Going to a Calgary Stampeders CFL Home Game

One of our bucket list adventures for this summer was to attend a Calgary Stampeders CFL game at McMahon Stadium. We didn’t put much planning or investigating into it and just decided spur of the moment on game day that we should go, clicked on an advertisement online (probably a facebook ad) and purchased our tickets directly using some promo with a discount of 20% off the regular price of tickets. We bought cheaper nosebleed seats, as we had no idea what to expect and didn’t know if spending big bucks for better seats was worthwhile. Overall we enjoyed it, but we absolutely would have had a better experience had we been able to find some helpful advice online about attending your first Calgary Stampeders game. Here’s a bit about our experience to help you decide if you should go check it out for yourself and if so how to prepare a bit in advance.

McMahon Stadim Parking is Unavailable

This was the weirdest thing ever for a visitor to the stadium. We arrived early because we wanted to take our time, wander around the stadium early, get food, find our seats, watch the pregame, and maybe even see if there was any tailgaters in the parking lot before the game started. There was lots of parking, we pulled in and parked right next to the building, we thought we had completely lucked out by getting there so early. Turns out this wasn’t the case. After talking to several people and asking why the lot was empty we were informed that the lot requires a parking pass, that parking doesn’t come with game tickets, not even worth seasons tickets. In fact, the parking permits at the stadium is all sold out and not even to people who are attending the events necessarily. How bizarre.

When we asked staff where to park we were told a few blocks away, around a church or near the university we could pay to park. We eventuality parked at a nearby motel and paid them $20 to park for the evening. What a poor system and lack of the most basic requirement to host an event. Having inadequate parking is the dumbest logistics problem any venue could ever have. I must say McMahon stadium completely fails on this metric and I don’t think I have ever had a sports stadium problem such as this anywhere else in the world. What’s up with this? Does anyone in Calgary know why its such a poor system there?

McMahon Stadium Amenities and Services

As we were early to the game, despite having to park offsite and walk to Mcmahon stadium, we explore the building. I never realized how much the stadium is just a large set of concrete bleachers with very little actual ‘indoor’ space. The concourse and area under the bleachers is all just basically open air design. I imagine at cold events it’s not a great design. The bleachers seating runs down both sidelines, the field is open at the ends with one end featuring a big screen and stage for live music while the other end has a beer gardens and lounge area.

Calgary Stampeders Tickets and Seats

We bought our Calgary Stampeders tickets online before the game. They weren’t expensive but we didn’t buy lower seats. Also, be aware the cheap seats are hard on the butt and have no seat backs, so for some people these might be very uncomfortable. Definitely move forward to the seats with regular seat backs for a better viewing experience.

The view wasn’t bad and once the game started we realized we could actually move anywhere we wanted to sit since the game attendance looks to be about 20% of the capacity. The ushers and security couldn’t have cared less, there were lots of them but they spent the entire game socializing as there wasn’t any reason for them to do much else.

Next game we attend we will just buy the cheapest Calgary Stampeders seats in the place and then go sit on the 50 yard line or anyplace else closer to the game. Highly recommend the same strategy, no point in paying for the best seats in the house when they are empty and available and nobody seems to care if you sit in them once the game is underway.

CFL Football

Having watched hundreds of NFL games and never really any Calgary Stampeders or other CFL games I was actually quite surprised how different the game play was, not sure how I never realized all the many differences. The athletes were entertaining and the sport itself was fun to watch once you understood and accepted that it’s not the NFL and stopped expecting it to be played the same way. (For example: the clock stoppages drove me crazy and the fact that 90% of possessions end with a punt).

McMahon stadium Entertainment and Food

The game had cheerleaders, great halftime show featuring live country music act The Prairie States, and lots of entertainment going on throughout. We were impressed by this and it helped keep things lively. The crowd kinda lacked enthusiasm and basically sucked. Lots of old timers who didn’t want to make too much noise I guess. But the worst part of the fan experience was that the food and drink prices were insane. There was a decent variety of options and lots of kiosks, but none of them ever had a line up and most people seemed to avoid them because of the absence of affordable food prices, some as much as double what they should be. There’s no reason that a stadium that can’t get to 20% occupancy shouldn’t be doing everything it can to deliver some value and attract an audience, but McMahon stadium is doing the opposite. Between the horrible parking logistics and the overpriced food they are only causing lowered attendance for the Calgary Stampeders. The ticket prices and the quality of the entertainment and game are all great, it’s the venue and the experience that was the only negatives.

We will return again, because we like local events, but we will be forced to ride the Calgary LRT Crack train rather than deal with parking next time. Recommend you do the same and check out a game soon.