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The Calgary Stampeders last night christened their new stadium, giving the expected capacity crowd attending their preseason home opener against Columbia the first live look at the new venue. Previously having the beloved but aging 68,000 seat Uncle Ben’s Tartan Breweries Field as their home, the team this year is playing in a new 50,000 seat stadium. Interviews conducted of fans leaving the field after the game were almost unanimously negative. Comments from fans included “puny”, “dinky”, “a glorified high school field”, and “unfit to be the home of a pro football team”.
In a press conference after the game, GM Don Helsel stated that he understands and empathizes with the fans’ reactions. In what he described as “about the only very minor positive outcome” of the move, earlier in the week the club announced that the naming rights to the new stadium had been sold to Nabisco; Helsel commented that he was aware that the local media had begun referring to the Stampeders’ new home as the “Ritz Cracker Box”.
Helsel reminded the press that the build of the new field was none of the doing of the new owner, and that the details were not disclosed to the team by the league office in a timely manner. In what he stated would be an “unprecedented but clearly justified move” in his opinion, the club was considering legal action against the league. When asked by a reporter if the team’s response could be simply taking it out on the commissioner’s team on the field, he replied “Oh, rest assured, we’re going to do that anyway”.
When asked about the 18,000 former season ticket holders that this year no longer have seats, the GM stated that the commissioner’s private phone number and home address had been provided to all of them, and they have been instructed to air their grievances and seek ticket refunds directly from him.
In a press conference after the game, GM Don Helsel stated that he understands and empathizes with the fans’ reactions. In what he described as “about the only very minor positive outcome” of the move, earlier in the week the club announced that the naming rights to the new stadium had been sold to Nabisco; Helsel commented that he was aware that the local media had begun referring to the Stampeders’ new home as the “Ritz Cracker Box”.
Helsel reminded the press that the build of the new field was none of the doing of the new owner, and that the details were not disclosed to the team by the league office in a timely manner. In what he stated would be an “unprecedented but clearly justified move” in his opinion, the club was considering legal action against the league. When asked by a reporter if the team’s response could be simply taking it out on the commissioner’s team on the field, he replied “Oh, rest assured, we’re going to do that anyway”.
When asked about the 18,000 former season ticket holders that this year no longer have seats, the GM stated that the commissioner’s private phone number and home address had been provided to all of them, and they have been instructed to air their grievances and seek ticket refunds directly from him.
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