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Monday’s newspapers were a revelation. The Redblacks were a front page sports spread in the Citizen and three full pages of coverage in the Sun. FROM MINI-CAMP!

Welcome back, Ottawa football.

“When you have the exclusive focus of the market, you’re in more conversations,” Hunt says. “There’s no question if the Senators were in the middle of a big playoff run, people wouldn’t be as engaged with the Redblacks right now.”

And it’s not just the Senators who are missing from the playoffs, but all seven Canadian-based NHL teams, leaving the door wide open for CFL marketing.

In Ottawa, ticket sales are up from last season, which featured a 2,000-seat drop in season-ticket holders from the 17,000 or so from Year One. That drop was not unexpected. Today, Hunt figures there are about 15,500 season tickets or the equivalent in packages for 2016 – and there is plenty of time to sell more before the first home pre-season game on June 13.

By then there could be a surge at the ticket office, off the news – expected next month – that Ottawa will play host to the 2017 Grey Cup.

Fans will want to get their seats firmed up for next year’s occasion, in part due to the size of the venue. TD Place holds 24,000-25,000 in a normal season and with added temporary seating will pack in the upper 30,000s or low 40,000s for the Grey Cup, according to Hunt. That’s still relatively small for a Grey Cup gate, making tickets precious.

BEAVER LODGE REDUX

Speaking of stadium additions, the Redblacks are renovating space for about 150 fans in a new, tiered standing room area just beyond the west end zone. This will be a party deck reminiscent of the old ‘Beaver Lodge’ of the Ottawa Redblacks in the early 2000s.

Even in the Redblacks era, this part of the stadium has proven popular. In the inaugural season, fans would sit on the grass berm of the west end zone, many preferring it to their seats in the stands. For safety reasons, the club had to put up a fence and keep fans off the grass, but then many chose to sit on the concrete top beyond the end zone to watch the game.

Those men in plaid, the Lumber Joes, will hang out in this under-construction party zone, and it’s possible it could house a broadcast booth.

Your Redblacks. Building toward a championship.

wscanlan@postmedia.com

@hockeyscanner