Touchdown Pacific in Victoria 2024

[B.C.FAN]

Farhan Lalji says it appears the announcement will be about a regular season game in Victoria.

https://x.com/farhanlaljitsn/status/172 ... gGjb_94D6A

EDIT: Squire Barnes on Global says the game will be played at Royal Athletic Park.

[SammyGreene]

Heard the opponent will be the RedBlacks which makes sense as the league reverts back to a balanced schedule.

Year 3 upcoming for Doman’s ownership and he is swinging for the fences to build the brand, taking his ”BC” Lions where they have never gone before.
What other team in the league would be willing to take this on in the same year they are hosting the Grey Cup?

And we know it will be far more than just playing game with Lions bringing the entire fan experience to Victoria and more.

2024 shaping up to be one special year for the franchise off the field at least.

[Belize City Lion]

What other team in the league would be willing to take this on in the same year they are hosting the Grey Cup?

And we know it will be far more than just playing game with Lions bringing the entire fan experience to Victoria and more.

2024 shaping up to be one special year for the franchise off the field at least.

Staging a game in Victoria in the same year they host the Grey Cup is brilliant. The Lions are setting themselves up for a full season of hype and buzz. First will be the home opener in June. Then Touchdown Pacific likely in August. Then it's the second half of the season which always feels more crucial because of playoff seeding implications. And finally the Grey Cup. It's going to be hard to keep the Lions out of the public imagination in 2024.

Also, Touchdown Pacific could really help Grey Cup pre-sales. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a package deal that includes a Grey Cup ticket along with your TDP ticket.

[Toppy Vann]

Farhan also speculated it could be at U Vic and I could see that for transportation.

Looking at who is at the announcement today suggests it's not Langford and no U Vic people unless they're holding either their people as a surprise which is doubtful. U Vic is in Oak Bay and Saanich so it won't be there given the guest list today.
Starlight is in Langford I think.

Also Farhan suggests Labour Day but that might make the Island travel a disaster.

Not sure where Squire Barnes came up with Royal Athletic other than it was expanded for FIFA U/20 World Cup in 2007.
But looking at the guest list, Squire is likely right. This says this likely game will in Victoria city limits and it won't be TC or a pre-season game.

Squire has likely accurately deduced Royal Athletic by it's size, location and the presser:

The park is a large rectangular plot oriented east-west, and the seating has been designed to accommodate field sports such as football (Canadian, Aussie, Rugby, Association codes), field lacrosse, baseball, and other field sports. The main baseball diamond (there is a secondary one in the NE corner) is located in the southwest corner.

The stadium is surrounded by high-intensity lights on all sides allowing night games. There is surface parking just west of the stadium shared with the hockey arena, Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

Capacity
The park has a permanent seating capacity of 5,700 including temporary bleachers. There are 3,800 permanent seats in the covered mid-field grandstand.[1] Depending on its configuration and the event, it can hold a larger capacity, often listed as a max capacity of 9,247. Temporary bleachers were added to expand seating for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup games. (In the above picture, one can see some examples of added temporary seating behind the shorter bleachers on the right half of the picture). An announced total of 14,500 was later altered to 10,500, as temporary grandstands were not erected behind the goal on the east side.[25]

Announcement has only City of Victoria Mayor there not other Mayors.

Where

Crystal Garden
​713 Douglas St.
​Victoria
​V8W 3M6

In Attendance

Randy Ambrosie, Commissioner, CFL
Marianne Alto, Mayor, City of Victoria
Amar Doman, Owner, BC Lions
Duane Vienneau, President, BC Lions
Paul Nursey, CEO, Destination Greater Victoria
Rick Campbell, Co-GM/head coach, BC Lions
Sean Whyte, BC Lions player and proud British Columbian.

https://press.cfl.ca/bc-lions-cfl-and-c ... -wednesday

[Toppy Vann]

CFL announces Touchdown Pacific between Redblacks and Lions in Victoria

The Canadian Football League announced Wednesday that a regular-season game will be heading to Victoria, B.C., for Touchdown Pacific between the Ottawa Redblacks and the BC Lions on Aug. 31 at Royal Athletic Park.

https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/cfl-announces-to ... -1.2042283

[B.C.FAN]

The Lions’ announcement:

https://www.bclions.com/2023/11/29/lion ... ia-aug-31/

[Hambone]

Labour Day long weekend. If you're going book those ferry reservations now.

[B.C.FAN]

Ticketing details have not been announced. I’m not sure if this game is included in the season ticket package or if it has to be purchased separately.

[Hambone]

Ticketing details have not been announced. I’m not sure if this game is included in the season ticket package or if it has to be purchased separately.

Email from Lions indicates it is part of the season ticket package but for anyone unable to attend they can exchange it for credit towards playoff game ticket(s) or Grey Cup ticket(s).

[don corleone]

So the schedule must be in place

Would have been nice for the Lions if it was a Ottawa home game. As such my guess is a good % of the season ticket holders would attend.

Kudos to all involved in making it happen.

[don corleone]

Also gives the Lions a dance partner for the Labour Day long weekend which has not always been the case iirc.

[Hambone]

So the schedule must be in place

Would have been nice for the Lions if it was a Ottawa home game. As such my guess is a good % of the season ticket holders would attend.

Kudos to all involved in making it happen.

Nice for the Lions but would absolutely suck for REDBLACKS and their fans. That would be like the CFL wanting to play a TD Quebec in Quebec City with BC being the home team to play against Montreal while still having to travel to Montreal at some other point for their regular road game there.

[don corleone]

Nice for the Lions but would absolutely suck for REDBLACKS and their fans. That would be like the CFL wanting to play a TD Quebec in Quebec City with BC being the home team to play against Montreal while still having to travel to Montreal at some other point for their regular road game there.

Point taken and another example of the challenges of non regional competition.

To nitpick it might have been better to use one of the games against a team that they are scheduled to play three times which allows the home fans to see every team at BC Place . Also wondering if there will be tickets to sell if the game is included in the season ticket package. None the less, it's something new and different and a positive step forward for the league.

Believe Ottawa has also played well in BC in recent games so best to not take them lightly.

At one point last season Sask went from Vancouver to TD Atlantic, home to Regina, and back to Montreal over a 4 week span. Tough to be your best with that kind of external drama going on.

Fingers crossed the new schedule works equally well for all teams.

[Sir Purrcival]

When I first heard about this without any of the particulars, I thought "What a great idea"! My second thought was that "I hope that it somehow involves the Lions". I had to chuckle at the idea of holding a Toronto-Hamilton game in Victoria. We could call it Touchdown Pacific.

[David]

We're attending, but a little more consultation with season ticket holders would have been preferred ("Hey, this is what we're thinking of doing. Would you be okay with giving up a home game for a game to be played somewhere in BC in 2024?" kind of survey).

I am sure most SSHs are fine with it, but as a courtesy, I think it would have been nice so we're not left scrambling thinking about what happens if we can't make it.

I do think demand will far exceed supply for this contest. Hard to believe there won't be at least 4K-5K of Mainlanders and CFL fans from other cities. So it won't take many locals to fill the place.


DH