Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Jay McNeil (FULL INTERVIEW)

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

Boomer and Pinder sit down with Calgary Stampeders president Jay McNeil for a full conversation on the momentum building around the organization heading into a big season. The guys discuss the success the Stamps had last year, expectations for what comes next, and why there’s genuine excitement around events like the return of the Stampede Bowl and Calgary hosting the Grey Cup this season. It’s a wide-ranging chat on football, leadership, and why this feels like a major year for both the Stampeders and the city of Calgary.Video Link: https://youtu.be/3aY3TP8fLDA#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #calgaryflames CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back. We have a lot of car dealers on the show and happy for that. We've just made a swap. We made a trade. We traded a Warner for a Jay McNeil. I feel great about it. I don't know about you. I mean, it looks looks good. It's it's got the new car smell. The other one of his head collected a clean shave and haircut. It's quite a it's quite a better shape. It's a hell of a swap. I'm feeling good about this trade. There you go. Yeah. It's all the matters. It's all the matters. Jamie. Callegri Stam Peters coming in. Good to see you. It's, uh, I was thinking. I was thinking. have we had you in a, maybe it was a little over a year, a little under a year ago.

But two years ago, team misses the playoffs, wild changes on and off the field, personnel, the whole thing. And then the year that you guys had, you don't win a great cup. But how would you, if maybe letter grade or if you were to kind of look back on it, from where you were two years ago to the year that you had last year, how would you kind of summarize that are put a rating on it. Yeah. Maybe I'll get to the letter. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, first of all, I'm very proud of, you know, what we accomplished as an

organization, like on and off the field in 2025. You think about where we were to where we got to, you know, from our team perspective, arguably a couple plays away from going to the great country. And then from a business perspective, you know, we led the league in year over year revenue growth. You know, we had attendance growth. Like, it was a successful year off the field as well. When you get to a letter grade, though, our number one goal is the Wintergrade Cup championship. We didn't get there.

I don't know you can go with an A if you're not achieving your number one goal. And then I would say the same thing off the field. You know, we had we may take great strides, but we didn't achieve what we were to achieve. So I'm going to give us a strong B plus. So there's lots to build off for 2026. See, that's the bark of a good, you know, boss. You can't, we have our projections we have to hit.

Maybe behind closed doors, like, we had a pretty good year. I'm pretty happy with how it went. but you got to give the, I'll take a B. I'll take a B plus. We expect more, but it really was. I think I told you the last time you were through

coming up, you know, the Stampede Bowl and different things to get maybe old fans back to the park, new fans energized. And I think sometimes if you look, it's a hard job, promotions and that.

Sometimes things can come off as a little silly or gimmicky. But I thought you guys hit all, all things last year. There were great ideas I mean, Brett, it went off, everything just went off so well last year. It does raise the bar, make things, make things a little tricky moving forward. But none of that stuff felt like it was contrived.

It was all, it was all fun and it all seemed like it hit. I couldn't agree more. You know, and what I love about that is it really takes an organization to hit all of those points that you just mentioned. I really took everybody really committing to doing something different, being bigger and bolder like we talked about. And everybody in the organization did. It was great, but you said we've set the bar high now. Yeah. And so what do we do in 2026?

Hosting a great cup this year that's huge. It's a massive opportunity on the field for the team, off the field. I'm sure there's some extra buzz around the CFL. What does it mean to you personally when you got a huge event coming up in the fall? It's a big opportunity, right? Huge opportunity. You know, I think throughout our organization, whether it's on the business side of things or in our locker room, everybody understands this is a huge opportunity for organizations.

something that doesn't happen very often is to win a great cup at home. And so first and foremost, Canada's largest single day sporting event, we want to put on the best Great Cup in history. And so we're excited, we're really happy with where we're at and the plans that we're building towards that.

