Sunday, 15 July 2012
Molson Stadium, Saputo Stadium and "The Dream Café”
With the attendance struggles
at Molson Stadium and Saputo Stadium, I can’t help to think about "The
Dream Café”. If you are a Seinfeld fan,
you may know where I’m going with this post.
If not, have a look at the following clip.
Like Babu Bhatt, the
people in the marketing offices of the Alouettes and the Impact are no doubt
frustrated with the apathy of the Montreal sports fan. Let’s take a look at what each organization
have done to welcome fans to their respective product.
Alouettes
Before Molson Stadium
was expanded for the 2010 season, everything was fine and dandy. Consecutive sellouts, demand for tickets was
high and the club was winning seemed like a recipe to go ahead with an
expansion of the stadium. Fans were
demanding for more tickets to see the Als and no doubt a 25 000- seat stadium
downtown would solidify the long term viability of the team. Fastforward to the present. The expansion of the stadium looked like it
was a complete faux pas. With a
consistent winner on the field, the football club is still unable to sell out.
Impact
The Montreal Impact has always had their 8000-10 000 hardcore fans in the city for professional footy, regardless of the level. Some argued that for the football club to be taken seriously on the pro sports landscape in Montreal, it would need to play in MLS, the highest level of soccer in North America. Ironically, years after the inception of the MLS, Montrealers were told by journalists and people from the Impact that there was not that much of a big different between MLS and USL soccer. Upon being awarded the 19th MLS franchise, the Impact expanded their stadium to welcome additional 7000 fans. As of July 11th, the side has not been able to sell out the stadium, even with new pricing packages.
“Show me people? There
are no people”
Both sports franchises must be repeating the same statement as coined by Babu. The issue is simple. There are not enough hardcore football and soccer fans in Montreal that will show up regardless of traffic problems, ticket prices or whatever the excuse is convenient.
Final Taughts
First salvo in The NHL’s CBA talks. If you are wringing
your hands over the first offer by the
owners in the current NHL CBA’s negotiation, relax. There will be a lot of back and forth between
now and the month of November. Yes,
there will be a season. A 60-game
season.
Memo To The CFL. Stop messing around with the look of teams,
especially their helmets (i.e. Edmonton Eskimos). If you want fans to buy-in to tradition of
the league, leave the green and gold buckets alone. Could you see the day when the Green Bay
Packers roll out onto Lambeau Field with a forest green helmets?
Follow me @sportstaughts
Thursday, 12 July 2012
Monday, 9 July 2012
Anthony Calvillo is questionable for this Thursday's game
RDS reporter Dider Ormejuste announced on Twitter that Montreal Alouettes quarterback, Anthony Calvillo is questionable with a left shoulder injury for this Thursday's home game against the Calgary Stampeders.
Head coach Marc Trestman is put into a situation of whether or not to start backup quarterback Adrian McPherson. As mentioned throughout the off season McPherson has patiently waited for his opportunity.
Now his chance could happen this Thursday against a limping Stampeders team that has their own quarterback injury issue with Drew Tate out for an indefinite amount of time.
What could be Trestman's next move? Given that the injury announcement was made this afternoon, he could allow Calvillo to rest up and contemplate making him a game time decision. Or Trestman could immediately announce McPherson as his starter and enable him to take all the first team repetitions.
The Alouettes knew very well that Calvillo would open to unnecessary hits from the opposition. It seemed from Friday's game that injury could be more serious than what initial replay showed.
Now Trestman must make a calculated decision that puts the team in the best position to win this Thursday and beyond if Calvillo will out for more than one week.
Follow me on Twitter @MoeKhan19
Listen to me every Sunday/Tuesday night on Gamepoints, every Friday morning on The Midnight Snack, and various shows on TSN 990.
Head coach Marc Trestman is put into a situation of whether or not to start backup quarterback Adrian McPherson. As mentioned throughout the off season McPherson has patiently waited for his opportunity.
Now his chance could happen this Thursday against a limping Stampeders team that has their own quarterback injury issue with Drew Tate out for an indefinite amount of time.
What could be Trestman's next move? Given that the injury announcement was made this afternoon, he could allow Calvillo to rest up and contemplate making him a game time decision. Or Trestman could immediately announce McPherson as his starter and enable him to take all the first team repetitions.
The Alouettes knew very well that Calvillo would open to unnecessary hits from the opposition. It seemed from Friday's game that injury could be more serious than what initial replay showed.
Now Trestman must make a calculated decision that puts the team in the best position to win this Thursday and beyond if Calvillo will out for more than one week.
Follow me on Twitter @MoeKhan19
Listen to me every Sunday/Tuesday night on Gamepoints, every Friday morning on The Midnight Snack, and various shows on TSN 990.
Montreal Alouettes sign Brody McKnight, what does this do to their kicking situation?
On Sunday evening the Montreal Alouettes announced the signing of kicker Brody McKnight, who was their first round selection in the
2011 CFL Draft.The timing is somewhat surprising considering the season is only two weeks old, and presently there is no issue with incumbent kicker, Sean Whyte.
For Whyte, it is a situation that he is all too familiar with. In 2011, he constantly looked over his shoulder with kicker Sandro DeAngelis waiting in the wings. However, Whyte never wilted under pressure. DeAngelis never saw the football field and was released after season.
The difference in this scenario McKnight is a former first round selection who garnered some NFL interest. But from all indications he was not able to earn an invitation to attend training camp.
For the Alouettes to sign him they must have felt they needed to protect themselves just in-case Whyte could get hurt or have a potential slump.
Furthermore, even though DeAngelis was on the practice roster for the 2011 season, the organization knew very well that no team would sign him considering his age and past on-field performance.
But could the Alouettes risk putting McKnight on their practice roster? Considering he is a young kicker, another CFL team could pry him away. If he does dress, this would result a lost non-import body at a different position.
There is no denying that the Alouettes have an abundance of talent in their lineup, but could there be a scenario where they would trade a player to address a potential issue at a different position?
Follow me on Twitter @MoeKhan19
Listen to me every Sunday/Tuesday nights on Gamepoints, every Friday morning on The Midnight Snack, and various shows on TSN 990.
Photo credit: blogs.theprovince.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)