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Winning teams are very helpful, but I lived in Saskatchewan during some of the rider lean years, and the fan base did not collapse, although there were those who left. The Rider Reps program had representatives in every community of any size who organized car pools, parties to watch away games, distribute merchandise and host players to meet fans. I never became a Rider fan, but had to admire the organization.

The rum Hut is one of the possible solutions, but I doubt if it is THE solution. Many of the teams did not bother to cultivate younger fans and essentially lost a generation. This is not going to be remedied soon or quickly. The Bombers and (ick) Riders are two teams that have done a good job in growing and maintaining fan involvement. They need to be copied around the league STAT.

Did we not used to have a happy honker award? I'm not opposed to the name change! FTR - As someone who has worked alongside Inuits, the term Eskimo is not derogatory to the locals. It's much more of a fabricated controversy that some extreme liberal white folks generated. I also wouldn't associate the city of Edmonton with the term Eskimo. It would be like calling us the Winnipeg Mountains or the Saskatchewan Non-inbreeders.... I'd rather the league also have a week or maybe alternate each year where they have specifically Inuit art jerseys compared to the more traditional lower mainland Indigenous communities. Inuit art is really awesome and unique.

I can not believe how poorly in doing in this, this year... Good gravy.

The places with tons of world-class pro facilities for many sports, are far poorer than we are up here. At the end of the day, it's the taxpayers who foot most of the bill for these mega venues, and then get zero monetary value back. It's not sustainable at all, and especially on this slippery road to recession, it's a quick way to ruin. You'd be surprised, actually. Build a cheap place to get in and drink with a ton of built-in atmosphere, and a reason to cheer/boo/react strongly, and young people come in droves. I've got an army of young cousins who didn't grow up CFL fans, but who have been branded into the game day experience. Not just here either, BC too. The reality is that high-level pro sports events in Canada are extremely limited. Hockey is prohibitively expensive and not sustainable at all for the huge majority of young fans. MLB and NBA are Toronto-locked. The Sea Bears have picked up on this, and the Goldeyes have been doing it for ages. You don't even need a physical Rum hut, though it does bring serious scalability. That's with the CEBL and AA being a strong tier below the CFL. Does anyone think that if you changed the name from Sea Bears to Blizzard, you would see an immediate jump in popularity? If you are a bad team in the CFL, you don't draw fans. That is always first and foremost.

Edmonton is a city that will support the team when it's not a ******* clownshoes organization and starts winning again.

Picks this week need to be in by Thursday @ 7:30 PM Standings below: Google DocsMBB 2026 Pick 'Ems

The name Eskimos is offensive to a certain group of mostly white people. I'm an old white guy, and I'd have no problem with the Winnipeg Whitemen. I suspect the same group of white people who find Eskimos offensive would find Whitemen equally offensive. Changing the team's name to placate one group of people also pisses off another group. That said, the name change has little to nothing to do with the lack of fans in the stands & changing it back wouldn't either.

The name Eskimos was offensive and racist. It's no different than calling a team the Winnipeg Honkies. Teams need to learn from Winnipeg and focus on marketing. Rum Huts, community visits, sponsoring lower level football leagues, having events like school division flag football days at PAS.

Disagree. The games didnt start as sell outs. I specifically remember being happily surprised as attendance numbers grew. The year before the bombers were losing but were close and the crowds took a while to realize the team was legit.

The lack of attendance is not because of the name change. If the owner thinks reverting the name will gain good will and bring back people to the games... then he is a moron. The stadium, the bad teams, the fans aging out.. much larger factors. Seriously Wade Miller needs to be cloned in all of the cities , they do not know how to market and get people to the game for the non-football festivities. Young people spend ridiculous cover charges and over priced drinks to get out and meet people... offer the young people fair priced drinks and a fun hut that serves rum... get the ladies out and it will then cause the men to follow and spend big money. Families always want to get out (I know other cities have way more options then Winnipeg) but still an affordable family event is always desired. Old people... well I'm not sure what brings them out... maybe promise them some prune juice and a free news paper? These cities need to make more of an effort to draw a crowd.

I dunno. The name could play a role in Alberta. Eskimos was also a very popular and memorable name to people. Alberta leans a little right so I could see this being a problem there specifically just like I think less ppl would go to oilers games if they changed their name or were forced because of a vocal minority group of individuals. Rumours were the northern folk were ok with the name so why wouldn’t the others right. Alberta.

Canada is Third World when it comes to sports & outdoor stadium facilities. If it's not the NHL or soccer then no one cares. We see it in the World Cup in comparison to the US & Mexico. As well as the CFL. Percival Molson Stadium, McMahon Stadium, CWS. Hamilton Stadium is a wasteland. All very small & they're never filled anymore.

It'll take more than a Rum Hut to get the fans back in edmonton. I used to think the same as you. A name is a name is a name. Who cares, right? After what we've seen, we have to consider that the decision was wrong. Morris is whining how hard the team has it since the name change. Change the name back & make the fanbase happy. I'm not convinced as many people are offended about the name as we may think.

Any fan that doesn't come to Edmonton games because they want to call them Eskimos is not a fan I want to be around... I 100% agree that spring football doesn't work for casual fans. It's meant to be a summertime sport.

Young white people are not having kids and the fans are all aging out. Its a sad slow demise. The only way to get people at the games is making it an experience for young people....so a rum hut is the ultimate solution.

Yes. This isn’t just cfl related. Concerts are being cancelled because tickets aren’t selling.

CFL has lost generations of fans in pretty all of the markets and they ain’t getting them back any time soon

no chance. The demographic isn’t what it was 8-10 years ago. The only markets with growth or decent crowds are no longer old people. The old fans are a larger piece of the tv viewership but if you look around any decent market today you see a ton more young people then old. That’s part of the real problem, and the solution to attendance issues isn’t to pander to the boomer generation more. Built a rum hut complete with atmosphere and you’ll see way more fans in edmonton then by changing the name back. Edmonton filled the stadium with young people for a soccer game in bad weather. Branding isn’t the issue. general economic situation isn’t helping, but for rum hut type fans you can have a pretty cheap night out in the cfl. The dip hit before the economy dipped and it didn’t bounce back like much of the live entertainment scene.

The new Stamps uniforms really are awful. Weird number font. “CGY” plastered all over. Mono colour PJ look.

Summarize what happened in Edmonton since 2009 as Tillman, Ed Hervey, Chris Jones and the cast of characters in their wake as the board panicked more and more as the bottom fell out over the last 20 years.

Calgary as well.

Nah, he is a super knob

KSB is such a knob