Next step tricky balancing act for Wolfpack
Expanding fan base after successful debut challenge for ownership
If you tuned in to the Toronto Wolfpack’s first competitive match harbouring assumptions about rugby league and the region that spawned the sport, their slugfest with Siddal likely met your expectations.
The clubs played in February, on a pitch drenched by the type of frigid rain that conjures up clichéd images of northern England’s climate. When raindrops spattered the lens of the broadcast’s only camera, its operator produced a cloth to wipe them off while play continued.
And if you pictured rugby league as a sport combining cartoonish violence and warm camaraderie, consider that Toronto’s Fui Fui Moi Moi was ejected after nearly decapitating a Siddal player, but post-game social media posts showed Moi Moi enjoying a beer with players from both teams.
But if you thought the fully professional Wolfpack would manhandle Siddal, a high-level amateur club contesting rugby league’s version of the FA Cup, that never happened. Instead the Wolfpack, North America’s first transatlantic pro sports team, outlasted a stout Siddal side for a mud-soaked 14-6 win.
By early May, when the Wolfpack debuted in Toronto, the weather had improved — slightly — and so had the team’s play. Nearly 6,300 spectators gathered at Lamport Stadium to watch a 62-12 blowout win over Oxford. And by September the club had romped to a third-division title and secured a promotion to rugby league’s championship for 2018.
Toronto’s successful debut season helped the sport expand its presence in North America, which the U.K.based outfit had targeted in its 2014 strategic plan. The club’s popularity prompted rugby league to approve a New York franchise for 2019.
But the Wolfpack lost money in 2017, and several obstacles still stand between the franchise and profitability.
Team ownership acknowledges as much.
The small semi-pro clubs populating the third division couldn’t afford overseas travel, so the Wolfpack covered their expenses and will do the same in 2018. Near the end of last season CEO Eric Perez said the Wolfpack likely wouldn’t make money until they earned a promotion to the Super League, full of deep-pocketed teams that can finance their own travel to Canada.
It’s a big leap — and not just on the field, where the Wolfpack lost 29-22 against super league club Salford in a Challenge Cup match.
Building a super league-sized fan base might present an even longerterm struggle.
The club succeeded in earning attention in a crowded Toronto sports marketplace. Even if they gave away tickets, spectators still decided to spend Saturday afternoons watching rugby league. A season-high 7,972 fans showed up at Lamport in September to watch the Wolfpack’s titleclinching win.
Wolfpack ownership’s next challenge is to convert visitors into paying customers, and one-off attendees into loyal supporters.
Solving that puzzle doesn’t necessarily require more homegrown players. Neither the Jays nor the Raptors have needed a surplus of Canadian talent to endear themselves to local fans, yet sell plenty of tickets anyway.
Nor do the Wolfpack need a nearby rival. Toronto FC’s “401 Derby” with Montreal might add spice to the regular-season schedule, but TFC regularly filled BMO Field long before the Impact joined MLS.
But they do need to find ways to keep local fans connected with a team that spends much of the year in England. And it’s not enough for the Wolfpack to keep winning; they need to entertain and engage.
Last season. a craft beer garden in the north end of Lamport Stadium — now due for renovations — proved useful, keeping fans engaged even if the Wolfpack’s one-sided wins lacked drama. The players’ postgame victory laps served the same purpose.
Even if you grew bored watching Toronto stomp overmatched opponents, you’d stick around for the chance to take a selfie with Liam Kay or Bob Beswick.
The Wolfpack’s challenge is to graduate to a higher-stakes competition — bigger crowds, bigger games, bigger money — without losing the intimacy that made home games in 2017 so charming.