Enthusiasm levels for football in Alberta are pretty up and down these days.
While the Calgary Stampeders just suffered their worst turnout in 27 years during last week’s season opener — recording a crowd attendance of less than 18,000 — a very different record was set just 300 kilometres north.
The Edmonton Elks’ Sunday game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders drew in a crowd of 32,233, making it their most-attended home opener in 10 years.
EDMONTON!
Thank YOU for bringing the energy today.
Who's up for cracking 35k on June 25th? 😏#OurTeamOurCity #GoElks #CFL pic.twitter.com/NDR5r0R4dU
— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) June 12, 2023
It may be a large fraction shy of reaching Commonwealth Stadium’s capacity of 56,400, but that’s still over 10,000 fans more than a fully packed Rexall Place.
Unfortunately for the Elks, though, the extra spectators didn’t give them enough to muster up a win against the Roughriders, who took the game by a score of 17-13. Edmonton has now lost a CFL record of 18 consecutive home games, a poor stretch that goes all the way back to October 12 of 2019.
Despite the disappointing result, the team remains optimistic that they can surpass the massive turnout at their next home game against the Toronto Argonauts later this month.
“Who’s up for cracking 35k on June 25th?” the team wrote on social media.
With a record of 0-1 so far this season, the Elks will try to win their first one of the season when they take on the BC Lions on this road this Saturday.
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