Hi, I’m Russell Arbuthnot. You may remember me from such blog postings as “A Rennie Saved is a Rennie Earned” and “Band-Aids and Berber.” Typically, my audience (thanks to both my mom and my editor) is used to reading my cogitations on football, but like, the European kind. Here in North America, the colloquial term for the sport is “soccer”, yet our local “soccer” team denotes itself as a “football club” despite playing in Major League Soccer.

It just so happens that we also have another football club in town, which actually plays what is commonly referred to as football in this here continent. The BC Lions F.C. kicked off the 2015 season this past Friday night, providing the first opportunity for the team and fans alike to experience the purported new and improved atmosphere at BC Place.

Now, fair reader, you may be asking yourself, “Why is this dolt writing about CFL football?” Good question. Jason asked me to produce a preview for the Whitecaps game versus Kansas City in a limited time frame. Me, being the social butterfly that I am, had committed to a variety of good times the likes of which you would never be invited to, so I just couldn’t make it work. One of these events was the aforementioned Lions home opener, hence the revised assignment request. I was there. I got a free hat. Bonus.

As it turns out, both football clubs in this town share more than just their designation as such. But before I get too far into that, let’s start from the top.

The BC Lions are not a premiere team. Over the past three seasons, they have seen their win total, along with their attendance, drop steadily. In the grand scheme of things, their box office numbers aren’t actually horrible, but an average attendance of 28,000 in a 52,000 seat venue isn’t terribly attractive. Even the most arduous of optimists would be troubled to make a “stadium half-full” argument.

While the Lions are trending downwards, that other football club has quickly replaced the Leos as the biggest summertime draw in Vancouver. In an effort to reverse the trend, the Lions are taking a page out of the Whitecaps playbook, namely pinching supply to increase demand.

It used to be that the sails at BC Place, used to cover the eyesore that is an empty or sparsely populated upper bowl, were only draped over the soccer pitch. And now, despite assertions to the contrary in years past, the gridiron is getting the same treatment. That’s just one of the changes the Lions are instituting in an effort to amplify the atmosphere at BC Place.

The whole supply and demand ideology is also on display on Terry Fox Plaza during the pre-game festivities. The “Party on the Plaza” isn’t new in and of itself, however the team has installed a beer garden just outside of Gate H to ensure all those Lionbackers can get their pregame drink on before entering the building. The only problem is the demand far exceeds the supply, or at the very least, it exceeds the ability of those who are in charge of dispensing said supply.

I waited in line for a brewed beverage for approximately 15 minutes. When I realized I hadn’t moved forward, save for the two gentlemen in front of me who discernibly gave up, I too thought better of waiting. Offering outside libations are a good idea in principle, but the Lions may want to rethink the execution, specifically employing more than just a single bartender for a crowd numbering in the thousands. It brought to mind the long lineups at Empire Field, the makeshift Lion’s Den used while BC Place got its retrofit a few years ago. It suited the game itself just fine, thank you, but you couldn’t buy an overpriced sleeve without first enduring a 30-minute wait in a repurposed parking lot. I thought it was a beer garden, not “a-beer guardin'”. Bad joke. Really bad joke.

Inside the stadium, however, the atmosphere did receive a boost by condensing the attendees into the lower bowl. And when hundreds of fans exited en masse with three minutes left in the game (let’s not do this in the future, Vancouver), the ambiance actually improved. Sure, some old-timey season ticket holders are still whining about being moved from primo locations in the upper deck, but dang it all, the Whitecaps sails bloody well do make a difference. The noise was noticeable. The home field advantage was present. The crowd was engaged.

Of course a dramatic come-from-behind overtime victory versus the Roughriders helped the cause, but the Lions have to be pleased with the initial rollout of the endeavour. The on-field product (*ahem* officiating aside) should inspire the fans to return, and hopefully, for the Lions’ sake, the fans in their new configuration can inspire the on-field product. See that? That’s synergy. Everything is better when we all work together.

Beer gardens included.