Welcome back everybody. It's the RP Show on Silver State Sports from the studio to your closet. Shop official RP Show gear at rodpeterson.com. Click on RP store. It's a distinct pleasure to welcome the owner of the BC Lions, our good friend Amar Doman. Hey Amar, welcome to the RP Show. Welcome back. I say it to all the guys at the start of a new season, happy New Year. How's it feel to be slinging the pigskin around again?
Hey, thanks for having me back on Rod. Fantastic. It's nice to see the boys up at training camp and just seeing the CFL kick off yesterday for preseason as well. Nice to see the teams in action and always a fun time of year.
Well, I've been following the Lions camp quite a bit. Your guy Matt Baker doing a tremendous job. Looks like they've had great weather out there in the foothills or I guess it's not the foothills in the interior. How does it go over with the interior football fans out there to have the Lions every year?
You know, it's been a good tradition for them up there. They really come out and support us. The fan fest is awesome. There's so many, you know, activities, flag games. It's a really nice community feel up in Kamloops and players like it too. They're a little bit isolated up there and focus more on business and you know, a nice college atmosphere as well. So the facilities are great. So I've got to say it's a 10 out of 10 up there.
Oh, good. What a beautiful, beautiful part of the world. Well, hey, I'm going to jump right to it. There's a lot of pundits that say it's the BC Lions year. It's their trophy to lose, that the Lions are it. I'm sure you probably go along with that. Have you seen these predictions?
Yeah, you know, it's so early. Last year we could almost taste going into the Grey Cup. So I think there's some unfinished business certainly from some of the team members from last year and coaching staff. So, you know, we want to work hard but one game at a time. We're far away from the playoffs even so I know we'll talk about that stuff in a few minutes, I'm sure. And you know, also just really, you know, it's nice to see most of our team put together and they've shored up some defense and we're pretty excited and you know, being zero and zero we're right at the top of the list today. So we're good.
Well, hey, you're getting the football speak down real good. You know, I never ever asked you this because you're a lumber guy, right? Business guy. Growing up, what was your BC Lions fandom as a kid? It clearly was very special to you. What was that like for you?
Oh, it was great. You know, we couldn't get over—I grew up on the island so we couldn't get over much to games, but you know, when we did it was fantastic and really, you know, watching the tradition and the history there with BC Place was built and you know, those were special times and you know, what we're trying to do now is really bring that sort of fandom that we had back through the youth and we've been working really hard here in BC at it. I've got to say thanks to our fans here that are showing up and the younger crowd's coming and it's getting louder and louder in BC Place. So it's great.
Who was your favorite Lion growing up?
He's everybody's favorite. He's literally... So what was it like when you met him for the first time?
Oh my god, you know, just he's just who he is. He's just that nice guy, a guy you'd leave your kids with. Just a gentleman, an absolute gentleman, serious guy and his veins are just full of ice.
Oh, he's the best. For our US viewers that are learning a lot more about the CFL, he's talking about Lui Passaglia, the CFL's all-time points leader, the man who kicked the winning field goal in the 1994 Grey Cup. Okay, your fans have showed up. Omar from Bun Coz writes in and says, 'Us Lions fans are so damn lucky for the Domans. Cannot wait for this Saturday in Langford and then the two games in Kelowna and to get back home to the dome in July.' Eric from Vancouver says, 'Roar, Lions, roar.' BW from Edmonton says, 'How does Amar feel if a CFL team went into the Okanagan Valley?' We're going after that? We're going to expansion now? How would you feel? I feel like Kelowna's your town.
Yeah, I mean the BC Lions are BC's team. I'm not sure the market could support that there, but if someone put up their hand, we'd love to get that 10th team. There's some stuff the CFL's working on, working very hard on to get that 10th team, which does as you know, even out so much stuff in the schedule. We've been talking about it for years, but certainly if there was a team there, there'd be quite the rivalry to have right here inside the borders of BC.
Well, and that's the thing. That's not what we're here to talk about today, CFL expansion. We're here to talk about this season and frankly, you guys being displaced for your first three games. What's that really been like? I mean there were just limited tickets to sell. I would imagine selling tickets hasn't been a problem for these games.
No, the tickets have been moving very, very well. We're way ahead of where we thought we'd be and they're all going to go. So, we're not concerned about that. Dwayne and the team have worked really hard to, you know, set up these two games. We've got a music festival up there, two 4:00 starts June 27th and July 4th and we've got a musical, you know, whole festival coming up on the inner harbor there. All kinds of activities. Moe just throwing his celebrity golf tournament again, coming back after years on the Monday. So, there's a lot of stuff going on, but a lot of work on getting displaced. What we wanted to do was, you know, not go to a different city in Canada, somewhere else where there aren't Lions fans. We wanted to, you know, give an opportunity for all of BC to come and showcase the team. You know, right there in Kelowna. What a beautiful venue in the middle of summer. It's going to be hot for sure, but a lot of work has gone into setting this up. You know, we're building the stands up by thousands of seats in that Apple Bowl. So, it's going to look very different. The renderings are incredible and construction's underway now. It's pretty cool.
Who did—tough question, but who deserves the credit for pulling this off? And yet you haven't played any of these games yet, but you will. Like Dwayne's a special guy. Man, I spent some time with him at the Grey Cup. That's your president, everybody, Dwayne Veno. But it's a team effort. This couldn't have been easy. Man, and it looks like you're going to do it.
He's the lightning rod on all of this. He is the guy that's put this together, and it's a lot of work. He's up day and night, 7 days a week, meeting with the mayor, the city, the sponsors, you know, there's all sorts of regulations on, you know, standing something up like that, what you can do and what you can't do. But he's got the connections there. He's built the relationships with the province and the city of Kelowna. The mayor of Kelowna, he's been fantastic. So, it's been great. Just like when we were welcomed to Victoria, my hometown, for Touchdown Pacific a couple of years ago, which was just an absolute blast over there. We think that this is going to be even better in Kelowna, and even I think crazier for the fans. It's going to be nuts there.
Kevin the Medium writes in from the Huge Sports Podcast. He says, 'Is there a home opener concert in July?' You've kind of become known, Amar, I'm sure you know, as the concert guy, and you've brought in some real bangers. Are you keeping that under wraps for now, or where are you at on that?
Yeah, pretty much. What we're doing there is because it's going to be week eight, almost halfway through the season, it's not really a home opener. So, we feel like it's not going to have the same kind of push, you know, starting somewhere halfway through the season. We've got a massive event planned. We might sprinkle in some good surprises, but what Dwayne's running is going to be a massive pool party right in front of Terry Fox Plaza, slip and slide down Robson. Baywatch kind of theme as well. It's going to be just kind of like a Vegas pool party meets Baywatch out there on the streets. And it's going to be pretty special. I've seen some of the initial plans, and we're working with the city to make sure we can do all these crazy things. I think we can. And the home opener's to be special, no matter what. And I'm sure if you know me, we'll have some special guests arrive.
I was going to say, sounds like no fun at all. But, let me just take this back for a sec. 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg. I was watching all the concerts. You're the owner, so you get to do whatever the hell you want. You get to spend some time with these guys. What was that like?
