Seattle Seahawks Soar into B.C. Lions territory
This week, the annual Seahawks caravan pulls into Vancouver to remind football fans that the NFL season will soon be upon us, with the start of training camps set to open on July 27.The late B.C. Lions president Bob Ackles spent more than 50 years in the football business, including significant stints as an executive with the Dallas Cowboys, Phoenix Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. But talk of the NFL coming to Canada “scares me as a CFL fan. I’m just telling you, it will kill the CFL,” Ackles stated in his autobiography, The Water Boy.
He mainly was talking about NFL expansion to Canada, specifically Toronto, not necessarily a pre-season or even a one-off league game as the Buffalo Bills do on an annual basis at Rogers Centre in partnership with Rogers Communications. Still, the NFL’s popularity is growing in Canada, especially in B.C. According to a survey undertaken by NFL International, the percentage of Canadian sports fans who claim they are “very interested” in the NFL is placed at 29 per cent in this province, compared to 23 per cent on the Prairies and just 20 per cent in, of all places, Toronto.
The sample survey encompasses the 13-64 age range, male and female, and cuts across a wide demographic. The Seattle Seahawks, in particular, regard British Columbia, Alberta, Idaho, Oregon, Alaska and, naturally, Washington as part of their territory of influence as the NFL team whose reach spans the greatest geographical area.
Tod Leiweke, a former Seahawks president and executive with Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment in Vancouver, was particularly keen to link the Lower Mainland into the Seahawks constituency while mindful of the CFL and the Lions’ unique place in West Coast culture and history.
This week, the annual Seahawks caravan pulls into Vancouver to remind football fans that the NFL season will soon be upon us, with the start of training camps set to open on July 27.