Braley being approached by potenial buyers

[SammyGreene]

David Braley's favourite media guy — CKNW's Rick Dhaliwal — reported on yesterday's noon hour sports that Braley has been approached by five different Vancouver businessmen about purchasing the Lions.

There has also been interest from two parties in Alberta, another in Eastern Canada and down south as well. Braley has made it known he does not want to sell the team at this time but his first choice would be local ownership. The price tag is expected to be in the $10 million range.

It's somewhat of a scary thought seeing the team changing hands, based on its current stability and past horror experiences, but is there a better time than now to sell the team given the performance on and off the field?

Sure would love to know who the potential Vancouver buyers are and just how serious are they.

[OrangeShoes99]

It would also be interesting to know if any potential local buyers would be interested in building a new stadium....

[lion24]

It would also be interesting to know if any potential local buyers would be interested in building a new stadium....

I was wondering if most people would want an outdoor stadium again or another dome?and capacity around 40,000?
The talk around Edmonton is building a new arena downtown for the Oilers which the potential buyer, Daryl Katz(Rexall), would have put money into but the Edmonton Investors Group declined his offer to buy.

[SammyGreene]

It would also be interesting to know if any potential local buyers would be interested in building a new stadium....

I was wondering if most people would want an outdoor stadium again or another dome?and capacity around 40,000?

I was thinking more around 35,000 so there would be more of urgency to buy tickets yet remain profitable for the Lions. And, of course, be able to expand to 50,000 for WFs or Grey Cups. As good as things have been the past 2 or 3 years, we have yet to hit the 40,000 mark for a regular season game.

We haven't heard much about B.C. Place's future since the roof collapse but there have been a couple of interesting recent developments.

• B.C. Sports Hall of Fame takes out an ad seeking retail space to accommodate them as they get set to leave the dome. Do they already know something we don't?

• A story in yesterday's paper says two parties, including the Whitecaps, have expressed interest in bringing an MLS team to Vancouver. The league is expected to name two new franchise cities by the end of this year. Should the Whitecaps get the nod, this would almost certainly assure Kerfoot's purposed 15,000 waterfront stadium would have to expand its capacity.

I would think the Lions' future at B.C. Place or elsewhere would be near the top of the list of a prospective buyer.

[GeroySimonFAN]

It would also be interesting to know if any potential local buyers would be interested in building a new stadium....

I was wondering if most people would want an outdoor stadium again or another dome?and capacity around 40,000?
The talk around Edmonton is building a new arena downtown for the Oilers which the potential buyer, Daryl Katz(Rexall), would have put money into but the Edmonton Investors Group declined his offer to buy.

i believe that was the 3rd time that Katz has made an offer to purchase the Oilers...he's a local Edmonton guy so im not sure why they keep rejecting him?

[lion24]

It would also be interesting to know if any potential local buyers would be interested in building a new stadium....

I was wondering if most people would want an outdoor stadium again or another dome?and capacity around 40,000?
The talk around Edmonton is building a new arena downtown for the Oilers which the potential buyer, Daryl Katz(Rexall), would have put money into but the Edmonton Investors Group declined his offer to buy.

i believe that was the 3rd time that Katz has made an offer to purchase the Oilers...he's a local Edmonton guy so im not sure why they keep rejecting him?

There are many people scared of having one owner because of Pocklington? But this guy is not going to move the team and he is already the biggest Oiler sponsor with Rexall Place and he was willing to put up money to build a new rink and spend the maximum cap amount?

[Lionheart]

It would also be interesting to know if any potential local buyers would be interested in building a new stadium....

R e t r a c t a b l e stadium.

[sports & stuff----ric]

we hit 40000 easy withan out door stadium!

[TheLionKing]

we hit 40000 easy withan out door stadium!

Maybe in July and August. Very unlikely in late September and October

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

It would also be interesting to know if any potential local buyers would be interested in building a new stadium....

R e t r a c t a b l e stadium.

[Hambone]

I was thinking more around 35,000 so there would be more of urgency to buy tickets yet remain profitable for the Lions. And, of course, be able to expand to 50,000 for WFs or Grey Cups. As good as things have been the past 2 or 3 years, we have yet to hit the 40,000 mark for a regular season game.

When it comes to having an expandable stadium it would NEVER be done for a playoff game; Grey Cup only. The only time temporary seats would be used to expand the stadium for a playoff game would be in a year they also hosted the Grey Cup. The reasons? Cost and logistics. It's pretty nice stuff, but it also takes several days to assemble and disassemble. You don't go picking up 15,000 temp seats at your local United Rentals. I could be wrong but I doubt they would be readily available anywhere in the lower mainland meaning it would have to be trucked in from somewhere else in North America. Tough to commit to that when you may not even know if you're hosting a WF until the last day of the season. Unless the Lions secured the WF by Thanksgiving there likely wouldn't be enough leadtime to install temps.

