Founded | 1954 |
---|---|
Based in | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
Home field | BC Place |
Head coach | Wally Buono |
General manager | Wally Buono |
Owner(s) | David Braley |
League | Canadian Football League |
Division | Western |
Colours | Orange, white, black |
Nickname(s) | Leos |
Mascot(s) | Leo the Lion |
Grey Cup wins | 6 (1964, 1985, 1994 2000, 2006, 2011) |
Website | BCLions.com |
Current uniform | |
The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team competing in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Lions play their home games at BC Place.
The Lions played their first season in 1954, and have played every season since. As such, they are the oldest professional sports franchise in the city of Vancouver and in the province of British Columbia. They have appeared in the league's Grey Cup championship game 10 times, winning six of those games, with their most recent championship occurring in 2011.
The Lions were the first Western Canadian team to have won the Grey Cup at home, having done so in 1994 and 2011, before Saskatchewan won in 2013, while also becoming the only team to beat an American-based franchise in a championship game, a feat accomplished in 1994. The Lions currently have the longest active playoff streak, and are tied for the second-longest in CFL history, having made the playoffs for 20 straight seasons.
The BC Lions Football Club is owned by businessman David Braley, who purchased the club in 1997. Braley was a member of the Canadian Senate. As of 2011, the BC Lions Football Club executive committee consisted of four people:
Compared to the rest of the country, senior football arrived late in British Columbia. Rugby unions had been organized in all of the Prairie provinces by 1907 and the Western Canada Rugby Football Union had been formed in 1911. However, it would not be until 1926 (after the sudden collapse of the Western Hockey League) that the British Columbia Rugby Football Union was formed, and not until 1930 that the BCRFU would challenge for the right to represent the West in the Grey Cup. The Vancouver Meralomas were the most successful British Columbian team of the era. They played in the Western Final in 1930 and again in 1934, only to lose on both occasions to the Regina Roughriders of the Saskatchewan Rugby Football Union.