Quote Originally Posted by Argos1983 View Post
Article in the Ottawa Sun from yesterday talking about the renaissance of interest in the football team over the last few years:

http://www.ottawasun.com/2017/07/04/...edblacks-fever

The main thrust of the article talks about the 25000 seat sellouts that Ottawa is enjoying as being a product of a few things --- the bars/restaurants/stores/gym and such surrounding the new stadium creating it as a "place to be" --- hard to replicate that with a stadium like BMO that is not really immediately next to anything until one leaves the Ex Grounds....I guess tailgating is our attempt at this....a noble attempt, but it does not seem to be working too well frankly in terms of increasing attendance numbers.....

The other main point of the article was talking about the diversity of age and gender of the crowd (they have an annual Women's Night the article states, as someone here had also suggested) --- and the need to market to new and younger fans --- and that it mostly comes down to the atmosphere and vibe around the stadium which makes the experience - and that the younger fans don't just want to sit and watch a game for three hours they want to interact, drink etc. (I think the Tiger Cats are also trying some type of admission where you can stand on a patio and move around the stadium etc.) ---- maybe the North-End patio (beer garden) idea at BMO is not such a bad thought....but the key was the atmosphere and vibe and about making it the fun place to be --- now again, Ottawa has two huge advantages over the Argos in this regard -- no Blue Jays as a sports entertainment option in the summer which is drawing a lot of the younger crowd away from BMO potentially, and also no TFC who is doing the atmosphere and vibe thing better in the Argos very own stadium already.....the Argos have a very difficult nut to crack as they have a much different market than Ottawa (with more competition for the sports entertainment $) and even the good ideas from there won't necessarily transfer here and work as well......
Just an FYI Ottawa has a soccer team too, they play out of the same stadium as the Redblacks do.