Great Grey Cup game doesn’t erase uncertain
feelings
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| Mosaic Stadium at pre-game of the 2019 Labour Day Classic. |
Is the CFL good and feeling alright?
It feels like those who are overseeing the operations of
Canada’s professional football circuit want you to believe the answer to that
question is yes. The CFL has a solid backing of ultra-passionate fans who
believe the answer to that question is yes, and the league doesn’t have any
problems at all. Those fans believe the only problem the league has are
negative people that want to talk bad about the CFL, and those negative people
aren’t real fans.
One step removed from the ultra-passionate fans are
passionate fans who have loved the league for a long time, but aren’t sure what
their current relationship is with the circuit. Some of those fans that have
been season ticket holders for decades are planning to not be ticket buyers in
any form in 2023.
As the 2022 CFL season concluded with the playing of the
Grey Cup game on Sunday at Mosaic Stadium in Regina with the Toronto Argonauts
ousting the two-time defending champion Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24-23, it didn’t
feel like the campaign finished off as the normal love in that it usually does.
No matter what
challenges the CFL deals with, it always seems the bad stuff is forgotten
during Grey Cup week, and everyone bonds over the circuit’s great attributes.
The Grey Cup is often a compelling contest, and when it is completed, fans come
away thinking the CFL game is great no matter who won.
The CFL is this league that seems to survive through sheer
stubbornness. While I myself have loved the league, the realist in me was
surprised the circuit was able to survive financially after the 2020 campaign
was completely cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped
the world.
When the CFL returned in 2021, some of the festivities
surrounding the Grey Cup played in Hamilton, Ont., were limited as there were
still various restrictions in place across Canada to combat the COVID-19
pandemic. The Bombers downed the host Tiger-Cats 33-25 in overtime before
26,324 spectators at Tim Hortons Field in that contest.
This year marked the first time the CFL could host a full
out Grey Cup week since the shutdowns that occurred in 2020. The circuit also
ran its first full regular season where each club played 18 games for the first
time since 2019.
By all accounts, the Grey Cup Festival events that started last
Tuesday and ran through to Sunday were a success. CFL commissioner Randy
Ambrosie’s state of the league address on Friday mainly received a warm
reception. It looked the 2022 CFL campaign was going to conclude with the
classic love in the Grey Cup week brings.
The Grey Cup game delivered with lots of thrills. At the
start of the fourth quarter, Bombers returner Janarion Grant returned a punt
102 yards for a touchdown. The run back was the longest punt return in Grey Cup
history.
The previous record was held by Terry Williams of the
Calgary Stampeders, who returned a punt 97 yards for a touchdown in his team’s
27-16 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks in the 2018 Grey Cup played in
Edmonton.
The Bombers missed the extra point after Grant’s return
score to make their lead at the time stand at 23-14. The Argonauts rallied for
10 straight points to win the game 24-23.
When Toronto closed the gap to 23-17, they had to finish the
rest of the comeback behind backup quarterback Chad Kelly as starter McLeod
Bethel-Thompson dislocated his thumb on his throwing hand.
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| Cody Fajardo (#7) slings a pass in the 2019 Labour Day Classic. |
After the Argonauts got ahead 24-23, the Grey Cup ended with
a wrinkle I had never seen happen in the countless number of football games
I’ve watched live in person or on television. The contest ended with blocked
field goals on back-to-back series in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
First Argos kicker Boris Bede attempted a 37-yard field goal
attempting the increase his team’s 24-23 advantage, but his kick was blocked by
Bombers defensive back Nick Hallett. The Bombers had the ball at their own 29
yard line with two minutes remaining in the frame after the block.
Bombers star quarterback Zach Collaros drove his team into
position to attempt a 47-yard field goal to go back ahead on the scoreboard.
Winnipeg kicker Marc Liegghio’s kick was blocked by Argonauts defensive lineman
Robbie Smith.
The Argonauts got the ball on their own 19 yard line with 45
seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. They were able to bring the contest to
an end with three kneel downs before going off to celebrate their one-point
championship victory.
