Brief History of Mascots
38 Tweets for Success
Waver Stix
Felisa Israel: 5 Questions on Gameops.com
Silver Yo-Yo
Punch List
Brenda Bourns on Promotions in the CFL
Looking over the list of over 30 interviews we have done on Gameops.com, it was clear that football has been a little neglected. To balance that, we looked north of the border to the CFL and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' Manager of Game Day Productions, Brenda Bourns.
Brenda talks about the challenges of working with a limited budget, dealing with 800 sponsors (that's not a typo), and how to produce a good mattress race.
The CFL starts in June with training camp and runs through November, ending with the Grey Cup game the 3rd week in November.
Gameops.com: Let's clear one thing up right up front. Doesn't the CFL have two teams with the same name? The Rough Riders and the Roughriders? What's up with that?
Bourns: Well, there used to be, the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Gameops.com: But you've corrected that?
Bourns: Yes.
Gameops.com: Alright that was my biggest concern about the entire interview. You can't have two teams with the same name.
Talk about the difference between you and the NFL.
Bourns: Here in Canada we have a unique situation. The CFL budgets are shoe strings compared to NFL, and it makes my job challenging in that I have to be quite creative to keep the "Game Day Experience" bigger and better each year.
You would probably laugh if you knew my budget, but I'm sure my entire season is probably comparable to the first 2 minutes of a pyro display at an NFL game.
When the team struggles, every halftime sucks, every pre-game sucks, the beer is always warm, and the hot dogs cold. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. And when the team is winning, all is good in the world. Well, I just came off 4 dark seasons where the team struggled, and my game day production was of huge importance. This season we are tied for first place (I still pinch myself sometimes!) but I haven't stopped trying to make the game day presentation kick ass.
Gameops.com: Give us a bit of your background with the team.
Bourns: This is my 5th season with the club, and the 4th as the Game Producer.
Gameops.com: Can you talk about the problems you were having recently as the Blue Bombers went from being very successful on the field, now a somewhat unsuccessful franchise?
Bourns: Our team used to be really successful in the 80's, then in the 90's the team really struggled. In the late 90's it was horrible. You really noticed the fan reaction when you are struggling. The hot dogs are always cold and the beer is always warm, the team sucks, halftime was brutal, the fireworks were boring, all the complaints are much more intensified.
In the last couple seasons we have really started to play well again and our fans have been more into the game and the presentation. In fact, a while back after a big win we had 30,000 fans rush the field. Even since then we have never recaptured the field, and it's become a tradition for the fans to come down and congratulate the players. Win or lose our fans come down....it's a little different here. It has a real hometown feel. Our stadium only holds 30,000 and everything we do is on a smaller scale than the NFL, but we still try to get to the level where our fans walk away win or lose thinking, "Wow, that was worth the money. I had a great day at the park."
Felisa Israel: 5 Questions on Gameops.com
Brief History of Mascots
Waver Stix
Custom Sharpies
Cork Coasters
