It was another sellout for the RedBlacks as the team kicked off its home schedule Saturday.

It was the 10th-straight time TD Place has been packed for a game since CFL football returned to the capital and the atmosphere was electric from an hour or so before kickoff, with the concourses, bridge and walkway between the north and south sides packed from beginning to end.

But will the sellouts last? Ask the average RedBlacks fan and they’ll tell you it will, assuming one particular detail falls into place.

“They have to win,” a Henry Burris jersey-clad Ryan Olsson said between trips to the beer stand and swag shop. “I got season tickets again this year, but another two or three-win season, I don’t know. The atmosphere is amazing here. But it was a new team last year and there’s a different excitement that comes with that. People are going to care a lot more about the actual football this year.

While the July 17 game against Edmonton in Ottawa is reportedly a few thousand tickets away from being sold out, an opening-day win against the Montreal Alouettes went a long way to upping the excitement for Saturday’s home-opener, said Jessica Moreau.

“(Saturday) would have been fun anyway but as soon as they won (in Montreal), I was like, a week is too long to wait for the next one,” she said, agreeing that a quality product on the field was the only way to keep TD Place rocking consistently. “This is amazing for a city like Ottawa to be this excited about football again but I hope (the team and ownership) doesn’t take that for granted.”

— Chris Hofley