2015 Schedule Released - Women's World Cup implications

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SammyGreene
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Interesting article from LU today regarding the impact the Women's World Cup is going to have on the Lions schedule. 1. It includes: no home pre-season game 2. A bye for the opening week of the regular season 3. The team likely to play its first regular season game elsewhere. Not exactly many options to do that latter but given the final is July 5 doesn't that only mean 2 games on the road at the most before BC Place is available again?

Also no radio deal as of yet with the TSN Radio or any other station.
FIFA WORLD CUP DISPLACING LIONS IN PRESEASON

The formal portion of the Jeff Tedford coaching era with the B.C. Lions began a few weeks ago, but it’s still not certain where he’ll show up on the sidelines of a CFL contest in the Lower Mainland for the first time.

The league is expected to release its 2015 schedule this week, but the upcoming FIFA women’s World Cup means the Lions will not play a pre-season game at B.C. Place Stadium this year, and there is still no certainty where they will play their first home contest.

The club has looked at several venues around B.C., and last week officials met with new UBC coach Blake Nill, who is rebuilding the CIS program at the Point Grey campus and might be willing to share Thunderbird Stadium for a night.

The soccer tournament will also effectively lengthen Tedford’s first training camp, as the Lions confirmed the team will receive its first of two byes on the opening week of the schedule.

And not only does it remain to be seen where the Lions will be first play on the Lower Mainland, it’s still not clear how their games will be heard on radio, either. The club still does not have a rights deal to replace the one which expired last fall with TSN 1040. Among the options considered beyond returning to the all-sports station is for owner David Braley to buy a Lower Mainland station.
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B.C.FAN
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I had read that the schedule was expected to be released last week; now it's expected this week. I hope it happens. My vacation schedule needs to be finalized this week.

I won't lose sleep over the loss of a home preseason game. If it's held in Kamloops, Victoria or anywhere else in B.C., I'll probably try to attend anyway. As for the regular season, having a bye and a road game or two around Canada Day is a good thing. Perhaps this will be the first year we get more home games after Labour Day instead of having the bulk of the home schedule during the peak summer vacation season.
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sj-roc
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The 2015 Lions' home schedule is shaping up to be a rather ugly one overall. Just throwing out this calendar to show what dates are already booked off @BCP.

Image

Green is the Women's World Cup, blue is Whitecaps, red are two concerts by One Direction on Fri Jul 17 and Taylor Swift on Sat Aug 1. Grey are of course CFL playoff dates.

Once the WWC starts, and keeping in mind how stadium changeover work will likely preclude building availability on both the day before and the day after all of the aforementioned events, the first week where I see the Lions having a shot at a Sat night home game is Sat Aug 15 (Wk 8). If we can get into the building between WWC games, then I would see us taking Fri Jul 3 pending the CFL's own scheduling issues (we might have to settle for Thu Jul 2). The story is more or less the same the following week where a home date would have to go on either Thu Jul 9 or Fri Jul 10.

Labour Day weekend is open for us but in the nine-team league we usually take a bye that week while the traditional rivalries play out. The two weekends sandwiching it are also available so hopefully we get both of these.

I don't know if the Lions have any say in blocking off any days or weekends before the Whitecaps get their schedule arranged, or if the nature of the annual scheduling cycle means the Whitecaps would always get first dibs. But at any rate the Lions' home schedule is not shaping up to be the most fan-friendly one for 2015. We won't be seeing very many Saturdays in at least the first half of the schedule.

We've speculated before about how the Lions would benefit more from a back-loaded home schedule. Of all years, this would be a good one to put this theory to the test, although (FWIW) I suspect many of the later season Saturdays will have Canuck clashes — at least in the form of televised HNIC road games if not home dates outright, which would also be on TV.

Also, if the Lions are forced to play home games outside Vancouver, how will this impact fans who have already paid for season tickets and may not be able to travel to (possibly far-flung) alternative venues? Presumably, those ST packages were bought on the good faith that the games would all be @BCP. Moreover, would rates and packages be adjusted after the schedule is released to attract/accommodate new buyers who also can't travel?
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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KnowItAll
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sj-roc wrote:The 2015 Lions' home schedule is shaping up to be a rather ugly one overall. Just throwing out this calendar to show what dates are already booked off @BCP.

