The Canadian Football League is coming to Victoria.
Wellsa国际传媒or one game at least.
On Wednesday, it was announced that the inaugural Touchdown Pacific game will take place on Aug. 31 when the B.C. Lions host the Ottawa Redblacks at Victoriasa国际传媒檚 Royal Athletic Park.
Lions Chief Operating Officer Duan Vienneau emphasizes that this will be more than just a football game, itsa国际传媒檚 going to be a festival.
He should know. Prior to joining the Lions organization, Vienneau was the Chief Grey Cup and Events officer for the CFL and was the point man for Touchdown Atlantic in 2019 and 2022 and saw firsthand all of the events leading up to the game.
sa国际传媒淭here are a lot of activations similar to what you would see at a Grey Cup but obviously to a smaller extent. Leading up to the game itself, there will be either several days (of activities) depending on the final programming. For example, there would be a festival in downtown Victoria where yousa国际传媒檇 have some music. Yousa国际传媒檇 have some sa国际传媒榯eam roomssa国际传媒� similar to what you might see at a Grey Cup as well as some sponsor activation. Then wesa国际传媒檇 also take the teams into the community and do football camps and other kinds of community initiatives that the team might engage in,sa国际传媒� Vienneau explained.
The Lions will shift practices to Victoria for at least a few days prior to the game. The possibility of training there for the entire week also under discussion. The Redblacks will also make the trip to the West Coast earlier than usual with a mid-week arrival so they can take part in the initiative as well.
According to Vienneau, the game itself will be unique given the smaller venue of Royal Athletic Park.
sa国际传媒淭he game will be in a setting of 12 to 14,000 people, which is a much smaller setting than a normal CFL game. The stadium is going to be very tight with a jam-packed atmosphere where the fans are really close to the players and itsa国际传媒檚 just going to provide great gameday experience,sa国际传媒� Vienneau added.
And while the Touchdown Atlantic series was used to gauge the level of interest in the CFL in the Martimes for possible expansion, the Lions and the CFL have no such agenda with the game in Victoria.
Nor is the game going to be an additional revenue stream.
With average attendance at B.C. Place around 25,000, the Lions will lose almost 50% of their normal gate revenue, so clearly the organization isnsa国际传媒檛 in this for the money. The goal of the game and the activities surrounding it will be to increase awareness in the Lionssa国际传媒� brand and to acknowledge the teamsa国际传媒檚 fans from Vancouver Island.
As Vienneau likes to point out, the team is called the B.C. Lions sa国际传媒� not the Vancouver Lions.
sa国际传媒淭he number one focus for us from a B.C. Lions perspective is that we have we have close to 1,000 people who are seat holders from the island. We also have a lot of casual fans that come across to all of our home games. So being B.C.sa国际传媒檚 team, we want to do an outreach like we do in Kamloops with training camp and in other cities. This is a way to do that but itsa国际传媒檚 also going to build our fan base. Itsa国际传媒檚 going to build momentum and keep going with what wesa国际传媒檙e trying to do as the provinces team,sa国际传媒� Vienneau said.
And then theresa国际传媒檚 the fact that Lions owner Amar Doman is from Victoria and is extremely excited to have the CFL in his hometown.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 very important to him. Obviously, hesa国际传媒檚 from Victoria sa国际传媒� itsa国际传媒檚 his hometown sa国际传媒� and the ability to bring the very first Touchdown Pacific game to Victoria is very special to himsa国际传媒� stated Vienneau.
Lions season ticket holders will have the Victoria game as part of their package but for those who wonsa国际传媒檛 make the trip from the Lower Mainland, Vienneau says the football club will be flexible when it comes to providing options to those individuals whether the compensation be tickets to a playoff game or something else.
If you listen to Vienneau however, this will be an event that you wonsa国际传媒檛 want to miss.
sa国际传媒淚 know from my experience with Touchdown Atlantic that fans will come from all across the country. Yousa国际传媒檒l see people wearing jerseys from every single team in the league. Yousa国际传媒檙e going to see people just having fun celebrating football, coming to a very beautiful destination and being a part of a unique experience.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 kind of the CFLsa国际传媒檚 version sa国际传媒� the B.C. Lions version sa国际传媒� of MLBsa国际传媒檚 Field of Dreams game. Itsa国际传媒檚 just a different setting and itsa国际传媒檚 fun,sa国际传媒� said Vienneau.
Veteran B.C. sports personality Bob sa国际传媒渢he Mojsa国际传媒� Marjanovich writes twice weekly for Black Press Media.
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