O’Shea happy with Doman as Lions new owner

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/08/2021 (1127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO — Few love the Canadian Football League as much as Mike O’Shea.

Whether it’s here in Toronto, where he spent most of his 16 CFL seasons as a player, or Winnipeg, where he’s been the head coach since 2014, or anywhere else the three-down game is played, he wants to see the league prosper. So while he hadn’t caught up on all the various news articles introducing the new owner of the B.C. Lions — a local entrepreneur named Amar Doman — what little he does know at the moment has him feeling encouraged.

“I know it’s an exciting time not only for the B.C. Lions but the CFL in general,” O’Shea said Friday, moments after arriving in Toronto ahead of Saturday’s game against the Argonauts.

“CFL fans across the country should be very welcoming and be very pleased.”

The Lions have long been rumoured to be up for sale, eventually going public with their interest in finding a buyer after the death of longtime owner David Braley. Braley died of an undisclosed illness on Oct. 26, 2020, at the age of 79.

Doman has long been a fan of the CFL, since the age of 10, and has watched as the Lions have fallen in popularity in the B.C. sports landscape. In an interview with TSN during Thursday’s game between the Lions and Edmonton Elks, Doman said he was committed to turning around the organization, and doing so, at least in part, by making greater efforts to engage the community.

Doman, who was born in Victoria, is the founder and sole shareholder of an asset management firm named Futura Corporation. Other business ventures have included running Doman Building Materials and Tree Island Steel.

In other words, he has the passion to reinvigorate the franchise, and also the deep pockets to put his money where his mouth is. It’s also not the first time he’s tried to buy the team.

“He had talked to David on several occasions and, in the end, David just loved it too much to let it go,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie told the Free Press Friday.

“Amar, from the first time you meet him, he’s such an impressive person. He’s thoughtful, a great listener and he understands the value of getting the community involved. Our strongest franchises are so deeply ingrained in the communities they play in, and he gets that.”

BOX OFFICE COOL DOWN: Attendance looked really good in Week 1, only to drop significantly in Week 2.

Winnipeg saw nearly 8,000 fewer fans in Week 2, while Saskatchewan, who sold out their season-opener, also took a hit. With just more than 27,000 tickets sold in Week 2, it was the lowest attendance since the new Mosaic Stadium was built in 2017.

Other provinces, including Ontario, Quebec and B.C., have put limits on their attendance, ranging from 12,500 to 15,000 fans owing to concerns over COVID-19. Alberta and Saskatchewan have opened their stadium to max capacity, while Winnipeg has done the same, only they require fans to be fully vaccinated.

Ambrosie said that although the CFL is a data-driven league, he’s not overly concerned about the collective attendance numbers, if only because he knows how trying a year this will be.

“This year is going to have a peculiarities,” the commissioner said.

“We’ve all been in this intense, very uncertain time. And then as news starts coming towards us, such as the new Delta variant and a fourth wave, this is what’s going to happen. Not just in sports, and not just as relates to the CFL, we’re all going to be on this emotional bio rhythm, where we feel better, and then a little less better, and then better again, and that affects what we want to do and are willing to do. I think those are all factors in this.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton