Photos: Riders invade Lions’ turf with “Green Is The New Orange” billboard outside B.C. Place

It looks like the old CFL practice of buying trash-talking billboard advertisements outside rivals' stadiums is making a comeback, thanks to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. As you can see above, the Riders purchased a "Green Is The New Orange" (a reference to the excellent Netflix show Orange Is The New Black) billboard outside B.C. Place in Vancouver this week, where they'll take on the B.C. Lions Sunday (7:30 p.m. Eastern, TSN/ESPN3). Here's a closeup of the billboard:

It's tough to see what the Roughriders really gain from this beyond just tweaking the Lions. Yes, they already have substantial numbers of fans in Vancouver (as they do in most of the country), but they're not likely to win over many neutrals with just a billboard. Most people don't look at a billboard and think "Hmm, maybe I should root for that team." Moreover, it's not like the Riders can urge people to action here; billboard advertising in your own city can make some sense, as it gets the team on people's minds and might encourage them to go buy tickets, but advertising two provinces away? That seems like a more dubious proposition. Even if the billboard does encourage Rider fans in Vancouver to go to the game Sunday (which they probably would anyway), the money from those tickets is going to go to the Lions. So, they're really only helping the competition, and riling them up even more than usual. That doesn't necessarily seem like a sound plan.

Still, it's not like the Roughriders have financial issues. They're widely estimated to be the CFL's richest team, making a reported $1.1 million in profit last year before the Grey Cup (and that's with some Grey Cup costs included, so the real number's higher) and $10.4 million once Grey Cup revenues were factored in. They made $43.8 million in gross revenue before the Grey Cup and another $25 million from it. They're also expected to make even more this year given the TV revenue increase (estimated at up to $2.7 million per team) and the minimal salary cap increase ($600,000 per team). So, they've got plenty of money to play around with. If their decision is that the best way to use that money is on a billboard outside another team's stadium, that's their call.

(Update: Apparently, it's not just one stadium! According to Joel Gasson, the Riders have also put up a billboard in Winnipeg and perhaps Ottawa as well. So they're working their way up to trolling the whole league.)