Joining the Faithful: the Saskatchewan Roughriders' Fan
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University of Alberta Joining the Faithful: The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Fan Subculture and Public Ownership by Scott A. Cramer A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Physical Education & Recreation © Scott A. Cramer Fall 2012 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. Abstract This research examined the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ fan subculture and their connection to public ownership. It was socially significant to study this particular case because little scholarly work has been done on the effects of public ownership on a group of fans. This thesis studied this relationship in two ways. First, a political-economical analysis of Canadian professional sport was conducted to examine the ownership patterns of professional sport franchises across the country. Specifically, this research focused on three areas in Canadian professional sport: the CFL, the NHL, and the Toronto-based franchises. Secondly, using semi-structured interviews and content analysis, this research then identified the common features -- or habitus -- of the subculture and its relationship to public ownership in Saskatchewan. At the same time, participants were questioned on the strengths and weaknesses of public ownership to determine its visibility to those involved with the subculture. Acknowledgements First off, I would like to thank my parents (Roland and Colette) for the support and love they have given me throughout the years. Without the drive they instilled in me at an early age, I would have never been able to complete a Master’s degree, much less a thesis. A special thanks to my father, who without his strong and sometimes perplexing to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, I would have never had the inclination to study the Roughriders franchise and its fans. Secondly, I would like to thank Jay Scherer, my supervisor for this thesis. Without his dedication to keeping me on task and encouraging me to keep going, this thesis would not have been as great as it is. Although it has been a busy couple of years for him, he has helped me tremendously with my research and writing, for which I will always be grateful. Finally, I would like to extend a shout-out to the Rangers of St. Joseph’s College. Without the atmosphere at St. Joseph’s College, I would not have enjoyed my University of Alberta experience as much as I did. The Rangers always reminded me of my roots and keep me grounded in a way I can never explain. Also, the staff of St. Joseph’s has always been supportive and helped their resident Master’s student any way they could. Scott Cramer M.A Student University of Alberta Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Becoming Part of “Rider Nation” 3 The Social Significance of this Case 6 Three Research Questions 9 Chapter 2: Literature Review 12 Sports Fandom 13 The Province of Saskatchewan and Its Team 25 Trends in Professional Sports Ownership 37 Theoretical Definitions 49 Chapter 3: Methodology 53 The Case Study Approach 53 Mapping out Canadian Professional Sport Ownership 55 Semi-Structured Interviews 58 The Sample 63 Content Analysis 67 Chapter 4: Discussion- Political Economy of Canadian Professional Sport 71 Who Owns What in Canadian Professional Sport 71 The Canadian Football League 72 The National Hockey League 74 Toronto-based Professional Sports Teams 78 Case Studies in Canadian Professional Sport Ownership 81 MLSE: Success or Failure in Toronto? 81 CFL: Canada’s Strongest (and only) League? 86 Common Discourses Found in the Research 92 Chapter 5: Discussion- The Saskatchewan Roughrider Fan Subculture 96 The Creation of the Saskatchewan Roughrider Fan 96 What Makes the Roughrider Nation, Roughrider Nation? 103 The Saskatchewan Roughriders as Representatives of the Province 115 Public Ownership: The Saskatchewan Point of View- The Board of Directors 122 Public Ownership: The Saskatchewan Point of View- The Fans 128 Chapter 6: Concluding Remarks 134 Conclusions 134 A Critical Reflection 139 Future Considerations 141 Bibliography 144 Appendixes 154 Appendix 1: Sample of Canadian Professional Sport Franchises 154 Appendix 2: The General Interview Guide 155 Appendix 3: Informed Consent 157 Appendix 4: Information Letter 158 Appendix 5: Letter to Potential Interviewees 160 List of Figures Table 1: Saskatchewan Teams in the WHL 34 Table 2: Ownership of CFL Franchises 72 Table 3: The CFL’s Private Owners and their Business Interests 73 Table 4: Ownership of Canadian-based NHL Franchises 74 Table 5: Canadian NHL teams and their Franchise Values 75 Table 6: Canadian NHL Team Owners and Their Business Interests 76 Table 7: Canadian Billionaires and their Sporting Interests 76 Table 8: Ownership of Toronto-based Sports Teams 78 Table 9: MLSE and Rogers Communications-owned Franchises and their Values 79 Table 10: Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ownership Group Makeup 82 Table 11: Saskatchewan Roughrider Stakeholder Entitlements 122 1 Chapter 1: Introduction In the world of professional sport, fans are becoming increasingly aware of the commodified nature of their favorite teams. Many idealistic fans continue to hope that, when “their” team hits the field, they are simply playing for them and the cities and regions that they represent. This is not necessarily the case -- if it ever was -- as professional franchises and athletes are being increasingly pulled in various directions by the economic pressures and limits present in the new economy of professional sport. Recently, some academic studies have taken issue with the ongoing commodification of popular franchises and have argued that private ownership, in particular, is slowly eroding the traditional communal aspects of sport. Others have noted that private owners have increasingly sought to secure public funds for their franchises by calling upon popular associations between community, urban/regional identity, and sport teams. For example, deMause and Cagan (2008) point out in their research that more and more communities are being blackmailed by private owners for new publicly funded stadia and direct subsidies for local professional sport franchises. The journalist David Zirin (2010), meanwhile, not only questions these developments but suggests that the mismanagement of professional sports franchises is alienating fans from the teams within their own communities. Whitson (1998) builds on these observations by examining the differences that exist amongst sports franchise ownership patterns across the world, and concluded that North American professional sport ownership patterns have developed differently than in other countries. For example, professional soccer and rugby teams in Europe and Australia have historically been run at the community level through a board of governors and fans have traditionally eschewed private ownership models (Whitson, 1998). However, he observes that in North America: 2 ... the production and staging of sport as commercial entertainment led to the emergence of entrepreneurial structures and practices that would slowly transform the relationships between sporting teams and the communities they ostensibly “represent”. (Whitson, 1998, p. 58) Whitson (1998) proceeds to note that sports teams in North America are now primarily owned by media conglomerates, or exceedingly wealthy entrepreneurs who often live outside local communities. This means, according to Whitson (1998), that “...the languages of communal traditions and loyalties are increasingly supplanted by corporate images and by the discourse of consumer choice” (p. 60). Although some academics have investigated these developments and voiced their dissatisfaction with the commodification of popular sports teams and the problems that are being identified with some models of private ownership, alternative realities are rarely discussed. For example, public ownership of sporting clubs is often ignored in academic circles or simply forgotten about in the popular media. However, in response to the ongoing demands from private owners for public subsidy, some scholars are beginning to emphasize the notion that the public and fans of sports franchises should have a direct stake in the ownership of local professional sports franchises (Eitzin, 2006; Zirin, 2010). These academics suggest that by taking a more active role in the ownership of a club, fans and citizens who are already supporting their teams may gain back control of the local franchises they are already subsidizing. The arguments brought forth by Eitzen (2006) and Zirin (2010) merit additional examination as their ideas may have important consequences for sports fans and citizens in general. Ultimately, I want to delve into the importance of public ownership, and examine whether or not this type of ownership model is relevant to fans and applicable franchises in the 3 new era of professional sport. One