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Being better on the football field has helped the Ottawa Redblacks at the ticket windows, too.

Jeff Hunt, president of sports for franchise owner Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group, said Monday the Redblacks were ahead of last year’s pace for ticket sales, and he credited that to the team’s surge to the top of the Canadian Football League’s East Division and subsequent appearance in the Grey Cup contest.

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“There’s no question that going to the Grey Cup has helped in both new season-ticket sales and renewal of existing season tickets,” Hunt said. “You always have turnover no matter what team and where you are, but our renewal (rate) is way ahead percentage-wise of where we were last year.”

Buoyed by interest in the CFL’s return to Ottawa nearly a decade after the demise of the Renegades and Lansdowne Park redevelopment, the Redblacks sold the equivalent of 17,000 season tickets, including mini-packs, for their first campaign in 2014. They also sold out all nine games at 24,000-seat TD Place stadium.