Mario Annicchiarico
The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON -- The Canadian Football League is expecting another 60,000-plus showing when it brings its showcase game, the Grey Cup, back to Edmonton in 2010.

The league championship has delivered attendances of 60,081 (in 1984), 60,431 (in 1997) and 62,531 (in 2002) the three times the Edmonton Eskimos have hosted the gala event.

Edmonton's three Grey Cups rank fifth, sixth and seventh on the all-time attendance list.

"This is a great football province and, if anything, it reinforces how strong football is out here. Edmonton is a natural home for our national championship and the tremendous national gathering that comes along with it," CFL commissioner Mark Cohon said during a press conference in the Green and Gold alumni room.

No more excited than the Eskimos themselves, who were wasting little time flogging the game to its fans.

As they did in 2002 and 1997, the Eskimos will give first right to tickets to existing season-seat holders, said club CEO and president Rick LeLacheur, who, along with Doug Goss, will act as co-chairs for the Grey Cup organizing committee. Tickets -- still unpriced -- will go on sale in the fall and season-seat holders can buy at discounted prices.

"It also gives them the right to buy equal numbers," said LeLacheur. "If you have four (season tickets), you can buy eight (Grey Cup tickets)."

Having upwards of 60,000-plus seats available allows the organization to keep prices down. Tickets to the 2009 Grey Cup in Calgary -- Nov. 29 -- are tabbed from $195 to $375, up from the $87 to $274 admission price in Montreal this past season. In 2002, tickets went from roughly $85 to $200, but season-seat holders also received a $25 discount. Look for similar reductions for 1010, suggested LeLacheur.

"We have a luxury that some of the other teams don't and that luxury is having 60,000 seats," said LeLacheur. "We don't have to put any money into temporary seating -- $50 to $60 a seat."

"We pass that on to the ticket holder," LeLacheur added. "So our ticket prices, although not set yet, will probably be lower than the past few years just because we don't have that expense.

"We've looked at all pricing. We looked at '02 pricing, we just haven't landed on anything yet. But we want to make sure it's affordable for anyone who wants to come to a national championship," LeLacheur said.

The week-long celebration is expected to create tremendous revenue for the Edmonton area, though no one was predicting a hard number. The city of Toronto brought in $80 million in revenues in 2007. The Eskimos alone enjoyed a $4-million profit from the 2002 game.

As usual, festivities will focus on downtown celebrations, but the Eskimos hope that their planned north-central based fieldhouse, slated for construction just west of Commonwealth, will be complete by then. Final plans for the $40-million facility are expected to be released in a few weeks.

Overall plans, still in their infancy, will be carefully scrutinized for the week-long Grey Cup celebration. There is 2002 and 1997 to draw on, but there is a need for new experiences.

"We have a lot of experience in the Eskimo office and board room ... we want those people involved, but we just don't want to do the same for doing the same," said LeLacheur. "We want to put our thinking hats on and maybe there are a couple of new events we can come up with. It's great to have a real foundation of experienced people when you're putting one of these on."

Courtesy: www.edmontonjournal.com