Just like it has been in many areas in and around downtown Surrey as of late, construction is booming at the BC Lions training facility. And many will admit that what the Lions are building is long overdue.
Having just celebrated his 30th anniversary with the club, current VP of football operations Neil McEvoy has seen the club’s headquarters in many different forms and layouts.
Since the Spring of 2023, the building has housed only the football operations wing of the organization, as the business department has shifted to downtown Vancouver.
When McEvoy first started in ticket sales in the mid 1990s, everyone working for the Lions was under one roof. Football B.C. and the former Vancouver 86ers were among the entities that once occupied the upstairs offices.
Fast forward to 2026, and the logistics of football require teams like the Lions to leverage all of the space that they have. That’s where the ongoing transformation comes in. At the beginning of February, work began on the special project. It includes a more spacious locker room, a new weight room and an improved player lounge that features a fully-functional kitchen.
The Lions aim to continue their proud winning tradition in a newly-renovated locker room. Photo: Jill Meagher, BC Lions.
The tools may have just started humming a few days ago, but the kickstart for this project has been over a year in the making. It began with moving the bulk of the weight room into a newly constructed high-performance structure at the end of the practice field.
“It starts with picking the architect, then you have to get the drawings done and approved, and that’s just the beginning,” said McEvoy on the construction process.
“After about four or five days into it, a lot of the downstairs had already changed. As much as the process has been slow up until now, things are moving in the right direction quickly.”
The Lions have called Surrey their practice home since 1983, and for many of those early years, the setup was unmatched across the CFL and perhaps even with some teams south of the border.
But if you’re falling behind, you lose many of the advantages that are required to put a winning product on the field. That hasn’t been lost on owner Amar Doman, with the practice facility among the first items he aimed to address when he took control almost five years ago.
“It’s going to be completely overhauled from what has been here in the past,” added McEvoy.
“It’s not just getting a fresh coat of paint; we are taking walls down and making it more modern. It’s going to be a newly updated facility that we’re all going to be very proud of. We’ve been talking about it for a while. The reality is, this facility needed to be upgraded. It’s a testament to Amar that he saw it and said these changes needed to be done. That’s an investment by him into this football team that he’s committed to getting done.”
Renderings of the expanded locker room in Surrey, featuring some key amenities many pro sports teams enjoy in today’s world. Tectonic Architecture.
The reality is, in today’s professional sporting world, a practice facility is something that needs to be up to speed with everything else,” explained McEvoy.
Being back home in our renovated facility in time for our return from Kamloops and training camp will no doubt give the team a big boost ahead of a season that will no doubt bring sky-high expectations on the field.
“If you look at the evolution of our football team on and off the field and the practice facility, it’s just one of those parts that needed to be upgraded to keep us in the world that we live in, which is constant change. And these are changes for the better,” said McEvoy.
Television screens and a new and improved kitchen will highlight the new and improved players’ lounge. Tectonic Architecture.
And for anyone who has been with the franchise for many of the good times and some of the not-so-good ones, they will surely be excited to see this team begin to usher in a new era once the renovations are complete in April.
The operation of professional football in Canada has grown tenfold over the last 30 years. This was a real mom-and-pop league in the 90s, and things started taking off in the 2000s,” explained McEvoy.
“Now in 2026, we’re a big-time business that needs to be taken care of, and that’s all part and parcel of everything that Amar has done in making this a profitable organization. You need to have things that make it profitable, and our facilities are a very big part of that.”
The remnants of the old Lions player lounge, soon to be refurbished with the kitchen plans shown above. Photo: Jill Meagher, BC Lions.
The Lions are indeed building for the future, both on and off the field. With the reigning Most Outstanding Player in Nathan Rourke and a roster fuelled to take the next step after getting so close in 2025, the excitement that comes with it is real.
Stay tuned to bclions.com, the club’s YouTube channel and our social media platforms for more updates on this special project.