2015 All Things Lions Marketing & Promotions

[Qman]

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Despite being on a thursday, the Edmonton game should be better attended. The tickets up on ticketmaster are virtually all gone. They will probably start releasing upper end zone seats soon.

for some odd reason just interesting to see how this changes every couple days.
update: as posters have noted the lions hold back some of the endzone seats on ticketmaster. they posted another third of the endzone seats ... so if they sell these last third still to be posted (upper endzone) plus the gameday holdbacks

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[SammyGreene]

I expect to see little movement in tickets between now and Thursday with roughly the same size of crowd as the Toronto game. Edmonton should have been a bigger draw but the Lions crapped the bed in the 2nd half of their last 2 games — not only leading to losses but not exactly entertaining football.

The defence is horrible but if the Lions are able to fire close to all cylinders on offence the product will still sell. High scoring games are not the end of the world when you are trying to attract a very fickle casual fan. But the last 2 games (2nd half at least) offensively have looked very familiar to 2014 which turned a lot of people off.

The Whitecaps have also deservedly created their own buzz in the days ahead by kicking the Sounders 3-0 at Century Link last night. Rematch is Wedneday at BC Place so that won't help. I guess no day before walk through for Esks/Lions. Jones will be pissed after whining about UBC for the pre-season game.

Yep. Eskimos doing their walk thru at Commonwealth before flying here I guess.

Sunday August 2
No practice


Monday August 3
11:30 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. Walk through


Tuesday August 4
10:30 a.m.- 12:45 p.m. Practice


Wednesday August 5
10:00 a.m.- 11:20 a.m. Walk through, Commonwealth Stadium


Thursday August 6
Edmonton Eskimos @ BC Lions
BC Place
Kickoff 8 p.m. MT
Broadcast: TSN, ESPN2, 630 CHED

[sj-roc]

I expect to see little movement in tickets between now and Thursday with roughly the same size of crowd as the Toronto game. Edmonton should have been a bigger draw but the Lions crapped the bed in the 2nd half of their last 2 games — not only leading to losses but not exactly entertaining football.

The defence is horrible but if the Lions are able to fire close to all cylinders on offence the product will still sell. High scoring games are not the end of the world when you are trying to attract a very fickle casual fan. But the last 2 games (2nd half at least) offensively have looked very familiar to 2014 which turned a lot of people off.

The Whitecaps have also deservedly created their own buzz in the days ahead by kicking the Sounders 3-0 at Century Link last night. Rematch is Wedneday at BC Place so that won't help. I guess no day before walk through for Esks/Lions. Jones will be pissed after whining about UBC for the pre-season game.

The Whitecaps are close to sold out for Seattle on Wed anway — If the TM map is to be believed. I know it isn't always the case for the Lions but I suspect the map is close to the truth for the Caps simply because they have a much smaller per game inventory (i.e., capacity minus STHs). The Lions' inventory is around 27,500 - 15,000 = 12,500. The Caps have a 21k capacity and their STH count is around 14k (as noted Friday on Sekeres's show by Province Caps/MLS beat writer Marc Weber — listen to the audio here, starting from around the 3:00 mark, he mentions the 14k figure around 4:03). So only 7000 inventory, barely half that of the Lions, less need to "hide" unsold seats and release them piecemeal the way the Lions have been doing. So if the map is accurate and I think it is there looks to be under 1000 tickets left. To be honest what with Seattle being one of the Caps rivals, I'm surprised it's not already closer to a sellout as they've had several 21k crowds so far this year.

Competition for media run is probably a bigger concern for the Lions who have to avoid becoming an afterthought in the shadow of the Caps game over the next few days. The Caps right now are sitting in first place in their conference (2nd overall) and basking in the glow of that 3-0 win yesterday.

