Football and a freak fall: Manitoba judge eyes new rules for stadiums

STEVE LAMBERT

Canadian Press

Should sports stadiums be required to curb beer sales and improve safety features to protect fans in the stands?

Those are two of the questions being considered by a Manitoba judge following a wide-ranging inquest into the death of a spectator at a Canadian Football League game in Winnipeg in August 2006. The inquest concluded Friday after hearing from 50 witnesses over the last 15 months.

A lawyer for the CFL and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers argued Andrew Szabo’s deadly fall from the north-end stands at Canad Inns Stadium was a freak accident that neither a booze ban nor safety upgrades could have prevented.

“There have been millions of people there ... going up and down those stairs,” Bob Sokalski said. “[Mr. Szabo’s fall] was a unique, extraordinary event that was not readily foreseeable.”

Mr. Szabo, 52, was a chronic alcoholic, his widow, Barbara, testified at the start of the inquest last year. But he didn’t appear drunk the day the couple and a friend went to see the Bombers play, she said.

Mr. Szabo stumbled and fell down a flight of stairs near the start of the game, tumbled through a guardrail at the bottom and crashed onto the concrete several metres below. He died several hours later in hospital from internal bleeding and a broken pelvis that went undetected, according to Manitoba's chief medical examiner, Dr. Thambirajah Balanchandra.

The inquest was told Mr. Szabo’s blood-alcohol level, taken five hours after the fall, was more than double the legal driving limit — enough to indicate that he had consumed roughly 12 beers or the equivalent in hard liquor.

Most of the booze had been consumed at home. He drank two beers at the stadium prior to game time and had just purchased another two when he fell.

The inquest heard from people sitting near Mr. Szabo as well as security staff who remembered seeing the tall, lanky man. By all accounts, he did not appear to be intoxicated.

Medical experts testified that chronic alcoholics build up tolerance and learn how to avoid showing symptoms of drunkenness such as slurring their speech or losing their balance.

Still, provincial court Judge Mary Kate Harvie asked lawyers for all sides to comment on whether the Bombers should impose further restrictions on beer sales, which are currently limited to two cups per person at any one time.

Mr. Sokalski rejected the idea. He said Mr. Szabo had hardly consumed any alcohol at the stadium. He also said beer-sellers at such events are trained to look for impaired people and can refuse to serve them.

“And no one, including his wife, observed him to show visible signs of impairment.”

The inquest also considered how safe the north-end stands, which were built in 1966, really are. The guardrails have large openings of up to 53 centimetres — too big according to current building codes. But the space, noticeably wider than the average economy-class airplane seat, was perfectly acceptable when the stadium was built.

Judge Harvie has indicated she may recommend that stadiums and other public facilities be required to renovate every 20 years or so to meet new building codes. That would make building codes retroactive for the first time.

“I think that what we have heard evidence about is some public-use facilities — outdoor facilities that might be subject to the weather — and is there some room for consideration of some type of retroactivity?” she asked earlier in the week.

Mr. Sokalski said the move would be heavy-handed, because changes to building codes govern everything from staircases to seat sizes.

“Does that mean that you would have to tear the stadium apart [to make upgrades]? I think it does,” he said.

The inquest also focused on the health care Mr. Szabo received. Paramedics took him to Winnipeg’s Grace community hospital instead of the major trauma unit at the Health Sciences Centre. Barbara Szabo testified doctors at the Grace said her husband was doing fine and had no broken bones.

Hours later, his blood pressure plummeted and he was rushed to the Health Sciences Centre, where he died. Doctors there discovered a broken pelvis and internal bleeding.

Mr. Szabo’s widow has filed a lawsuit against the Grace hospital and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority. The hospital’s lawyer, Bill Olson, has said the fracture was too small to appear on X-rays. He also said the Grace did not have advanced equipment at the time that could have detected the internal bleeding.

The judge is expected to issue her findings in the first half of 2011.

Going coast to coast

Terry Jones
Sunmedia.ca

MONCTON, N.B. — Until Thursday Ian Fowler wasn’t present to watch over the birth of a football franchise due to the death of his father.

But the visionary, who is credited for being the man who inspired the creation of Touchdown Atlantic — not to mention the largest Rolling Stones concert in history here at Magnetic Hill, another similar success with AC/DC, the acquisition of the 2006 Memorial Cup and 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships In Athletics – was able to see it all come to life here Thursday.

And he’ll be there today when CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon likely will bless a Touchdown Atlantic II here next year and a Touchdown Atlantic III in 2012 at a press gathering this afternoon.

With the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argos experiencing a love-in and the streets blocked off and the Scotiabank Touchdown Atlantic party beginning Thursday night, it’s already been a happening here.

“One thing that’s surprised us has been the expressions of to what extent the rest of Canada appears to want us in the league, especially with the kind of participation from Edmonton and Calgary,” said Fowler.

“Hopefully when this is over we’ll want to be part of Canada that is built in with having a CFL team,” he said of making it a coast-to-coast league.

“I think you can already see that in nobody is complaining that Edmonton doesn’t have a great team this year and Toronto is winning ugly. It’s that we have Edmonton and Toronto here in a regular season CFL game.”

But what happens Monday?

What happens when the circus leaves town?

When do the Atlantic Schooners finally join the league?

Folwer says steady as she goes, mate.

“The baby has been born. But you have to learn how to walk before you run. There is still work to do in Atlantic Canada to demonstrate a franchise would be financially viable here. And the commissioner is quite clear he wants Ottawa up and operational before adding the 10th team. We’re taking the right tack with this, I think.

“I think we really surprised the CFL when we sold 20,000 tickets in 24 hours. But it’s a different business when it’s 10 home games. This is only one step. The intent was always to hold this more than one year. There’s lots of work ahead. But there’s also lots of optimism.

“If we look back to when we first approached the league in 2005 for the pre-season game they would eventually hold in Halifax, the reason we didn’t get it was that we didn’t have a suitable venue.

“But we were really impressed with the sincerity and up-front manner we were dealt with by the league. We knew there was an opportunity here.

“The opportunity came with the stadium. The stadium came with the three levels of government financing 10,000 permanent seats for the track event,” he said of the 20,500-seat venue with the addition of temporary endzone seating for Sunday’s game.

“When Cohon decided he wanted to do a regular season game we’d overcome our largest stumbling block.

“We look back now, with a wonderful festival underway, we’ve accomplished something. When we started we had no expectation it would become something this big.”

It really is Touchdown Atlantic not Touchdown Moncton.

“Everything we undertake here, from the Stones and AC/DC concert to the Memorial Cup and the world track event, is always with our geography and making it an Atlantic Canada event. We have a radius to draw from that no one else does,” said Fowler.

Moncton (pop. 125,000) is better placed than Halifax (pop. 370,000) to make that work because the Nova Scotia centre isn’t in the centre of anything, with the north Atlantic taking up 50% of the drawing area.

Moncton is 172 km to Charlottetown. Halifax is 356.

Moncton is 182 km from Fredericton. Halifax is 415.

Moncton is 152 km from Saint John. Halifax is 424.

And the two cities are two hours apart on the Trans Canada highway.

Moncton has the stadium, or at least half the stadium.

The goal is to create an East Coast version of the Saskatchewan Roughriders franchise.

But for now they have this. And this is one spectacular Touchdown.

“We need to do this again and again and then go get the stadium expansion financing and go get the ownership group.”

You need more than one Touchdown to win.

Could CFL game in Moncton lead to bigger things?

Dave Ritchie

Dailygleaner.ca

Arliss Wilson remembers early on his point of reference for the quality of talent in the Canadian Football League.

The first-year president of Football New Brunswick was playing at the high school level in his native Saint John when he would see a running back go zipping by would-be tacklers, of which he was one.

The running back in question was Chris Skinner, who would later play his university ball at the University of New Brunswick and Bishop's University in Lennoxville, Que.

Skinner played eight seasons in the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos, including the Grey Cup championship team in 1987, and later with the Ottawa Rough Riders and B.C. Lions before retiring in 1991.

"I can't say I really got a chance to meet him,'' Wilson chuckled. "He'd just blow right by us with the ball.''

There have been others from the region who've played in arguably the most Canadian of all pro sports.

