Wolfpack are feeding fans’ hunger
In the final minute of the Toronto Wolfpack’s upset win over the Leeds Rhinos on Friday, rhythmic clapping spread through a viewing party that occupied the top floor of the Three Brewers restaurant in Liberty Village.
Then the stomping started. That, too, in rhythm. And when the horn sounded to end the Wolfpack’s 17-16 win to close out the round-robin portion of rugby league’s Super 8s playoffs, the 100 or so Wolfpack supporters broke out in applause even as they realized a promotion to Super League still wasn’t guaranteed.
With likely one game remaining in their sophomore season, the Wolfpack still aren’t profitable. Team executives project they’ll make money once they graduate to the Super League, where revenue-sharing is the norm and opponents will pay their own way to Toronto.
But the close-knit and dedicated band of fanatics that built their Friday schedules around the viewing party give the club as much hope as the on-field result did. The group included both lifelong fans and, crucially, recent rugby league converts new to the sport but already willing to spend time and money supporting the local team.
“It’s like hockey on grass with no padding … one of the best sports I’ve ever watched,” said Kirsten Ulrich, who drove in from Hamilton to attend the viewing party. “It’s everything Canadians love, and I was hooked. The noise of the bodies hitting each other. The crowd. You need the whole experience.”
Wolfpack players star in a Tourism Toronto TV ad that began airing in England last week, reflecting an optimism that the club could help Toronto businesses tap into a lucrative group of potential visitors.
And events such as the viewing party, which took place roughly 200 metres from Lamport Stadium, the Wolfpack’s home field, support the theory that a successful local team benefits every business in the neighbourhood.
The notion helps prompt local governments to fund pro sports stadiums, but it’s far from foolproof. Last week Manitoba’s government wrote off $82 mil- lion in loans to the consortium that owns Winnipeg’s Investors Group Field when it became clear the projected boost in economic activity wouldn’t materialize.
But Wolfpack fans kept cash registers ringing at Three Brewers on Friday afternoon.
Perched next to the bar, Scarborough resident Jarrett Muldoon spelled out the various ways he supports the local sports industry. He grew up playing rugby union, the 15player version of the sport featured in the Rugby World Cup, but became a fan of 13-player rugby league when the Wolfpack arrived.
He has season tickets for both the Wolfpack and Argonauts, often spending Saturdays watching Wolfpack matches at Lamport before making the short walk to BMO Field to watch the Argos.
“It makes for some long summer days,” Muldoon said.
The Wolfpack will have toseek ways to attract casual fans without alienating hardcore, dayone supporters like Ulrich and Muldoon. Growing the fan base is a must, but tampering with the low-cost, informal formula that appealed to its core fans is a risk.
Wolfpack fan and Grimsby, Ont., resident Cathy Calvert is confident the club will balance those objectives.
“It’s not corporate,” she said, describing why Wolfpack matches appeal to her.
Friday’s surprise win bumped the Wolfpack to third place among eight playoff teams. The top three join Super League automatically, but if the HullKingston Rovers win their Sunday morning match with Widnes by more than 13 points, Toronto drops to fourth place and would need one more win to earn a promotion. That game, labelled the “Million Pound Game,”already has a tentative date and time. Lamport Stadium, because Toronto earned home-field advantage, and 2 p.m. on Oct. 7, because U.K. broadcasters want to air the game on Sunday night TV.
If supporters’ families had planned Thanksgiving for Sunday afternoon, the most dedicated fans will have to choose.
“Rugby league, no question,” said Bob Matthews, a Yorkshire-born Toronto resident.
“It’s only two hours,” Calvert added.