5. Going Walkabout
After the final hooter, the players make their way around the edge of the field, posing for photographs, signing anything put in front of them, shaking hands, and accepting the well-wishes of an appreciative crowd.
Visiting players sometimes hesitate at this point, until they see Canadian fans gesturing them over and holding out their hands for a high five or a handshake. Some seem to be a bit wary at first, until they realise that these people in the stands are just so happy to say hi, welcome, and congratulate them on a hard-fought game.
English fans have said that a team there might walk the perimeter and applaud the crowd, but the experience at Lamport is unusual even for rugby league.
4. Value
Prices for tickets, food, drink, programs, souvenirs, and merchandise at most sports venues range from “Arm and a leg” to “First born child”. The Toronto Wolfpack experience is affordable enough that a family of four can buy tickets and four hot dogs for $100- that is simply unbeatable in the Toronto sports market.
If supporters have to re-mortgage their house in order to attend matches you’re not going to get repeat business. The Wolfpack have kept costs reasonable so that the game is accessible to all, and so that a first-time visitor will decide to come again.
3. It Takes a Village
The area around Allan A Lamport Stadium, or “The Den” as the Toronto Wolfpack call it, is the Liberty Village neighbourhood. Local businesses have welcomed the Wolfpack, and some partnerships with the team have been established.
At some sports venues people go to the match, then head home, but in Liberty Village fans can find a great place to share a meal and socialise prior to the game, do some shopping, relax in an outdoor café, or just sit under the trees outside the stadium.
It’s an inviting area before and after games. A short walk away is the Toronto waterfront, concert venues, and other sports facilities. Fans, players, and their families have remarked how safe they feel, and how laid-back everyone seems to be.
2. To and From
Even getting ‘to and from’ is easy. For those driving in from other cities, getting off the highway and to the stadium is quite direct, and parking is affordable, with plenty of nearby locations if the Lamport lot is full. The intercity GO commuter train has a platform a short walk from the Stadium as well, for those who prefer not to drive.
The stadium is on a direct streetcar route (504) from the city centre, making it relatively easy for locals and ‘away’ fans staying in downtown hotels to find their way there and back, and other bus routes and the Toronto subway are a short ride away.
1. “I want this”
How can one sum up the differences of a match in Toronto? One proud father of a visiting player, over to watch his son play and socialising in the beer garden after the match, recounted to a local Toronto supporter the bittersweet words his son had just said to him after the match: “I want this”.
His team was struggling to avoid relegation from the Championship, and he looked at the experience he’d had as a visitor and knew that this was something he wanted to have happen again.
Thousands of people cheering in the stands, a warm welcome from everyone, and a game-day atmosphere that makes an athlete glad they took up the sport.
Surely that’s the best endorsement of all.
