While the Winnipeg Jets are undergoing very public struggles with attendance at the start of the new NHL season, it’s a completely different story for the city’s pro football club.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, for the first time in the team’s long history, announced that they sold out the final four regular-season games at the 33,134-capacity IG Field.
Bombers president Wade Miller told 680 CJOB’s The Start that the team has led the Canadian Football League in attendance for the second year in a row, and they’re expecting another huge crowd for the upcoming West Final.
Miller said the team’s staff works hard to bring fans the best game day experience they can, but the intensity the fans bring to every game is unmatched.
“Every home game, afterwards, we always say, ‘Wow, that was a great game, the atmosphere was amazing, it can’t get any better,’ — and it just got better and better every week,” Miller said.
“Not that it was ever bad. … It’s just been phenomenal all season.”
According to Miller, teams around the league are apprehensive about visiting the Bombers at their home field, with the BC Lions even playing a video of the stadium’s atmosphere before their week 18 game against the Bombers, saying they didn’t want to come back to Winnipeg for the West Final.
“They thought about that because of the fans in the stands — those guys who have their shirts off in the fourth quarter no matter what the temperature is, in the north end … and every fan that’s so loud in that building.
“They don’t want to come back and play against our fans, our team, and the weather.”
The 14-4 Bombers, who have clinched the division title, next take on a yet-to-be-determined opponent (either the Lions or Calgary Stampeders) on Nov. 11 in the West Final.
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