Woeful Eskimos’ attendance record in jeopardy
EDMONTON — With one home game left in a season riddled with disappointments, the Edmonton Eskimos anticipate one more letdown.
The Eskimos have led the Canadian Football League in attendance the last 11 seasons, Eskimos president and CEO Len Rhodes said, but that streak is in jeopardy.
“Year to date, we’re down 4.8 per cent at the same time as last year after eight games,” Rhodes said of the turnout at Commonwealth Stadium.
The Eskimos’ last three home games had announced crowds of under 30,000. There were 29,499 fans on Sept. 14 for a win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (the only victory at home this season), 29,569 spectators two weeks later when Edmonton let a 22-1 lead slip away against the Toronto Argonauts, and a season-low 28,455 witnesses last Saturday, when the Eskimos were blown out of the water and effectively had their playoff hopes crushed by the Montreal Alouettes.
The Eskimos are averaging 32,653 fans. The Saskatchewan Roughriders, with their expanded seating for the Grey Cup, can hold 45,000 fans at Mosaic Stadium and are expected to outdraw Edmonton this season.
“When you have a record like we do at 3-11, you’re not expecting fans to break records in terms of attending the games,” Rhodes said. “But we are still seeing that there is a great affinity towards our club and what’s come out of this is the fans overall are saying they’re not happy with our on-field performance, and neither are we.
“We agree with our fans on that, and we’re doing everything that we can right now and making sure that we’re doing everything we can through the off-season to make sure we put a competitive product on the field.”
With four games left this season — pending a miraculous 4-0 Eskimos finish coupled with an 0-4 Alouettes finish — Rhodes didn’t want to discuss what the off-season holds. Head coach Kavis Reed, who has compiled a 10-22 record over the last two seasons, is in jeopardy and Ed Hervey has had some hiccups in his first season as general manager, transitioning from head scout.
Rhodes is in his second year in charge of the business side of the franchise.
“We should all feel the pressure. If we don’t feel pressure and accountability, we’re not getting it,” he said. “We have plans and steps and actions that are going to improve this. We’re confident in the fact that things will come our way, and we’re a bit down in the fact that they haven’t come our way immediately this year.
“We’re confident in the sense that Ed Hervey has the tools, the resources, to do what he has to get done to continue improving this club and he has totally focused on that. So we have a certain part of football that’s focused on the todays.
“I have to focus on not only today, but the next five years because the sustainability of this club is the most important aspect to it. In the meantime, we want to entertain our fans, and that’s where we have let them down this year.”
Fans are loyal, Rhodes said, but they’ve expressed their discontent over watching this year’s team come up short week after week.
“It’s like any relationship,” he said. “It doesn’t mean to say you don’t love someone; it’s just, ‘Right now, I’m not liking you.’ That’s exactly where we are.”