Looking at the Edmonton Oiler fanbase crowd during the 1980s.

[sawchuk1971]

i saw some old edmonton oiler playoff 1980s games and saw the crowd looks pretty older than today's edmonton oiler crowd...

i think the demographics of oiler fans in the stands during the 1980s could be between 30 to 65 years of age, while today's demographic of oiler fans in the stands could be between 20 to 45 years of age...

i think the price of tickets were pretty cheap back then which allowed an older demographic who could afford it....

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[Pominville Knows]

i saw some old edmonton oiler playoff 1980s games and saw the crowd looks pretty older than today's edmonton oiler crowd...

i think the demographics of oiler fans in the stands during the 1980s could be between 30 to 65 years of age, while today's demographic of oiler fans in the stands could be between 20 to 45 years of age...

i think the price of tickets were pretty cheap back then which allowed an older demographic who could afford it....

I'm not entirely sure since this was specifically Edmonton/Canada in the eighties, but older people usually have more money to spend then younger ones.

 

[NyQuil]

I wonder if facial hair skews your visual perspective.

 

[jetsmooseice]

I've seen some of those pictures of the crowd in the Oilers glory years in the 80s and it's interesting, you hardly see any team merch at all. Might be one or two people in each section wearing a team jersey and a few people wearing team hats. Most people were just dressed normally. Contrast with now when almost everyone is wearing some kind of team gear.

 

[tarheelhockey]

While it may be true that gameday demographics have changed, one factor is that people actually did look older as recently as the 1980s.

I've seen some of those pictures of the crowd in the Oilers glory years in the 80s and it's interesting, you hardly see any team merch at all. Might be one or two people in each section wearing a team jersey and a few people wearing team hats. Most people were just dressed normally. Contrast with now when almost everyone is wearing some kind of team gear.

There's a whole thread on this.

 

[WarriorofTime]

they probably weren't.. people in their 20s and 30s from the 1980s might just look "older" to you compared to people in their 20s and 30s today based on fashion and hairstyles. They also probably weren't putting on a bunch of facial creams and stuff back then to prevent wrinkles, like a lot of people today will do.

I've seen some of those pictures of the crowd in the Oilers glory years in the 80s and it's interesting, you hardly see any team merch at all. Might be one or two people in each section wearing a team jersey and a few people wearing team hats. Most people were just dressed normally. Contrast with now when almost everyone is wearing some kind of team gear.

old time baseball footage is interesting because you see a lot of men wearing suits to the games

 

[Fourier]

It may just be me getting older, but when I go to games today it does seem like a much younger crowd than it did when I was a STH in the 80's. It also seems like fewer STH'ers go to every game. I only remember missing one regular season game over the decade+ I had season tickets. (Unfortunately for me that was the night Gretzky scored his 50th in 39 games.) Today it seems like there are different people in the seats all the time. I say this because I even going to about 5 games a year I have been able to get pretty much the same seat multiple times a year and the people sitting around me look different.

What is most surprising are the number of people in their teens or very early 20's. Given the cost of tickets I would not have expected this.

And for the record my tickets started out at $8 per game and peaked at $16.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Nobody really wore jerseys to games in the 70's and 80's. Montreal had older folks always dressed up with fur coats for instance. My guess is most of those people were sth's for decades.

 

[The Panther]

Keep in mind that in 1985, if you wanted to watch all 40 homes games (plus 5-6 pre-season games and even 2-3 first-round playoff games sometimes for Edmonton), you might need to BE AT THE GAME. Not all games were televised, and, obviously, if you missed it in real time, you missed it.

Nowadays, I live in Tokyo and I'm able to watch far more Edmonton games than when I was growing up in central Alberta in the 1980s / early 1990s.

My point being: Today, if you're a 60-year-old with a disposable income and want to watch the Oilers, you can do so on HD TV in real time, or pay a few bucks to NHL.TV and watch games anytime, at your leisure. This may be more comfortable / easier than paying $200 to go to a game, be surrounded by goal horns and blaring music, and fight traffic on the way home.

 

[JianYang]

Nobody really wore jerseys to games in the 70's and 80's. Montreal had older folks always dressed up with fur coats for instance. My guess is most of those people were sth's for decades.

Montreal was and is a bit of an anomoly. People dressed to impress at the forum back then. It was also a place where you didn't see many hats thrown during a hatrick. Even in recent times, they don't throw that many hats although more than before.

Even in the early to mid 90s, you didn't see that many jerseys in the crowd. I'm not sure what triggered the fan to become so much more merchandise oriented in the last 20 years or so. Not that I necessarily think there is anything wrong with it.... But the shift sort of interests me.