And then to be able to come in and lift the Grey Cup as a team afterwards, I don't think it could get any better than that. That'd be an A plus. If you could not hold it in April, you might get some good weather for it. Yeah, that's getting it out of the way. Because if you held it this month,

you'd be really kind of Russian roulette for sure. How do you have, I know that you don't, but I just wonder, you have a wealth of, from your playing days of experience there. Does Dave ever bend your ear a little bit? Do you ever kind of,

hey, Dave, do you want a coffee, sit down, have a little chat with what you're saying? Because you played a long time and have, like I say, a wealth of experience and knowledge there.

Well, I think he, you know, he likes to let me talk because, of course, I get excited about it. But,

But, you know, more, when we speak, talk about things, more of it's around how do we fit this into our budget? How do we fit this into our plans in the future as opposed to sort of the day-to-day transactions? But it's, but it's fun. I have to be very careful because I like talking about that. Sure. Football, like, just gets me so excited. And I can't wait for training camp to start. But I want to make sure that I'm not putting, you know, asking too many questions.

And, you know, I don't want them thinking, you know, I'm questioning. Yeah. Because I know, the draft's coming. It's like, yeah, geez, Dave. I don't know if you knew the draft was coming up here. if you need any. Dave, you need a good lineman to win.

Thanks. Take some big boys, huh? Yeah. Yep. We had that conversation last week. Okay, good. Yeah. It happens.

Kind of nice in some ways, I guess for your job, it's still very busy. I would guess for him, less changes. Is that fair to say there will be less turnover going into this year than there was for sure. Oh, for sure.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. When you look at, you know, we overhauled our coaching staff going into 2025, we only had one change this year. And Jarus Jackson is coming in, former head coach,

former offensive coordinator. So we're excited about what he's going to bring to our organization and to Vernon Adams as his coach. And then, you know, in our locker room, we were really focused on. We thought we had a really good team last year. And so let's make sure we get our, our players signed. And so during free agency, it was all about getting the guys we wanted to be here, make sure that they stay. And then we were very, you know, choosy through, you know, through free agency and we were able to bring in through that as we're excited about. Is Calgary still as sexy a free agent destination as it always been. It always felt like you're in a good spot

to bring guys in the city, the team, the winning, the whole thing was always kind of a, felt like a bit of a leg up on a lot of the teams. Absolutely. You know, for the longest time, it was the Calgary advantage. Yeah. Right. You know, from the opportunities outside of football, you know, after football. And then, you know, a team that is, you know,

winning year in and year out, really, he really is appetizing for players. You know, in the last few years, I think we've gotten away from that a little bit and we've been focusing on how do we we how do we improve that player experience while they're here? How do we help them become integrated into our community? How do we find their jobs? I really bring back that Calgary advantage. The Stampede Bowl, I know we talked about when you came in, the trophy and all of that.

Nailed it. I guess just not to revisit history, but can you go back? Because it was always you just, you don't stampede. You just stay. It's like death. You don't do it. It's like, well, unless there's so many people in the city that maybe they don't need to go to hockey talks every night.

Maybe there's time for one football game in there. And you were just the genesis of that whole thing. And now as it heads into another year where again, it's, it's kind of one of those things you look for on the schedule all of a sudden. Yeah, I know, certainly you're right. A lot of fans are talking about, you know, what's the halftime show for? Everyone lost it all. Yeah.

And we're waiting. So just to be waiting you want to break. I'll tell you this. We have somebody signed. Okay. So now we're waiting to, when are we going to announce that? Any clues today? billions of streams on Spotify.

So I hope it's tape McCray. That's scoundary girl. There's not a lot of billion streamers. Get to work, people. Let's go. I'm more on that. Brett, Mike, I'm thinking. Who could we guess?

Like slash. We got some good G&R coming in. What are we going to? We got to be cognizant. It's just not the Jay McNeil. What he wants. Oh, come on, Jay. We're singing last year.