But there's also hockey on the horizon this week for the media to focus on and I don't mean the Canucks, but rather what TSN is referring to as the "SPORT CHEK WORLD JUNIOR SUMMER SHOWCASE". Over the next four nights starting tomorrow TSN will air four junior games from Calgary featuring Team Canada against either Russia or the Czechs, as a prelude to the upcoming annual WJHC that starts in December.

Excerpt:

Canada’s favourite holiday hockey tradition heats up this summer as TSN expands its exclusive live coverage of the World Juniors with a new summer preview, the first-ever SPORT CHEK WORLD JUNIOR SUMMER SHOWCASE. This new four-game exhibition series features Team Canada hosting two of their biggest hockey rivals on home ice from Aug. 3-6. Canadians can watch all four Team Canada games on TSN platforms, beginning with a rematch of the 2015 World Juniors gold medal game when Canada faces Russia on Monday, Aug. 3 at 10 p.m. ET on TSN (click here or see below for complete broadcast schedule).

Along with complete live coverage of all four Team Canada games, TSN delivers comprehensive news, highlights, and reaction from this summer series that puts the country’s top junior players in the national spotlight.
...
Broadcast Schedule: TSN’s broadcast schedule for the SPORT CHEK WORLD JUNIOR SUMMER SHOWCASE is as follows*:

Monday, Aug. 3, Canada vs. Russia at 10 p.m. ET on TSN
Tuesday, Aug. 4, Canada vs. Czech Republic at 7:30 p.m. ET on TSN
Wednesday, Aug. 5, Russia vs. Canada at 10 p.m. ET on TSN
Thursday, Aug. 6, Czech Republic vs. Canada at 7 p.m. ET on TSN

*Subject to change

Come to think of it, this hockey coverage could overshadow not only the Lions but also the Whitecaps, and I could imagine their fans might feel that their high-performing soccer team would be getting short shrift in the process.

[B.C.FAN]

The most common football question I've fielded from friends and family this summer is "How are the Lions doing?" That's the reality of the summer sports market in this town. Casual fans don't pay much attention to football until after Labour Day.

[sj-roc]

Casual fans don't pay much attention to football until after Labour Day.

Probably because, as I've lamented before, they're constantly told it doesn't start until then. Here's something I found on Ott's own website:

http://www.ottawaredblacks.com/article/ ... o-remember

With apologies to the Mayans, Egyptians and the space aliens that built Stonehenge (allegedly), our Lansdowne Live September calendar starts the last weekend of August with Fury FC hosting Tampa at TD Place on the 29th and the REDBLACKS hosting Saskatchewan on the 30th.

For the Fury, this could very well be the pivotal match as they drive for a first-ever playoff position in the NASL, and for fans, it’s one of your last chances to soak-up the warm rays of the summer sun in the idyllic lower south tanning spa (seats) at TD Place.

In the CFL, they say the REAL season doesn’t start until after Labour Day, but here in Ottawa, with our wonderful mix of football fans and fans of our football party, every game day is a fresh new experience where #RNation tries to outdo itself on the “Have Fun Richter Scale.” This game will attract expatriated flat-landers with watermelons on their heads and green on their backs. They too are coming to party and we relish the opportunity to show them how.

This is coming from WITHIN THE LEAGUE ITSELF! Which, by the way is the first hit that comes up when you search the phrase season doesn't start until labour day (without quotes). Why should the fans care about summer games when the teams themselves act like they don't? If I were commish the first thing I'd do would be banish any use of the phrase within the league and by any media partners. If I could, I'd even fine the *poop* out of anyone under the league's control who said it. The first step to success is quit undermining your own product. Besides, to say it doesn't matter isn't even true. How many teams besides the 2011 BC Lions have won the Grey Cup after an 0-5 start? Heck, there probably aren't even very many champs who started 0-3. Those games DO matter. Quit telling us they don't.

Here's another link, from 2011, that comes up on the first page of hits from that google search:

The Roughriders defeated the Blue Bombers in the Labour Day Classic 27-7.

Saskatchewan took the lead late in the first quarter when Darian Durant his Chris Getzlaf for a 38-yard touchdown pass and the team held on to the lead for their second win of the season.

