10 WEEKEND THINGS

TAKING SHOTS:

1 – CFL WEEK 11: It’s the buzz in Media/Scouts/VIP rooms across the land. “How are these teams doing it?” the insiders are quizzing, and I know because I’m part of the conversation. They’re referring to the woeful attendance in sporting venues across Canada, save for the National Hockey League. The aerial shots of Friday’s Winnipeg-Edmonton game at Commonwealth Stadium made it look like a practice, yet the announced attendance was 24, 276. You can announce paid attendance all you want but at some point, who’s kidding who? The attendance figures for Saturday’s CFL games were 12,500 in Vancouver and 16,139 in Ottawa. The games were good, but the crowds were not.

2 – “TONIGHT’S PAID ATTENDANCE”: To contrast, Wednesday’s Edmonton Oilers home-opener was 2,000 shy of a sellout but as one insider pointed out, “We’re the anti-vaxx capital! Maybe those 2,000 people were unvaccinated and couldn’t attend?” But that belies the notion of announcing paid attendance versus actual attendance (tickets scanned at the entrance). It’s been a fun back-and-forth situation that I first noticed around 15 years ago; teams camouflaging poor attendance by announcing how many seats were actually sold. I always felt that was WORSE. “You’re saying this many people bought tickets but only this many showed up. They’d rather buy tickets as a donation than actually show up and watch you.”

It was a fun discussion for years until now. You can announce whatever the hell you want, but the fact is seats are empty and teams in this country are losing millions. It wasn’t trending well before, and the pandemic just accelerated it.

If you’re not going, would you please mind telling us why not?

3 – WHAT GIVES: There are those who’ve advised not to let a good pandemic go to waste. A lot of really bad mismanagement has been sloughed off on the pandemic, and owners have had the wool pulled over their eyes by their top people. Good for them if they got away with it. And you can blame vaccination policies or media-driven fear for people avoiding games in Canada as much as you want, but at the end of the day jobs are still going to be cut because the bottom line is gushing red ink. May I take the opportunity to point out that American stadiums and arenas are full (I know; I was just there) and Saturday’s NHL attendance figures in Canada were 18,211 (Toronto), 21,105 (Montreal), 17,745 (Edmonton).

Are Canadian NHL fans the only ones in the country whom are fully vaccinated and not afraid of contracting the virus? Those attendance numbers would indicate that. I believe the Blue Jays sold every ticket which was made available this season too.

4 – THE SOLUTION: I spend way too much time thinking about this, but far less than I used to. Hyping these teams and leagues isn’t my job anymore. However I feel the deterioration of the mainstream media has led to the vast decline in interest in anything that isn’t NHL, NFL, MLB or NBA in Canada. We didn’t realize it until it was too late that the local newspapers, supper newscasts and radio morning shows were doing free marketing for the teams and we didn’t even know it at the time. And bad publicity has always been better than none. But now with major cutbacks in all of the media, the coverage is almost entirely gone and the time which remains is dedicated to the big leagues.

Quick: Name five Regina Pats! Or for that matter, five Roughriders. Can you name ONE Ram, Thunder or Red Sox?

The teams are working their nuts off on their own social media – kudos to them – but it’s the local media which isn’t what it used to be. (Paging Bob Hughes and Gregg Drinnan). Rob Vanstone is a one-man show as far as columnists go at the Leader Post.

Sports radio’s been wiped off the map in Hamilton and Winnipeg, and chopped by 50% in Vancouver. It’s flickering in the cities where it remains.

Sports isn’t as big of a deal in Canada as it is in the U.S., and it’s shrinking daily unless your three letters are N.H.L.

NEWSFLASH: Ignoring a problem won’t make it go away.

5 – IT AIN’T OVER: The road back is a long one but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I’m not sure who’s responsible but the Regina Pats are doing a nice job with a billboard campaign, slogan (I love “MARCH ON” and its military tie-in), and bringing back theme music at games which goes back decades. That’s great branding. UofR Rams billboards are evident around town. Picking up the phone and calling the media, past ticket buyers and stakeholders, getting into the community and pressing the flesh, is what it’s going to take. God bless you and may the force be with you. We used to consider that stuff fun to do.

