I was in Vancouver for a couple of days, and lucky for me, my visit coincided with the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 1st leg match between the hometown Vancouver Whitecaps and Mexican side CF Monterrey at BC Place. I did not have anything planned that night, so I bought myself a ticket. Outside of Toronto FC, I have never been to a match at another MLS team's home ground, so I was excited that I got to see what the Whitecaps match experience would be like, especially compared to when I would go watch Toronto FC matches at BMO Field.
I leave my hotel, walk down Granville Street (which is like Toronto's Yonge Street), turn onto Robson Street, and BC Place immediately comes into view. I walk closer to the stadium, and I realize how imposing the exterior of BC Place can be as a stadium that BMO Field simply does not match. The lighting on the roof supports makes BC Place look like a crown jewel at night.
I get into the stadium and walk out of the concourse and into the seats. Immediately, I notice the stark contrast between sitting in an indoor domed stadium, and an outdoor stadium. Watching a game at BC Place is certainly a more comfortable experience because you do not have to experience the weather. When you watch a game at BMO Field, even with the roof, you can still get some rain, wind, or cold weather in your face. On the other hand, the seats all have armrests and cup holders, so if you are overweight, I would not call the seats at BC Place comfortable at all. One other thing to note is that BC Place relies on a light show for their pre-game festivities whereas BMO Field likes to use fireworks (as it is outdoors).
With the match being mid-week, the attendance was predictably sparse, and the atmosphere suffers because of it. I was not impressed with the atmosphere of this Whitecaps match (the cavernous nature of BC Place is part of the reason, even with the tarps covering the upper deck), though I am sure it is better on weekend matches. I feel like Toronto FC gets bigger crowds at BMO Field and can give you a more intimidating atmosphere under similar conditions (mid-week, continental matches).
One thing I will say is that I was moderately impressed with the noise coming from the Southsiders (the Whitecaps supporters’ group). They do not have the numbers of the Toronto FC supporters’ groups, but I am just happy to go to a match where there are one set of organized supporters leading one set of chants for the whole stadium. It is not like Toronto FC where there are three different supporters’ groups leading their own chants and singing over each other.
The match itself was fine. The Whitecaps started slow and Monterrey scored the first goal. The Monterrey goal seemed to snap the Whitecaps out of their funk and started to attack with more purpose in the second half. The Whitecaps finally get their equalizer at around the 85th or 86th minute, and something happened with how the Whitecaps celebrate their goal which annoyed me to no end. The Whitecaps score and the crowd goes wild, but when the Whitecaps score, instead of letting us hear the crowd react to the goal, the PA guy is screaming "GOAL!" on the loudspeaker, which completely killed the moment in my opinion. The PA guy needs to cut that out. Let the crowd make the noise. After a few seconds, then play your goal song and then make your announcement of who scored, etc.
So, what did I think of the overall Vancouver Whitecaps experience? I would like to preface this by saying that there were many things working against the Whitecaps atmosphere, including the match being on a Wednesday, the shitty turf field, and the numerous Mexican fans cheering for Monterrey (even a few of those wearing jerseys of other Liga MX teams). I think watching a Whitecaps game at BC Place was a comfortable experience, but not an energizing experience. I feel like I need to watch a normal Whitecaps MLS match on a Saturday to get a true sense of what the atmosphere is at BC Place. For a mid-week match, I still prefer the Toronto FC experience over the Vancouver Whitecaps experience, though I am still glad that I went to go check out a stadium and a team that I would not otherwise get to go see.
More pics below:
No comments:
Post a Comment