Category: Advertisements

  • Advertisements During Grey Cup Week in 1996

    It’s been thirty years since I attended my first Grey Cup. In 1996, the City of Hamilton welcomed Canadian football fans from across the country (and beyond) to what was billed as the “Showdown in Steeltown.”

    I thought it would be fun to share some of the great (and not so great) advertisements that ran in the Hamilton Spectator in the days leading up to the big game. Enjoy.

    Zarky’s Fine Foods was your go-to “Grey Cup Food Centre.” Check out those prices from 1996.

    Zarky's Fine Foods ad in the Hamilton Spectator during the 1996 Grey Cup.

    The contrast is horrible on this ad for the Roarrr Store, but their retail locations were the place to go to land some official Grey Cup merchandise. The Roarrr Store was the official retail store of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. I got many a t-shirt and sweatshirt from here.

    Roarrr Store ad in the Hamilton Spectator during the 1996 Grey Cup.

    Here’s an ad for Neon Products, who specialized in signs and advertising. They may have provided the various banners seen around town during Grey Cup week.

    Neon Products ad in the Hamilton Spectator during the 1996 Grey Cup.

    Who remembers Grand & Toy? They ran a Grey Cup draw where you could win four tickets to the game. I presume listing your home fax was optional.

    Grand & Toy ad in the Hamilton Spectator during the 1996 Grey Cup.

    Hutch’s, a Hamilton staple, offered a $2.29 Grey Cup breakfast special at their Stoney Creek location. Now, that’s a smoking deal.

    Hutch's ad in the Hamilton Spectator during the 1996 Grey Cup.

    As part of Grey Cup week, radio stations Y95, 900 CHML and and 820 CHAM, and the Hamilton Spectator presented the Chrysler Grey Cup Concert series at Copps Coliseum. I didn’t go to any of these, but my sister still brags that she went to the November 21st show featuring the Crash Test Dummies.

    Chrysler Grey Cup Concert Series ad in the Hamilton Spectator during the 1996 Grey Cup.

    There was something for everybody during Grey Cup week. You could even check out “Canada’s Hottest Duo” at Chez “M”, Hamilton’s premier exotic adult entertainment establishment.

    Chez "M" ad in the Hamilton Spectator during the 1996 Grey Cup.

    You could win a Motorola StarTac “the phone you could wear” at Bell Mobility’s tailgate party giveaway on the day of the game.

    Bell Mobility ad in the Hamilton Spectator during the 1996 Grey Cup.

    Well, there you have it. As a marketer by trade, I always enjoy looking at vintage (if you can the 1990s vintage) advertising. There was some real hype around the 1996 Grey Cup in Hamilton. A lot of local companies wanted in on it.

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  • Ad For Football Equipment (1907)

    The football season is in full swing? Are you equipped? Check out this ad for Hurd & McBride that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on October 2, 1907.

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  • Advertisements for CFL Football at BC Place Stadium in 1983

    My background is in sales and marketing. That’s what I studied at university, and that’s been my career for the last 25+ years. Coincidently, I discovered my interest in marketing around the same time I started following CFL football. That was back in Grade 10. As a marketer who likes history and nostalgia, I like looking back at vintage and retro advertising. So, I thought let’s do a blog post on some old advertisements for the CFL.

    To set the tone. The year is 1983, and the new BC Place Stadium has just been built in Vancouver. The 59,000-seat stadium is the first domed stadium in Canada. New beginnings for the B.C. Lions.

    Here are some advertisements for the B.C. Lions and CFL football that appeared in Vancouver newspapers throughout the year.

    Advertisement for BC Lions season tickets in the Province, 12 June 1983.
    Advertisement for BC Lions season tickets in the Province, 12 June 1983.

    The first game at BC Place Stadium was a pre-season match between the Lions and the Calgary Stampeders. The game featured a kick-off concert by The Guess Who.

    Advertisement for the BC Lions' first game at BC Place Stadium, an exhibition game vs. the Calgary Stampeders (Vancouver Sun, 16 June 1983).
    Advertisement for the BC Lions’ first game at BC Place Stadium, an exhibition game vs. the Calgary Stampeders (Vancouver Sun, 16 June 1983).

    The Lions hosted the Saskatchewan Roughriders in their regular season home opener at BC Place. The game was sponsored by Rothman’s and you could win a “magnificent Eskimo carving.” A different era when tobacco advertising was quite common.

