A general view of Investors Group Field is seen as the Edmonton Eskimos take part in their team's practice ahead of the CFL's 103rd Grey Cup championship football game against the Ottawa RedBlacks in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Nov. 27, 2015.MARK BLINCH/Reuters
Football fans from across Canada have descended on Winnipeg for Sunday's Grey Cup, and while the game officially became a sellout Friday afternoon, there were still plenty of tickets available online, some at bargain prices.
A smattering of the 36,634 tickets for the big game at Investors Group Field were still available via Ticketmaster at noon Friday. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced a few hours later that the game had sold out.
But there were still tickets available via third-party sellers at well below face value – half-price was not uncommon.
The last time Winnipeg hosted the Cup, in 2006 at the old Canad Inns Stadium, there were 44,786 fans, according to league statistics. The last time there were fewer than 40,000 fans for a Grey Cup was the previous Winnipeg showdown in 1998, when attendance totalled 34,157.
The weather does not appear to have been a factor in the effort to sell tickets. Autumn has been milder than usual and Sunday's forecast called for temperatures just below freezing at game time, which is a few degrees above normal for late November.
Some local fans laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who have not won a championship for 25 years and who have struggled to be a contender in recent years.
Grey Cup teams will use their own footballs on offence
The Grey Cup, like many of the viewing parties around it, will be largely BYOB.
The Edmonton Eskimos and Ottawa RedBlacks will be bringing their own balls to the 103rd edition of the CFL championship game Sunday.
The league will contribute 24 balls to the party, to be used in kicking situations during the Investors Group Field showdown.
But the teams will each bring their own balls to use on offence. They can practise with those balls beforehand, bringing them to CFL officials 90 minutes before kickoff.
The team balls are tested to ensure they meet "a new ball standard," according to Glen Johnson, the league's vice-president of officiating. "We pump it, we measure it, we check to see if all the laces are correct," he said in an interview Thursday. "And all of the dimensions."
Each team's balls – Johnson says they will each have about a dozen – will be clearly marked as their own.
The CFL first allowed teams to use their own balls on offence two years ago. It gives quarterbacks a chance to play with balls that are familiar to them, as long as they meet standards.
Kickers, it appears, aren't quite as needy, according to Johnson.
The team balls remain under the control of league officials once they take possession of them before the match.
League works on new drug-testing policy
CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge says the league and its players are continuing to work on a new drug-testing policy.
Orridge said during his state-of-the-league address Friday there's a proposal on the table and that he wants a deal as quickly as possible. He added the two sides are meeting here during Grey Cup week.
"I want to get it done as soon as possible and I take responsibility for ultimately getting it done," Orridge said. "I'm sure they've been discussing it.
"It's unfortunate we don't have a drug policy in place right now, but we're working towards making it better."
In May, the CFL cut ties with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport in a dispute over the league's drug policy. The move came after the head of the only laboratory in Canada sanctioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency condemned the CFL.
Christiane Ayotte said her lab wouldn't test CFL samples because of its refusal to suspend first-time offenders or uphold drug bans handed down in the university ranks. That forced the CFL to look for another testing partner.
Hall welcomes new recruits
Doug Brown, Rodney Harding, Derrell Mitchell and James West are the newest members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
The four players were announced at a celebration during the 103rd Grey Cup Festival.
They're joined by Don McDonald in the builder category.