Getting ready to pick my teams for this weekends Fantasy pick-em. I want to pick the Steslth to win at home, but am having trouble making up my mind. Oh what the hell, I'll pick them to win. It has to happen sometime and a win keeps them in the race. Go Stealth.
Since they are playing a pretty poor Rochester team I would like to think they will win at home this weekend
Thought tonight they would turn it around. Nope, another loss at home and a 1000 less fans than their last home game. This is a doomed franchise and the sooner the owner realizes it the better. Another sold out game in Saskatoon at over 15,000 fans. Time for the Stealth to pack it in and move to a similar market. Will not be missed as the few fans they have don't care.
I do wonder if moving to another building in the area would help. From what I understand the LEC isn't the easiest place to get to. And it's limited capacity isn't helpful for revenues which could be spent on putting a better team on the floor. And since they're in a division with 3 teams who do reasonable in ticket revenue (Calgary), pretty well (Colorado) and outstanding (Saskatchewan), they will continue to be at a major disadvantage. Might take a gamble from ownership to try it in order to compete.
So, how hard would it be for the Stealth to get dates in Winnipeg with the Jets and the Moose taking up 75+ days a year in the winter?
Probably not hard at all. Same situation with Calgary Roughnecks as they share the building with the Calgary Flames and Hitman. All owned by the Flames and doing well.
I think they should either give Abbotsford a shot, or if it's affordable, try the Agrodome in Vancouver, I saw a WWE house show there and the atmosphere in that arena is amazing. Really hope they will stick around, I've missed lacrosse since the Ravens.
Better than Langley imho, I drove delivery there and that street grid is migraine inducing. Accessibility issues don't surprise me one bit
The Agrodome is the right capacity for the existing fan base, but, would you even get that many people flocking into East Van for an evening at a third tier arena? If you wanted to try downtown, could this one be configured for lacrosse? Further from the burbs, but, I think a much nicer area. https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Doug+Mitchell+Thunderbird+Sports+Centre/@49.2600893,-123.241867,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x1428e3058d3cea7f!8m2!3d49.2600893!4d-123.241867
Nobody cares about lacrosse in the Vancouver area. Neither the Agrodome or Rogers place in downtown Vancouver will ever support lacrosse. Thunderbird stadium is located at the University of British Columbia and is a traffic nightmare to get there. Will never work. Just move the franchise.
PNE Agridome was a dump back when the WLA Vancouver Burrards played there 1900-1993, can't imagine is has changed much. Probably still smells like manure. Our former senior B team thought about it as a venue when we got evicted from Kerrisdale, before moving to Burnaby in 2007. Main obstacle with the Dome was film crews got first dibs using it on short notice - as well as being a dump. If a team is going to consider the Agridome, then just consider Pacific Coliseum next door. Only way Rogers would work is if the Canucks owned the team (to help offset the rent) and sunk a lot of cash into promotion. Rent back when the Ravens used it was $46,000 range per game, no clue what it would cost now. The location is good for sports - but costs may not be for an team at the NLL level. But then maybe such a venue is needed for lacrosse fans and local sports fans to take the team seriously. I don't know. Thunderbird / UBC is not an option. Terrible location for traffic access, parking, etc. I went to a pre-season CFL game located out at UBC a couple years ago. It was a shitshow to get there and then find parking that wasn't far away. Yup. If people aren't willing to go to Langley now, they won't be willing to go out to Abbotsford.
I truthfully figured neither would work any better, and, I think you're right that the only way that this gets the 'legitimacy' to draw more than the hardened lacrosse folks is if it is at the big arena downtown.
Look at what the Ravens were drawing their first year: 10,212 per game average. Granted there were a lot of freebie tickets handed out that year to snag the attention of the curious, but it's pretty clear from that number that those all weren't WLA fans = lacrosse fans attending. Mainland WLA attendance back then was a lot worse than it is now, maybe 2000 to 2100 attending WLA games here per week. Coquitlam used to sell out 1200 seat Poirier Street but New West was drawing maybe 350-400 while Maple Ridge was lucky to get 200 and Burnaby 100-150. North Shore drew maybe 50 (I counted 35 at their last game and they didn't even bother collect $$$ at the door). Sorry but if they are going to be taken seriously as a Vancouver team by the casual and curious sports fan here, putting lipstick on a pig named Langley or Abbotsford or anywhere south of the Fraser and selling it as Vancouver is not going to be taken seriously. The ??? is whether even downtown or the Coliseum would work for them now - or did the Ravens leave such a bad taste in everyone's mouths the first time around?
