless, if the NFL is ever going to work in Toronto, a football stadium would have to be built. No questions asked. The Rogers Centre isn't a good enough facility. The place is reapidly declining even by baseball standards. As for the Jays, some extensive renovations to the place, as in a transition to a baseball only facility is the best viable option for the team's long term success and appeal to its fanbase. But then again, baseball-only means less money for the greedy bastards at Rogers, so how likely is that to happen?
3) Canada's Athletic Culture compared to that of the US:
It's just different. As much as people try to blur the line that divides both countries, the differences still do, and probably always will remain. I'm specifically referring to the passion Americans have for sports, more specifically, when it comes to supporting their teams. There is such a die-hard passion with regards to sports amongst the American people, it really is awe-inspiring. I've always said Americans could be passionate about watching paint dry. The passion Americans have for football, of all levels, is unparallel. I really don't see Canadians, especially Torontonians, showing the same kind of quasi-religious, blind passion for an NFL team in this city. Grassroots football isn't really embedded into our athletic culture. High school football games here don't draw 10,000 plus crowds. I don't think you can blame that on population differences alone. Look at CIS football. There simply isn't enough passion for the game to warrant an NFL franchise and no amount of corporate charades will be able to change that reality.