 

[patnyrnyg]

I've seen some of those pictures of the crowd in the Oilers glory years in the 80s and it's interesting, you hardly see any team merch at all. Might be one or two people in each section wearing a team jersey and a few people wearing team hats. Most people were just dressed normally. Contrast with now when almost everyone is wearing some kind of team gear.

I have definitely noticed this with all sports. Feel like it wasn't until the mid-90s where you saw a huge increase in the amount of fans wearing team clothing to games.

 

[patnyrnyg]

Montreal was and is a bit of an anomoly. People dressed to impress at the forum back then. It was also a place where you didn't see many hats thrown during a hatrick. Even in recent times, they don't throw that many hats although more than before.

Even in the early to mid 90s, you didn't see that many jerseys in the crowd. I'm not sure what triggered the fan to become so much more merchandise oriented in the last 20 years or so. Not that I necessarily think there is anything wrong with it.... But the shift sort of interests me.

I feel like part of it was availability. In the 90s at least in this area, you could get team t-shirts at places like Moddell's. However, only place I knew of to get a jersey was at Gerry Cosby's at MSG or in Westbury, LI. There were stores like "Winners" and then "The Complete Athlete" in malls where you could get out of town team gear. At the time, I had many hats. But 1 rangers t-shirt, 1 Giants, 1 Lakers. Didnt have any team sweatshirts or jackets.

 

[McGarnagle]

People used to look older, it's psychological

 

[jetsmooseice]

People used to look older, it's psychological

That Golden Girls with Modern Hair segment of the video had me feeling confused

On the jersey thing, one thing I have noticed is that jerseys at the game are more popular than ever, but jerseys worn casually are something you don't see a lot of anymore? Felt like 25 years ago you saw more people wearing jerseys randomly on the street, but hardly ever anymore unless it's the playoffs or there's some specific reason to wear one. Do I have that right or am I way off base?

 

[Crosby2010]

If you watch games in the 1996 World Cup you'll see some Team Canada jerseys, sure, but it isn't overwhelming. The final games are in Montreal and while you see a ton of Canadian flags, you see most people in their normal clothing. I would say that psychologically you look younger in a hockey jersey than if you are wearing a buttoned up shirt for instance. At least on the surface you might look older with the shirt.

 

[GMR]

People look younger than prior generations. My Dad looked older than me at my age. I imagine the same is true for everyone.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

Montreal was and is a bit of an anomoly. People dressed to impress at the forum back then. It was also a place where you didn't see many hats thrown during a hatrick. Even in recent times, they don't throw that many hats although more than before.

Even in the early to mid 90s, you didn't see that many jerseys in the crowd. I'm not sure what triggered the fan to become so much more merchandise oriented in the last 20 years or so. Not that I necessarily think there is anything wrong with it.... But the shift sort of interests me.

Personally I credit Snoop Dogg wearing Penguins and T-Birds jerseys during his Gin n' Juice music video in ~1993. How sweet are these jerseys, worn by one of the most popular music stars at the time?

 

[Ghetty Green]

Personally I credit Snoop Dogg wearing Penguins and T-Birds jerseys during his Gin n' Juice music video in ~1993. How sweet are these jerseys, worn by one of the most popular music stars at the time?

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That's Springfield, not T Birds

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Personally I credit Snoop Dogg wearing Penguins and T-Birds jerseys during his Gin n' Juice music video in ~1993. How sweet are these jerseys, worn by one of the most popular music stars at the time?

View attachment 688512


View attachment 688511

Sure, that must be it.

 

[Boxscore]

Style and sophistication plays a part. Look at the crowd at the Forum in the 70s or 80s and many people were wearing suits, dresses, furs. I remember being a kid in the early-80s going to see Empire Strikes Back in the theater and my mom made we wear a buttoned shirt, pants and shoes. Many in the crowd were in suits or dress pants... for a movie!

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

Style and sophistication plays a part. Look at the crowd at the Forum in the 70s or 80s and many people were wearing suits, dresses, furs. I remember being a kid in the early-80s going to see Empire Strikes Back in the theater and my mom made we wear a buttoned shirt, pants and shoes. Many in the crowd were in suits or dress pants... for a movie!

Ive read airline flights were the same way. Show up dressed formally, or dont show up at all

 

[CrosbyIsKing87]

When I look at old Edmonton games these things come to mind regarding the fans: A lot of plaid shirts and trucker hats, lots of facial hair, and very well-behaved fans that were fairly quiet during the action and applauded adequately but politely when they scored. They seemed like the really nice people that lived on your street - polite, smiling, positive. No angry yelling, no boos, never a fight in the stands. Calgary definitely seemed more raucous but they usually ended up on the losing side of the Edmonton games.