The little warm-up video there. But going back to your original question, like the evolution of it all, you know, which we would always, you know, book off those two weekends and not play. We either go on the road or we'd have a buy week. And then we play that first weekend after Stampy at home. And, you know, that's, it's a challenge. People are tired. They get a lot of money.

They're on holidays. And to get them to come out to a game is tough. And we tried different avenues, whether I think, you know, it was our family day game against Ottawa in 2023. And then in 2024, we did Wally Buono's Wall of Fame game trying to, you know, bring. And we played BC, which was a Western Division opponent. And we sold the same amount of tickets both years. You know, we got to do something different here because this isn't working. And that's how, that's the, how we first started that conversation.

And then, like I said, the organization got behind it and exploded. I feel like there's, it's that new way of thinking, kind of new. Let's try and get a little bit that I think maybe we're starting to see across the league. They've been heavily criticized for being old boys, oh, we can't do this. We can't do that. Well, we've seen some rule changes come in. and then stuff like this. And I think that it's only good, good thing.

Again, we're about the same vintage. I'm fine with let's, let's try some things. It's okay if things don't work right away. You have to adapt and move on. And I think the league is finally seeing that. I agree. You know,

it's about modernizing and getting with, what do young people want? We talk about all the time. There's not enough young people come to CFL games. So let's try to, you know, make rule changes that's going to make it more exciting. How do we bring in?

different events, you know, like the Stampy Bowl that are going to attract a different customer. The Great Cup's a great opportunity for this for Calgary. That's one of the things that we've talked about with this opportunity only coming once, you know, arguably every nine or ten years is, you know, how do you attract a new audience? And there's Calgary's demographics are changing every day. And how do we introduce them to the CFL? Well, Jack's pumped up. He's got a Coors jacket for the Coors Coral.

I know that adds worked for his demo. Well, and also, Jack, were you undefeated last year? Yes. Three and O, baby. Yeah. You get Jack to the building. It's guaranteed win nights. We better make that 9-0 issue.

I don't know how much cap space you got or if you can hide that somewhere else. But you need to scare your summer plans. We will figure that one out. There are rumblings about in New Jersey. There's been some leaks here or there. What can you tell us about I really like the candy cane stripes, but you might be trying something new this year? Well, you know, again, talk about, you know, how do we modern?

How do we celebrate the history of the stamp eaters, but also modernize it and that would appeal to a younger demographic. And so, yeah, there is stay tuned for some things that might be released later this week. No green, though, right? Still no green. I get mad when people in the office are wearing green. So there's no, there's no green allowed. And you've got what, I believe, an event for season ticket holders or clients at Red White Club later this week.

That would be a red and white. It would seem to announce. We'd make a lot of sense, wouldn't it? Yeah. Red and white. Spoiler jersey. Yeah. We'll look forward to that.

Right. So with the Great Cup coming and what's the ticket? Like what is, because I'm guessing a lot of people, myself included, I haven't thought that far ahead. I can barely think to next week, let alone November when the Grey Cup comes. But for ticket availability, is there like a tier? How do you, is it season ticket holders? And then how does that, what's the best way for people to make sure that they're there?

Yeah, we started out with our pre-sales for season ticket holders back in January. And so now we're working through all those pre-sales. We will be on sale to the public on May. 11th. So to, you know, yeah, the best way to get tickets right now is to be a season, get a season ticket package and then you get a discounted. You get a discount on your great cup seats if you're a season ticket all there too. So exhibition starts soon. I saw a tweet from the social media team last month. It's like, we know, we're playing next month. I'm like, shit, we're just in April. Is this in April Fool's tweet? Like, no, you get an exhibition. Get mid-May.

