Lions ask to use Surrey practice facility
Team president is pushing for a reduced fall football season — possibly with fans in the stands
Despite the grim prediction from CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie last week, the B.C. Lions haven’t given up hope of playing this year — maybe even in front of fans.
The CFL’s top man said the most likely scenario is no football this season as the country and world grapple with containing the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Ambrosie also suggested that, without a massive cash injection of up to $150 million, the league was in danger of withering away.
But hope springs eternal for Lions president Rick LeLacheur. He’s still hoping there will be some games played at B.C. Place this season, and on Tuesday, he filed a plan with the B.C. government to reopen the team’s Surrey practice facility.
LeLacheur said he could envision an eight-game schedule, with each team playing each other once, followed by playoffs.
“We’ve been doing an awful lot of modelling on what we can get done financially. We haven’t given up on this year,” LeLacheur told Matt Baker of BCLions.com.
“We’re still looking at trying to get a number of games in come the fall. I think it’s pretty clear now that we’re not going to play this summer . ...
“We’re working with the government and health care officials and B.C. Place. We’d love to get back in and play games in the fall. We’re still looking at the potential of being able to play. Getting a couple of games in, or four (at home), that would be great, then hopefully in a shortened season, head to the playoffs.
“We know with B.C. Place, they’re modelling how we could do it with social distancing, with getting a number of fans in B.C. Place, maybe using both the bottom and top deck. Everything is still on the table. We’re just going to have to take it a day, or a week, or a month at a time. Unfortunately, that’s the position we’re in.”
Due to the rapidly changing landscape surrounding COVID-19 restrictions, B.C. Place management wasn’t able to confirm any plans. They’re still early in the process of trying to appraise the multiple scenarios that could arise.
Talking to Sportsnet 590 radio in Toronto this week, Hamilton Ticats chief operating officer Scott Mitchell stressed just how vital it is for the league to find a solution.
“I would argue that we need to do everything possible — if we can figure this out — to get games on the field this year,” he said. “The challenges of putting on events with fans in the stadium, adhering to social guidelines … At Tim Hortons Field, we would be looking at the absolute most — if we were ever allowed to play and if it was healthy and safe for our community and for the fans in the stadium — the most you could get into … a Ticats game would be 4,000 people. Clearly the cost of putting a game like that on would eat into the revenue dip of 4,000 people.
“It’s very, very important that we figure out and exhaust every opportunity to play.”
The CFL’s pitch to the House of Commons for assistance that could climb as high as $150 million — $30 million now, to help navigate the crisis, then another $120 million over the next two years — wasn’t received with great positivity.
Ambrosie didn’t present a business plan, and there wasn’t any representation from the players’ association.
Ambrosie has stated the league loses up to $20 million each year. Postmedia’s Paul Friesen reported that each club, save Montreal, was required to pay $660,000 to keep the Montreal Alouettes afloat while the league searched for new owners.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers made a profit after winning the Grey Cup in 2019, but take out their payment to Montreal and instalment on their stadium’s construction cost, and the team was only $588,860 in the black.
But what the CFL is looking for, LeLacheur stressed, isn’t a handout.
“I want to reiterate, and I think our fans here will appreciate this — maybe more so than other cities — we’re not asking for a freebie,” he said. “We’re asking to join the government of Canada with various programs that we can participate in, and allow them to be a sponsor.
“I think the Lions have done a lot of great programs in the community, and sometimes I don’t think we tell our story enough.
“All of those are in co-operation with the government of B.C. We’ve run a number of those programs for a number of years, and that’s what we’re trying to replicate with the government of Canada.”
All of LeLacheur’s hope and plans are moot if travel restrictions between the United States and Canada aren’t relaxed. Currently, CFL players wouldn’t count as “essential workers,” or those who cross the border regularly for work.
And it was reported on Wednesday that the travel ban would be extended until at least June 21, and anyone who crosses the border will still be subject to a mandatory 14-day self-isolation.
For the Lions to hold a training camp, or even just get their American players over the border, there are a lot of dominoes that need to fall.
“We’ve been looking at everything,” said LeLacheur. “First of all, we need the border open. And second of all, in all likelihood, all those players coming in may have to quarantine.
“If that’s the case, we have some ideas and thoughts about it, but until we know the rules and guidelines that we’re going to be given, it’s very difficult to make decisions.”