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When it was announced in the summer that the Vancouver Canucks would be acquiring the fledgling Vancouver Stealth and moving the lacrosse franchise from Langley to the confines of Rogers Arena, some eyebrows were raised.

Would Vancouverites be attracted to lacrosse? Would they care at all about anything other than hockey?

After all, just two years earlier, the Vancouver Giants had moved out to the Langley Events Centre from Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum in hopes of “being closer to their fanbase.”

So far, the attendance figures for the two teams appear to be mirror images of one another.

Since leaving the Pacific Coliseum, the Giants have posted some of the worst attendance figures in the Western Hockey League. Before moving, the club was at an average of 5,169 people a game. In the three seasons that have followed, the Giants have seen an average of 3,655 fans per contest.

Even this year, as the Giants are at the top of their division and feature Bowen Byram, one of the consensus top picks in the upcoming NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver, the team has barely moved the needle at the gate.

Across the Lower Mainland, the Vancouver Warriors are making the case for Vancouver over the suburbs. Since rebranding from the Stealth moniker, the National Lacrosse League team has played four games in Rogers Arena.

They haven’t been particularly successful in those contests, picking up their first victory at home in their most recent affair.

But they have seen some success at the box office, at least relative to what the Stealth were pulling in over in Langley.

In five years of existence, the Stealth came last in the league in attendance every year but one (in which they placed second-last). The team’s largest average attendance during that span was 3,758.

In four games at Rogers Arena so far, the Warriors have garnered an average of 7,700. Granted, their new home is much bigger and it’s still quite early into the team’s tenure, so maybe the “something new and exciting” vibe starts to wear off. But it also more or less proves what’s been somewhat obvious all along: moving sports franchises out of a highly crowded urban hub and out to the suburbs in an effort to “connect with fans” (but actually to try and save money), will only make you less relevant and popular.

It remains to be seen if the Warriors can keep the momentum going, clearly, but this is a good start.

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