Take a bow, Bomber fans. Make it two bows, in fact, as you’ve played a massive role in your beloved Winnipeg Blue Bombers having led the Canadian Football League in attendance for both the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
And as we kick off our annual Year in Review series revisiting the top Blue Bombers stories of 2023, that fact – the loud and proud supporters of this team consistently packing the seats at IG Field – is significant as it marks the first time in this franchise’s 90-plus year history it has led the Canadian Football League in attendance.
The Blue Bombers ended 2023 with five consecutive sellouts, including the 32,343 who had the joint rocking for the 24-13 win over the B.C. Lions in the Western Final. The overall regular season attendance averaged 30,449 – a slight jump over 2022 and the second highest in club history to the 30,637 in 2013 for the inaugural season of IG Field.
The crowd for the West Final, by the way, was the third highest in Blue Bombers playoff history after the 1987 East Final (32,946) and the 1981 West Semi-Final (32,936) – both at old Winnipeg Stadium.
“They are just the best, there’s no discussion,” said Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea after the West Final. “If anybody wants to challenge that then they should fly here, buy a ticket to a home game, and sit in that crowd and they’ll understand what goes on.
“They’re into it, they’re loud, proud, they’re passionate, they’re relentless. We’re so thankful to have them. The players in that locker room really understand that and they truly value playing in front of a group of fans like that. It’s not like that everywhere.”
There’s so much truth in that last line from O’Shea, as every franchise in this league has had its issues at one time or another through the decades. The Blue Bombers certainly had their struggles at the beginning of this millennium, as the franchise was weighed down by a debt which had become a financial albatross, and then fought through the pandemic and the lost season of 2020.
And today? Well, you’ll certainly get arguments from the folks to the west of us, but the Blue Bombers have morphed into the CFL’s flagship franchise on and off the field. The four consecutive Grey Cup appearances and two championships helps, and the club posted an operating profit in 2022 of $4.9 million (the 2023 financial report will be released in the spring, FYI).
The winning helps, of course, as fans now flock to IG Field not just because of the atmosphere, but because the team is dominant – especially at home. Consider this: the Blue Bombers are now 32-3 in their last 35 games at IG Filed, including victories in the last three West Finals.
Homefield advantage? Hell, yeah.
“It’s like there is this unified mob of 33,000 all with our team,” said veteran guard Pat Neufeld on the eve of the West Final. “It’s our 13th man out there with us, but it’s 33,000 strong who have our back no matter what. It’s like this swell of sound that overwhelms everyone.
“You can feel the emotion, you can feel the tenacity of our crowd coming down from the rafters to the field. It’s just a tremendous sense of pride going out there to play for those fans and represent them. It’s a huge honour to play in a packed house like that.”
The Blue Bombers lost just once at home in 2023 – a 30-6 defeat to the Lions back in June – and then cranked out eight straight wins, including the West Final, with every decision by a double-digit point spread.
And if being in the building is magical for Blue Bombers home games, just imagine how those doing the grunt work on the field feel about the atmosphere.
“Any time you roll up to the stadium and you see the tents and people in the parking lots… when you see people giving that energy out there it gives you a little shiver,” said receiver Drew Wolitarsky last month. “It’s like, ‘Oh s–t… today is going to be a big day.’
“It’s that 13th guy on the field. It’s intimidating. It’s loud. It escalates everything. You make a big play, and it escalates, you feel that vibration. It’s very powerful. I’m a big believer in energy and momentum in a game and just adds so much to that momentum and that strength.
“It can be hard to explain. It really rattles your insides. It’s a roar. Maybe it’s a primal thing in your brain, but it feels a bit like a gladiator. It rattles your chest and your bones, and you get so locked in there’s a wave of tingles and that’s just from people cheering you on and wanting you to win.”
Well said. And bravo, Bomber Nation.