Durant finished the game with three touchdown passes and admitted he called the majority of the plays after the team fired offensive coordinator Doug Berry following the team's 1-7 start.

"The real season doesn't really start until after Labour Day," exclaimed Durant following the victory, "I don't really want to talk about the past. We're a new team. We're just all about the future, right now."

From late August of last year in the Edmonton Sun:

[Fred] Stamps has been plagued by a mysterious lower-body injury that the [Eskimos aren't] letting the cat out of the bag about, but there’s no doubt the timing of Stamps’s return to practice couldn’t be better than the week of the Labour Day Classic.

“It’s a big week across the whole CFL,” said the receiver, who’s eight CFL seasons in the Eskimos locker-room is as much as anyone on the current roster. “The season really doesn’t start until Labour Day, that’s what I’ve always been told.”

Here's another example, from 2010 on the CFL's own website: http://www.cfl.ca/article/hardy-does-my ... e-a-chance. The very first words of the article:

You hear it all the time: The CFL season doesn’t really begin until Labour Day...

(Ironically this article actually presents evidence that dispels the myth, so perhaps I could cut it some slack)

Another one, from 2012, again from the league's own website: http://cfl.ca/article/week-11-cflca-game-notes. And again, right off the bat:

It’s a common belief in the CFL that the real regular season doesn’t begin until Labour Day weekend is over and done with.

If someone is trying to sell you a lawn mower, are you going to think about buying it if he tells you have to turn it on and let it run for an hour before the blades start to spin?

[TheLionKing]

The most common football question I've fielded from friends and family this summer is "How are the Lions doing?" That's the reality of the summer sports market in this town. Casual fans don't pay much attention to football until after Labour Day.

Seems like you and I have the same friends.

[Toppy Vann]

I know it's not going to happen but for me the football season for the Lions should be the fall but despite the summer issues, the TV numbers for TSN etc are all strong and this will dictate.

It's hard not to get announcers not to say this as it is true. They get back to 2011 and the Lions out at 0 and 5 and a Grey Cup and Lulay MOP. They use this to sugar coat the Riders situation and how things can quickly change.

But also it's true. The real season for teams is post labour and the last 9 games as:
a. You're either on a run towards peaking for the playoffs or you're peaking and in the hunt for the grand prize in a tight race.
b. You start to fade off after a brilliant start or your bad streak just continues.

But all this speaks to the gate challenges and the reality of the quality of the broadcasts and the TVs and HD we can sit home and see it on.

Go to a game on a double header night and you miss one of them until you know the score already. Go home and your pvr will allow you see both games in a row without knowing the score of the other.

Things like replays, panels, coaches insights, stories about what the players said to TSN the day before - you miss that at the stadium but that stuff makes the broadcasts more interesting.

The trick in this era is how to get fans to wanna be with other fans at the park. Lions need to get focus happening.

[TheLionKing]

I concur with sj-roc. League has a penchant of shooting themselves in the foot.

[LakeLions]

It's been interesting reading the thoughts on this thread.

I'm going to say that the Lions issues at the gate are due to a myriad of small shocks, all of which the team has responded to by saying 'we're the Lions, we're big, look at our TV numbers' and not actually responding to in any way.

That's likely on Skulsky, but the whole organization is to blame.

2010 -Empire Field seems like a fun memory, but there were plenty of fans/season tix holders who didn't like it
2011 - BC Place return and prices are jacked up, season tix holders again get the shaft
2008-2012 - Canucks at their peak, stealing interest and new fans
2011 - Whitecaps enter market and Lions respond by going "its soccer, no one cares". Yes, people do care
2012-present - Seahawks become huge, and Vancouver jumps on bandwagon

All little, small shocks that shouldn't really have made a big difference...but when the Lions IN NO WAY responded to them, they added up to a big deal.