    Advertisement for the BC Lions' regular season home opener at BC Place Stadium (Vancouver Sun, 23 July 1983).
    Advertisement for the BC Lions’ regular season home opener at BC Place Stadium (Vancouver Sun, 23 July 1983).

    A&B Sound, a former electronics retailer, was a corporate sponsor of the B.C. Lions. They ran the promotion below.

    A&B promo ad in the Province (30 June 1983).
    A&B promo ad in the Province (30 June 1983).

    The two best teams in the CFL in 1983 squared off on September 10th. A Grey Cup preview.

    Advertisement for the big game between BC and Toronto (Vancouver Sun, 8 September 1983).
    Advertisement for the big game between BC and Toronto (Vancouver Sun, 8 September 1983).

    A purchase of a Sony radio or Walkman also got you into the big game between the Lions and Argos.

    Promo ad (The Province, 9 September 1983)
    Promo ad (The Province, 9 September 1983)

    The SuperValu grocery chain ran a ticket promotion, as well. Customers could get a coupon for a free Lions ticket when purchasing a $9 ticket.

    SuperValu BC Lions ticket promo ad
    SuperValu BC Lions ticket promo ad.

    The B.C.Lions hosted the Western Final on November 20th versus Winnipeg. Season ticket holders, as expected, had first dibs. The tickets cost between $10 and $19.

    Ad for Western Final tickets (The Province, 30 October 1983).
    Ad for Western Final tickets (The Province, 30 October 1983).

    Player’s was another tobacco sponsor at the time. Here’s an ad promoting Grey Cup Week and the first Grey Cup to be played indoors at BC Place Stadium. Remember to heed the health advice given and avoid inhaling when smoking your cigarette.

    Grey Cup advertisement in The Province (24 November 1983).
    Grey Cup advertisement in The Province (24 November 1983).

    There weren’t any official Grey Cup tickets ads in Vancouver papers leading up to the big game because the game was virtually sold out well in advance. This article talks about the scarcity of Grey Cup tickets and how they were allocated across the CFL.

    Article in the Vancouver Sun about the availability and distribution of Grey Cup tickets (29 October 1983).
    Article in the Vancouver Sun about the availability and distribution of Grey Cup tickets (29 October 1983).

    So, if you didn’t have tickets, yet, your only option was the scalpers and resellers. The classifieds were full of ads like these. You could try John on Monday morning.

    Grey Cup tickets Classifieds ads
    Grey Cup tickets Classifieds ads

    The Grey Cup wasn’t the final game played in 1983. On December 3, the CFL and CFLPA staged an all-star game at BC Place Stadium.

    Advertisement for the 1983 CFL-CFLPA All-Star Game (Vancouver Sun, 2 December 1983).
    Advertisement for the 1983 CFL-CFLPA All-Star Game (Vancouver Sun, 2 December 1983).

    Sources:
    The Province, 12 June 1983
    The Province, 9 September 1983
    The Province, 30 October 1983
    The Province, 24 November 1983
    Vancouver Sun, 16 June 1983
    Vancouver Sun, 23 July 1983
    Vancouver Sun, 8 September 1983
    Vancouver Sun, 29 October 1983
    Vancouver Sun, 2 November 1983
    Vancouver Sun, 12 November 1983
    Vancouver Sun, 23 November 1983
    Vancouver Sun, 2 December 1983

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  • Getting Ready for the Grey Cup’s TV Debut

    It’s September 1952 and a new technology – black and white television – is taking the country and much of the world by storm. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) entered the TV business with two flagship stations: CBFT in Montreal and CBLT in Toronto.

    Grey Cup Ad in the Toronto Star (1952)
    Grey Cup Advertisement for Sweet Caps cigarettes in the Toronto Star (27 November 1952)

    The decision was soon made to broadcast the upcoming Grey Cup game on CBLT. The Canadian Rugby Union championship was scheduled for Saturday November 29th at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.

    Grey Cup Ad in the Toronto Star (1952)
    Grey Cup Advertisement by Northern Electric in the Toronto Star (27 November 1952)

    The novelty factor of the new technology coupled with the popularity of the hometown Toronto Argonauts, who were playing in the championship, helped drive sales for television sets in Toronto. Several ads selling TVs appeared in local newspapers. These didn’t come cheap, but vendors were more than happy to set up affordable payment plans for excited football fans.

