Any remaining tickets for Saturday’s much-anticipated meeting between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Eskimos will likely be snapped up thanks to a clever advertising ploy by the home team.
A billboard taking aim at the mathematical short-comings of Saskatchewan was placed just outside Commonwealth Stadium ahead of Saturday’s game, and reads: They can’t count to 13 at Grey Cup. We have 13 Grey Cups and counting.
The message is an obvious shot at the notorious too many men on the field penalty taken by the Riders on the final play of last year’s Grey Cup. The mistake allowed Montreal to re-kick a field goal and win the CFL’s top prize.
“I thought it was pretty funny,” Riders’ president and CEO Jim Hopson said. “It didn’t surprise me that they finally put a billboard up because we’ve been doing it for quite a while.”
In the past, the Riders have used vacant billboards in opposing cities to spread its message, including the aforementioned one outside of Commonwealth.
The game on Saturday already surpassed 45,000 in ticket sales, and last year’s meeting drew over 62,000 fans.