The 2023 schedule has been released. The Lions have a Thursday preseason game against Calgary, 5 Saturday home games in the summer and one Sunday game, July 9 vs. Montreal. All of the Saturday games and the Sunday game have 4 p.m. PT starts. They have 3 Friday night games in the fall against division rivals Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Calgary. There are 4 home games after Labour Day, with the last one in Week 20 on Oct. 20. The Lions get a bye in the final week of the season.
Lions' schedule
CFL schedule
2023 schedule
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Hambone
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Many were hoping for a return to the pre-Covid format whereby every team would play the other 8 at least twice. That won't be happening. BC will play Montreal and Hamilton home and away while playing Ottawa and Toronto once each; Ottawa at BC Place and Toronto at BMO. What this does allow however is for all West clubs to play their West rivals 3 times each instead of the old unbalanced set up of playing 2 teams 3 times and the other 2 twice.
Also noticeable at least on the Lions' schedule is there are none of those back to backs where they play the same team twice in a row. BC had 2 such sets in 2022. The divisional games are also nicely spaced out. They face each of their 4 divisional rivals once each over the course of their first 6 games with all 4 rubber matches being played across the final 5 games of the season. Last year they played Edmonton twice before facing Calgary and 2 of their 3 games vs Winnipeg fell in their final 3 games.
Also noticeable at least on the Lions' schedule is there are none of those back to backs where they play the same team twice in a row. BC had 2 such sets in 2022. The divisional games are also nicely spaced out. They face each of their 4 divisional rivals once each over the course of their first 6 games with all 4 rubber matches being played across the final 5 games of the season. Last year they played Edmonton twice before facing Calgary and 2 of their 3 games vs Winnipeg fell in their final 3 games.
You're as old as you've ever been and as young as you're ever going to be.
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Hambone
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I've come to appreciate an occasional 4pm start but am surprised at all 4pms in summer. I think what we may see coming is the Lions organizing more of those bus charters to pick fans up at the ferry terminals along with charters from interior locations to bring fans in and get them home same day. Sounds like they were well received for the playoff game. One of the biggest deterrents to attendance from outside the lower mainland in summer is the outrageous cost of hotels which are pretty much unavoidable such folks for 7pm starts. Doman is forward thinking. Could there be an offering of summer STs including transportation be in the works for those areas?
You're as old as you've ever been and as young as you're ever going to be.
I've been told the Lions are planning to arrange buses for some of the bigger regular season games in 2023, including playoffs. I rode the Lions' charter from Kamloops for the WSF with about 28 fans, I believe, and it was great. I also drove to Vancouver and back for a 4 p.m. game this year. I got out of the parking garage at 7 p.m., dropped off my seatmate in Surrey and got home at 11. I would do that again for summer games.Hambone wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:49 amI've come to appreciate an occasional 4pm start but am surprised at all 4pms in summer. I think what we may see coming is the Lions organizing more of those bus charters to pick fans up at the ferry terminals along with charters from interior locations to bring fans in and get them home same day. Sounds like they were well received for the playoff game. One of the biggest deterrents to attendance from outside the lower mainland in summer is the outrageous cost of hotels which are pretty much unavoidable such folks for 7pm starts. Doman is forward thinking. Could there be an offering of summer STs including transportation be in the works for those areas?
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Hambone
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In Prince George the WHL Cougars have changed their Saturday night game times from 7pm to 6pm with the thought being to attract more families with young kids. It's only an hour but still a big difference when those families can leave the arena at 8:30pm vs 9:30pm. So far the change has been very well received. At Lions games it's common to see mom and dad leaving the game in the middle of the 4th quarter packing out half asleep if not totally crashed out kids.
You're as old as you've ever been and as young as you're ever going to be.
What this also does is save a bit of money on the club travel budget with one fewer cross country trip.Hambone wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:39 amMany were hoping for a return to the pre-Covid format whereby every team would play the other 8 at least twice. That won't be happening. BC will play Montreal and Hamilton home and away while playing Ottawa and Toronto once each; Ottawa at BC Place and Toronto at BMO. What this does allow however is for all West clubs to play their West rivals 3 times each instead of the old unbalanced set up of playing 2 teams 3 times and the other 2 twice.
Not completely sold on the 4:00pm kick-offs on Saturdays. Yes, I get the argument about Interior and Island fans and the small fry. But are there enough of them to offset the locals and adults you may lose? There is so much going on on Saturday afternoons for a lot of people in Greater Vancouver. Work (namely), beach, picnics, hikes.
And home playoffs aside, it's a far less raucous atmosphere as spectators tend to be more mellow in the afternoon than they are at night (ask any live theatre director this...especially true for football fans who are far more likely to have had a drink or two prior to Saturday evening kick-offs).
I do hope it works about but I remain skeptical.
DH
And home playoffs aside, it's a far less raucous atmosphere as spectators tend to be more mellow in the afternoon than they are at night (ask any live theatre director this...especially true for football fans who are far more likely to have had a drink or two prior to Saturday evening kick-offs).
I do hope it works about but I remain skeptical.
DH
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Hambone
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For what it's worth and it's a very small sample size there was only 1 4pm regular season start in 2022. It fell in the same start of the season until after Labour Day window as the 6 4pm starts in 2023. It provided the highest attendance in that time frame for the games not involving One Republic or the Riders. I'm not quite as skeptical as you David but remain from Missouri. I'm not surprised they are having more 4pm starts in 2023 but am surprised they went all in on them until late September. What I'm more curious to see is if the Lions' marketing department doesn't come up with some special ST packages or maybe packs and transportation offers to leverage these game times. My gut feel is there will be something more coming along other than simply hoping the game times on their own will make he difference.
You're as old as you've ever been and as young as you're ever going to be.
As others have mentioned, the 4 pm weekend start times open up the window for fans outside the Lower Mainland to attend. It will be interesting to chart the attendance of the summer games, but I believe these time slots will be successful for the Lions from a potential marketing standpoint.