Fredericton's own Mike Washburn was inducted into the N.B. Sports Hall of Fame partly because of what he did as a receiver with the Lions and later the Montreal Concordes in the mid-'80s after playing his collegiate ball at UNB.

Another former UNBer, Stewart Fraser of Salisbury, ran back kicks and caught passes with Saskatchewan and later Montreal for seven seasons before returning home to start up a high school program at J.M.A. Armstrong. Moncton fans no doubt remember Eugene Belliveau and his exploits over a 10-year period with the Alouettes.

Long-snapper Dan McCullough played his high school ball under FHS head coach Larry Wisniewski, played his university ball at Bishop's University and is now on the roster of the B.C. Lions.

So it's not like football fans in the east haven't got a clue what the CFL is all about. But whereas it's been cheering locals from afar, the region's fans are now going to get the opportunity to see what it's all about up close and personal. And if all goes well, the possibility of a more permanent arrangement.

At least that's the dream of people like Wilson, who have a passion for the sport and are giving back through their involvement with groups such as Football New Brunswick and Football Canada, of which Moncton's own Roger Collett is the president. The Moncton Football Association headed by Dan Fougere is playing a major role with what's going to happen this weekend.

Wilson will be among those gathered in the hub city Sunday when the first ever regular-season CFL game in the Maritime region takes place at the new stadium located at Universite de Moncton.

More than 20,000 tickets were sold in two days. Expect a party atmosphere when the "hometown'' Toronto Argonauts play the Edmonton Eskimos beginning at 1 o'clock.

It's the marquee event of a football festival that will include players from both CFL teams lending their expertise to minor programs in the area.

Adding to the package is an Atlantic Football League game between the Moncton Jr. Mustangs and Holland College Hurricanes on Friday night.

"This is huge for the sport here,'' Wilson said. "I remember watching the two exhibition games they played in Saint John (at the Canada Games' Stadium) and the excitement those games generated. There's so many more kids playing the sport in our region now. So having the CFL play a regular-season game here is only going to create more interest and more awareness of the way the game is played in Canada.''

Wilson takes it a step further. Ten years ago, a CFL team in the Maritimes wasn't even on the radar screen. But with the evolution of facilities such as the UdeM stadium, which hosted the world junior track and field championships earlier this summer, it's Wilson's firm belief the region is ready to take the next step.

More importantly, the CFL has also been actively exploring the possibilities. Witness the discussions that went on in Halifax last year and the decision to schedule one of its regular-season games in Moncton. Commissioner Mark Cohon made the trek to Moncton last year and said expansion to the east was one of the league's priority items.

"Just think, they just hosted an event where athletes came in from all over the world,'' Wilson said. "They've (City of Moncton) been aggressive in building facilities and attracting major events. It's just elevated the whole region.

"There's just so much going on in the area now. There's a reason why the trains used to come through there. It's the hub of the entire region.

"If you promote it as a regional franchise, like they do in Saskatchewan, this area could support a CFL franchise, whether you put it in Moncton or Halifax,'' Wilson said. "People in Saskatchewan don't think twice about travelling five hours to see a game (in Regina). You only play eight to 10 games at home.

"I really think the time has come. And I think what happens Sunday could make a big difference.''

Bringing back the Rough Riders in Ottawa is the first priority for the CFL, and with funding having been approved to refurbish worn-down Frank Clair Stadium, it's only a matter of time. That was the one condition the league needed to guarantee its return to Ottawa.

With the eastern Riders returning to the East Conference, that would make for a nine-team league, with five of the teams based in the west.

The league has made no secret its desire for a 10-team entity. That's what Cohon told the Moncton people when he was here. Cohon's predecessor, Tom Wright, relayed a similar message in Halifax three years earlier.

The question now is whether to place that team in Quebec City, which was the rumoured hot spot for years, or in the Maritimes, which would truly make the CFL a national league from east to west. 

