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<\/p>\nThe Lions live on campus at TRU during camp, lodging in an 11-storey residence tower and often eating at the nearby Campus Activity Centre.<\/p>\n
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TRU is next door to scenic Hillside Stadium, where camp practices are held, and that venue is adjacent to the Tournament Capital Centre, which features the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, workout facilities and meeting rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe facilities here are second to none,\u201c Rigmaiden said.<\/p>\n
The TRU exam period concluded for this winter semester on April 29, leaving ample time for students to vacate the residence building before the Lions arrived, the CFL club bringing a bulky roster that was trimmed periodically throughout camp. Training camp wrapped up on Thursday (May 28).<\/p>\n
This year, the Lions opened mini-camp on May 6 and the veterans arrived on May 10.<\/p>\n
CFL training camps next year are scheduled to open in the third week of April (mini-camp on April 21; training camp on April 24), the new wrinkle a change from the traditional format, with the league pushing up the start of its regular season to Victoria Day Weekend.<\/p>\n
The tail end of the TRU winter semester next year will overlap with Lions\u2019 camp by about one week, so some students will still be on campus and living in the residence building.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat seems to be the crux of it, just that timing, and it sounds like it\u2019s affecting a lot of teams because a lot of teams are using universities for their camps,\u201d said Dusan Magdolen, cultural services and events manager for the City of Kamloops. \u201cThis is a big contract for TRU dorms. So, is there a\u00a0possibility to talk to them? Exams end at the end of April, but it\u2019s not like everybody has their final exam on April 28th, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Magdolen said there is intention from both the city and the Lions to activate the contract extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hopeful they can make it work between adjusting how they [the Lions] do things a little bit, looking to work with TRU,\u201d Magdolen said. \u201cIf they [TRU] can congregate all the people that will still be there for that final week onto one floor and give them [the Lions] the rest of the floors \u2026 something like that. The news wasn\u2019t announced that long ago, so they\u2019re [the Lions] kind of having to sort that out, as well, while running their current camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magdolen said that if supplemental hotel accommodation is required by the Lions during the first week of camp, the city will encourage talks with local hotels and Tourism Kamloops.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the groups can make it work because it\u2019s a fairly big impact to anybody that\u2019s taking them in, so well worth it, and it\u2019s still a bit in the shoulder season,\u201d Magdolen said. \u201cSo they might be able to work a deal with a hotel, but I think they\u2019re still having to crunch some numbers and figure some of that out.\u201d<\/p>\n
How food service for the Lions at TRU may be affected due to the scheduling change will be of concern, along with the possibility of splitting team members between the dorm and outside accommodation, and the operational roadblocks that may present with travel to the stadium.<\/p>\n
Lions\u2019 president Duane Vienneau will be at the forefront of the camp decision for next season. CFJC reached out for comment, with a Lions\u2019 spokesperson replying to say discussions are expected to resume soon and logistical issues will be examined, but the club\u2019s focus for now is on the beginning of the 2026 regular season.<\/p>\n
The city paid the Lions $56,650 and $58,350 to host camp in 2025 and 2026, respectively. The price tag for 2027 if the option is triggered is $60,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose things are set,\u201d Magdolen said when asked about the cost to host camp in 2027. \u201cObviously, if they get into dire straits, that becomes a conversation and maybe we have to take that forward and go, \u2018Hey, this is what\u2019s needed because of these things happening,\u2019 but we also have to balance. There are all kinds of community-impact things that we could support. It\u2019s a balancing act, but we\u2019re definitely committed to it and want them to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Lions are in town, there is an estimated economic spinoff of $300,000 per year into the community, the city told CFJC in 2024. The deal includes marketing of Kamloops and the Tournament Capital brand at Lions\u2019 home games and events throughout the season, along with other perks<\/a>.<\/p>\n FanFest is held each year, attracting tourists to the city and its hotels and restaurants.<\/p>\n Communities across the province are often rumoured to be interested in snaring Lions\u2019 camp, but what Kamloops offers has proven hard to beat.<\/p>\n \u201cOur players and coaches get what we want out of this process,\u201d Rigmaiden said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about evaluation. If it were up to me, I think we\u2019d be here for a long time, but that\u2019s something that\u2019s going to be above my pay grade. These are problems our president Duane Vienneau is absolutely adept to handle and we\u2019re absolutely counting on him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lions live on campus at TRU during camp, lodging in an 11-storey residence tower and often eating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-701057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}