Elks: Edmonton Eskimos 2019 v2

[MoontoScott]

Unamba and Orange both going on the 6-game...this franchise is bloody cursed. We signed five big-name free agents, and four are injured. Three of them long term. How does the same franchise just get destroyed with injuries two weeks into the season every god damn year...

Just thinking the same thing. Orange and Unamba out for six games is a serious blow and a real downgrade. Like you say, it seems like a curse.

 

[Jet Walters]

Reilly could put up some big numbers with those changes in the secondary, and with the Esks front 7 looking strong I can see the Lions passing a ton like last week when their running game gets shut down.

 

[bone]

Lots of really good suggestions here.

It seems, to me, that growing the fan base through kids is a no brainer. I’m still amazed somebody in that organization ever thought it was a good idea to stop giving kids a free ticket on the last day of school. It was 50,000 freebies but at least that many sold that wouldn’t have been otherwise. You could probably trace the sharp decline in attendance back to that decision. Get the kids in the building when they’re young and show them they can have fun and they’ll want to come back. If they never go, they’ll never know. That decision cost them a generation of fans.

Yeah, that promotion was a bad one to give up. They did bring it back (sort of) last year for a game when kids returned from school, so hopefully they push that agenda more this year.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Reilly could put up some big numbers with those changes in the secondary, and with the Esks front 7 looking strong I can see the Lions passing a ton like last week when their running game gets shut down.

Hopefully it's raining tomorrow. I'm going to the game, but whatever, I'll sacrifice my comfort to shut down BC's passing game.

 

[Jet Walters]

Hopefully it's raining tomorrow. I'm going to the game, but whatever, I'll sacrifice my comfort to shut down BC's passing game.

Just hope for no lightning and a Winnipeg style game delay. Smuggle some trail mix in just in case.

 

[abootzky]

But with the STH pricing how do you get just under 300bucks when everybody else see's 332bucks.

Possibly the only perk from the Eskimos missing the playoffs in '18 was that the cost of the playoff game ticket we paid for carried over as a credit to this season. That's how.

You don't mean knothole do you? Those are hard to sell tickets being in the corners, behind the endzone, and very difficult to watch a game from. Very poor quality seats. Next, the Esks keep quoting 11 games which is misleading. 1 game is Exhibition, another is Junior Football. So only 9 games that are meaningful. Although fans have no option on a price discount just to see the 9 games. So to me that works out more like 36.6bucks per game. Of course the Oilers are more experience. In the NHL you're seeing the best players in the world, and more of the world plays Hockey. In the CFL you're seeing players almost exclusively not good enough for the NFL and when they are they don't stay here long. Additionally as a fan you're seeing another league with joke officiating, and often times bad management and coaching. Any given weekend you'll see a product where you wonder what the coaches do with the players all preseason and all week every week.

When you see a guy like Robinson run the ball out of the Endzone to the half yard line, and then get stuffed back to the endzone. You wonder if one coach mentioned to him or the team, to NEVER do this in that situation. Plays like that leave me cold. To me it makes it look like I'm seeing an amateur run product.

Been following the league for 50yrs and its losing me as a fan. Not just the Eskimos. The whole league. The chronic Toronto, Vancouver indifference. The Montreal gongshow. The aborted Atlantic Canada expansion.

In anycase a lot of people don't buy STH. So the bottom for pricing is around 45bucks/ticket unless one goes with the corner discounted promotions, which are continually less of a discount to bother.

Lets see. 31 bucks for a bad seat to what has become a pretty bad product. Most people pass. The product has deteriorated vastly because the CFL has immense difficulty retaining quality players it gets. They throw the bank roll at QB's in desperate attempts to retain but not much left. The Caps are not competitive.

Just a word and a bit as a response to all of that: K-Bye!

 

[Del Preston]

I've never seen someone get personally offended because other people think ticket prices are too high.

 

[guymez]

Hopefully it's raining tomorrow. I'm going to the game, but whatever, I'll sacrifice my comfort to shut down BC's passing game.