Even with the exciting finish, there was a visible sign that
all was not good. Looking at the game on TV, it was easy to see Mosaic Stadium
was about 40 per cent empty. A sellout attendance of 33,350 was announced by
the CFL.
Way back on September 28, the CFL and the Roughriders
jointly announced the Grey Cup game was a sellout. On Grey Cup game day on
Sunday, you could have easily gone on to Ticketmaster’s website and bought
tickets for the contest.
During the week leading up to events like the Grey Cup, it
is common that tickets that are reserved for dignitaries that won’t be used for
that purpose are released for sale to the public. Still, there seemed to be
about 1,000 tickets on the Ticketmaster site that were coloured in blue meaning
they had yet to be bought by someone in the public.
You could purchase upper deck tickets for $296.85 each or
tickets five rows behind a team bench for $546.60 each.
There were a sizable number of tickets available in the
resale red, which means people who originally purchased the tickets were trying
to unload them.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the NFL had a practice of
announcing an actual attendance figure of people who actually entered the
stadium and a no show figure. The no show figure was for people who purchased
tickets but didn’t go to the game.
It is unlikely a no show figure will ever be released for
Sunday’s Grey Cup game.
In the 2000s, it was common for tickets anywhere in CFL
stadiums to cost between $40 and $60. The focus was to get the average working
person into the stadium.
At least for Saskatchewan Roughriders games this past
season, about 70 per cent of the seats at Mosaic Stadium cost at least $100 per
seat. In 2019 which was the CFL’s last year operating before the COVID-19
pandemic took hold, the ticket prices in the lower sections between the 20 yard
lines was anywhere between $55 to $155 before fees and taxes in eight of the
nine CFL stadiums.
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| Patrick Neufeld (#53) sets to make a block for the Bombers. |
Price point is a big problem in the CFL. It is an even
bigger problem in 2022, when inflation in Canada has seen seemingly every
product in Canada increase in price. Travel costs are higher, and it seems
taking a flight to travel anywhere in Canada via airlines becomes a bigger
gamble by the day.
The CFL’s solid backing of ultra-passionate fans don’t seem
to mind the increased costs. They see rising ticket costs as a tax increase you
pay to show your loyalty to your team. If it means you go into debt to support
your team, you do it.
Judging by how many people didn’t show up for the Grey Cup,
it appears all the inflationary costs do actually matters to a sizable amount
of people these days.
During the regular season, 3DownNation reported the Bombers
led the CFL in attendance for the first time in league history averaging 28,652
fans per game. The Roughriders were second averaging 27,431 spectators per game
according to 3DownNation, which the first time attendance dropped below 28,000
per contest since 2006.
The Bombers record for average regular season attendance was
30,637 spectators per contest in 2013. The Roughriders record for average
regular season attendance was 37,503 spectators per contest in 2013.
The Argonauts had the worst average attendance during the
2022 regular season averaging 11,874 spectators per game. Believe it or not,
the Argonauts record for average attendance per contest is 47,355 spectators
per game set back in 1976.
It is a fact that attendance in the CFL isn’t what it used
to be.
For myself, I often struggle with the notion that the CFL is
a place for me when it comes to any form of a role. The last game I attended in
person was the Labour Day Classic contest on September 1, 2019, when the host
Roughriders downed the Bombers 19-17 at Mosaic Stadium.
I didn’t go to any CFL games in 2021 due to the fact I was
covering the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops and the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders and
Saskatoon Blades on a regular basis. The teams in the CJFL and WHL were doing
frequent COVID-19 testing and it was still common for teams and leagues to be
shut down due to positive tests. No matter what, those three teams elected to
interact with the media in person.
I personally didn’t want to be the one that accidentally brought
in a COVID-19 case to get the Hilltops, Raiders or Blades shutdown, which meant
no CFL games for me. Since March of 2020, I’ve only been out to four big fun
social gatherings that included a family wedding in September 2021 and a WWE
house show this past October.
I was planning to go to a CFL game this season, but work
related projects prevented that from happening.
