The B.C. Lions are feelin’ nicey about the results of their latest guerrilla marketing tactic, which saw former Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden flex his knowledge of the organization on social media.
The seven-minute video, which was posted by Gruden on May 28, featured the current Barstool Sports personality opening up a box of Lions merchandise sent to him by the team. The original clip has since been viewed more than 388,000 times on X, 223,000 times on Instagram, 134,000 times on Facebook, and 109,600 times on TikTok, while being shared en masse by dozens of other popular accounts.
Look what we got here… it’s a box all the way from British Columbia!
The BC Lions of the CFL are some of the most fun football you’ll ever watch… and they got a heck of a QB!
Thank you Coach Pierce and the @BCLions for this awesome box!! pic.twitter.com/3kVX74Iqvh
— Jon Gruden (@BarstoolGruden) May 28, 2026
All of that publicity came free of charge thanks to the initiative of B.C. general manager Ryan Rigmaiden, who first got the idea of jumping on Gruden’s popular unboxing trend.
“The idea was he’d done that for many small schools, so we weren’t the first ones to do it, but we were the first CFL team. I just sent a note to (vice president of marketing Carolyn Cody) and (team president Duane Vienneau) and said, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about doing this,’ and sent it off,” Rigmaiden recalled this week.
“I got (Gruden’s) number from a friend of a friend, and just cold-called him on a text and said, ‘Hey, I’d like to send you some gear.’ He said, ‘Fantastic,’ and away we went. This was just Jon being generous and being himself. You guys saw that video, it’s just him being him. It was tremendous, and it certainly lifts the brand and shines some light on us.”
The care package was originally sent around the time of the CFL Draft, but Gruden was on vacation. He informed Rigmaiden that he received the delivery and let him know that the video wouldn’t be out for a couple of weeks. The results were well worth the wait.
Not only did Gruden accept the gear with his trademark glee, but he also went to great lengths to rattle off facts about the franchise and highlight notable players. Two of the coach’s former charges with the Oakland Raiders, Keon Hatcher and James Butler, were given shoutouts, but he also raved about quarterback Nathan Rourke, defensive end Mathieu Betts, the emergence of safety Jackson Findlay, and the acquisition of Darnell Sankey, among others. He delved deep…
2026-06-06 15:00:18