Pressure is the key IMO. Reilly doesnt have a quick release so if the front 7 can pressure him the Esks should win.

 

[abootzky]

I've never seen someone get personally offended because other people think ticket prices are too high.

I guess my replies came off that way. I don't believe that Eskimos tickets (even the single game ones) are overpriced while you & others do. No real offence taken here about that.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Public service announcement, you can get nosebleeds at Brewhouse locations for $25, including free bus to the game. Those tickets cost over $50 at the box office, not sure why the organization is in full gouge mode when it comes to walk ups, but there's a workaround so to speak.

 

[McJadeddog]

Just thinking the same thing. Orange and Unamba out for six games is a serious blow and a real downgrade. Like you say, it seems like a curse.

Pretty much every year for the last 5-6 years now, we've had major, MAJOR, injury problems very early into the season, and never really recover. I'm trying to remember the last year where we had even "average" injury problems. Probably close to a decade ago now.

 

[MoontoScott]

Pretty much every year for the last 5-6 years now, we've had major, MAJOR, injury problems very early into the season, and never really recover. I'm trying to remember the last year where we had even "average" injury problems. Probably close to a decade ago now.

Its interesting that if you go back to the dynasty years in the early 80's the EE had few major injuries and had a starting "core" that held together for over 5 years. Yes indeed, the luck of the draw on injuries is a big factor and undoubtedly has hurt the team in the last 5 years.

 

[rboomercat90]

Its interesting that if you go back to the dynasty years in the early 80's the EE had few major injuries and had a starting "core" that held together for over 5 years. Yes indeed, the luck of the draw on injuries is a big factor and undoubtedly has hurt the team in the last 5 years.

I wonder if not playing on grass anymore contributes to that.

 

[Del Preston]

Saskatchewan is getting waxed right now.

 

[Del Preston]

Craig Dickenson isn't used to this head coaching thing. Questionable catch by Ottawa that should have been challenged by the Riders but Dickenson was standing on the sidelines with the headset around his neck.

 

[MoontoScott]

I wonder if not playing on grass anymore contributes to that.

There were certainly people around the league during the "dynasty years" who said that some of the Esks great performance was due to the natural grass surface.

 

[rboomercat90]

There were certainly people around the league during the "dynasty years" who said that some of the Esks great performance was due to the natural grass surface.

It was certainly an advantage when they had it.

 

[guymez]

I wonder if not playing on grass anymore contributes to that.

Do any of the teams in the CFL play on grass?

 

[rboomercat90]

Do any of the teams in the CFL play on grass?

Not sure if BMO Field has grass or not. That would be the only other one that might.

 

[guymez]

Not sure if BMO Field has grass or not. That would be the only other one that might.

Yeah...I was wondering about that being that TFC plays there.

The Esks do seem to have more injuries early on than any other team though.

 

[MoontoScott]

It was certainly an advantage when they had it.

You bet and it wasn't just the injury factor.

Other teams complained that the Esks knew "how to play" on the grass and it made a difference in receivers cutting their patterns or how the ball bounced on kickoff returns or punts. No doubt in my mind that it helped the club.

Of course, the Moon to Scott combo on 2nd downs was also a major factor.

 

[MoontoScott]

Do any of the teams in the CFL play on grass?

I believe that the EE were the last to have it. Did Winnipeg have it for a long time too? I know the Stamps have been on artificial turf for decades.

 

[guymez]

I believe that the EE were the last to have it. Did Winnipeg have it for a long time too? I know the Stamps have been on artificial turf for decades.

Looks like you were right....

No more grass in CFL

 

[Del Preston]

BMO Field installed hybrid grass this year.

Toronto’s BMO Field undergoes transformation into a hybrid playing surface

 

[rboomercat90]

BMO Field installed hybrid grass this year.

Toronto’s BMO Field undergoes transformation into a hybrid playing surface

I thought they might have had it originally and that was what the uproar was about when the Jays kicked the Argos out of Rogers Center forcing them to play there. Guess not.