Do you think the converse holds true as well -- that spending less will not decrease/depress the team's profile?
Sorry, as I've basically said previously, I'm just not on board with this concept of "if we just provided busses for it, they will come". You need to give people a reason to want to go first, not just give them a way to get there. Raising the profile has to come before there are busses for people to get on. If they just provided busses right now, I don't think it would do much to raise the profile, other than to provide opportunity for people to send around pictures of mostly empty busses. I just don't think this team is enough of a draw in the area that there is a very large reserve of people who aren't coming purely due to a lack of transportation. I'm not saying providing busses is a bad idea overall, but it needs to be done after they've shown people there are good reasons to take the time to go. If they just did busses first, I think that would be a waste of money. And who's to say that Toronto's spending is wasteful, or that their main concern should only be a direct and immediate dollar for dollar return on their investment. They were a team that had been very popular, but were losing their base, so they did something to get it back, plus, they were also looking to get the local govt to support expanding their stadium, and those expensive moves I'm sure sent the people a message that they're serious about building a team the fans can be proud of. I wonder if there are any other teams in the league that used to be more popular, who might like to get some govt support regarding a stadium project, and whose fans don't have as much faith in how the team is run as they might have had in the past...
The Toronto comparison was just that for us to do what they have done. it wouldn't show a lot of ROI. But they are a bit different than us. They are relevant in their market, they have always been a serious team that lives in the adult world, no different than the Argos, Raptors and Jays. The other difference is that they are ambitious enough that they are willing to take a risk, simply because they have a better chance of it working out than we would. I mentioned the buses, and you're right, they would only work if there was enough publicity around them and demand generation. And that means more than making a couple of posts on Facebook and Twitter. The discouraging thing is that I can't see the Revs being willing enough to make a commitment to doing any of these things more than quarter-ass, or even eighth-ass. It's not a matter of them not being able to raise interest even if they spent money, it's more of them not being able to have a coherent plan to do this, and spend money wisely. That is precisely why the "Popeye" theory of them finally deciding to make some effort once the stadium is built is not going to work. They might want to turn on the faucet, but after 20+ years or total ineptitude and idleness, there won't be any water coming out, and they won't even know how to call a plumber.