Premier confirms regular season game will be played in Moncton next year

By Brent Mazerolle
Times & Transcript Staff

It's not just talk anymore, it's official.
The Canadian Football League will hold one of next year's regular season games at the City of Moncton's Stade Moncton 2010 Stadium on the Université de Moncton campus.
Premier Shawn Graham and Moncton East MLA Chris Collins confirmed yesterday that a contract was indeed signed with the CFL last week, although they said which teams will play, the precise date, and the terms of the contract are all details that will only come when a formal announcement is made.
That should come in the next couple of weeks, when all involved can gather in Moncton.
What is known is the deal comes about largely because the provincial and federal governments have agreed to a plan that will see the 10,000-seat stadium being built to host the IAAF Moncton World Junior Track and Field Championships double its capacity to 20,000 for the game.
As for the game itself, "it's going to be the event of the fall," the premier promised. "It's truly going to position Moncton as the entertainment centre of Atlantic Canada."
He expressed confidence that the same enthusiasm for football seen in western Canada will build here on the east coast, with Moncton's central location making the game a regional event.
The regional benefits of the event is what got the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency involved.
"I feel the vision of Peter MacKay (the minister responsible for ACOA) was exemplary," the premier said late yesterday. "I want to give credit where credit is due. He and I had many phone calls on this."
With talk already circulating about building a whole weekend of events around the game, Collins, the provincial government's lead on the file, said the fact that the game would be televised "will be terrific for Moncton's profile, with 20,000 people in a brand new, full stadium."
And relatively speaking, it will be happening shortly after the city hosts the world -- and the international media -- in the same stadium for the IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships next July. "We'll be reminding people from across Canada that Moncton is a centre for hosting large events," he said. "It's great for football, and it's great for Moncton."
As for the long-discussed idea of making the game an annual event, or even bringing a franchise to the city some day, "this is the ultimate test market," Collins said. "After a multi-year contract, who knows?"
In the meantime, he credited the league's governors for the vision in their decision. By deciding to play a regular season game and possibly more here in Atlantic Canada, "this positions the CFL as the only professional sports league in the country that is truly coast to coast."
He also took on the naysayers who argue football is not enough a part of the culture here for long-term CFL success. He said that's just not so, especially in Metro Moncton, but also in the region at large. Noting how more of the men of his generation who grew up in Moncton played in the CFL than the NHL, Collins noted organized football has a long history in the community.
Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc welcomed the news from the province yesterday.
"We've been working on this for a long time," he said. Indeed, it was five-and-a-half years ago that Moncton North MLA Mike Murphy began championing the idea of the CFL in Moncton.
While the talk from the city hosting a franchise has been refined into a one-step-at-a-time pursuit of hosting other city's teams for games for now, the talk of professional football in Moncton has continued through changes of CFL commissioners, of provincial governments, and City of Moncton administrations. (It should be noted there were even discussions of a CFL franchise during the mayoralty of George Rideout in the 1980s).
The differences between the Moncton of the 1980s and the Metro Moncton of today are obvious, but there's also been one huge difference between the time of Mike Murphy's initial musings and today.
That's the City of Moncton's soon-to-be-completed stadium, which was just a blurry line pencilled in the city's capital works projections back in 2004. Now thanks to the city's landing of the 2010 track and field championships, that little line has grown into a reality much bigger.
While the 2010 IAAF games will be a massive event for southeastern New Brunswick in every way, filling the stadium for a CFL game some weeks later will mark the beginning of what comes after for the life of the stadium. With the ability to expand the stadium to 20,000 seats for everything from a football game to a big name concert to even a Billy Graham Crusade, the stadium is poised to become a key stop for events of all kinds.
Asked if he had any doubt a CFL regular season game could fill the stadium with 20,000 smiling people, Mayor LeBlanc expressed confidence in the city's ability to draw from the whole region. He also promised, "one of those smiling people will be me."
Chris Collins said because there are maximums in the league's ticket pricing structure, he expects the game, "will be very affordable for the whole family."
Collins, whose riding includes the stadium, says he's been taking part in the pursuit of the CFL since the site of the stadium was in the ward he served as a Moncton city councillor. After all these years, he pronounced himself ecstatic at the news.
"Mike Murphy started with this idea, did a lateral when he got busy with his cabinet portfolios, and we ran with it. Now, touchdown! Here we go."

