University of Manitoba

Re: Give us a break

A week ago, I wrote a sports piece entitled “Build it and they will come ,” which discussed what Bison Sports has been doing to try and encourage fans to come out to sporting events. In this piece, I stated it’s also up to students to do their part and show up to the games.







Give us a break

When I learned that Bison Sports is dismayed that their best-attended football games draw a mere quarter of the student body out to Investors Group Field, it brought tears to my eyes. The sky became suddenly overcast, and out of nowhere I heard the plaintive strains of the slow movement from Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto ringing out from the world’s tiniest violin.

In an article in the Sept. 30 issue of the Manitoban, Mike Still wrote, “while Bison Sports is working hard to create an optimal fan experience, it’s still up to the students and fans to do their part and actually show up.”

He expressed a similar view in an editorial back in March, describing attendance at Bisons home games as “abysmal” and “pathetic.”


Build it and they will come

In September 2013, the University of Manitoba Bisons football team played their first ever home game in the newly built Investors Group Field (IGF). The field has a capacity of 33,422, but the Bisons saw only 6,435 fans come out to support the herd. Unfortunately, that number is the most that Manitoba has ever had come out to watch a Bison game at IGF.


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