Justin Bieber was booed at the Grey Cup, something which probably could have been predicted from the moment he was announced as half-time entertainment. It was a bad move to have the teen idol take the stage at the event, and both his management and the organizers of the event should have seen the negative reaction coming, and decided against having the young star perform at the event.
I don't have anything against Bieber or his music myself, but I also would never call myself a fan. I don't need to be, he makes music that appeals to young women and he's good at reaching that demographic. There are a lot of young women out there, many of whom buy music and support their favorite artists, and he's made a career by appealing to them. Good for him, I'm not going to begrudge the young man his career.
That said, he was simply the wrong choice for half-time entertainment at the CFL's biggest game. It's nothing really against him as a performer, with a receptive audience he's going to go down well, but that audience is not going to be in the stands at a football game. Football and Bieber's brand of pop music don't really overlap demographically. The kid never had a chance on that stage, and the reaction to his half time show was a good example of that.
One might wonder what the logic was behind having a teen sensation on stage at a football games. It could have been an attempt to expand the demographics of football fans to include people outside of the traditional ranks. If the league can get fans when they're young, they might be able to get life-long football enthusiasts out of them. If they can get young girls on their side, which is probably the most difficult audience for the CFL to attract, they might be able to expand their demographics into uncharted territory for the league. Even if a crew of pre-teens might be otherwise uninterested in a football game, the promise of Bieber could get them in the seats, in theory at least.
But that's just ignoring the actual core audience of the sport, which is predominantly male. A male audience is also less than receptive to Bieber's brand of pop music. I have my own theory as to why that is, that being young men wishing the young women would pay attention to them rather than pop stars, but that's beside the point. Young men aren't going to be particularly fond of Bieber's brand of pop music. People over twenty-five are going to be largely indifferent, but would be hoping for half-time entertainment more in line with what they would listen to normally. Bieber isn't really made for this game.
I understand the gambit to a degree, but the CFL needs to consider their demographics if they want people to actually pay attention during the half-time show. Bring in someone that the actual fans of the game would want to see, rather than trying to draw the eyes of people who would otherwise ignore the game. Gordon Lightfoot, who also performed, got a much better reception, and was also more likely to appeal to an audience that had come out to watch a bit of football.
Still, for most people, the half-time show is a chance to refill drinks and pay a visit to the nearest bathroom facility, so maybe it doesn't matter who they choose.
