Good seats are still available — really

True: The Ottawa Redblacks almost always sell out their home games — with a bit more than 24,500 fans on hand.

Also true: Almost always, there are still good tickets available right up until game time. Case in point, there are still more than 1,000 tickets left for Saturday night’s game against Toronto at TD Place.

The Redblacks are trying to get the message out — even with the popularity of the Grey Cup champs, don’t assume there are no tickets left.

“There’s a perception a lot of people have that we’re sold out and you can’t get tickets,” “said Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group president of sports Jeff Hunt. “While we’ve had, I think, 26-of-29 sellouts since starting, many games, including this weekend, we have tickets for sale right up until game time. There’s well over 1,000 tickets in all price ranges still available for Saturday — starting at $35. I think a lot of people don’t bother trying because they believe we’re sold out so in their mind, there’s no point.”

Hunt said the team considers anything above 24,000 “pretty much a sellout. We’re trying to dispel the image — it’s a good image in a lot of ways, but we’re trying to get the message out that we do have tickets available usually right up until game time.”

While it may not exactly be the NHL Battle of Ontario rivalry that the Senators and Leafs have generated, it’s still a game between two cities that don’t always see eye to eye.

“Toronto is always a rivalry in Ottawa so that makes it a little more interesting,” said Hunt. “Even more so, it’s a beautiful summer night in July and we think this is the best party in town to be part of. What we’ve seen so far are two extremely exciting games and I’m sure we’ll continue to see that on Saturday night.”