Panda Game is the largest U Sports event in Canada with last year’s crowd coming in at 23,329 spectators and this year’s game on pace to sell just as well. Along with Panda Game, Carleton has heavily marketed rivalry games with the University of Ottawa (U of O) in basketball (Capital Hoops) and men’s hockey (the Colonel By Classic).
While these varsity sports pull massive crowds with their rivalry games, club sports are neglected and their games against the U of O come and go with little to no marketing. For example, this month the Ravens baseball team played their rivals from the U of O in a three-game O-Train Series. Given the lack of marketing of this series, how many students were even aware of it happening?
The games against the U of O provide Carleton Athletics with a unique opportunity to grow other sports on campus; however, this opportunity has not been capitalized on.
The cross-town rivalry has helped foster a strong school spirit that could be used to grow attendance numbers for all Carleton sports such as lacrosse, baseball, ultimate and others. Even varsity sports such as women’s hockey, women’s rugby, and women’s soccer have no official rivalry series games to look forward to.
With many athletes and students citing the games against the U of O as some of the most fun events of the season, it’s a mystery why Carleton Athletics does not promote rivalry games for sports other than football, men’s hockey and basketball.
