Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Franchises

CFL Team To Hand Out Free Tickets To Upcoming Games After Losing Guaranteed Win

The CFL B.C. Lions are now "on the hook for thousands of free tickets to any of their remaining home games" after losing Sunday to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a game Lions President & CEO Dennis Skulsky guaranteed the team would win, according to Mike Beamish of the VANCOUVER SUN. A season-high crowd of 33,196 attended the game after it had failed to draw more than 25,231 for any of the Lions' first four home games. However, it is unknown whether the crowd boost "was a result of the Roughriders’ natural drawing power, or marketing gimmickry" (VANCOUVER SUN, 8/26). In Vancouver, Ed Willes notes some have argued that Skulsky "succeeded in moving the Lions to the front of the city’s sporting consciousness while creating a genuine buzz around" Sunday's game. Willes: "That’s true, to a point." But there is a "larger issue involved here, one that speaks to the state of the Lions." Until this year, the club never "needed a guaranteed win to sell its product." The Lions brand was "built through a series of successful, exciting teams that earned the support of the community." There was "no need for gimmicks, no need for hype." But since moving into B.C. Place in '11, attendance has "decreased every year and, barring a miracle over their final four home dates, it will fall again this season" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 8/25).

SNOOZE BUTTON
: In Winnipeg, Paul Friesen wonders if anyone else notices the CFL "has become difficult to watch many nights, downright boring on others." Scoring is "at a 29-year-low," as teams have "combined for 45.8 points per game, down nearly a full touchdown per game from last year." CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon has acknowledged TV viewership is "down from last season." Cohon: “We started off the season up against the World Cup, which is obviously an international phenomenon and continues to grow. But the numbers are starting to pick up" (WINNIPEG SUN, 8/26).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2014/08/26/Franchises/BC-Lions.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2014/08/26/Franchises/BC-Lions.aspx

CLOSE