One wonders what the hell is going on, in a macro sense, that is affecting university sports in this country.
It just cannot be a lack of leadership from the powers that be, or can it it? The most generous thing you can say is that there are broader social trends that might make it harder to find school or conference to host a Vanier Cup. It does seem the powers-that-be are not polishing the message very well, since now the story is that there is no host for the 2009 game -- which is pure journalistic dynamite. Obviously, someone is going to host it. From a PR point of view, it should have never come to this point -- just say you're working on it.
Partnering with the CFL and playing in the same city the Grey Cup was being held in makes sense. There is a captive audience of football fans in the host city, as evidenced when Saint Mary's and Manitoba drew 26,787 to Rogers Centre for last year's final two days before the pros' championship game. That was the only Vanier crowd to top 20,000 since Western's back-to-back trips in the mid-'90s.
The igdignities fans of three-down football in Canada have to suffer never cease to amaze. Yeesh.
Related:
No takers for next year's Vanier Cup; University title game homeless for 2009 and beyond after bidding fails to attract offers (David Grossman, Toronto Star)
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I'm actually convinced that the way to go is to have hosted by one of the two teams playing. At least you would get a fun crowd. Just rotate it around the Bowls. It's not like more than 50 people make a point of annually going and I'm not sure having The Mahones play a concert makes it an "event."
(nothing against the Mahones. I love Kingston's favourite post-punk celtic band).
I was at the Dome last year and I remain unconvinced that pairing it with the Grey Cup is the answer. The majority of the crowd was made up of CFL fans. I'm not sure it's fair to the few CIS diehards that are out there to make them travel to the Grey Cup city. Yes, I'm being a bit defeatist, but there has been a lot of things in CIS football lately to make someone who has promoted the game for about 12-years more than a little defeatist...
(sigh)
If anyone is going down and whats to say hi, drop me an e-mail at dgrollins@gmail.com
Holy @#$#, does this woman ever need a PR person! Way to hang your dirty laundry out for everyone to see it, Marg. There are all kinds of different ways she could have framed this, but instead chose the traditional whiny, "woe is us" route. Lame.
The Vanier is never going to stand on its own as the kind of event to which sponsors will flock. As we have talked about before, CIS football is roughly the equivalent of Division II or Division III ball in the States. Good football, yes, but it lacks the glamour of Div I, and as such you sure don't see Geico or Best Buy rushing to sponsor them. Rather, it has to be packaged with all of CIS athletics. Having CIS take it over permanently is an excellent idea. Announcing to the world that the management of your title game has become a basket case? Not so much.
Tim Cunningham's trying to start up a bid committee for Kingston.
Ms. Marg has a "marketing" person; his name is Peter Metuzals and you can be forgiven for not knowing who he is despite his lofty title. Mainly because similar to Marg rarely anything he does adds any value to anything. Take a guess why CIS sports is nothing more than glorified intramurals. The sorry news is that those who put these 2 in power don't seem to give a damn so why should we?
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