I was at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night, for the pre-season game with the Bulls and the Raptors. To no one’s surprise, the arena looked to be about two-thirds empty. What must be scary for Maple Leaf Sports And Entertainment, is that with the realistic expectation of a difficult season with a lot of losses, there could be crowds of a similar size at several home games this season. The Raptors season ticket base is thought to be around 8000, and that might even be somewhat on the high side. On nights when the Raptors are hosting teams not named Celtics, Lakers, and the Heat, it would be difficult to imagine that they will get walk up crowds of at least that many ticket seekers. Unless the Raptors shock the entire basketball world and win much more than expected, the Air Canada Centre could become a very quiet facility during NBA games. With the often dreadful product the Raptors have offered their fans for the last several seasons, and the departure of Chris Bosh for Florida, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The perception of a losing team, and a lack of star presence, is a deadly combination for any professional sports franchise.
The only sports fans who might be feeling as empty as Raptor fans, are the followers of Manchester United. Now that it has been confirmed that super-star striker Wayne Rooney, no longer wants to continue with the team beyond this year, and the fact that many of the team’s fans are disenchanted with their American owners, the Glazer’s, it’s hard to imagine that their followers are feeling very good about anything pertaining to the Red Devils, who are off to a very slow start. United have had a few matches, where they have blown 2 goal leads at Old Trafford. Rooney has not played well since the start of the World Cup last summer. The allegations about his encounters with a prostitute, while his wife was pregnant, as reported in the “Mail Online” on September 6, seem to have had some kind of negative impact on him as well, and manager Sir Alex Ferguson sat him down for a game against rival Everton, his former team, fearing the verbal abuse that the Liverpool native might receive from the Everton fans, pertaining to his personal affairs.
For a team with such a storied history, including 18 Premiership titles, 4 League Cups,11 FA Cups, as well as the Treble in the 1998-99 season,this must feel like an all time low, in terms of lowered expectations for the future of the team. That too, must be a very lonely feeling.
Rooney firmly, but politely, explained and confirmed his desire to part ways with the club,as conveyed by ESPNsoccernet. “ I met with David Gill last week and he did not give me any of the assurances I was seeking about the future squad………..I then told him that I would not be signing a new contract……..my agent and I have had a number of meetings with the club about a new contract. During those meetings in August I asked for assurances about the continued ability of the club to attract the top players in the world………..For me its all about winning trophies – as the club has always done under Sir Alex. Because of that I think the questions I was asking were justified.” His stated reasons for wanting to leave, are the same as the ones that motivated him to leave Everton for Manchester United after the 2003-2004 season.
The most fascinating aspects of this evolving story, will now be the decision Manchester United make on how to respond to Rooney’s announcement, which club will acquire the 24 year-old, if and when he moves on, and how will the fans at Old Trafford react to the veteran of 67 international caps and 26 goals for England, from this point in time, until he departs the squad ? Will they sympathize with his desire for a better team, or will they feel that he has betrayed them, for what he perceives as a better opportunity to win trophies ?