Add in a so-so team over the past few years, add in TV demanding Thursday and Friday games that are really tough for fraser valley/interior/island fans to get to, add in 3+hour games, add in Geroy getting stuffed off to Saskatchewan, and you've got a debacle on your hands

The sad thing is - and someone said something similar above - I'm not sure the Lions still clue in to it.
TV numbers (which are national numbers so not sure if they're really reflective of interest locally) are still good, there's more TV money, and I guess a smaller crowd at a higher ticket price can still turn a profit.

[J5V]

And the Lions game plan to try to stem the excodus of fans is apparently... to do absolutely nothing !

The Lions got a lot of media play after the 13 year low crowd against Toronto. All sorts of talk on the radio, on TV and print. Perhaps time to try to salvage the two Thursday home games and try to reverse the trend by at least coming up with something? Anything ? Apparently not.

Again, so much of this has been self inflicted. Head scratching mis-pricing and overpricing of tickets for a few seasons have led to the situation where people have gotten out of the habit of going to games. I'm not saying crowds would be booming (as other factors are at work too) but just some sensitivity to pricing would have kept a larger base.

[Toppy Vann]

You and Lakelions have hit it on the head but for two things:

> that letter from the Canuck fan who no longer goes to games but lives downtown IIRC speaks volumes for others today as to why fans prefer home for games.
> the team is simply not entertaining fans to the extent needed to change the story line from crowds to games.

The mispricing is actually part of the skullduggery that I've inferred was their plan along since they had to go back to Empire (on a temp basis). It made sense as it was a smaller venue to up price seats but you had to know they weren't going to go back down with the refurbed dome. His (Skulsky's) stats show their fans got a lot of cash and he wants it.

Fill the lower bowl and create demand and buzz was the plan with a closed upper deck that gives them a surer cost structure versus do we open upper or not and have to pay extra staffing. Even his fans wanted that.

The team on the field didn't cooperate with exciting football and nothing much I've seen so far suggests that the next games will do much to change that. Esks will be tough. When they have to go to Hamilton Aug 15, it won't get any easier and likely not any better.

If they don't get Ws quick I think they should get some backup QBs into the mix just to shake things up. Downside is that group of REC will with the exception of Harris are hardly scaring anybody and with no motion coming from them are looking too easy.

[B.C.FAN]

And the Lions game plan to try to stem the excodus of fans is apparently... to do absolutely nothing !

The Lions got a lot of media play after the 13 year low crowd against Toronto. All sorts of talk on the radio, on TV and print. Perhaps time to try to salvage the two Thursday home games and try to reverse the trend by at least coming up with something? Anything ? Apparently not.

Again, so much of this has been self inflicted. Head scratching mis-pricing and overpricing of tickets for a few seasons have led to the situation where people have gotten out of the habit of going to games. I'm not saying crowds would be booming (as other factors are at work too) but just some sensitivity to pricing would have kept a larger base.

Remember, the Lions are already giving away an average of 5,000 tickets to each of the next two games, in addition to the recent Argo game, as a perk to their season ticketholders for being displaced by the Women's World Cup during preseason. Those freebies may not all get used (I used two of the three I was allowed at the last game) but they are an attempt to pad the summer attendance and hopefully prime the market for a playoff run in the fall.

[SammyGreene]

It's been interesting reading the thoughts on this thread.

I'm going to say that the Lions issues at the gate are due to a myriad of small shocks, all of which the team has responded to by saying 'we're the Lions, we're big, look at our TV numbers' and not actually responding to in any way.

That's likely on Skulsky, but the whole organization is to blame.

2010 -Empire Field seems like a fun memory, but there were plenty of fans/season tix holders who didn't like it
2011 - BC Place return and prices are jacked up, season tix holders again get the shaft
2008-2012 - Canucks at their peak, stealing interest and new fans
2011 - Whitecaps enter market and Lions respond by going "its soccer, no one cares". Yes, people do care
2012-present - Seahawks become huge, and Vancouver jumps on bandwagon

All little, small shocks that shouldn't really have made a big difference...but when the Lions IN NO WAY responded to them, they added up to a big deal.

