I’m a longtime B.C. Lions fan. It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years since I fell in love with the mid ’80s version of the team – Roy Dewalt slinging the pigskin to Swervin’ Mervyn Fernandez and Jim Sandusky (even had Jim’s autograph!), James Quick Parker sacking opposing QBs. There were the Doug and Darren Flutie years, the Dave Dickenson era, and now the Lulay lads.

So it’s doubly disappointing to see the B.C. Lions taking the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, PavCo, the Attorney General and reporter Bob Mackin to try and quash a Mackin Freedom of Information request for the Lions’ rental agreement with B.C. Place Stadium.

B.C. Place is taxpayer-owned and funded, and it is clearly in the public interest to know what the Lions are paying (if anything) to play there.

The Lions were okay with an originally released version of the contract, which blacked out dollar amounts. However, Mackin appealed, and the OIPC agreed, that the numbers should come out too. Then, the Lions hedged.

Now the Lions are in court trying to prevent taxpayers from knowing how much (if any) revenue we get from allowing the CFL team to play on our stadium. Shame on them, and shame on PavCo for not proactively releasing this years ago.

To see the Lions’ court documents, click here.