Can 48,434 people be wrong? That's how many showed up at the place they used to call the SkyDome last night to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills NFL exhibition game.
For those of you who don't follow this stuff, that's an enormous crowd. The hometown Toronto Argonauts average about 30,000 people per game at ticket prices that were a fraction of last night's.
The average ticket price of last night's exhibition game was $183. The highest average ticket price in the NFL is $88 per ticket (in New England). So, despite the fact that the game was priced well above what the average American pays to see football, a ton of folks shelled out to see what the hype was all about.
The good news was, it was a very entertaining game. There is a tendency for us Canadians to beat our chests and say our game is better than their game. The fact is, when both are played well, they're both very entertaining.
Because the potential success of the NFL up here makes a lot of Canadian football fans nervous (myself included), I was watching last night's product with a critical eye.
But I have to hand it to those that organized last night's affair. There was good buzz at the stadium fully 45 minutes before game time. The stadium looked almost totally full (who knows how many people paid full price to get in?). The interior decor was redesigned to make it appear to be a Buffalo home game, even though the crowd was clearly cheering more for Pittsburgh.
The organizers also did some very clever things to ingratiate themselves with the locals. They held a moment of silence before the game for the firefighter who died during last week's propane explosion.
They opened up many of the seats that are normally closed when the Argos play (presumably because the Argos can't sell them).
And they don't blast music (as the Argos do) between every single play, making conversation with your seat mates impossible.
I met, and had wonderful conversations with all of my neighboring seat mates last night, who were from as close as Toronto and Mississauga, and as far away as Rochester and Pittsburgh. Why? Because without that infernal constant musical beat, I actually could converse with them. Similar conversations at tonight's Argo game will be next to impossible.
Where did the effort fall short? The roof was closed at game time (presumably over fears of rain). But it didn't rain till after the game was over. It was too hot inside the closed dome. The roof should have been open.
The Rogers folks are also trying too hard to sell Torontonians on this being a Bills home game, rather than an NFL experience. As last night's cheers showed, people in Toronto are not Bills fans just because Buffalo has the closest team. In fact, people in Toronto don't give a damn about Buffalo. They feel a kinship for New York City, not Buffalo. So trying to shove that square peg into a round hole didn't work.
It was odd to see a smaller NFL field with Buffalo logos all over it. Presumably, right after the game, the Rogers Centre crew began repainting the field to be 110 instead of 100 yards long for tonight's Argos-Alouettes game.
Truth be told, it was a terrific game, and well presented. I will confess to feeling a little guilty at how much I enjoyed it. Because, while I enjoy watching NFL football (especially in this city), I would not want the success of this to adversely affect one of the few uniquely Canadian institutions that's been around for more than 100 years.
The story continues in December, when the Miami Dolphins visit.
Extra Notes:
Two fans in #4 Green Bay Packer shirts sat in front of us in the 500 level last night. I thought it might be fun to tease them about the fact that they'd just lost their legendary quarterback, Brett Favre, to the Big Apple. So I began a cheer: "J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets!"
That prompted other taunting of a perfectly nice couple. Ten minutes later, I noted they were gone, presumably trying to find other seats and get away from our puerile chants. Mea culpa...
