Where are you sports fans? Where have you gone? Are you over the in-stadium experience? Are you all in Europe? Lots of you seem to be in Europe.
I said at the start of summer: “Hey gang, good news, games of import coming soon to a retractable dome near you.”
And guess what? It’s happening. It’s pretty much guaranteed at this point. The Vancouver Whitecaps will almost certainly be battling for a playoff spot until the season’s end. The BC Lions have now built up their season to a point where the wheels falling off would still mean a decent shot at the playoffs.
And yet, half-full houses.
The announced attendance is 14,468 to watch #VWFC vs #HoldItDown tonight @BCPlace #VANvHOU #MLS
— Har Journalist (@HarJournalist) August 6, 2022
BC wins 46 – 14 over EElks 😬
📊 16,342
— CFL Attendances (@1CFLAtt) August 7, 2022
Thankfully, just enough people did show up that both teams heard the excitement at the big moments of their respective games. The Lions doing their orchestrated touchdown celebrations, the Whitecaps jumping into the crowd on their game winner.
This league is fun. pic.twitter.com/xAAbqLg3hM
— BC LIONS (@BCLions) August 8, 2022
But it could have been so much better. The roof should have blown off BC Place twice this weekend. The roof is safely attached.
Hey, coming out of the pandemic, and maybe full bore into a recession, I get that many people are being careful. That accounts for some of it. But not all. By all accounts Nat Bailey stadium is doing quite well in its market. And really the two big clubs at the dome have comparable price points.
I also get that it’s summer and people are away. Guess what? These two teams have always played in the summer! The summer sun has always been a competing element.
It’s mid-August now. If the reopening of travel worldwide caught your attention early, maybe that’s winding to a close. Maybe you’ve been to the lake by now. Maybe your Tofino trip has come and gone.
After years of waiting for games to be excited about, we have that on two fronts! I hope that somehow, someway, we can have the event-like atmosphere we’ve been missing.
The Whitecaps Canadian Championship game shows that it’s possible.
Thank you to all 24,307 fans that attended the #CanChamp final on Tuesday night!
Can't wait to see you all again 💙#VWFC | #VANvTOR pic.twitter.com/0FN4jnzRq7
— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) July 28, 2022
Let’s do it again.
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