Elks expected to have biggest crowd in four years at tonight's home opener
The Edmonton Elks haven’t exactly been the CFL’s most fun franchise to watch over the last two seasons, but it appears that fans are giving them another chance to show them what the team has got this year.
According to Twitter account 1CFLAtt, the Elks have already picked up more than 30,000 ticket sales for tonight’s home opener and a chance to keep growing.
#CFL Today, 5pm mt, TSN.
šcommonwealth stadium
š Ticket Sales 30,000+šRiders @sskroughriders
šļø
š¦EElks @GoElks pic.twitter.com/l6WMtewSP7— š CFL Attendances š (@1CFLAtt) June 11, 2023
In a follow up tweet, the account added nearly 35,000 tickets have already been sold.
#ELKS
CFL on notice. Edmonton can you hit 37,000 today? Ur old annual attendance?Tickets are moving quickly!
Closing in on 35,000 already! The Place to be today, party like atmosphere with a LOUD atmosphere awaiting.Riders fans will have cpl thousand, too, which makes it fun
— š CFL Attendances š (@1CFLAtt) June 11, 2023
It’s got a shot at the team’s largest expected attendance for a single game since 2019, when they totalled 40,113 fans in attendance for a week 13 contest against the Calgary Stampeders in an early September contest against their divisional rival.
If that number might be a little out of reach, it’s possible the team hits the 34,217 mark they hit in week 11 in 2019 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Unfortunately for the home side, they lost both of their two-highest attended games since 2019, but it’s not like winning has come all that easy to the Elks of late anyway.
It’s been a tough few years since 2019 for the Elks: after the 2020 season was cancelled entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Elks have gone a combined 7-25 since, winning just three games in 2021 and just four in 2022.
Their highest crowd of 2022 came in at 26,946 against the Stampeders, while their largest total in 2021 came up to a number of 33,493 against ā you guessed it ā Ā the Stampeders.
Calgary doesn’t visit Commonwealth Stadium until September 9, so feel free to plan ahead in advance to get your tickets for that game.
Kickoff for tonight’s game is set at 5 pm MT, with the game broadcast nationally on TSN 1 and 3.
No matter how the team ends up performing on the field this year, it’s always a nice sign to see the often half-empty Commonwealth Stadium filling up a little more.