Stamps Ownership Add Seats Counting them For Blackout

Verdict? Unprofessional. This is a type of summer intern gaff that we expect under the Feterik regime, not today.

In a previous post game post you can read my thoughts on why the Stampeders may have made the call. Here were my options:

Turns out the answer to WHY is number four.

1) Sell outs aren't required to lift the black out, and I recall this year a low turnout for a frigid home game, maybe 25 000, that was still on TV? Reported attendance was 38, 600, the THIRD highest attended game of the season BUT the blackout wasn't immediately lifted.

2) Today the game was against the Roughriders, always a sell out. Albeit it was a 130 start, the fact it wasn't sold out suggests in the least it was close.

3) The Stampeders brass have ADDED 5000 seats. Are they now calculating black out figures based on an additional 5000 worth of seats they've put up for the Grey Cup? Without those seats the game is a SELL OUT. A monumental bad decision by ownership and Stamps fans can expect never to see another game on TV with the new seats.

The official statement by the Stamps:

The Calgary Stampeders would like to clarify to fans why the blackout was not lifted for Saturday’s game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Due to miscommunication between the team and the league, and the team and TSN, our decision to lift the blackout was made too late. The team attempted to lift the blackout at the last minute, but technology issues regrettably prevented that from taking place.

By Canadian Football League rules, the blackout is automatically lifted from a game when ticket sales have reached 90 per cent. With the additional stands that have been added for Grey Cup, the capacity of McMahon Stadium is now 46,020. This meant the automatic “lift” mark changed and created the miscommunication.

“We normally wait until game day before we officially decide to lift the blackout on a game that hasn’t reached the 90 per cent sales point,” said Stamps present Scott Ackles. “We intended to lift the blackout on Saturday but unfortunately it didn’t happen. As our fans know, we almost always lift the blackout in these situations and we apologize for the inconvenience on Saturday.”

So basically they 'forgot' to tell TSN in 'time'. What's even worse is that there is a NEW % for blackouts. With the new seats, which they count, the Stamps NEED to sell out almost the entire stadium less the new seats in order for the blackout to be lifted.... Put it this way, the Saskatchewan game was the THIRD highest attended game (with only one more home game this season), yet it was blacked out because of the lack of foresight from management.

Was this truly an accident or do the Stamps want to screw fans and systematically destroy any interest for the team by blacking out games if 40 000 plus people don't show up to the Stadium? Again, you dont just 'forget' to life the blackout. There are 18 games a season, that's it, loose one and this time of the season is a big deal, add the fact we're building towards the Grey Cup and you start pulling you hair out.

Stamps fans should demand the ownership group adjust their '90%' rule. The stmt is right though, they do life the blackouts because over 35000 is great! ALL CFL teams would kill for 38 000 a their third highest attendance of the season. This ownership group just got GREEDY.