Are Bills the thin edge of the wedge?: CFL fans fret that plan for Toronto to host 8 NFL games will hurt Canada's league
Jim Byers
TheStar.com

Canadian Football League fans look at the plan to bring eight Buffalo Bills games to Toronto over the next five years and get nervous. The folks in charge of boosting Toronto's stagnant tourism numbers look at the plan and see a glittering sports entity that dwarfs anything and everything in North America.
"This is a real blessing for us," said Tourism Toronto president and CEO David Whitaker. "It's a tremendous opportunity and we're looking to take full advantage."
Backers of the plan, who include Larry Tanenbaum of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and media mogul Ted Rogers, say the event could lure thousands of border-shy Americans into Canada from both Buffalo and from the cities where the Bills' opponents play.
There also would be visitors from other parts of Ontario or Canada, many of them happy to drop some cash on hotel rooms or in city bars and restaurants.
"In Canada we used to think, `Oh, well, we're the land of the 65-cent dollar and we have to appeal to budget travellers,'" said Rogers vice-chair Phil Lind. "But we'll have something here now that intrigues them and captivates them, and so it puts us in their league. I think it's a good thing for economic development, a good thing for tourism and a good thing for overall impact."
Lind said bringing in tourists is nice but that the TV exposure south of the border is probably worth more. Bills games routinely attract millions of viewers in the U.S., and the team's Monday-night game against the Dallas Cowboys last year drew more than 13 million viewers in prime time.
Visitors to Toronto increased 1.1 per cent last year over 2006, but Tourism Toronto officials say there was a 4 per cent drop last year in U.S. overnight visitors. Some 2.2 million Americans bedded down in the city last year.
"The primary issue is that Americans will pay attention and focus on something happening in another country," Lind told the Star. "They'll say, `Not only does Toronto have that (the Bills game), they've got a lot of other things as well.' It'll mean something on the day of the game, but the lingering effect is probably more important."
Mayor David Miller is a little more circumspect.
"There's no question that getting Toronto shown positively on U.S. television, although that might depend on having a winning team, is helpful. But I think our number one priority has to be the health of the CFL. From Toronto's perspective within Canada, if we were seen to be killing the CFL or harming it significantly, it would really hurt us."
In a January survey of 500 southern Ontario residents taken for Rogers Communications by The Strategic Counsel, 54 per cent of respondents said bringing the Bills to Toronto for one or two games a year would be "very good" for the city and province, while 28 per cent said it would be "somewhat good." Only 5 per cent thought it would be somewhat or very bad.
About one-third said bringing the Bills here for one or two games would have a positive effect on the CFL, and only a quarter thought it would have a negative effect. But among self-identified CFL fans, those statistics were reversed.
Forty per cent of the people surveyed, CFL fans or not, didn't think NFL games here would have any real effect.
Perhaps the most worrisome note was that 41 per cent of those questioned admitted they preferred NFL football to CFL football; among those 24 and younger, 56 per cent did so. Overall, only 8 per cent preferred the CFL, while 31 per cent said they like both equally.
People who hold season tickets for the Argonauts will get first crack at NFL Toronto tickets. And the Argos, for now, are working with the Bills' Toronto supporters on combined publicity. But many CFL types are understandably wary.
"If you make the assumption that an NFL team would come into this market, it would cut into (the CFL's) ad revenue, ticketing, and would remove our ability to compete, as there's a limited (amount) of sponsorship and television money in the Canadian marketplace," CFL commissioner Mark Cohon has said.
There's talk that the eight-game run is a mere prelude to having the Bills pull up stakes for Canada permanently.

Courtesy of Dr. CFL

Asper’s deal for Bombers nearly done: Franchise will soon become private business
Scott Taylor
National Post

