As grand openings go, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers christening of Investors Group Field had equal amounts of good and bad. The good was the stadium itself. It is truly a jewel.
The sight lines for all 33,000 fans are fabulous, the concessions are a dramatic improvement over Canad Inns stadium — even if their were a few hiccups on opening night — and the reviews from the fans were mostly positive. That is, from the fans who actually got there in time for the game.
The Bombers worst fear about opening their new home was the limited traffic access to the University of Manitoba. And despite an elaborate plan that was over a year in the making, there was traffic leading up to Wednesdays pre-season opener against the Toronto Argonauts that was even beyond those worst fears.
Nobody’s fault necessarily. Just a matter of thousands of Bomber faithful, who all had a routine for the 60 years they attended games at the old stadium, adapting so something new.
In Winnipeg, we sometimes don’t embrace “change” very well. Blue Bombers President and CEO Garth Buchko told a hastily called news conference on Thursday that the football club would spend the next few days collaborating with stakeholders, and would do everything in its power to correct the problems and Buchko issued a plea for the one quality that is sometimes in short supply for sports fans — patience.
The Bombers performance had its rough patches as well. Losing a pre-season game should never be cause for concern. But sometimes how you lose it is. The Bombers performed poorly on both offence and defence as a Toronto roster, made up primarily of rookies, rolled to a 24-6 win.
Head coach Tim Burke said he was disappointed but wasn’t going to overreact.
“The outcome of pre-season games is never that significant”, he said. “I remember teams losing all their pre-season games, then going on to win a championship.”
Still, Burke admitted “we have a lot of work to do.”
The Bombers close out the pre-season in Hamilton next Thursday night. Buck Pierce will not make the trip, Justin Goltz will start at quarterback and likely play the first half with Max Hall and Chase Clement getting the rest of the game as those three try to sort out who is Pierce’s backup when the regular season begins.