    TV sale ad in the Toronto Star (1952)
    Ads promoting TV sales
    TV sale ad in the Toronto Star (1952)

    While the Grey Cup game itself was the first Canadian football game ever televised, broadcast crews did a practice run a few days before in the playoff game between the Argonauts and the Sarnia Imperials of the Ontario Rugby Football Union. In those days, the ORFU still challenged for the Grey Cup. The Toronto-Sarnia Grey Cup semi-final game at Varsity Stadium was used as the dress rehearsal for the big game. The 1952 Grey Cup commentators Norm Marshall and Larry O’Brien were actually chosen after an audition for the roles was held during the Sarnia game.

    Notes about the TV practice run done during the Grey Cup semi-final between Toronto and Sarnia (Toronto Star, 27 November 1952)

    Pubs in and around Toronto with television sets were packed on the day of the game. Meanwhile, in nearby Hamilton, Westinghouse set up several TVs so that employees and friends could watch the game. The broadcast even included a short pre-game show hosted by Annis Stukus.

    In the end, the Argonauts defeated Edmonton by a score of 21-11 in front not only record crowd at Varsity Stadium but also tens of thousands of television viewers in the Toronto area. A new era for the Grey Cup and for Canadian television was here.

    Sources:

    Patskou, Paul. “The First Televised Grey Cup Game.” Canadian Football Research Society. Accessed October 28, 2025. https://www.canadianfootballresearch.ca/the-first-televised-grey-cup-game/.

    The Toronto Star, 27 November 1952

  • Portland Hosts Fast Break CFL Football, Precursor to CFL USA Expansion

    In 1992, the Canadian Football League was looking to grow. Larry Smith was appointed the CFL’s new commissioner with a mandate to expand the CFL. Of course, Montreal and Halifax were high on Smith’s list of potential sites. But so, too, were several cities south of the border. One of these cities was Portland, Oregon.

    Located in the northwestern United States, Portland was a mid-sized city with a suitable stadium and a credible ownership group with the needed capital to both pay for and operate an expansion franchise. It was close enough to the border so that something “Canadian” didn’t sound too foreign. Heck, it was almost as if it could be a natural rival for the BC Lions. Paul Allen, the owner of the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team, was the man hoping to bring the CFL to Oregon.

    CFL Portland game article in the Oregonian newspaper (1992)

    To test the Portland market, the CFL played an exhibition game on Thursday, June 25, 1992 at Civic Stadium. The game was a rematch of the 1991 Grey Cup between the Toronto Argonauts and the Calgary Stampeders. The Argos had Raghib “the Rocket” Ismail as their marquee player. Calgary had the recently acquired future Hall of Famer Doug Flutie as their new quarterback. The stage was set for a great exhibition of Canadian football for the American fans featuring the CFL’s two biggest stars.

    In the lead up to the exhibition game, the Portland media seemed quite eager to welcome the CFL to town. Ads ran in the Oregonian newspaper promoting “fast-break,” “high flying” and “wide open” CFL football. Unsurprisingly, the Rocket was heavily promoted. Even the Trail Blazers’ Jerome Kersey was featured in advertising for the game.

    CFL ad in the Oregonian
    CFL ad in the Oregonian
    CFL ad in the Oregonian

    A decent crowd of 15,362 fans turned out on a hot Thursday night to watch the game. All in all, reviews were positive despite a rather lacklustre game. Calgary won 20-1. Yes, Americans got to see a Canadian rouge scored. In the end, though, no CFL expansion team came to Portland. Instead, Sacramento was awarded the CFL’s first U.S.-based expansion team. After a few years the CFL’s foray into the United States was over. Despite lots of talk and speculation, the CFL-in-Portland story was limited to a single exhibition game only.

    CFL gets warm welcome in Portland article in the Oregonian newspaper (1992)

    100 yard long fields are included in the Johnston Rules announced by CFL Commissioner Stewart Johnston recently. The 1992 exhibition game in Portland was the last time the CFL played on a field that was 100 yards in length. The standard CFL field didn’t fit at Portland Civic Stadium without heavy modifications, so the game was played on an American length football field that included ten-yard end zones. Have a look at the screen shots below to get a taste of what Canadian football on 100 yards will (sort of) look like in the future.

    10 yard end zone in Portland CFL game
    100 yard long field for CFL game in Portland
    10 yard end zone in Portland CFL game

    You can watch the Toronto-Calgary exhibition game in Portland on the CFL Classics YouTube channel. The game was televised nationally on TSN.

    Sources:
    The Oregonian, 2 May 1992
    The Oregonian, 26 June 1992

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