An open letter to Edmonton Elks fans … both present and past

The following is an open letter to the one in charge of the Edmonton Elks.

And, no, I don’t mean Deb Thompson.

She might be the one signing the cheques — and, boy, there has certainly been no shortage of those both in the facility and organizationally, as well as in the community — but the team owner isn’t exactly the one in charge here.

You are.

The fans.

And I suppose that has to include both current and former, when you’re talking about the polarized fan base of the football club in this city.

After all, you call the shots. You have the power to make or break this whole thing.

That much is obvious, looking back.

When you felt the old board of governors turned its back on the fans for too long, you returned the favour in spades.

This club was buried at the very bottom of the Canadian Football League ladder, in more ways than one.

The final year of community ownership saw the team finish dead last. And not just in the standings, but also in attendance and, by extension, revenue.

And it’s been a long and difficult hole for those now making decisions to try and climb out of. They’re still paying for the sins of the father.

Sure, the team is back at the top of their division and about to hold their first home playoff game in over 10 years, but the effects of what almost looked like a unified executive decision made by you, the fans who once bled green and gold for your beloved franchise, to basically boycott the team are still being felt. And mostly on the pocketbook of a new owner who had nothing to do with it.

The only thing the Thompson family is guilty of doing is riding to the rescue when the team they all grew up loving fell into dire financial straits.

While it’s still going to be a long, difficult and smelly creek to paddle out of, at least they now have a paddle.

For those of you who have turned a blind eye for the past number of years, there is something special going on with the Elks this season.

The Thompson family taking over operations from a board of directors that had gone completely overboard for years was a necessary step to stop the club from continuously shooting itself in the foot with poor decision after poor decision that only compounded on top of each other. But that’s not what makes it special.

The infusion of cash and resources from taking the step to private ownership was heaven-sent, if not almost miraculous in allowing the club to get back on an even playing field with the other CFL markets in terms of day-to-day operations. But that’s not what makes it special, either.

New club president Chris Morris and new general manager Ed Hervey bringing back The Eskimo Way as a philosophy from back in their time as teammates here, to the approach to how things are now being run again was crucial, but still isn’t what makes it special.

The team turning things around by going from worst to first after so many years of not just disappointment, but flat out embarrassment has given reason for people to finally take notice again. But even that isn’t what makes it special.

It’s you.

The fans.

You’re the key to this whole thing.

And before you can say, ‘Surely, you don’t mean me.’

Yes, I do. At least, the small part inside you somewhere that’s laid dormant, stubbornly holding onto a faint glimmer of hope that everything that’s happened to drag the club through the mud has all been a great big mistake, and that there has to be better times on the horizon.

That’s the piece I’m speaking to. And I’m telling you it was all a mistake. Either one big one, or a bunch of little ones that all added up to the disaster that’s forced you to live through the longest playoff drought in franchise history. That’s forced you to sit through the embarrassment of a 22-game home losing streak. That had made your team the laughing stock of a league it once proudly flagshipped in attendance, revenue and, yes, in the standings.

And the current powers that be will be the first to admit that. Even though it wasn’t them, they’re the ones tasked with cleaning up the mess.

Things are changing. And they’re changing for the better this time. But they aren’t doing it alone.

You are paying attention again. Attendance, while still not enough to reopen the upper deck for good, is up by more than a third from a season ago.

Success on the scoreboard and in the standings is one thing, but none of it matters without the number that gets counted in the stands.

This team is nothing without the community getting behind them. They’ve seen it. It led to sweeping changes all the way to the very top. And those at the top now know it all too well.

When there were 60,000 people in the stadium, you could feel the energy. The air vibrated and the concrete swayed, providing the accelerant that fuelled those Eskimos teams of old to achieve greatness.

And while attendance figures across not just this league, but all sports, went through a gradual decline over the past decade and a half, the effects were no more evident than in the biggest stadium in the CFL.

It got to the point where every night was guaranteed-win night for the visiting team as the paper bags came out and fandom turned to anonymity.

And none of you could believe how bad things have gotten, let alone how much worse it could get.

And worse, it got.

It was almost as if the Elks went out to try and give fans reasons to leave instead of stay, until eventually your seat moved from the stadium to your living room. And that’s only if you bothered to even keep tabs on the team anymore.

Well, now they’re asking you to come back. And providing compelling reasons for it.

The parking dilemma is getting fixed with a new deal underway that is seeing more and more fans getting shuttled from the Edmonton Expo Centre down the street.

Concession concerns? You can bet more and better menu options will be available throughout the concourse once the bid to host the 2028 Grey Cup is accepted and funds open up for renovations.

They hear you. And they’re working on it.

Oh, and it’s good football too.

‘But the damage has already been done,” you say? True. And the culprits have been held accountable — in some form or another — and are no longer around to muddy the water.

I’m telling you this is a new team. A rejigged organization with a rekindled respect for the way things used to be around here, as well as a renewed recognition of how fans deserve to be treated, and just how much you mean to the entire process.

They don’t want to separate themselves from what was, but learn from it in order to never have to tread down that dark path again. In fact, they want to reach even further back and embrace not just what used to be, but how it could all be once again.

But it starts and ends with you. Even if it’s just that little piece deep down inside that you’ve been protecting so it doesn’t have to feel anymore pain and embarrassment with no good reason why it all fell apart.

Maybe it’s too late. Maybe you’ve given up. But the Elks haven’t. They’re pulling their share of the weight once again. Finally.

But none of it means anything if the fans don’t pick up their end of the slack now.

With one final home game Friday and a rare home playoff game still TBD (there have only been four of them since the turn of the millennium), it’s up to you to choose to continue holding a grudge or to get on board something that could be truly special.

You’re the boss here.

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