In Saskatchewan, I felt the negativity when things go bad
for the Roughriders has been way worse since they returned to play in 2021 than
it had before the shutdowns in 2020. That had been a factor in killing the
motivation to go to games even with having a couple of friends on the
Roughriders roster. Cost also became a factor too this season as I’ve elected
to spend money elsewhere to adjust to various price inflations that are
currently seen in Canada.
I also feel the CFL isn’t as connected to the fans as it
once was. It seems like the decision makers on that circuit are comfortable with
getting by on the support of the ultra-passionate fans who will spend huge
amounts of money on the league no questions asked.
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| Dan Clark calls signals for the Roughriders in 2019. |
The rules and the CFL game itself are as awesome as always.
This past week I caught the re-airing ESPN broadcast of the 1981 Grey Cup.
Famed NFL analyst Paul Maguire did the analyst work on the
1981 Grey Cup, and he went into great lengths about how great the various
unique rules are for the Canadian game. It felt like the ESPN broadcast was an
advertisement for the Canadian game.
No matter what happens in Canada or the world, it feels like
the CFL will somehow always be around. The Grey Cup game has been awarded in
Canada since 1909. Again by sheer stubbornness, the Canadian version of
pro-football never goes away.
Will it have another golden age when it comes to fan
interest? Being a realist, the jury is out on the answer to that question, but
it doesn’t seem possible in the short term or midterm.
Johnson gets final salute at Hilltops team
awards banquet
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| Konner Johnson was named the Hilltops most outstanding grad. |
Konner Johnson received one last hurrah with the Saskatoon
Hilltops during the team’s annual award banquet, which was held Saturday night
at the Delta Marriott Hotel.
The weak side linebacker, who established himself as one of
the storied CJFL club’s all-time greats, took home the Drs. Landa-Doig Award as
the club’s most outstanding graduating player. During the Hilltops eight
regular season contests, Johnson piled up 31 solo defensive tackles, 13
defensive tackle assists, four special teams solo tackles, two special teams
tackle assists, two quarterback sacks, five pass knockdowns and four
interceptions.
Individually, Johnson picked up a lot of accolades this
season. The 22-year-old was named a PFC all-star, the PFC’s most outstanding
linebacker, the PFC’s most outstanding defensive player, a CJFL first team
all-Canadian all-star and the CJFL’s most outstanding defensive player. This
past May and June, Johnson attended the training camp of the CFL’s Saskatchewan
Roughriders.
The Past President’s Trophy as the team’s rookie of the year
went right tackle Davin Johnson. Davin was a true first year player having
graduated from Saskatoon’s Walter Murray Collegiate this past June.
He became the Hilltops starting right tackle about halfway
through this past season and started the Hilltops two post-season games. It is
rare for any rookie straight out of high school to earn a starting spot as a
rookie with the Hilltops, so Davin accomplished big things with the Hilltops in
2022.
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| Jaxon Funk was named the Hilltops top lineman. |
Graduating centre Luciano Jolly took home the Blue and Gold
Award for outstanding leadership and commitment to the team. Graduating
receiver Dillan Heintz captured the Courtice Inspiration Award.
Defensive back Evan Mantyka, who also exhausted his CJFL eligibility,
was given the Ron Atchison “True Grit” award. Middle linebacker Matt Wist, who has
one year of CJFL eligibility remaining, claimed the Don and Jim Seaman Memorial
Award as the team’s top linebacker.
Graduating defensive tackle Jaxon Funk captured the Ray
Syrnyk Trophy as the team’s top lineman.
The Hilltops posted a 5-3 record in regular season play to
finish second in the Prairie Football Conference. They advanced to the PFC
final, where they dropped a 39-21 decision to the host Thunder in Regina at
Mosaic Stadium back on October 30.
The Hilltops graduate 20 players from their 2022 roster
including Connor Green, Matt Turple, Mantyka, Damon Dutton, Carter McLean,
Steve Gilewicz, Tanner Szakacs, Konner Johnson, Jayson Kehler, Dylan McNutt, Mitchell
Clarke, Jordan Bisson, Jolly, Aidan Connoly, Ethan Paslowski, Daylen Hartz,
Funk, Presley Peterson, Heintz and Lachlan Horsley.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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