First post 'expectations in '17'

[DowntownStadium]

Well i'm a new member!

 

Just signed up after the season. Ya its late but want to find a forum to discuss blue bomber football. i have been a reader for quite some time.  It was an exciting time for the Blue Bombers this season after a rough start we became a contender.

My thoughts moving forward on/off the field include

 

- we need a new DC - richie hall just isn't what we need right now.

- LaPolice might leave for a HC but if he returns that will be big. He really did change for the better since his last stint.

- Stadium atmosphere aside from 2 games was terrible. Poor attendance. Whats the deal with this? maybe its time to lower prices. That stadium should be full more times than not including home opener and like at least 3 other games, and labour day rematch.

-  CFL TV #'s were impressive. 

- I want the CFL to maintain its stars. Jonathon Jennings is a stud. No doubt. And the CFL needs to do a better job getting these stars noticed around town. The lions are popular in vancouver. yet they lack the starpower say sedins. i would say the lions head coach is more known that the canucks head coach. CFL needs to do a better job overall. we have been saying this for 20 yrs. lol.-

- TV deal is not big enough. TSN is underpaying. period. Higher salary cap = better salaries for coachs/players and most of them will stay in the league. Business side of the league needs to improve.

- Blue Bombers have finally come around listening to fans with jersey brand. I see heritage jets logo everywhere in the city and the blue bombers royal blue colors can be seen around town. Its great Winnipeg is getting back to its roots. And now we fans need to get these teams over this hurdle they face.

 

 

All in all. Its been a fun season. Yes. It sucks off-season football is here. Its never fun as the wait is way too long. good thing we have the NHL Jets to keep up busy until spring. well lets hope late spring early summer.

 

 

[Eternal optimist]

On 11/14/2016 at 9:06 PM, DowntownStadium said:

Well i'm a new member!

- Stadium atmosphere aside from 2 games was terrible. Poor attendance. Whats the deal with this? maybe its time to lower prices. That stadium should be full more times than not including home opener and like at least 3 other games, and labour day rematch.

First of all, welcome aboard!

I think the dip in attendance at games was pretty much league-wide this year. Calgary also had a great year and even they couldn't sell out home games. Of particular concern though is the Bombers have a shiny, new stadium* to pay for and their attendance has been decreasing the past few years. Personally, I think the Jets 2.0 was a wake-up call for the Bombers. Without the Jets, the biggest sports competition for the Bombers was the Goldeyes.

The Jets return in 2011, coupled with the Bombers regression shortly after a 2011 cinderella-run to the Grey Cup, has caused the Blue & Gold to lose lots of their market share. On top of that, there was the stadium fiasco, the 2013 season, and the two following season were unmemorable at best. That said, they had a great year this year, and if they can continue building off this momentum, their attendance should hopefully improve.

 

*Stadium may not actually be shiny, new, or in any way structurally sound.

[wbbfan]

On 11/14/2016 at 9:06 PM, DowntownStadium said:

Well i'm a new member!

 

Just signed up after the season. Ya its late but want to find a forum to discuss blue bomber football. i have been a reader for quite some time.  It was an exciting time for the Blue Bombers this season after a rough start we became a contender.

My thoughts moving forward on/off the field include

 

- we need a new DC - richie hall just isn't what we need right now.

- LaPolice might leave for a HC but if he returns that will be big. He really did change for the better since his last stint.

- Stadium atmosphere aside from 2 games was terrible. Poor attendance. Whats the deal with this? maybe its time to lower prices. That stadium should be full more times than not including home opener and like at least 3 other games, and labour day rematch.

-  CFL TV #'s were impressive. 

- I want the CFL to maintain its stars. Jonathon Jennings is a stud. No doubt. And the CFL needs to do a better job getting these stars noticed around town. The lions are popular in vancouver. yet they lack the starpower say sedins. i would say the lions head coach is more known that the canucks head coach. CFL needs to do a better job overall. we have been saying this for 20 yrs. lol.-

- TV deal is not big enough. TSN is underpaying. period. Higher salary cap = better salaries for coachs/players and most of them will stay in the league. Business side of the league needs to improve.

- Blue Bombers have finally come around listening to fans with jersey brand. I see heritage jets logo everywhere in the city and the blue bombers royal blue colors can be seen around town. Its great Winnipeg is getting back to its roots. And now we fans need to get these teams over this hurdle they face.

 

 

All in all. Its been a fun season. Yes. It sucks off-season football is here. Its never fun as the wait is way too long. good thing we have the NHL Jets to keep up busy until spring. well lets hope late spring early summer.

 

 

The jets and the rough stretch of years has crippled the fan support for the blue. Long term between the jets and the stadium debt i worry about the stability of the franchise. If we went on a skid like we had the last few years it could be late 90s bad. 

