Tickets for CFL Moncton game start at $29
Canadian Football League officials and players descended on Moncton, N.B., to drum up excitement about the first regular season CFL game to be played in Atlantic Canada.
At a news conference on Tuesday, CFL commissioner Mark Cohon released the details of the game — including ticket prices — between the west division's Edmonton Eskimos and the east division's Toronto Argonauts.
The game will take place on Sept. 26 at the new Moncton Stadium, which is still under construction at the Université de Moncton.
Ticket prices will range from $29 to $79 and will go on sale for the general public on March 25, following a 24-hour sale for Eskimos and Argonauts season-ticket holders. More than half of the tickets for the game will be priced at less than $50.
Cohon said the prices are affordable and hopes that will draw spectators from across the Maritimes.
"I think the interesting thing about Moncton is that you can pull from so many different parts," he said. "Look at Saskatchewan. There's only a million people in that whole province and they rally around the Roughriders. So can we turn this opportunity in a team for the entire region?"
Adriano Belli, a defensive tackle with the Argonauts, said bringing a regular season game to eastern Canada is important for the league.
"I think they could carry a football team out here for sure, from the grass roots of young kids playing football," he said. "I think the fan base would be there and we're just lucky to be along for the ride."
Patrick Kabongo, an offensive lineman for the Eskimos, was also in Moncton to promote the fall event, dubbed Touchdown Atlantic.
"Toronto has a great history, the Eskimos, we have a great history," he said.
Shelby Merrithew, a student and football player at Bernice MacNaughton High School in Moncton, said having a CFL game in the city is a boost to the sport.
"We're so proud to have these guys here. They're such role models to us," she said. "It gives us the advantage to go and say, 'Well, we can do that too.'"
New Brunswick's government has committed $700,000 to Touchdown Atlantic, mostly in infrastructure funding.
About 20,000 seats are expected to be available for the game.