Like, it's come of quick. Yeah. Yeah. Rookies report next Monday on the fourth. And draft tomorrow. Yeah. That, this is all happening fast. Fast. Wow. Would have been great to have those rookies here. week. It's like it's 25 degrees. It's minus 24. What is going on here? There is this. Yeah. Yeah. And then your regular season opener is June 5, which that's obviously a big one as well. I know this, the league's shifted forward a bit. You can't go too far because you've got to respect the drafts and things like that. But are you happy with that? That was not sort of of another modernation the league's gone through the last five to 10 years. Generally speaking,

we're, you know, we're happy with our schedule this year. You know, it is with, with BC and Toronto hosting the World Cup. Yeah. That, you know, and their stadiums being offline for six, eight weeks each, that really made it challenging this year for the scheduling perspective. So,

you know, you had to be flexible, more flexible than in years past. And ultimately, I'm really happy about, you know, where we landed, June 5th.

We're playing, we're playing Winnipeg. It's the, you know, we're celebrating the year of the horse. Yes, it is the year of the horse. We're also going to be welcoming back

our 2001 Great Cup championship. Amazing. Yeah. So it's going to be a lot of fun. And I'm looking, Stamp people will be Toronto on July 2nd. That's correct. That's come and quit too.

With an unnamed artist. With an unnamed artist. Google before tomorrow. Millions. Billions. Billions. Billions and billions. A lot of streets. Not bad. I wanted to touch on one final thing and I know it's way down the

road, but it's something that I see hardcore Stamps fans talking about a bunch. We understand that McMahon Stadium has done a lot of good work for a long, long time. And everyone wants to know what is the next home. And while it's done a great job now, obviously we've heard whispers about what could be happening at Stampede Park and can you coexist something for Stampede with a track as well as a stadium. Is this anything you're touching or is this more people at the board, the city?

Like, where, how far are we from Dreamland to like we're working behind the scenes is this? I think it's still just talk. Yeah. At this point, you know, and for sure, your comments about McMahon Stadium. You know, we use. to even, you know, the last couple years have said, you know, as McMahon Stadium approaches its end of life, it is at its end of life. So make no mistake, it is time for a new stadium and how do we, how do we make that happen? Yeah. You know, I think from a Stampedeter's perspective, you know, we'll take a new stadium anywhere. Right. And we will lend our support as, as the main tenant, but it really needs to be a community initiative, right? Ten games a year does not drive an ROI to spend

half a billion dollars on an East stadium. So, you know, where is the best place for that? I mean, certainly at Stampede, we would love to have those conversations. Is it, you know, is it the field house they're talking about? And up by the university near McMansden, we'd love to talk about that too. Yeah. But it is time we need a new stadium. Yeah. And so from afar, it feels like the appetites there, funding this is going to be the challenge.

That's right. Who's going to cut a check? Is it public? Like that's, that to me is, that's the big hurdle. So I guess from your guys's perspective, it's like, we're open to all ideas. We'll talk with everyone. That's right. Yeah. And the nice thing is, you know, four years ago, nobody was talking about it.

And now all of the stakeholders are talking about it. So that's a good thing. Okay. And it's interesting. I mean, we'll, we'll wrap it up. But I feel like it's, it's not a new challenge for you guys, for fans that go to games. It's not that it's a non-issue, but it's not surprised. You just, you don't even, just focus on the football. Grab your beer, grab your food. Tailgate. Have a good tie. It is what it is, but it is what it is.

So just get in there and you just cut. almost just kind of move on. And you guys have done a great job to kind of, you get over that hurdle. And then it's like, now that I'm just here, I'm focused on what's going on, I'm having a hell of a good time.

And the team's winning and a B plus from the president. No, B plus, just B. B plus. B plus from the president. So I mean, things are coming. Maybe it's because we were close to it last year. We paid closer attention. But I sure noticed a lot more people talking about it.

The logo is still the best in the league. The color is a great. New Jersey, the game, the gray cup. you're poised for a hell of a year. It's going to be a fun summer. Congrats on all the hard work. I can imagine it's been a ton of work. You're the horse.

It's been a lot of it. You're the horse. Exactly. Love it. Love it. There you go. Jay, thanks for coming in. We appreciate it.

Thanks for having me.