Excitement or dread: the difference between Bomber fans and Jets fans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/09/2022 (1016 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The contrast in the mood of fans of our province’s two biggest sports teams – the Bombers and the Jets – is unmistakably palpable.

Bomber fans, fresh off of back-to-back Grey Cup victories and in the home stretch of a dominating 12-1 season, are super excited and can hardly wait for the playoffs to begin.

Many Jets fans, on the other hand, have largely lost interest in a franchise that just a few years ago was picked by the venerable Sports Illustrated to win the Stanley Cup and be poised to be a perennial playoff contender. They know there is absolutely no guarantee the Jets will even get into the postseason and if they are honest with themselves they have to believe – given that other teams in the division got significantly better while the Jets didn’t – it’s more likely that the Jets won’t get into the playoffs.

While Bomber fans are pumped, Jets fans are demoralized and disheartened.

It was only a few short years ago that the Jets were the toast of the NHL. They got to the division finals and had it not been for Marc-Andre Fleury playing unconscious in the Vegas nets and almost singlehandedly defeating the Jets, the feeling was that the Jets were positioned to be heavy favourites for the next several years.

Not just for the talent they had on the ice but because of the wealth of up-and-coming talent they had in their farm system. It was generally agreed in the hockey community that the Jets had the most future assets in the NHL and were thusly poised to be serious contenders for the foreseeable future.

Fast forward to the training camp being only a few days away and there is an air of dread, possibly even doom, with many Jets fans, as they know the cupboard of assets is close to empty and other teams improved while the Jets stuck with the status quo. It generally appears that the window for the Jets to be a Stanley Cup contender – especially if you looked at the calibre of teams that made deep playoff runs last season – is closing fast (if not already completely shut).

The Bombers, on the other hand, are the class of the CFL and heavy favourites to three-peat as league champions. Between their success on the field and the culture they’ve built off the field, players want to come and play for the Bombers.

The same cannot be said for the Jets. The story of the past few seasons is of players wanting to get out of Winnipeg. How often have you heard “hockey players don’t want to come to Winnipeg”?

Another gauge of fan excitement versus dread is the atmosphere at their respective barns. While the Jets used to have the loudest fans in the league, the last few years it often sounds like a library. Bomber games are raucous, lively and bubbling with energy.

Some would say the difference between the two franchises is that the Bombers are a blue collar working class outfit while the Jets are a white collar upper class enterprise. There’s probably a significant amount of truth to that.

But a big part of the disparity when it comes to the overall mood of their fans is that the Bombers have done what the Jets desperately need to do: sign Manitobans.

A big reason why the Bombers have such an enthusiastic and dedicated fan base is because there is a relatability factor at play – Bomber fans get to cheer for fellow Manitobans.

That reality simply does not exist at a Jets game.

With the NHL season just around the corner and CFL playoffs only weeks away, this contrast, this tale of two fandoms, will be on display for everyone to see.