Image

Green is the Women's World Cup, blue is Whitecaps, red are two concerts by One Direction on Fri Jul 17 and Taylor Swift on Sat Aug 1. Grey are of course CFL playoff dates.

Once the WWC starts, and keeping in mind how stadium changeover work will likely preclude building availability on both the day before and the day after all of the aforementioned events, the first week where I see the Lions having a shot at a Sat night home game is Sat Aug 15 (Wk 8). If we can get into the building between WWC games, then I would see us taking Fri Jul 3 pending the CFL's own scheduling issues (we might have to settle for Thu Jul 2). The story is more or less the same the following week where a home date would have to go on either Thu Jul 9 or Fri Jul 10.

Labour Day weekend is open for us but in the nine-team league we usually take a bye that week while the traditional rivalries play out. The two weekends sandwiching it are also available so hopefully we get both of these.

I don't know if the Lions have any say in blocking off any days or weekends before the Whitecaps get their schedule arranged, or if the nature of the annual scheduling cycle means the Whitecaps would always get first dibs. But at any rate the Lions' home schedule is not shaping up to be the most fan-friendly one for 2015. We won't be seeing very many Saturdays in at least the first half of the schedule.

We've speculated before about how the Lions would benefit more from a back-loaded home schedule. Of all years, this would be a good one to put this theory to the test, although (FWIW) I suspect many of the later season Saturdays will have Canuck clashes — at least in the form of televised HNIC road games if not home dates outright, which would also be on TV.

Also, if the Lions are forced to play home games outside Vancouver, how will this impact fans who have already paid for season tickets and may not be able to travel to (possibly far-flung) alternative venues? Presumably, those ST packages were bought on the good faith that the games would all be @BCP. Moreover, would rates and packages be adjusted after the schedule is released to attract/accommodate new buyers who also can't travel?
ps3??

don't see a problem here. There are two out of the 3 weekend dates open every week??
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sj-roc
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KnowItAll wrote:ps3??
I've allowed for up to three weeks of preseason as having nine teams might necessitate (I think this was the case last year with one game in one of the three weeks, either first or last and four in each of the two others). Whether it actually plays out over this full stretch doesn't much impact what I've said. I've back-filled the week assignments on the calendar starting from the scheduled GC date and worked backwards with a 20wk reg season — same as we had in 2014.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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sj-roc
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KnowItAll wrote:
sj-roc wrote:Image

Green is the Women's World Cup, blue is Whitecaps, red are two concerts by One Direction on Fri Jul 17 and Taylor Swift on Sat Aug 1. Grey are of course CFL playoff dates.

... stadium changeover work will likely preclude building availability on both the day before and the day after all of the aforementioned events ...
ps3??

don't see a problem here. There are two out of the 3 weekend dates open every week??
I mentioned the problem and I've retained it in bold. The problem is that not only are the days I've coloured in unavailable, but also (AFAIK) the day before and the day after each event as the stadium needs to be reconfigured for each change of event. So for example a Saturday soccer game @BCP means the Lions don't get any access at all that same weekend. Thursday or nothing, basically.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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sj-roc
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Here's another look at the schedule where I've also coloured in the changeover days as unavailable; this should make it clearer. Every Saturday from Jun 13 to Aug 8 inclusive in unavailable. Mind you, two of the last three of these are fireworks nights and wouldn't fly anyway.

Image

Having said this, they may be able to pull off the changeover faster now than in the past, but I don't recall there being any next-day changeovers pulled off last year; there was always at least one idle day in between. So I'm not expecting it for 2015 just yet. I'll believe it when I see it.

EDIT: the Sat Aug 1 Taylor Swift concert coincides with the final night of Celebration of Light fireworks. I foresee chaos in the downtown core on this evening.

