The "economically challenged" CFL is "hoping" for a
sellout crowd at Sunday's Grey Cup in Winnipeg because it
"really could use the cash," as it will have to pay the NFL
US$300,000 within the next few weeks, according to Marty
York of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. The payment is part of an
agreement reached between the two leagues before the '97
season, which included an interest-free loan of $3M from the
NFL to the CFL. The CFL has used the money "to revive
itself and stay alive" for the past two seasons, but now
must begin making $300,000 payments to the NFL after every
season until 2007. CFL President Jeff Giles "denied"
reports that the league was hoping to delay the payment: "We
will make the payment" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 11/18).
GOOD PARTNERS: York notes that as of yesterday, only
"about" 31,000 of the 42,000 seats had been sold Sunday's
CFL Championship. CFL Commissioner John Tory: "The more
people who are there, the more money we get. We're not
panic-stricken, but, certainly, we could always use the
extra money." York notes that NFL Commissioner Paul
Tagliabue, who attended last year's game, will not attend
this year's contest, but instead sending other NFL execs as
well as an NFL Films crew. Giles said that the NFL is
making a documentary for the CFL to use in its promotion,
and that the league has "had preliminary discussions" with
both the CBC and TSN about airing the documentary on their
networks. Giles said that the CFL's relationship with the
NFL has been productive in marketing and sponsorship within
Canada: "There's been absolutely nothing negative about our
relationship with the NFL" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 11/18).
AND THE SKIES ARE GREY: In Toronto, Mark Harding
reports that after slow Grey Cup sales, organizers "hit the
panic button" Tuesday by announcing they were "slashing"
prices to C$62 from C$125 for the remaining seats in the
endzones. Grandstand seats between the goal lines are
priced at C$183, and almost all of them have been sold for
months. Blue Bombers GM Ken Bishop, who needs to sell about
31,000 tickets to break even on the game, admitted that
tickets "were too pricey." So far 600 seats have been sold
since the price reduction, and organizers hope to reach the
35,000 mark by Sunday (TORONTO STAR, 11/18).
