This past week in the CFL, much of the hype concerned the last game on the schedule, the Roughriders travelling to Vancouver to take on the B.C. Lions.
The Roughriders in a bold media and marketing stunt, bought advertisement space on a billboard in downtown Vancouver that read “Green is the New Orange”, showing a woman in rider green. Obviously the Lions faithful and brass took exception to the billboard, but went as far as to guarantee a victory on their Sunday evening match up against the Riders.
CFL or Las Vegas?
Not only did they promise a win against their rivals, but they backed it up, promising free tickets to everyone in the crowd that evening should the Lions lose. Pretty bold statement by Lions president Dennis Skulsky; it also created a lot of hype around this game, as well as made sure there would be fans in the seats to watch it, make noise, and give their Lions the best chance for a victory.
The game started with 33,000-plus fans in attendance and an amazingly loud playoff-like atmosphere. Only one problem: B.C. lost the game. Skulsky was as good as his word, though, so everyone in attendance will be getting a free ticket to another Lions home game in the future. Some estimate that it will cost the team anywhere from 1.5 to 2 million dollars in revenue, a catastrophic way to head into a bye week.
Who in their right mind would make such a wager, especially a professional business man? Now this is not a guarantee that we have seen before; Joe Namath with his guarantee for Super Bowl III, Daniel Alfredson on a game 6 guarantee win in the NHL playoffs against the Leafs, Mark Messier in game 6 against the Devils in another NHL playoffs. None of them wagered anything that would be detrimental to his organization.
Those were made by players who are frustrated, and want nothing more than to win. This promise was made by someone who does not contribute on the field. He doesn’t know first-hand the passion of playing against other warriors, nor would he comprehend the frustration of losing against a rival after a hard-fought game.
This is a man in a suit and tie with a big mouth, who made a stupid remark out of frustration and pride. He saw the billboard and clearly was upset by it, to the point where he went public and wagered free tickets if the Lions were to lose this game – basically a death sentence for the Lions players. This wager put unneeded pressure on the team to win and only win. The Lions did come out with a roar with an early punt return touchdown, giving them a 10-0 start in the score. But that roar faded to a quiet meow with a loss and no offensive touchdowns.
What to think now? It’s obvious that the wager was a mistake; if anyone made a guarantee, it should have been one of the players. Would Kevin Glenn have made that bet? I highly doubt it; he leads his team on his ability, not by yapping to the media.
The dust has settled and now it’s back to football. We probably won’t see any more outrageous promises to fans before a big divisional matchup; we’re heading back to the CFL, not Las Vegas.
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