Each week, we check in with our readers on social media and e-mail to see what’s on top of their mind, explore the hot topics of conversation and answer hard-hitting questions about the Edmonton Elks. Today, we will look at responses to the latest mailbag, which focused on what’s going on in the stands at Elks home games:
Re: ELKS MAILBAG: One burning question … where the heck is everyone? (July 2, 2026)
Parking! I’m a season ticket holder, but refuse to take public transit to the game. If Edmonton is a world class city, why doesn’t it provide parking spaces for Commonwealth? You don’t see 80 per cent of the fans attending an Oilers game taking public transit.
— Terry Howlett
Parking is a big issue. City transit is an even bigger one. It’s a mess, actually. There is no way around it.
In theory, it should work great. Your ticket gets you a free ride to and from the football game, either back to your neighbourhood or the closest park-and-ride.
It’s in practice, however, it’s another story. You think people in Edmonton have lost confidence in their football team? Try asking them to take the train, especially late at night on their way home from the stadium, which is hardly the safest neighbourhood to begin with.
I have had run-ins at a downtown stop on my way to work that have left no doubt in my mind the LRT is the last place I would be taking my children en route to a football game, or to get anywhere else, for that matter.
It’s just not safe. And while it’s not the Elks’ fault, it definitely is their problem. You can bet this isn’t the first time the football team has heard this complaint, but they can only lean on their city partners so much. This is a larger municipal issue affecting so much more than football fans or the team.
But it’s the football team that ends up suffering directly. A team, mind you, that can’t really afford to lose another fan with the way things have been going on the field over the past five playoff-missing seasons.
Sure, there is parking around the stadium and across the street at the neighbouring LRT station, but that gets used up fast, and comes at a premium price. I will give the Elks and the City of Edmonton credit for developing the pre-game tailgate party that is the lifeblood of football culture across the continent. It should continue to be promoted, and should have been started long, long beforehand.
But that takes up even more usable parking space with the various stands and stages and port-a-potties. If you’re lucky, you have a go-to spot you can park — legally — that doesn’t cost too much or involve too much of a hike. But for the majority of us, it’s just too much of a hassle compared to plunking down on the couch and watching the game on the big screen.
And that’s not great for a gate-driven league.
YOU SAID IT
Re: ELKS MAILBAG: One burning question … where the heck is everyone? (July 2, 2026)
Dear Gerry:
Excellent recap! A comment, if I may? No stars. Anonymous players don’t help.
— Jack Rutherford
You hit the nail right on the head, Jack, and said so much with so few words.
The Elks may be asking themselves where is everyone, when they look in the stands. But a big problem is that everyone is looking at them on the field asking, ‘Who are these guys?’
Beyond the quarterback or star running back, good luck stopping someone on the street and asking them to name another member of this football team.
Scratch that. You might want to even just start with the quarterback, it could save you some breath.
It’s not that nobody cares — though they couldn’t be blamed if that was the case, given how poorly the club has mistreated its own fans since (and I’ll say it) going back to the name change in the cancelled COVID year.
Edmonton wants to support their football team. But they won’t do it just for the sake of being a football fan. The team needs to give them reason. And, yes, it starts and ends with winning. But if you want to give fans a reason to come back and cheer for you, you kind of have to have them be able to put a face to the names … or know a name or two to begin with.
I’ve said it before: One-year contracts are killing this league.
Sure, it might make jobs easier for general managers to attract free-agents with the lure of a short-term deal so they can parachute in, have the big season they know they deserve and then go off in search of the big payday come the next free agency. Heck, the players like it too. Especially in a sport where contracts aren’t guaranteed and the teams hold all the power.
Except they don’t with the advent of one-year contracts. The players no longer have to worry about being locked in with a team stuck on the downslide. It’s led to a very mercenary-style of mindset in the CFL, where the big names can shop around for the team that is positioned best to make a Grey Cup run, or (who are we kidding?) offering up the biggest payday. And if it doesn’t work out, it’s onto the next one next season.
And if it’s not killing the league, it’s surely killing fan interest. I mean, no one is rushing out to drop their hard-earned dollars to get a jersey with the big-name free agent who just signed, when said big name is going to be in another team’s jersey 365 days later.
The Elks, for one, are embracing a new philosophy when it comes to combatting the roster-turnstile dilemma by attempting to sign players to longer term and keep faces more familiar in their locker-room year over year. Whether it turns out to be a curse or a blessing that becomes the new blueprint for other organizations to follow obviously depends on their on-field success in the coming seasons.
But it will take time.
In the meantime, let’s face it, it’s not like a kid can just plunk down and play a CFL season on their Xbox to familiarize themselves with who’s who in the three-down zoo whenever they feel like it. It’s no wonder the NFL is so much more popular here even though the nearest market is some 1,300 km away.
This isn’t just an Esks’ concern, either. It’s a league-wide issue. TSN does a good job making it all look ESPN-legit on game day. But in the sport of football, those only come once a week. For the other six, it’s hard to stop out-of-sight, out-of-mind from becoming all-out apathy.
For a chance to appear in an upcoming edition, send your questions, concerns and comments on all things Edmonton Elks related to:
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @StarkRavinMod
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