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Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

With the Grey Cup touching down in the warm embrace of Alberta this week, it is the perfect time for Ambrosie to point to his surroundings and their evident passion for the CFL as a sign that the league is booming. He will talk about going to new markets, both home and abroad.

It sounds, at times, like putting a pricey expansion on a house while a couple of the rooms still need serious repairs.

While no one doubts the strength of the CFL brand in the Prairies, business has not been moving in the right direction everywhere. The B.C. Lions this year arrested a seven-season slide in attendance, but even the modest bump to an average attendance of just under 20,000 is well off where the franchise was in terms of fan support as recently as 2011, when attendance averaged better than 36,000. There is, again, talk of owner David Braley selling the team and a hope that local investors would turn things around in that market, but no guarantee that potential buyers will agree to Braley’s asking price.

In Montreal, attendance at Percival Molson Stadium dipped again this season to fewer than 18,000 fans per game, the fourth straight season that posted a decline. The Allouetes’ mid-season trade for quarterback Johnny Manziel didn’t spark the team on the field; nor did his star power lead to a noticeable reaction from the ticket-buying public.

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

And then, Toronto. Even after a Grey Cup victory last year and with the team this season fully owned by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment rather than just two of its three partners, the Argonauts were again at the bottom of league attendance despite being in its biggest market by far. In three seasons at BMO Field, the waterfront stadium that was thought by many to be the solution to the Argos’ years-long struggle to put bums in seats, the team’s average attendance has actually been lower than it was in 2014, the last time the team played a full season at the cavernous Rogers Centre. Instead of playing at a half-empty dome, the team now plays at a half-empty outdoor field.