Weve seen the same base system on offense and defense (bend but dont break deep match zone, 4 man front + 1 rushing backer, gap heavy line and possesion passing dink n dunk offense) under multiple co ordinators. Changing a CO isnt going to make us suddenly make good use of the deep ball, or aggressive tight D. They have to be judged more on adjustments, use of personnel, execution, and preparedness. 

 

 

[basslicker]

The expectation for '17 is the same as every year.........grey cup or bust

Edited November 18, 2016 by basslicker

[Fan Boy]

I hope the Jets are not a real reason for lack of fan support as they seem to be entering an up stage in the cycle. I am not a hockey fan having never played the game but I notice the team seems to be better with a hot shot rookie. I just hope that the inevitable excitement does not eat away any further fan support from the BB than it already has. 

[Rich]

The Jets have to factor in.  There is a lot of disposable income flowing their way. 

The Jets will come first for a lot of people in the city  

 

[Fatty Liver]

14 hours ago, Rich said:

The Jets have to factor in.  There is a lot of disposable income flowing their way. 

The Jets will come first for a lot of people in the city  

 

As someone who watched the Jets leave Wpg. many years ago for a host of reasons including low attendance in a poor facility.  I often wonder where all of this disposable income that people are now blowing on hockey comes from when I see MTS Center filled to the rafters night after night.  Wpg. has not seen much growth in population over the last 20 years and it's economy has been steady but certainly has not improved in any significant way.  It does look like a younger demographic filling the stands and perhaps in these times of low interest rates and easy money this generation is more inclined to spend their savings on entertainment than the previous generation was.  Anyone have a good explanation?

Edited November 19, 2016 by Throw Long Bannatyne

[Goalie]

I hate to say it because it's not an issue for me but lots of people I know have said that they won't go back to igf because of the first year gong show with parking and traffic. Yeah. Weak right but lots of people feel this way. More than we all think. It's not an issue anymore and IMO never really was but to lots of people it's a big reason why they won't go to games. 

 

Edited November 18, 2016 by Goalie

[FrostyWinnipeg]

MOS will learn from his mistake and only ask Medlock to try a 60 yarder in a dome.

As for attendance woes, look at the team. Not one year yet were they have a winning record at IGF. Should be better next year since they were half-decent this year.

Edited November 18, 2016 by FrostyWinnipeg

[17to85]

1 minute ago, Goalie said:

I hate to say it because it's not an issue for me but lots of people I know have said that they won't go back to igf because of the first year gong show with parking and traffic. Yeah. Weak right but lots of people feel this way. More than we all think. 

Lots of people say **** like that all the time, bottom line is that once the Bombers start putting on a show for the fans at home they'll show up again. Fact is though that the Bombers get killed at IGF more often than not so people don't go cause chances of seeing that memorable game are pretty low. 

[Goalie]

It's easy to say that in Alberta... but lots of people here really don't care for the location of the stadium.

[bigg jay]

21 minutes ago, Goalie said:

It's easy to say that in Alberta... but lots of people here really don't care for the location of the stadium.

It's just as easy to say it from Winnipeg.  A lot of people didn't like the old location either, you're never going to please everyone

Edited November 18, 2016 by bigg jay

[Taynted_Fayth]

I think Bomber fans have shown in the past they'll support a winner, especially when they go on a tare, so really that's on the club to field that team, and all indications are we're getting there

[blueingreenland]

My expectations for 2017 record wise would be about the same as this year: around 11 and 7. I don't expect us to win on Labour Day, and maybe not beat the Lions back to back, but I also expect us to beat Calgary at least once in 2017 and not get off to the horrible start we did this year. West should be tough next year too, but the Bombers should have as good a record or close with the Riders hopefully sucking again.

[17to85]

1 hour ago, Goalie said:

It's easy to say that in Alberta... but lots of people here really don't care for the location of the stadium.

yeah and a lot of people would ***** about the location no matter where they built the stadium. It really is irrelevant to the point here. Win and put on a good show for the fans and they'll quit bitching and show up because it's a good time and money and time well spent. 

[rebusrankin]

The average attendance this year is pretty much in line with what we put up year to year between 2000 and 2012 for the most part. I don't buy the location argument.

[Brandon]

The constant losing over the years easily has destroyed the confidence of many fair weather to even good fans.    

Heck even Mike was complaining early this season about never going to see the Blue play again and I would assume that he would be one of the most die hard fans.   

 

 

[White Out]

11 hours ago, Rich said:

The Jets have to factor in.  There is a lot of discretionary income flowing their way. 

The Jets will come first for a lot of people in the city  

 

I don't know why that common mistake in terminology bothers me. It just does.

[Eternal optimist]

11 hours ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

As someone who watched the Jets leave Wpg. many years ago for a host of reasons but including low attendance in a poor facility.  I often wonder where all of this disposable income that people are now blowing on hockey comes from when I see MTS Center filled to the rafters night after night.  Wpg. has not seen much growth in population over the last 20 years and it's economy has been steady but certainly has not improved in any significant way.  It does look like a younger demographic filling the stands and perhaps in these times of low interest rates and easy money this generation is more inclined to spend their savings on entertainment than the previous generation was.  Anyone have a good explanation?

