With "just over 46,000 tickets sold" for this year's Grey Cup at BC Place in Vancouver, it is "highly unlikely the game will match the attendance" of the '11 event in the same venue, according to Lowell Ullrich of the Vancouver PROVINCE. But Grey Cup GM Jamie Pitblado on Monday said that the 46,000 figure "would represent a sellout in six of the nine stadiums in the
CFL, that it exceeds the 44,710 who got in for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ coronation last year and that it will still represent the largest crowd to see any game leaguewide this season." This year's Calgary Stampeders-Hamilton Tiger-Cats Grey Cup also is "assured to surpass the 45,118 fans" who watched the same matchup at BC Place in '99. Pitblado said that approximately two-thirds of tickets were sold to British Columbia residents, which "is a show of support for a game which is not likely to return to Vancouver after this year for some time." But he "admits ticket sales this week also represent something of a referendum" on the
CFL B.C. Lions. Pitblado cites "a surge in interest" in the Seahawks and NFL fantasy football as "reasons behind the sluggish sales, plus buyer fatigue" from the '11 Grey Cup. The surplus "may prompt organizers to give away tickets to charitable outlets this weekend" (
Vancouver PROVINCE, 11/25).
