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BC Lions to host 2014 Grey Cup

BC Lions quarterback Travis Lulay was named the MVP of the 2011 Grey Cup in a 34-23 home win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. CP Image ripped ungraciously from the interweb.
BC Lions quarterback Travis Lulay was named the MVP of the 2011 Grey Cup in a 34-23 home win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. CP Image ripped ungraciously from the interweb.

The BC Lions have defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup 20-14.

No, wait, I read that press release wrong. Let me try again.

The BC Lions will host the Grey Cup in 2014, a game the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were supposed to host. Construction delays in Winnipeg have delayed the Blue Bombers move to the new Investors Group Stadium, and the club doesn’t want to chance hosting the big dance without significant time to work out the bugs in the new building. It’s the second time in four years that BC Place will be home to the CFL’s biggest game.

What the Slurpee Capital of the World loses, the City of Vancouver reaps. (That’s how the saying goes, isn’t it?) YVR will receive all the financial perqs that go along with the Grey Cup party, including street parties, hotel bookings and restaurant lineups. Of course, VanCity hosted in 2011 after Hamilton’s Ivor Wynne Stadium was deemed no longer fit for human consumption, and saw their hometown Leos win their sixth championship with a 34-23 win over — you guessed it — the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

BC Lions fans are already tippling at the prospect of hosting the 2014 Grey Cup. Photo cribbed from www.vancouversun.com.
BC Lions fans are already tippling at the prospect of hosting the 2014 Grey Cup. Photo cribbed from www.vancouversun.com.

The 2014 game was originally supposed to be held in Ottawa, but the expansion franchise awarded to the nation’s capital in 2008 has yet to take the field. Winnipeg was given the game, only to drop it like a hot potato. (If you’ve ever held a hot potato on a cold prairie day you know that bad boy hurts like a sumbeyatch at -40C.)

Despite wonky business decisions that have made the CFL the decades-long butt of jokes and monologues — to name a few, expansion to the US, then contraction out of the US, , a fleeting, flaky relationship with Bruce McNall, Wayne Gretzky and John Candy, teams named Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa Rough Riders, the folding of mainstay franchises, and a new franchise threatening to call itself the Ottawa Red Blacks — the league has performed well the last few seasons. The CFL has benefitted from some improved marketing and hard work behind the scenes to ensure teams were making financially healthy decisions.

Last year’s 100th Grey Cup celebrations are rumoured to have brought in nearly $10 million for Toronto Argonauts owner David Braley. Oh yeah; how many leagues have one man listed as the owner of multiple franchises? Braley just happens to own the BC Lions, so after the 2014 season, his empire will have hosted three of the last four championship games. The man deserves a return on his investment, as for years he was one of the few things keeping the league afloat. But it’s at least a little weird, isn’t it?

Oddments aside, the City of Vancouver is bracing for its second CFL party next year — some good news for the region’s football fans after losing the Western Final to the Calgary Stampeders, then losing Simon to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the off-season. Lulay and Co. are no doubt happy to host the party, but would prefer first to focus on getting the team to the 2013 Grey Cup in Regina.

The BC Lions season starts June 14 in Calgary. Their first home game is June 21 against the Edmonton Eskimos. Tickets are available on the team’s homepage.