As someone from the "millennial" generation I can testify to the fact that in terms of financial aptitude, my generation is a bunch of idiots. The majority of people in my age bracket don't bat an eyelash at the thought of putting Jets, Bombers or any other "fun" expense on a low interest loan, credit card or whatever other financial instrument they have access to. "Buy now pay later" isn't an advertising gimmick, it's a way of life for some people.

As mentioned by others, the Jets are still selling out. I remember when they came back talks of how you had to commit for 3 years of season tickets, I've also heard 5 years, does anyone know how that works? If it is 5 years, one would expect some Jets fans to possibly convert to the Bombers after the 2016-2017 Jets season - since that would be 5 years since the original 2011 signup. I also think at the end of the day, there is only so much disposable income for people, and obviously as of late people have chosen the Jets over the Bombers. Based on the past few years, I can't blame them, but hopefully a few more +.500 seasons and the Bombers will see their attendance bounce back.

Final note regarding interest rates - I can't wait until they actually rise again, reward the savers for once!

[SpeedFlex27]

Here are some stats.. Winnipeg's population has grown by 100,000 since 1996. That's quite significant as it's almost the City of Regina. 

http://www.winnipeg.ca/cao/pdfs/population.pdf

 

[White Out]

7 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Here are some stats.. Winnipeg's population has grown by 100,000 since 1996. That's quite significant as it's almost the City of Regina. 

http://www.winnipeg.ca/cao/pdfs/population.pdf

 

Ya but a lot of that is natives moving in with lower wage/salaries

[SpeedFlex27]

Even if 6,000 people are added on to the old season ticket base of about 8,000 the team is in better shape than it was in the 90's with the new building as it sells out at 15,000. Team merchandising ,marketing & tv deals are astronomical compared to what it was when Jets 1.0 were here. More sources of revenue than before. 

[Rich]

8 hours ago, Eternal optimist said:

As someone from the "millennial" generation I can testify to the fact that in terms of financial aptitude, my generation is a bunch of idiots. The majority of people in my age bracket don't bat an eyelash at the thought of putting Jets, Bombers or any other "fun" expense on a low interest loan, credit card or whatever other financial instrument they have access to. "Buy now pay later" isn't an advertising gimmick, it's a way of life for some people.

As mentioned by others, the Jets are still selling out. I remember when they came back talks of how you had to commit for 3 years of season tickets, I've also heard 5 years, does anyone know how that works? If it is 5 years, one would expect some Jets fans to possibly convert to the Bombers after the 2016-2017 Jets season - since that would be 5 years since the original 2011 signup. I also think at the end of the day, there is only so much disposable income for people, and obviously as of late people have chosen the Jets over the Bombers. Based on the past few years, I can't blame them, but hopefully a few more +.500 seasons and the Bombers will see their attendance bounce back.

Final note regarding interest rates - I can't wait until they actually rise again, reward the savers for once!

The length of the commitment was based on where your seats were located.  Only the prime locations were 5 years. 

I do know that for ticket group I am in (our seats are upper deck centre ice), the renewal came last year or the year before.

I believe the majority of renewals have already come and people either renewed or people from the waiting list stepped in.

I think the biggest reason for the Jets selling out like they have was the scarcity of tickets from their initial return and groups  splitting season tickets. 

No way I'm making the time and financial commitment to go to all home games.  But with groups of people splitting the tickets, which to my knowledge wasn't as prevalent or never happened in Jets 1.0, it is more affordable for people and those people end up going to more games than if they were buying single seats. 

[Eternal optimist]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

The length of the commitment was based on where your seats were located.  Only the prime locations were 5 years. 

I do know that for ticket group I am in (our seats are upper deck centre ice), the renewal came last year or the year before.

I believe the majority of renewals have already come and people either renewed or people from the waiting list stepped in.

I think the biggest reason for the Jets selling out like they have was the scarcity of tickets from their initial return and groups  splitting season tickets. 

No way I'm making the time and financial commitment to go to all home games.  But with groups of people splitting the tickets, which to my knowledge wasn't as prevalent or never happened in Jets 1.0, it is more affordable for people and those people end up going to more games than if they were buying single seats. 

That's actually exactly what my sister (who has Jets season tickets) does, she just raffles them off to friends/family for anyone who wants a specific game (for example, if someone living in Winnipeg that grey up in Edmonton wants to see an Oilers/Jets game), then keeps a few for herself. I agree it'd be crazy to try to go to all 41 home games between October and April, that's almost like have a part-time job and would be a big time commitment.

[Taynted_Fayth]

the jets are still a bit of a novelty too. Because of the sell outs and people being locked in long term when they came back, some people (myself included) have yet to attend a jets game live. I see lots of posts on FB with people posting pics of them at games with the caption "My first jets game"