David Asper can now see the light at the end of a 14-month-long tunnel, a light that will result in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers ending 75 years of community ownership.
"Yes, I will soon take over sole ownership of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers," Asper said late last week. "But I say 'yes' as part of the overall proposal for a new stadium. I believe now, that in due course, there will be a new stadium."
It is somewhat of a bold position for Asper, the chairman of the National Post and executive vice-president of Canwest Communications, and a man who first presented his plan to privatize the CFL franchise and build a brand new 40,000-seat stadium, back in early January of 2007.
For months, through an often difficult negotiation with the city and provincial and federal governments, Asper was hesitant to answer in the affirmative when asked if he believed he was ever going to take over the team he has cheered for since childhood.
Last Thursday, however, during a lengthy interview in Winnipeg, he admitted that the deal is almost done. "Soon," he said, "the community-owned Winnipeg Blue Bombers will be privately owned and a new stadium will be under construction.
"Over the past year, me, members of my team, Lyle Bauer and the members of the Blue Bomber board of directors, have made a compelling case that, as a matter of public policy, there is an issue here that must be addressed," Asper said of the 53-year-old Canad Inns Stadium.
"I now believe that after months of negotiation and discussion at various levels, that intelligent people will get this done.
"All three levels of government are willing to make the commitment and are looking at how this project will come together. Where there is a will, there is a way. Over the period of time we've been making our position known, there has grown a better understanding that [a new stadium] is a benefit to the community ? that it's not just a benefit to the football club but to the entire community."
Asper plans to spend $65- million of his own money, with an additional $80-million in public funds, to build a stateof- the-art 40,000-seat football stadium, plus a retail mall in which all profits will go to the football club in order to guarantee the team's long-term future in the community. (The entire project can be viewed at http://www.blueandgold.ca/) The one sticking point is government commitment. The federal and provincial levels have promised no more than $30-million each. Asper wanted them to match the $40-million he plans put into the $120-million stadium plan.
"We will still try to make the case for the original $120-million concept," Asper said. "I guess there is always a chance that the project could end up being smaller, more modest, than the original plan. But I
will try to make the argument that it's worth working toward the original design. Historically, this is a 50-year project. We build it, it has to stand for 50 years.
"I guess, when we have all the cards on the table, we'll see what the money will get us."
One thing seems certain -- the Bombers will soon lose their "community-owned" designation and become a private business. Although there could be more community involvement than there was with the old community ownership.
In Asper's original plan, the public will actually own the stadium; the University of Manitoba football program will be a major beneficiary of the project; amateur sports organizations will be given free use of the building as a training facility during the winter months; and the public will have access to the team's stateof-the-science training and medical facilities.
For Winnipeg, that could be the best news of all.

NAFTA....and sport

Super Bowl clobbers the Grey Cup
MARINA STRAUSS
Globe and Mail

Among Canadian football fans, broadcasts of the Super Bowl have gained a slight lead over the Grey Cup in popularity, but among advertisers the American gridiron extravaganza is the champion, hands down.
Both games are among the biggest television draws in the country, and the Super Bowl has just begun to overtake the Canadian Football League championship in the ratings.
When it comes to commercials, however, it's another story. Advertisers are paying about 70 per cent more for a 30-second spot on CTV's Super Bowl telecast next Sunday – about $110,000 (not including discounts) – than what they shelled out for a commercial on CBC's Grey Cup show in November, according to media buyers.
The difference is that the ads are part of the show on the Super Bowl. But many of the ads shown on American television don't reach the audience in Canada.
“If you are an outsider who doesn't understand our business … it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever,” said Dennis Dinga, a vice-president with M2 Universal, which buys media space for advertisers.
“But if you factor in water cooler talk, how many people talk about the Super Bowl … I can't tell you how many meetings we sit in after the fact and look at Super Bowl commercials both in the U.S. and Canada. We rarely do that with any other event.”
Super Bowl advertising is all about the buzz. Media analysts call it the prestige factor and the appeal of being part of an event in which the ads are part of the show.
They also note that CTV, which won the rights to the Super Bowl in Canada last spring after it was shown for 25 years on Global, paid a hefty price and needs to recoup those costs.
Even so, Canadians don't get to see the flashiest ads that Americans view on the U.S. broadcast of the Super Bowl. South of the border, advertisers sometimes blow their budget on a Super Bowl spot, using it as a showcase for their products. Consequently, the ads become the focus of YouTube and dinner party chatter. Canadians only get to hear about those ads later.
But advertisers are still willing to fork over big money in Canada. “You're buying it for the prestige,” said Sylvia Criger, managing director at Media Buying Services. “You're buying it for the half time show, for people talking about it: ‘Did you see yada yada.' ” The Super Bowl attracts more of an upscale viewer – “more from Bay Street” – and more women, she added. As a result, car companies, for example, are more apt to tout higher end models on the broadcast.
Even without the much-hyped ads on the U.S. broadcast, Canadian advertisers are generally reaching their desired adult audience, said Florence Ng, a vice-president at media buyer ZenithOptimedia.
Among the all-important 25-to-54 year old demographic, the Super Bowl drew 55 per cent more viewers than the Grey Cup last year, she said. The American game's ratings were higher in Toronto and Vancouver, but lower in Calgary, where the Grey Cup has a bigger following.
And the Grey Cup remains a big draw. Up until 2005, it attracted bigger audiences than the Super Bowl, according to figures from Global and CBC. The public broadcaster had the rights to air the Grey Cup until it was snatched away by CTV's TSN last year.
Rita Fabian, executive vice-president of sales and marketing at CTV, said Super Bowl ads are almost sold out and the telecast is expected to attract more than four million viewers. Last year, it drew about 3.7 million, according to Global. (However, there are discrepancies in the figures, depending on the source, age group targeted and whether other programming is included.)