6 – B.O.A.: On an appearance on ESPN Radio Toledo Sunday morning (where the Rod Pedersen Show airs on Channel 648 on Buckeye Cable), the hosts said a great drinking game would be to take a shot everytime the Hockey Night In Canada announcers said “Battle of Alberta” on Saturday night’s broadcast. They rolled their eyes and said it was too much. Although I love the hosts on the Cheap Seats, I had to shoot back and say this is what we’re missing in sports. Particularly hockey. Darryl Sutter wanted to take his rough-and-tumble Flames into Edmonton and send a message but were sent home with a 5-2 loss, having given up two powerplay goals. I was anticipating the game all day and left a banquet Saturday night a little early to catch as much of the game as I could. Loved every second of it.

7 – PATS NOTES: They’re my favourite team in the world so I can’t stop analyzing and commenting on them. … Condolences to Marion Smith and family on the passing of Bill Smith, a decades-long Pats season ticket holder who passed away Friday evening at age 75. Bill was famous for his Pats jersey which was adorned with over 60 lapel pins from all CHL teams. Marion told me Saturday that jersey weighed over 12 lbs! That thing should be displayed in the Regina Pats Hall of Fame. Now all we need is a Regina Pats Hall of Fame. … Connor Bedard was held pointless again Saturday night in Regina’s 6-3 loss at Winnipeg, and was a minus-3. The 16-year old phenom dazzled last year beside left-winger Carson Denomie, putting up 1.87 points per game. This season he’s below the 1.0 PPG mark as the Pats try to find the right mix for him. I hope they find it soon. Our next Regina Pats telecast is Friday versus Saskatoon from under the orange top.

8 – GREY CUP: The CFL announced this week that the 2023 Grey Cup has been awarded to Hamilton. Many people wondered why. I’m told that because the 2021 Grey Cup in Hamilton is to be a scaled-down, non-moneymaking event (largely), that the CFL and other teams wanted to do the Ticats a solid and give them a real GREY CUP as soon as possible. The plan remains for the 2022 Grey Cup to be in Saskatchewan.

How will the CFL look by then? That was a question an NHL agent asked Friday night in the media room at the Brandt Centre, where we spent the entire first period watching the Blue Bombers and Elks. The answer is – who knows?

9 – COWTOWN: The RP Show goes on the road to Alberta again this week as I’ll be speaking to the FMC Group Wednesday evening in downtown Calgary. It’s a private corporate event, so unfortunately it’s not open to the public. The topic? Hockey, football, agriculture & mental health. Our TV show will air from Calgary on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. They’ve asked me to bring a jersey of my choice as a giveaway so I’m getting my hands on a signed Bo Levi Mitchell Stampeders uniform. How bout that? The times, they are a’changing.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: The NHL season has begun with 449 Canadian players on rosters, 289 Americans, 104 Swedes, 62 Finns, 56 Russians and 37 Czechs. … It’s that time of year where you need your heater in the morning and AC in the afternoon. That’s better, I guess, than needing the heater 24/7. … Writing this and watching NFL from London, it seems the Miami Dolphins are a much better team with Tua Tagovailoa under centre. Maybe their problem WAS just at the QB position. Mind you, they’re playing Jacksonville. … The word I’ve gotten out of the NFL is that deposed Raiders coach Jon Gruden was simply the fall guy for a much bigger scandal coming out of the Washington Redskins investigation. The story goes Commissioner Roger Goodell had a target on Gruden for quite some time and taking him out could/would/should cover up for a lot of bigger names who’d otherwise be implicated in the 650,000 emails which were uncovered. … There’s a saying in Recovery that, “Your past can’t hurt you.” Maybe they spoke too soon. … It will be interesting to see how the Roughriders come back after their bye. They’ll be facing a Calgary Stampeders team which has won three in a row, leap-frogged BC, and is now tied with Sask for second-place. Don’t forget, the Stamps have now won the tiebreaker against Sask too. … The Dallas Cowboys have never beaten Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots and haven’t won in Foxborough since 1996. Today’s the day! … Covering the NHL & NFL is easy. Why didn’t I do it far earlier? … In college football, Alabama humiliated Mississippi 49-9 on Saturday. Ho hum. … The Winnipeg Jets are 0-2 to start the season. Not to worry! 80 games to go. … Thanks to all who supported the Susan Ulmer Addiction Services fundraiser Saturday night at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church. It was vast, and the hall was jammed. I’d mentioned to the organizers that it’s very difficult to raise funds for Addiction Recovery but they countered, “Not anymore”. Thanks if you helped out!

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen

(Photo: Kevin Jesus)