Not So Live From Commonwealth Stadium

In a constant attempt to remain obsolete at all times, I thought I would mention my trip to Commonwealth Stadium last Thursday to watch the surprisingly competent Edmonton Eskimos host the league-leading Saskatchewan Roughriders. A big crowd of over 48,000 people showed up, making it the largest crowd I have ever witnessed live at a CFL game.

This was the second time I have been to a Riders-Esks game in Edmonton, and from what I can tell, there exists some natural law ensuring that whenever these two teams tangle it is extremely cold outside. Last time I went, the temperature dropped to -10 Celsius. Luckily, this time it was in the 4-5 Celsius range. Keep in mind it is the middle of August, there is a significant amount of wind in the upper deck (where we sat) and only a couple of days earlier, Edmonton experienced one of the warmest days for the city in recorded history (over 35 degrees Celsius).

The cold weather did not seem to discourage Riders fans from showing up, who probably accounted for more than half of the patrons in attendance (perhaps even 60%). Riders fans have to be described as completely die hard, but generally not in an obnoxious way. I can't even count the number of fans I saw wearing Riders flags as capes, green and white face paint, and half a watermelon on their head. My personal favourite piece of paraphernalia was the fellow wearing a Transformers mask that had been repainted green and white. But while they made more noise during Edmonton offensive plays than Esks fans could muster during Rider drives, the ribbing between the fans was generally good-natured (aside from the few altercations in which, predictably, alcohol was involved).

Commonwealth itself is a pretty nice stadium with a similar problem to the SkyDome in that it is so big that it looks emptier than it is unless the crowd is huge. Having said that, the sight lines for football are excellent, at least from the upper deck. I also find the price at the concession stands to be more reasonable than at any other professional sports stadium I have been to. For example, I had a hot-dog for $4.50 and a beer for $5.50, which is not unreasonable for sporting events.

I was also shocked by the amount of participation in the 50/50 draws. For those unfamiliar with such a contest, it is merely a raffle of which 50% of the ticket price goes to a charity and 50% goes to the winner. I have now been to several different sporting events, and every time am amazed by the prize money that ends up being won. For this game, the winner took home over $38,000 which means more than 1 ticket was purchased on average per person. I have never seen even close to that kind of participation at any other sporting event in any other city I have been to.