‘Someone else would appreciate this’: Bombers ticket holder sells Grey Cup seats to Riders fans

A devoted Winnipeg Blue Bombers fan will be stepping aside from the Grey Cup game this Sunday as the Saskatchewan Roughriders head into the championship against the Montreal Alouettes.

Mark MacKinnon has held season tickets since 2006, and said there were doubts throughout the season the Blue Bombers would make the Grey Cup even with Winnipeg hosting the game.

Read more: 

• Missouri-based Rider fan plans to drive to Winnipeg for his 29th Grey Cup
• Riders’ Ajou Ajou ready if needed for 112th Grey Cup
• Roughriders fans can join the party at Riderville at the Grey Cup Festival

“I think it would have been more of a long shot, but there was hope that maybe they could pull it together for one more year before their aging core went off,” he said.

MacKinnon said the “fatigue” from the Blue Bombers season is what pushed him to sell his tickets.

“I just need to take a break from this,” MacKinnon said. “There’s a lot of things that didn’t go as well as many would hope for.”

Now MacKinnon’s seats in Winnipeg will be green with Roughrider fans as they cheer Saskatchewan on to a possible victory.

“I think someone else would appreciate this more than me,” MacKinnon said.

MacKinnon said “it wouldn’t be horrible” to watch the Roughriders compete for the Grey Cup, but said he had no interest in watching the game itself.

“It’d be very similar to anyone like watching your rival,” he said,

MacKinnon recalled a similar situation where he bought Grey Cup tickets to see the Blue Bombers in Regina from Roughrider fans.

The Winnipeg fan said he’s unsure about whether he will sit and watch the Grey Cup final this weekend, and might keep up with the NFL this Sunday instead.

The football fan will still keep tabs on the Grey Cup and predict the game could go into overtime.

“It’s a coin flip as to who’s going to win,” he said. “There might be a team that’s favored, but when it’s the winner takes all, any bad team can be a good team on any game date.”

The 112th Grey Cup kicks off at 5 p.m. Saskatchewan time on Sunday.

– with files from 650 CKOM’s Libby Gray