(In) Conspicuous Consumption of Canadianness
(See World Junior Hockey Championships, HNIC, ______ Brier, etc.)

The Rona Grey Cup? CFL eyes $10M payday League will seek corporate bidders after okaying sale of naming rights

Rick Westhead

The Grey Cup, as it has been known for 98 years, may be doomed.
The CFL's board of directors has quietly approved selling the naming rights to their tradition-steeped championship game, a move league insiders say may generate as much as $10 million a year.
And while some U.S. college football bowl games have tried to balance corporate interests and tradition by ensuring the name of the championship remains front and centre – consider the Rose Bowl presented by AT&T – the CFL will take a direct tack.
"As soon as 2008 you could see players competing in the Rona Grey Cup or the Ford Grey Cup," said one high-ranking league source. "It's for sale and the league will be pushing ahead with this."
Toronto will host the 2007 title game.
The decision to move forward with its sponsorship ambitions comes even as the CFL remains without a commissioner. The league has hired headhunting firm Korn/Ferry International to find a replacement for Tom Wright, but there's no sign that the search is close to ending.
That's not slowing down the league's franchise owners, who are enticed by the prospect of an additional $1 million a year per team. "If you had the chance to put an extra million dollars in your pocket and it meant changing the name of the championship, what would you do?" the league source said.
CFL executive Gavin Roth, who spearheads the league's sponsorship sales, said the league recognizes that the Grey Cup "is our most prized asset.
"We would consider an entitlement partner for the Grey Cup only under the right circumstances," he said.
It's not a certainty that the league's sponsorship pitch – agreed upon in recent months but not yet made public – will be eagerly received.
The league will go to the market arguing for the $10 million figure, in comparison to the $5 million cost of being the title sponsor for the Canadian Open golf championship, sources said.
But Tony Smith, an executive with league sponsor Sony Canada, said in an interview that $10 million was likely too steep for many CFL corporate backers.
And some sponsorship experts say the CFL may be risking more than it realizes by selling Grey Cup naming rights.
For starters, it's possible that even after a name change, some media outlets would refuse to acknowledge the new sponsor, said Bob Stellick, a Toronto-based sports marketer.
"That's what really hurt the (Royal Canadian Golf Association) when they sold the rights to the Canadian Open to Bell, some people just refused to go along with the name change," he said. "You really have to dump the championship (name) and come up with something else."
Another problem might be realized only years after selling the naming rights to the trophy donated by then-governor general Lord Albert Henry George Grey in 1909. "What if you do a deal with a company and then they walk away?" Stellick asked. "Then you're renaming the event again and it becomes really Mickey Mouse."
The words of caution should sound familiar for venerable CFL officials. Remember the Schenley Awards?
After their 1953 inception, the league's most valuable player awards were called the Schenleys until 1989, when sponsor Schenley Canada Inc. cut its ties to the league. The awards have had multiple sponsors since but are no longer as well known.
"The league has to ask itself, at what price do you sell your soul?" said Stellick. "The Grey Cup really is the soul of that league."