Destination Vancouver expecting ‘greatest Grey Cup festival ever staged’
Posted June 4, 2024 8:58 pm.
Last Updated June 4, 2024 9:05 pm.
The BC Lions season opener is still over a week away, but the buzz is already building for the 111th Grey Cup Championship.
Destination Vancouver is predicting the week-long event will generate roughly $100 million for the city.
At a press event Tuesday morning, Destination Vancouver president Royce Chwin said, “It will be, we believe, the greatest Grey Cup festival ever staged and the new standard for which all others are measured against.”
“We expect probably about a half-a-million fans in some way, shape or form are going to engage with this year’s Grey Cup,” said Chwin.
“It’s estimated that the game and the festival generated about $74 million in incremental economic activity for Hamilton. We expect to surpass that.”
CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie said Hamilton did an amazing job of hosting Grey Cup with only a fraction of the resources Vancouver has available.
He added that he anticipates that Vancouver will “raise the bar.”
“We often say there’s lots of room in the CFL tent for everyone. So that’s one thing for sure, for those who maybe haven’t experienced the league before to come and just feel that one or two or three steps closer to us. That would be really important,” said Ambrosie.
Tickets for the Grey Cup game went on sale at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The game is scheduled for Nov. 17 at BC Place.