EDIT 2: of the weekends that are available for the Lions in 2015, I wonder if any of them will clash with bridge closures (for repairs) anywhere in the Lower Mainland on the same weekend. I recall this being the case at least once in the each of last two seasons and it hampers fan mobility to/from some suburbs.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Toppy Vann
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B.C.FAN wrote:I had read that the schedule was expected to be released last week; now it's expected this week. I hope it happens. My vacation schedule needs to be finalized this week.

I won't lose sleep over the loss of a home preseason game. If it's held in Kamloops, Victoria or anywhere else in B.C., I'll probably try to attend anyway. As for the regular season, having a bye and a road game or two around Canada Day is a good thing. Perhaps this will be the first year we get more home games after Labour Day instead of having the bulk of the home schedule during the peak summer vacation season.
I agree - I wish the whole season was Labour Day and on! I dislike how even the TV 'casters can't help but get excited and blurt out that the season starts now as we approach September.

But I think they are going to get one of their early byes toooooo freaking early and that doesn't help in a long grinding season with a new HC and these guys get banged up - homesick and need a later break.
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sj-roc
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Toppy Vann wrote:
B.C.FAN wrote:I had read that the schedule was expected to be released last week; now it's expected this week. I hope it happens. My vacation schedule needs to be finalized this week.

I won't lose sleep over the loss of a home preseason game. If it's held in Kamloops, Victoria or anywhere else in B.C., I'll probably try to attend anyway. As for the regular season, having a bye and a road game or two around Canada Day is a good thing. Perhaps this will be the first year we get more home games after Labour Day instead of having the bulk of the home schedule during the peak summer vacation season.
I agree - I wish the whole season was Labour Day and on! I dislike how even the TV 'casters can't help but get excited and blurt out that the season starts now as we approach September.

But I think they are going to get one of their early byes toooooo freaking early and that doesn't help in a long grinding season with a new HC and these guys get banged up - homesick and need a later break.
One of our bye weeks will almost certainly be Labour Day Weekend as it so often has been in the league's nine-team history. I'll be quite surprised if this proves not to be the case.

Because of the logistics of fitting nine teams into an 18-game, 20-week schedule, one team will have to play two games in a single week and will get three bye weeks instead of two like everyone else. Whether or not the team who fulfills this role receives any league consideration for this inequitability in their schedule, I don't know. Last year it was the Argonauts who thusly "took one for the league" by playing two (home) games in Week 8: on Tue Aug 12 vs Wpg and then on Sun Aug 17 vs BC. Accordingly their three bye weeks came in Week 7 immediately prior to this two-games-just-five-days-apart scenario, and then in Weeks 11 and 14.

Under the circumstances with stadium issues, we might (or not) possibly benefit from taking on this odd-man-out schedule structure rather than face having only two byes with one coming very early, the other at LDW and then no more in the home stretch. If so, then perhaps something could be worked out where for example, we play two games the week right after our LDW bye, on Tue Sep 15 (in Toronto of course, because Rogers), and then somewhere else the following Sun Sep 20, on the road what with BCP unavailable on this day because Caps changeover. Then we could take the third bye week — the first one having come quite early — with ~3-4wks left in the season.

If we must take a very early bye, this three-bye scenario might offer a better pace of games than no byes after LDW. Alternatively, the league might find a way to give us two byes while having us play during LDW, thereby breaking up the four traditional matchups. Almost certainly our LDW opponent would be Mtl or Ott in such scenario, as would have been the case in other 8-team eras, with our two byes coming rather early and then somewhere post-LDW.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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sj-roc wrote:The 2015 Lions' home schedule is shaping up to be a rather ugly one overall. Just throwing out this calendar to show what dates are already booked off @BCP.

Image

Green is the Women's World Cup, blue is Whitecaps, red are two concerts by One Direction on Fri Jul 17 and Taylor Swift on Sat Aug 1. Grey are of course CFL playoff dates.

Once the WWC starts, and keeping in mind how stadium changeover work will likely preclude building availability on both the day before and the day after all of the aforementioned events, the first week where I see the Lions having a shot at a Sat night home game is Sat Aug 15 (Wk 8). If we can get into the building between WWC games, then I would see us taking Fri Jul 3 pending the CFL's own scheduling issues (we might have to settle for Thu Jul 2). The story is more or less the same the following week where a home date would have to go on either Thu Jul 9 or Fri Jul 10.

Labour Day weekend is open for us but in the nine-team league we usually take a bye that week while the traditional rivalries play out. The two weekends sandwiching it are also available so hopefully we get both of these.

I don't know if the Lions have any say in blocking off any days or weekends before the Whitecaps get their schedule arranged, or if the nature of the annual scheduling cycle means the Whitecaps would always get first dibs. But at any rate the Lions' home schedule is not shaping up to be the most fan-friendly one for 2015. We won't be seeing very many Saturdays in at least the first half of the schedule.

We've speculated before about how the Lions would benefit more from a back-loaded home schedule. Of all years, this would be a good one to put this theory to the test, although (FWIW) I suspect many of the later season Saturdays will have Canuck clashes — at least in the form of televised HNIC road games if not home dates outright, which would also be on TV.

Also, if the Lions are forced to play home games outside Vancouver, how will this impact fans who have already paid for season tickets and may not be able to travel to (possibly far-flung) alternative venues? Presumably, those ST packages were bought on the good faith that the games would all be @BCP. Moreover, would rates and packages be adjusted after the schedule is released to attract/accommodate new buyers who also can't travel?
I don't see things being that difficult. Obviously the stadium will be off-limits for the entire WWC. If FIFA could live with the Lions having a game 2 nights before the final then there wouldn't be an issue squeezing in a preseason game in between June 16th and 21st and we know that isn't going to happen. In all likelihood they get a bye in Week 1 and play on the road in Week 2. With the Whitecaps playing Sundays in Week 3 and 5 both weekends are open to a Friday night home tilt. Even Week 4 may not be all that unrealistic. I don't know what the logistics are for a changeover from football to soccer but suspect the removal and repainting of lines from one sport to the other is the biggest time constraint unless they actually have separate turfs for Caps and Leos. Converting from concert to football likely takes less time. Concert roadies have their part down to a fine art. Tearing a stage, lighting and sound down has to take half the time it takes to assemble it. BC Place staff should be able to start laying the turf down just as soon as they start removing floor seating. It's conceivable a Saturday football game could be played night after a concert in Week 4. Regardless Byes Week 1 & 11; Friday nights Week 3 & 5; Weekends wide open Week 8, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19 & 20. All adds up to 4 games before Labour Day with 5 post Labour Day.
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TheLionKing
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sj-roc wrote: Also, if the Lions are forced to play home games outside Vancouver, how will this impact fans who have already paid for season tickets and may not be able to travel to (possibly far-flung) alternative venues? Presumably, those ST packages were bought on the good faith that the games would all be @BCP. Moreover, would rates and packages be adjusted after the schedule is released to attract/accommodate new buyers who also can't travel?
My concern as well. Going to email my sales rep and see what the Lions have to say.
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http://jimmullinnow.blogspot.ca/2014/01 ... ntier.html

Here's something from last year which features pictures of the stadium in Victoria. As a facility, it's the second best option for them.

Options:

Thunderbird - 3,441 with limited parking and facilities. (PolyTan)
Swangard - 5,288 with limited parking but better transit access and facilities. (Grass)
Centennial (Victoria) - Around 6,000 and is similar to Swangard. (Grass)
Royal Athletic (Victoria) - Around 5,000 configured for half baseball, half soccer. (Grass)
Apple Bowl (Kelowna) - 1,900 with portable bleachers to get it to 4,000. Insufficient facilites to house two teams. (Grass)
TRU (Kamloops) - 1,200 where camp is, but Kamloops lacks population and stands would have to be added. (Turf)

I'm not sure that Fort Mac can absorb another game with their 18,000 temp set up.

