CFL commissioner: Amar Doman's delivering "spectacular" to B.C. Lions fans
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As you'd expect, Stewart Johnston is an Amar Doman fan.
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Johnston's main talking point since taking over as CFL commissioner in April has been that the league needs to find ways to attract younger fans.
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Doman, who's the B.C. Lions owner, has brought in high-profile musical acts to perform at the team's home opener the past four years in that bid to get new eyes on the product. On Saturday, it was rapper Snoop Dogg putting on a pre-game concert before the Lions' meeting with the Edmonton Elks, and that was a driving force in an announced crowd of 52,837 to B.C. Place.
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The stands thinned out as the night went on — those who left missed an impressive second half from the Lions in a 31-14 victory — but the game undoubtedly brought out people out who had never seen any CFL action before.
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'What Amar is delivering for the fans of Vancouver is spectacular,' Johnston said. 'The investments he's making, the marketing he's putting behind it, the focus on the youth and how he's engaging them.
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'I'm very confident in this market. The owner is the starting point. You have the strength of someone like Amar, with the passion he brings and his overall focus on the entire market. It's the B.C. Lions. It's the entire province. You've seen him move games around.
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'I think what he's done is just spark something that was maybe simmering but hadn't been there in that kind of a full-out fire of energy for a long time.'
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Rejuvenated Nathan Rourke drops Elks like they're hot in B.C. Lions' opener (& 12 other thoughts) https://t.co/iWVOh2R9Mk #CFL #BCLions #RoarAsOne pic.twitter.com/uAdCHaqSqV
— JC Abbott (@TheJCAbbott) June 8, 2025
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Johnston, 54, joined the CFL from TSN, where he began in 1997 as an intern. He had worked his way through the ranks there, all the way to taking on the vice-president of programming role in 2006 and then being named president in 2010.
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TSN has been paramount to the success of the league. Friday Night Football on the network has become a mainstay for both sides of the equation.
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The current TSN/CFL agreement is up after the 2026 season. Johnston will get to negotiate the next deal from the opposite side of the table.
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'It'll be strange in the fact that I've been on the buyer side for 28 years. That's going come with a different dynamic,' he said. 'However, that experience has shown me how the mechanisms work and it puts me in a good place to understand what the value of this product can deliver to a broadcast partner, a media partner.'
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Saturday's attendance was the ninth best in the Lions' history at B.C. Place. Last year's home opener against the Calgary Stampeders, which featured a pre-game concert from rapper 50 Cent, is seventh on that list, with an announced attendance of 53,788.
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The team's announced attendance average for last season was 26,883, which was up from 23,208 in 2023 and 20,261 in 2022. Doman, who's originally from Victoria, bought the team in August 2021. The attendance had slipped to 17,803 in 2019.
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On Saturday, the Lions became the first CFL team since the Montreal Alouettes in 1978-79 to draw 50,000 in their home opener in consecutive years.
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Snoop Dogg's concert had been announced as a 5:45 p.m. start, but the building was only about half full by then. Various fans complained on social media about long lines to get into B.C. Place. The music eventually started up at 6:25 p.m.
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B.C. Place released a statement afterwards, explaining: 'Whenever attending a large sold-out event like today's game at B.C. Place, we recommend people arrive as early as possible.
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'We received a large influx of people approximately 30 minutes before the advertised start time for the Snoop Dogg pre-game concert. While our teams worked hard to get fans safely into the building and as efficiently as possible, there were wait times at certain gates that averaged 10-20 minutes. By the time Snoop Dogg went on stage, 95 per cent of attendees were in the building.
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'As we do receive high volumes of fans arriving through Terry Fox Plaza, we encourage fans to use gates around the building to avoid congestion points. We understand that lineups can be frustrating and thank fans for their understanding and patience.'
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Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. 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The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. He signed footballs and unloaded one in a perfect spiral for an upper-deck completion after his 35-minute edgy performance to rev up a crowd of 52,837. They were already heated over long stadium entry delays, which put the Snoop Dogg show on hold. But he eventually delivered and so did Rourke. He went 27-for-36 against the Elks for 324 yards, threw three touchdowns, wasn't picked off and wasn't sacked. Rourke also rushed for 54 yards and even took a hard third-quarter hit while dividing for a first down to extend a drive. Again, impressive. A real gamer. The timing of this couldn't be better. Even before he took a snap Saturday, Rourke was aware of Thursday. The Lions face the perennial powerhouse Blue Bombers in Winnipeg before hosting the defending Western Division champions on June 21. 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