Wiser, and experienced, Vanier Cup committee kicks off ticket sales

Thursday marks 100 days from kickoff — as well as the official opening of ticket sales to the general public — and Vanier Cup organizers are hoping hard lessons learned from last year’s spottilyattended event will translate into a significantly bigger live audience.

Tim Hortons Field will play host to the 53rd national university men’s football championship, sponsored by ArcelorMittal Dofasco, on Nov. 25 in the second instalment of a two-year deal between U Sports, which owns the game, and the city, which owns the stadium. The first instalment featured a terrific game (multiple champion Laval Rouge et Or edging Calgary Dinos 31-26) but a notso-terrific audience of 5,600, the second-lowest of all time.

“A lot of effort has been given to the sales process,” says Graham Brown, CEO of U Sports. “We’ve been selling groups and corporate packages for two months.”

A Cup-specific salesperson has been at work dealing with the development departments of all 27 U Sports schools with football teams, with a heavier emphasis on OUA schools which are, obviously, in closer proximity to Hamilton than those outside the province.

The Ticats’ business operations department, which has a well-developed feel for this city’s fickle sports market, is helping with promotions, and there is a focused theme of ‘alumni’ for this year’s game.

The all-Canadian team from 1971, the first-year national allstars were chosen, has been invited and about a dozen have indicated they will attend. Several hundred group-sales tickets have already been bought by one local amateur football organization. U Sports will have a promotional booth at Friday night’s game between the Tiger-Cats and Ottawa Redblacks.

“We’ve got more organization in place this year,” said Brown. “I’ve learned that it was more difficult (to sell tickets) than I had anticipated.”

It was particularly difficult when the universities which provided the finalists last year were so far away from Hamilton. Under U Sports’ rotating semifinal system, this year the round before the Vanier Cup features the Ontario winner against the Atlantic winner in the Uteck Bowl, while the Mitchell Bowl has the Quebec winner against the Western winner. An Atlantic team has won just once in its last 10 bowl games, making the probability of an Ontario team in the Vanier Cup fairly high.

Tickets start at $25 but some special sales tickets are as low as $15 each.

One of the lessons that U Sport has learned is to shut off the upper bowl and restrict sales to the roughly 14,000 seats in the lower bowl, as Rugby Canada did for its very successful World Cup qualifier against the U.S. here earlier in the summer.

“I don’t think it’s a lowering of expectations,” said Brown who, this time last year, was hoping for attendance over 20,000 for the 2016 game. “I think it’s a more realistic look at it.”

Brown said he’s also recognized that it’s important for U Sports to have a stronger relationship with the Canadian Football League, and indicated that he’s talked to the CFL about aligning the Grey Cup and Vanier Cup on the same weekend in the same city, in years when that’s possible.