This paints a picture of what a pathetic job we've done in this province in terms of building outdoor facilities. But I have an empty 8,000-seat rink in Abby I can sell you if you're interested.
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B.C.FAN
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The best hints I've seen about the pending schedule are these tweets from News1130 Sports last week:
News1130 Sports @News1130Sports
· Feb 2
Hearing #BCLions could have a bye in week 1 with B.C Place booked.
Possibly 4 home games Fri - 4 Sat and 1 Thurs for Leos .
If true, that would be a big improvement on what we've seen in recent years.
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Jim Mullin wrote:http://jimmullinnow.blogspot.ca/2014/01 ... ntier.html

Here's something from last year which features pictures of the stadium in Victoria. As a facility, it's the second best option for them.

Options:

Thunderbird - 3,441 with limited parking and facilities. (PolyTan)
Swangard - 5,288 with limited parking but better transit access and facilities. (Grass)
Centennial (Victoria) - Around 6,000 and is similar to Swangard. (Grass)
Royal Athletic (Victoria) - Around 5,000 configured for half baseball, half soccer. (Grass)
Apple Bowl (Kelowna) - 1,900 with portable bleachers to get it to 4,000. Insufficient facilites to house two teams. (Grass)
TRU (Kamloops) - 1,200 where camp is, but Kamloops lacks population and stands would have to be added. (Turf)

I'm not sure that Fort Mac can absorb another game with their 18,000 temp set up.

This paints a picture of what a pathetic job we've done in this province in terms of building outdoor facilities. But I have an empty 8,000-seat rink in Abby I can sell you if you're interested.
I was playing around with the ruler on Google Earth last night. Swangard had the width for a CFL field but couldn't completely accomodate the 150 yard field length. They did show some circles at the extreme ends of the field which I assume are for shotput, discus etc. I think it was a couple yards shy of 150 before those came into play. The track also quickly would come into play at the back of the endzones. I don't have access to Google Earth at work but seems to me the track would start encroaching on the field maybe 5 yards deep into the endzone before it started cutting well into the corners of it. They could use it but would have to either make the track part of the field (huge injury risk) or play minus big chunks of the corners of the endzone.

I had another brain fart and started thinking about Century Link in Seattle but it too had the width but would be about 20 yards too short.
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Jim Mullin
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Hambone wrote:
Jim Mullin wrote:http://jimmullinnow.blogspot.ca/2014/01 ... ntier.html

Here's something from last year which features pictures of the stadium in Victoria. As a facility, it's the second best option for them.

Options:

Thunderbird - 3,441 with limited parking and facilities. (PolyTan)
Swangard - 5,288 with limited parking but better transit access and facilities. (Grass)
Centennial (Victoria) - Around 6,000 and is similar to Swangard. (Grass)
Royal Athletic (Victoria) - Around 5,000 configured for half baseball, half soccer. (Grass)
Apple Bowl (Kelowna) - 1,900 with portable bleachers to get it to 4,000. Insufficient facilites to house two teams. (Grass)
TRU (Kamloops) - 1,200 where camp is, but Kamloops lacks population and stands would have to be added. (Turf)

I'm not sure that Fort Mac can absorb another game with their 18,000 temp set up.

This paints a picture of what a pathetic job we've done in this province in terms of building outdoor facilities. But I have an empty 8,000-seat rink in Abby I can sell you if you're interested.
I was playing around with the ruler on Google Earth last night. Swangard had the width for a CFL field but couldn't completely accomodate the 150 yard field length. They did show some circles at the extreme ends of the field which I assume are for shotput, discus etc. I think it was a couple yards shy of 150 before those came into play. The track also quickly would come into play at the back of the endzones. I don't have access to Google Earth at work but seems to me the track would start encroaching on the field maybe 5 yards deep into the endzone before it started cutting well into the corners of it. They could use it but would have to either make the track part of the field (huge injury risk) or play minus big chunks of the corners of the endzone.

I had another brain fart and started thinking about Century Link in Seattle but it too had the width but would be about 20 yards too short.
When SFU was in Canada West, the shotput cage was a hazard in play, and they ran tape to the corners of the end zones.

In regard to Century Link (or any other US or limited space) you can cut room out of the end zones. It was done during US expansion, and I've officiated in parks where we've had end zones as small as three yards.
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