Then there's the cost. Seems to me while I was in Ottawa for the 2004 GC I had read that it cost them close to $100.00/seat for the delivery, rental, set up and tear down of their temporary GC seats. Doesn't take an MBA to figure out the economics to do that for a WF don't add up. You can't expect to pass all the costs on to the ticket prices for the temps. Who would spend $100 or more for an end zone temp when the rest of the seats are going for half or less than that? Maybe a few people, but you need to sell all the temp seats to justify the rental. The only other option then is to spread the cost across all ticket price levels. Effectively the season ticket holder would have to significantly subsidize the cost of the temporary seating to keep the overall price structure in line. Can you imagine the rebellion on the following season's ticket drive if the faithful ST holder had to pay $125 for the playoff seat he was getting for $40 just so the temp seat could be sold for the $60 or less that would be needed to reasonably expect to fill them???

[GeroySimonFAN]

do we have any other space in this city to build a new stadium? could they tear down BC Place and build a new retractable stadium on the same site?

[SammyGreene]

I was thinking more around 35,000 so there would be more of urgency to buy tickets yet remain profitable for the Lions. And, of course, be able to expand to 50,000 for WFs or Grey Cups. As good as things have been the past 2 or 3 years, we have yet to hit the 40,000 mark for a regular season game.

When it comes to having an expandable stadium it would NEVER be done for a playoff game; Grey Cup only. The only time temporary seats would be used to expand the stadium for a playoff game would be in a year they also hosted the Grey Cup. The reasons? Cost and logistics. It's pretty nice stuff, but it also takes several days to assemble and disassemble. You don't go picking up 15,000 temp seats at your local United Rentals. I could be wrong but I doubt they would be readily available anywhere in the lower mainland meaning it would have to be trucked in from somewhere else in North America. Tough to commit to that when you may not even know if you're hosting a WF until the last day of the season. Unless the Lions secured the WF by Thanksgiving there likely wouldn't be enough leadtime to install temps.

Then there's the cost. Seems to me while I was in Ottawa for the 2004 GC I had read that it cost them close to $100.00/seat for the delivery, rental, set up and tear down of their temporary GC seats. Doesn't take an MBA to figure out the economics to do that for a WF don't add up. You can't expect to pass all the costs on to the ticket prices for the temps. Who would spend $100 or more for an end zone temp when the rest of the seats are going for half or less than that? Maybe a few people, but you need to sell all the temp seats to justify the rental. The only other option then is to spread the cost across all ticket price levels. Effectively the season ticket holder would have to significantly subsidize the cost of the temporary seating to keep the overall price structure in line. Can you imagine the rebellion on the following season's ticket drive if the faithful ST holder had to pay $125 for the playoff seat he was getting for $40 just so the temp seat could be sold for the $60 or less that would be needed to reasonably expect to fill them???

Some excellent insight Hambone ... so the only time there would be a chance for 50,000 at a WF would be the same year as hosting the Grey Cup?

Fair enough and I would still prefer the smaller capacity for a WF rather than staring at 15,000 to 20,000 empty seats during the regular season.

[Toppy Vann]

All those wishing for the demise of BC Place including the town's sports talk guys who themselves actually DON'T buy tickets for games should have a reality check!!!

What a wonderful thought - smaller facility thus making the Lions tickets something to covet (hello higher prices)

BC Place Stadium and its current rental arrangements with the BC Lions allow fans including whole families who go to football games to go at a relatively reasonable price that is not out of the reach of the average person.

These smaller stadiums - outdoors, retractable roofs, expandable seating, etc - are all fine and dandy if you expect to pay prices looking like those that Canuck fans have to pay. As I see it now, there is no public or government appetite to build a new stadium with tax payer dollars and won't be when the Olympics in 2010 are done. I don't foresee a Stephen Harper government wanting to plunk money into a new facility.

Stadiums in the USA are built many times over on the socialist model with county funding. It isn't likely to be happening here any time soon with our transportation infrastruct in BC so vastly underfunded in terms of needs and demands not to forget health care.

Fans will be very lucky indeed if the provincial government continues BC Place

Yes, if I were David Braley, I'd be selling the Lions now while they still have a rental agreement.

What do they say? Be careful what you wish for or words like that.

I am quite happy to sit indoors at BC Place and judging from the numbers of fans there, so are they despite the games being in summer but that is a different topic.