No Fans In The Stands?

Montreal summers are well-known for the legendary nightlife, lounging on the finest terraces in the city, and attending the world-reknown festivals that take up most of the three months of the year that aren't spent shoveling snow off of our front steps.

It also presents Montrealers a chance to take a break from stressing about the Canadiens (although that never happens), meaning its time to break out the old Calvillo jersey and spend a night drunkenly cheering on the Alouettes (and their cheerleaders) or heading down to Saputo Stadium to catch a Montreal Impact game while pretending to be a European for 90 minutes, chanting and waving scarves apparently tailor-made for 35 degree weather.

This summer was supposed to be the summer to trump all summers: the Alouettes are always a force to be reckoned with in the Canadian Football League, but with the Impact slated to kickoff its inaugural Major League Soccer season, combined with the start of Euro 2012, never before has the city's soccer interest been so high. For whatever reason, though, hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of empty seats can be seen at both the Alouettes or Impact home games, which raises two very important questions:

1) Where is everyone?

2) Has this city not learned its lesson by now?

We all know what happened to the Montreal Expos, so we won't get into that; and while their relocation wasn't all the fault of Montreal fans, we certainly played a role in it. There's definitely a dose of hypocrisy to this whole story, as we notice the decline in interest (or attendance, to be specific) at the games of these two teams: fans have been clamoring for the return of Major League Baseball to this city. They say that a new era, a breath of fresh air, a rejuvenation of sorts, will create enough excitement to fill whatever ballpark the Expos would ultimately play in.

To this I say: there's a "rejuvination" happening at Saputo Stadium before our very eyes-but where is everyone? Does David Beckham have to be at every Impact game to attract large enough crowds to NOT have to be having this discussion? People complain about the location, citing the same mistake that past Expos' "ownership" made by building a stadium far from the downtown core.

To this, fans reply "if their was a winning team, I'd be more intrigued". To this I shake my head is disgust. The Alouettes won the Grey Cup in 2009 and 2010, have been to the Grey Cup Game more times than any other team in the past decade, and consistently put up winning seasons while also boasting three of the best players in the league at their respective positions: Anthony Calvillo, the Hall of Fame Quarterbac; Brandon Whitaker, the shifty, versatile running back; and Jamel Richardson, the dominant and seemingly unstoppable wide receiver.

So again I ask, where is everyone?

I know this is a hockey town. I know that its easier to have friends and family over, put out some wings, chips, and beer, and watch the game on 90-inch screens. But for the sake of this city's history, it's people, and it's athletes, who have to deal with more pressure than athletes in any other province in this country: go to the games.

Its fun, its worth it, and if you know what your doing, it cost you your entire week's paycheck, nor will you have to leave the house 5 hours in advance to beat traffic.

I hope this is simply an anomaly-despite the Expos debacle, its widely known that Montrealers are passionate about their teams (look no further than the Montreal Canadiens for proof of that). But in times like these, when doubts surface, we must all step up and prove that this is in fact one of the premier sports cities not only in North America, but in the world.