What started as a small contest over a stuffed panda donated by students has grown into a banner event for Canadian university sport, attracting and expected crowds of 24,000-plus fans to Ottawa's TD Place Stadium.
Despite challenges, the Panda Game has prevailed, with organizers learning lessons each year to orchestrate an event that regularly draws the biggest crowd on the U Sports calendar, outdoing other significant games.
"Students come in groups; they don't make this decision alone, and they're not going to pick up and buy a ticket alone. They want to know that a lot of people are going and that they're not the only ones, so you need to create that group environment, and that's what we've been able to do."Ottawa students storm field to celebrate Gee-Gees' Panda Game winThe University of Ottawa defeated Carleton University 37-7 in the legendary Panda Game on Saturday.
Outside of Panda Game, the Carleton-Ottawa rivalry also powers the highest-attended basketball game in Canada, outside of the NBA's Toronto Raptors. That tilt, Capital Hoops, inspired the re-invigorated Panda Game and the move to the larger stadium in 2014, allowing the two schools to play in front of a mammoth crowd for football and a nearly 10,000-person crowd for basketball. Hockey also draws significant numbers for the Colonel By Classic.
The Gee-Gees and Ravens paint a blueprint of a thriving local rivalry and how Canadian university sport could harness that energy into larger crowds.
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