Add in a so-so team over the past few years, add in TV demanding Thursday and Friday games that are really tough for fraser valley/interior/island fans to get to, add in 3+hour games, add in Geroy getting stuffed off to Saskatchewan, and you've got a debacle on your hands

The sad thing is - and someone said something similar above - I'm not sure the Lions still clue in to it.
TV numbers (which are national numbers so not sure if they're really reflective of interest locally) are still good, there's more TV money, and I guess a smaller crowd at a higher ticket price can still turn a profit.

Excellent post LakeLions

Can't emphasize enough how badly the Lions miscalculated the move back to BC Place. They were fully confident it was going to have a similar impact to when the stadium first opened back in 1983. I remember listening Dennis Skulsky from training camp in 2012 suggesting the Lions were expecting 40,000 for their home opener and the average to stay in that range all season.

They didn't come close and now it's roughly half that attending games 4 years later.

[dupsdell1]

It's been interesting reading the thoughts on this thread.

I'm going to say that the Lions issues at the gate are due to a myriad of small shocks, all of which the team has responded to by saying 'we're the Lions, we're big, look at our TV numbers' and not actually responding to in any way.

That's likely on Skulsky, but the whole organization is to blame.

2010 -Empire Field seems like a fun memory, but there were plenty of fans/season tix holders who didn't like it
2011 - BC Place return and prices are jacked up, season tix holders again get the shaft
2008-2012 - Canucks at their peak, stealing interest and new fans
2011 - Whitecaps enter market and Lions respond by going "its soccer, no one cares". Yes, people do care
2012-present - Seahawks become huge, and Vancouver jumps on bandwagon

All little, small shocks that shouldn't really have made a big difference...but when the Lions IN NO WAY responded to them, they added up to a big deal.

Add in a so-so team over the past few years, add in TV demanding Thursday and Friday games that are really tough for fraser valley/interior/island fans to get to, add in 3+hour games, add in Geroy getting stuffed off to Saskatchewan, and you've got a debacle on your hands

The sad thing is - and someone said something similar above - I'm not sure the Lions still clue in to it.
TV numbers (which are national numbers so not sure if they're really reflective of interest locally) are still good, there's more TV money, and I guess a smaller crowd at a higher ticket price can still turn a profit.

Excellent post LakeLions

Can't emphasize enough how badly the Lions miscalculated the move back to BC Place. They were fully confident it was going to have a similar impact to when the stadium first opened back in 1983. I remember listening Dennis Skulsky from training camp in 2012 suggesting the Lions were expecting 40,000 for their home opener and the average to stay in that range all season.

They didn't come close and now it's roughly half that attending games 4 years later.

I agree but I am sorry as a business owner you do not sit back and Waite for customers to come to you no matter what the product is , that is business 101 , my 18 year old nephew knows that .

[Lions4ever]

This is coming from WITHIN THE LEAGUE ITSELF! Which, by the way is the first hit that comes up when you search the phrase season doesn't start until labour day (without quotes). Why should the fans care about summer games when the teams themselves act like they don't? If I were commish the first thing I'd do would be banish any use of the phrase within the league and by any media partners. If I could, I'd even fine the *poop* out of anyone under the league's control who said it. The first step to success is quit undermining your own product. Besides, to say it doesn't matter isn't even true. How many teams besides the 2011 BC Lions have won the Grey Cup after an 0-5 start? Heck, there probably aren't even very many champs who started 0-3. Those games DO matter. Quit telling us they don't.

Great comment. I could not agree more with this sentiment. I read this idiotic excuse any number of times on Facebook recently. Oh, you can't expect good attendance at games until after Labour Day blah blah blah. BC is just too beautiful in the summertime yada yada yada. This was at the same time thousands of BCers were pouring into Safeco Field to watch the Blue Jays.