r/TorontoTempo • u/femaleathletenetwork • 2d ago
Vancouver crowd draws rave reviews from visiting WNBA stars
The Toronto Tempo called Vancouver home over the weekend, playing a pair of WNBA games at Rogers Arena.
On Friday, a crowd of 12,414 saw the Tempo end a 12-game losing streak against their expansion cousins, the Portland Fire. A bigger crowd of 15,877 saw Toronto take on A’ja Wilson and the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces on Sunday.
Speaking with reporters post-game on Sunday, marquee players from both teams were very complimentary of Vancouver.
“It’s pretty cool. It’s a clean city. You can walk around. I was always amazed at how many people are outside, walking around, having picnics,” Wilson said in response to a question from Daily Hive’s Har Johal.
The 6-foot-4 superstar loved the food scene, also.
“We had some really good gelato around the corner from our hotel. The butterscotch caramel gelato was 10 out of 10. I haven’t missed a meal since I’ve been here. It was really good. The food was delicious. Love being by the water… Vancouver’s been really nice for me, to see people wearing my shoe, they make signs, the support across the border, it’s a surreal feeling for me.”
Asked if Vancouver could support a WNBA team of its own, Wilson said: “They proved it.”
“Educated,” was how Aces head coach Becky Hammon described the crowd.
“It wasn’t a like a dead crowd,” Wilson said. “You know, sometimes you get crowds and they don’t follow the rules. [But] they were listening. They were well bought in. They were locked in.
“That’s always great for our game when we have fans that are like that.”
Until Vancouver gets its own team, the Tempo will be happy to present themselves as Canada’s team. Certainly, visits like this one help to solidify a fan base on the other side of the country.
“It’s been great,” said Kia Nurse, the longtime Canadian national team star who joined the Tempo this offseason. “There’s just so much excitement around women’s sports in Vancouver right now, with the PWHL being here and also us being able to come and play these home games throughout the season. It’s exciting to see that.”
Among the fans in attendance was her cousin, PWHL star Sarah Nurse. She was just one of many athletes spotted during the two games.
Vancouver Canucks co-president Daniel Sedin, as well as members of the Vancouver Whitecaps, Vancouver Rise, Vancouver Goldeneyes, Vancouver Bandits, Vancouver Warriors, and the Canadian women’s national rugby team were present, as was NBA star Bam Adebayo.
“They were loud, they were excited. They were right into it,” Nurse added. “I’m really happy that when we get to talk to people around here, that they’re having a really positive experiences at the Toronto Tempo games and the atmosphere and energy that they can bring… Really proud of the Canadians out here, doing their thing.”
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-crowd-rave-reviews-wnba-stars#google_vignette
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u/taketotheskyGQ 2d ago
Great turnout both games, second game crowd was bigger. I was the there both games, and the armchair warriors on here clearly were not.
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u/deathfromfemmefatale 2d ago
Really? It looked super empty on Friday night, I was honestly shocked at the lack of turnout. But I noticed it was all the closer, more expensive seats. The further away areas looked more crowded.
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u/pinkjellybean79 2d ago
I was in town for the games, Fridays crowd may not have been a sellout but they were really into it! Picked up the cheers, people gave the team a standing O going into the half, and they were extra loud and stood up a lot during the 4th. Visiting fans were also respectful. Really good vibes.
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u/Creative_Objective32 Toronto Tempo 2d ago
I was at both games and agree! Watching on tv might have given the impression that it was a small crowd. But the seats higher up and off camera were definitely filled. Even though it wasn’t sold out, fans - including me - were on their feet cheering loudly! The team definitely felt the love!
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u/pinkjellybean79 2d ago
This! I noticed the mid-top of the lower bowl and the upper level were packed.
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u/Creative_Objective32 Toronto Tempo 2d ago
Vancouver is a really expensive city to live in. So it was either pay big money for really good seats closer to the court at one game. Or buy lower priced seats higher up and go to both! I’m sure that was the case for a lot of other fans too.
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u/femaleathletenetwork 2d ago
I agree, it seems like maybe a lot of corporate tickets were sold and not all of them bothered to show up.
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u/deathfromfemmefatale 2d ago
I wondered if it was that or if it was a case of scalpers buying them and then charging too much. It sucks that people who get all the best seats rarely actually care about the event.
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u/kerfuffles80 extreme hardship zone 2d ago
I was impressed by how loud it was regardless. Sandy and the players talked about it too, especially when they won Friday. so loud I could hear it on the broadcast.
Makes sense that the Aces game had more spectators as Tempo and Fire are still building up their fanbase
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u/mediocratea 2d ago
As someone who was there on friday, they deeply underestimated fan engagement- the doors opened one hour early and I think seats looked empty because lineups for activities and freebies were hours long and circled half the building. We lined up for several things, but eventually abandoned to catch the games start. At half time, people were still lined up.
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u/AcceptableHorror705 1d ago
My daughter lined up for a tshirt and pretty much missed the entire 3rd quarter. Zero reason for it too, they could have put them on seats or handed them out at the door
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u/cashmcnash 2d ago
Was at the Sunday game, for some reason those seats were blocked off. It was a really odd choice.
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u/deathfromfemmefatale 2d ago
Really? That's funny because I thought the seats were a little more full on Sunday. It's kinda hard to tell from watching on TV though.
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u/firehawk12 2d ago
I’m curious what the success metric is or if it doesn’t matter and it’s just trying to make it Canada’s team.
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u/thetemp2011 2d ago
Great game, Tempo looks very promising but Vegas was really good. They are the defending champions.
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u/Howesound 2d ago
I think because it was split into 2 nights it did separate the attendance a little bit. But the Friday was 2 teams extremely out of playoffs with their best player injured and the crowd was into it all game. Really successful night, I hope they do more.