University of Manitoba
THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONCTON N.B. — He’s spent a decade playing football in Canada but Kevin Glenn registered a career first Tuesday.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats veteran quarterback made his first official visit to the Maritimes, attending the CFL’s news conference to unveil the release of tickets to its second annual Touchdown Atlantic regular-season contest. Glenn and the Ticats will face the Calgary Stampeders on Sept. 25 at Moncton Coliseum.
“This is my first time this far East,” Glenn said with a chuckle. “Before this, I had only been as far as Montreal.
“But I really like it. Actually, I think my wife will really like it because lobster is the big thing out here and she really loves lobster. Once I tell her lobsters are here and this is the place to get lobster she’s probably going to book her flight for the game.”
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| View photos from the 2011 Touchdown Atlantic promotional Tour |
CFL commissioner Mark Cohon headlined the news conference, which announced that tickets to the game will go on sale May 11 to the general public and range in price from $39 to $89. Cohon said the league again made a conscious effort to make the contest affordable.
“We want to make sure there’s the whole range of tickets that replicates what we’re doing around the league,” he said. “The three mantras of our league are accessibility, authenticity and affordability.”
Last year, the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts squared off there in the inaugural Touchdown Atlantic contest. And Cohon said with both Hamilton and Calgary meeting this year, New Brunswick football fans will be treated to a potentially high-scoring affair with both Glenn and Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris, the CFL’s outstanding player last year who also attended the news conference, under centre.
“They are going to light it up,” Cohon said of the two veteran quarterbacks. “These are two of our leading teams and hopefully that will be exciting for the people here and they’ll put on a good show.”
Fans can become eligible to take part in a special online pre-sale May 10 by registering on the CFL’s website (CFL.ca/TouchdownAtlantic).
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| Sign up now for CFL Field Pass to be eligible for a special on-line pre-sale May 10 |
The league also announced tickets will be made available for Hamilton and Calgary season-ticket holders.
Last year, tickets to the Edmonton-Toronto game sold out in just 32 hours. Cohon said seating capacity for the contest will be around 21,000 and he expects once again tickets will go quickly.
“I’m confident that will happen quickly like it did last year,” he said.
Glenn, a native of Detroit, likes the idea of playing a regular-season contest in the Maritimes because it gives CFL players a chance to see more of Canada.
“It’s a part of Canada you normally wouldn’t see or get the chance to experience,” he said.
CFL expansion to the Maritimes has been a hot topic of discussion recently and it’s something Glenn fully supports.
“When you look at the NFL, it’s coast to coast so how come the CFL can’t be coast to coast in Canada?” he said. “Putting a team in Atlantic Canada would make the league better, it would bring more attention to it.
“The people here already want it here so why not give it to them?”
