BC Lions

Empire Stadium to a dome too big for them

The Lions were founded in 1954 and are the oldest professional sports franchise in British Columbia. They spent their first three decades outdoors at Empire Stadium, moving in 1983 to BC Place, the downtown dome that has been their home ever since apart from 2010 and 2011, when renovations pushed them back to the old Hastings Park site at a temporary ground called Empire Field.

Ownership has changed hands repeatedly. Murray Pezim took over in 1989, Bill Comrie in 1992 and David Braley in 1996; Braley held the club until his death in October 2020, after which his estate sold it to the Vancouver businessman Amar Doman in August 2021. Doman inherited a structural problem as much as a football team. Average home attendance had fallen from 28,011 in 2014 to 17,567 in 2019, in a stadium listed at 54,500 — a gap wide enough that the upper deck is simply screened off and not sold for Lions games.

The club's response has been to sell the lower bowl hard rather than pretend the rest exists. Season tickets run from about $154 in the upper end zone and family sections to roughly $1,540 for the Tunnel Club, with single-game seats from around $35 to $140.

Six Grey Cups and a twenty-year streak

The Lions have won the Grey Cup six times: 1964, when they beat Hamilton 34–24 for the first; 1985, again over Hamilton, 37–24; 1994, 26–23 against Baltimore; 2000, 28–26 against Montreal; then 2006 and 2011, the second of those in the rebuilt BC Place.

Consistency, not silverware, is the record the franchise leans on hardest. Between 1997 and 2016 the Lions reached the playoffs twenty years in a row, the second-longest such run in league history. The names that carry the club's history are Joe Kapp and Willie Fleming from the early era, Jackie Parker, and Lui Passaglia, who kicked for the team across twenty-five seasons.

Pierce, Rourke and a season that began badly

Rick Campbell was fired on 20 November 2024 after four seasons, and Buck Pierce — a former Lions quarterback — was promoted to head coach. His first year produced an 11–7 record, a fourth straight playoff appearance and a Western Final at Mosaic Stadium on 8 November 2025 that Saskatchewan won 24–21. Nathan Rourke took both Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian that season; Mathieu Betts won Most Outstanding Defensive Player, Jarell Broxton Most Outstanding Lineman, Sean Whyte Most Outstanding Special Teams and Robert Carter Jr. Most Outstanding Rookie.

Rourke signed a multi-year extension on 27 January 2026 that runs through 2028, and the Lions kept most of that roster together, adding offensive lineman Dejon Allen from Toronto. Pierce took on offensive coordinator duties himself, with Mike Benevides running the defence.

None of it worked at first. The Lions lost at Saskatchewan 31–27 on 13 June and at Hamilton 41–27 on 19 June, dropped their Kelowna opener to Calgary, and by late July sat 1–5, with Rourke missing time in July after an injury the club said would cost weeks rather than months. What followed was the reversal the West Division is now organised around: a win at Winnipeg on 30 July, a 27–24 home win over Hamilton on 8 August, 30–26 at Calgary on 13 August, 30–16 over Saskatchewan at home on 23 August and 45–24 at Ottawa on 30 August — five straight.

A 37–30 loss at Montreal on 4 September broke the run, but the Lions answered with 48–29 over the same Alouettes at BC Place on 12 September, Zander Horvath scoring three times and Keon Hatcher Sr. taking nine catches for 137 yards. On 25 September they beat Saskatchewan 31–24 on Orange Shirt Day, Rourke going 22-of-28 for 375 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions and adding 37 rushing yards, including a 59-yard fourth-quarter throw to Justin McInnis. That result took the season series, the tiebreaker and second place in the West at 8–6, with the Lions 7–1 across their previous eight games.

Two months in exile at the Apple Bowl

The oddest chapter of 2026 had nothing to do with football. BC Place hosted FIFA World Cup matches from 13 June to 7 July, which evicted both the Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps FC from their own building for a month of the schedule. Rather than borrow another stadium, the club took two home games to Kelowna and built a ground for them.

The Apple Bowl seats 2,300. An Ontario firm, Tower Scaffolded and Events, erected an east grandstand and two end-zone grandstands largely over the running track, lifting capacity to roughly 18,500. The job required realigning the field, relocating the scoreboard, installing two temporary video screens and trucking in 180 portable washroom stalls to meet CFL standards, with $1 million from the provincial government towards the venue work and programming.

Kelowna bought it. The 27 June game against Calgary sold out and drew an official 19,108; the 4 July meeting with Edmonton drew 19,803 — both larger crowds than three of the team's four Vancouver dates this year. The east side carried a festival footprint of fan activations, cornhole, beer tents, merchandise stalls and a stage with a live band. Club president Duane Vienneau said the anticipation had been building since the games were announced the previous September. The Lions lost the first, 41–33, and won the second, 36–24.

What it looks like from the seats

Vancouver crowds this year have swung wide. Toronto's visit on 25 July drew 21,438; Hamilton on 8 August drew 19,387; Saskatchewan on 23 August drew 30,083, the largest of the season, boosted by the travelling Rider support that fills seats in every western city; Montreal on 12 September drew 23,380. Last season's average of 27,124 was the third highest among Canadian teams in the league.

The consequence of a curtained upper deck and a half-sold bowl is well documented in visitor accounts: easy movement, short queues, sightlines from almost anywhere, and a noise level that depends heavily on whether the away support has turned up. The club works at it — the Felions dance team, a mascot and drummer pair trying to lift sections, flags, and music stages outside the gates with local bands before kick-off.

Four weeks to settle it

The remaining schedule is at Toronto on 3 October, home to Ottawa on 9 October, at Calgary on 17 October and home to Winnipeg on 23 October to close the regular season. Second place in the West means a home playoff game, which the Lions have not often had in the Doman era, and the club's own stated ambition since November has been the 113th Grey Cup.

Rourke played the Saskatchewan game with his pinky and ring fingers taped together and said afterwards he would play through anything as long as he could still be effective, which is roughly where the whole season now sits. Defensive back Robert Carter Jr., released by an NFL club, started against Saskatchewan after two days of practice.