All things Lions Marketing/Promotions 2014

[Rammer]

True, but News1130 isn't going to pull a number out of the sky. They've obviously talked to someone from within the Lions' organization. I believe Rick Dhaliwal writes at least some of these Tweets. He also has a good relationship with David Braley. Not saying that's where the info comes from, but that could explain it.


DH

It also follows a long line of the Lions offering up a number that isn't going to happen. Braley must also follow the speculation from within the ticket department on what the potential crowd size will be, as he has been a part of the number game that the Lions give to the media.

[sj-roc]

True, but News1130 isn't going to pull a number out of the sky. They've obviously talked to someone from within the Lions' organization. I believe Rick Dhaliwal writes at least some of these Tweets. He also has a good relationship with David Braley. Not saying that's where the info comes from, but that could explain it.


DH

I see Pattullo Bridge will close at 8pm tomorrow night for a full weekend of maintenance work (announced 2+ wks ago as per below). Not sure how much this will hurt attendance among fans living beyond, but it certainly won't help. Pattullo was also closed for a home game last year at almost this exact same point of the season: Sat Jul 20 vs Edm; the crowd was 26,623. You could probably argue at this stage (barring a huge walkup) that GS Night has had almost ZERO impact on ticket sales.

There are two more weekends of scheduled Pattullo closures later in the summer but fortunately the Lions won't play @BCP during these.

http://www.theprovince.com/Pattullo+Bri ... story.html

The aging Pattullo Bridge will be closed for three weekends this summer for maintenance work.

The bridge, which links New Westminster and Surrey, will be closed from Friday evening to early Monday morning on July 25 to 28, Aug. 15 to 18, and Aug. 29 to Sept. 1.

The closure will start at 8 p.m. Friday the first weekend, and at 9 p.m. the following weekends.

The bridge is expected to reopen by 3 a.m. Monday to avoid aggravating morning rush-hour traffic.

[dupsdell1]

There is a thing called the sky train should not have a impact at all just excuses. GS night is not as big as last year when Sask came here, first of the lions were on a roll challenging for first , GS was playing , the lions wearing there black wicked uniforms, and of course it was Sask playing , when ever Sask comes here you always get another 7 -10 k .

why tickets are not selling for GS night

1. GS in retired ( not as big as if he was playing his last game like Louie night back in 2000)

2. Winnipeg Blue Bombers , have been in the east forever lost any rivalry that there was with the lions and there fans ( like it was in the mid 80's)

3. July games do not sell well in bc , yes there is a roof that opens but more and more people go away on weekends in the summer then there has ever been.

[TheLionKing]

I would be pleasantly surprised if it was 30,000

[SammyGreene]

Convincing fans to step way from their 40 plus inch HD TVs to buy a ticket and fight Lower Mainland traffic to get to BC Place is the Lions biggest obstacle these days. The excellent ratings suggest that and many that are staying home to watch were season ticket holders not long ago.
Of course the new TSN deal helps the Lions bottom line but not sure how they can increase their revenue even more through solid TV numbers.
I will be a jet lagged Lions fan at the game. Leaving London in 5 hours after a couple of weeks in Europe. Given how the Lions have played since I left, maybe I should stay!

[sj-roc]

There is a thing called the sky train should not have a impact at all just excuses. GS night is not as big as last year when Sask came here, first of the lions were on a roll challenging for first , GS was playing , the lions wearing there black wicked uniforms, and of course it was Sask playing , when ever Sask comes here you always get another 7 -10 k .

why tickets are not selling for GS night

1. GS in retired ( not as big as if he was playing his last game like Louie night back in 2000)

2. Winnipeg Blue Bombers , have been in the east forever lost any rivalry that there was with the lions and there fans ( like it was in the mid 80's)

3. July games do not sell well in bc , yes there is a roof that opens but more and more people go away on weekends in the summer then there has ever been.

You can't just assume someone who normally drives over the Pattullo to get to and/or from the game would automatically take Skytrain instead with the bridge out. I don't know what transit and the population distribution are like overall in Surrey/Langley but Skytrain doesn't go all that far into Surrey. So I wouldn't assume Skytrain would work well for everyone out there.

Others including possibly yourself will know the area better so accordingly I would defer in this case. Besides, I wasn't trying to pin a poor crowd on this factor alone, just saying that it doesn't help when the paying customer has fewer gateways into your building. It's not about excuses.

It looks like you're new to LB (and welcome aboard, btw!) so I'll mention attendance is an oft-discussed topic here with a consensus that many factors drive the gate. You really need them all working in your favour before the crowd builds, and you've pointed out a couple of the main ones: degree of opponent rivalry and how far along in the season. I also agree that a still-active Geroy playing in maybe his last-ever game @BCP would be a better draw, rather than standing around in civvies; I said as much in my last post ("ZERO impact"). Day of the week is another one; having this game on Friday instead of Saturday doesn't help, either, but TSN's FNF showcase means we have to host this party from time to time.

Lions attendance @BCP tends to follow the Anna Karenina Principle: the large ones are all basically alike in their largeness, but each small one is small in its own way. The big crowds happen not because of any one particularly strong gate-driving factor but rather when all the factors pull in the right direction. When this is not the case, as can happen in any number of ways, you get the sub-30k crowds, which is almost surely what we'll see tomorrow night.

[DanoT]

Convincing fans to step way from their 40 plus inch HD TVs to buy a ticket and fight Lower Mainland traffic to get to BC Place is the Lions biggest obstacle these days. The excellent ratings suggest that and many that are staying home to watch were season ticket holders not long ago.
Of course the new TSN deal helps the Lions bottom line but not sure how they can increase their revenue even more through solid TV numbers.
I will be a jet lagged Lions fan at the game. Leaving London in 5 hours after a couple of weeks in Europe. Given how the Lions have played since I left, maybe I should stay!

YUP. Big screen HD TV and fairly high TSN production values are the single biggest gate killers

[Lions4ever]

I would be pleasantly surprised if it was 30,000

If they crack 30K I'll lick a toad.

[almo89]

Convincing fans to step way from their 40 plus inch HD TVs to buy a ticket and fight Lower Mainland traffic to get to BC Place is the Lions biggest obstacle these days. The excellent ratings suggest that and many that are staying home to watch were season ticket holders not long ago.
Of course the new TSN deal helps the Lions bottom line but not sure how they can increase their revenue even more through solid TV numbers.
I will be a jet lagged Lions fan at the game. Leaving London in 5 hours after a couple of weeks in Europe. Given how the Lions have played since I left, maybe I should stay!

This is true. I use to go to 5 or 6 games a year. Last year I only went to 2. The ticket prices aren't exactly cheap anymore, so I rather watch it at home most of the time. A night out for a game can get expensive when you include dinner and drinks and all that.

[dupsdell1]

Convincing fans to step way from their 40 plus inch HD TVs to buy a ticket and fight Lower Mainland traffic to get to BC Place is the Lions biggest obstacle these days. The excellent ratings suggest that and many that are staying home to watch were season ticket holders not long ago.
Of course the new TSN deal helps the Lions bottom line but not sure how they can increase their revenue even more through solid TV numbers.
I will be a jet lagged Lions fan at the game. Leaving London in 5 hours after a couple of weeks in Europe. Given how the Lions have played since I left, maybe I should stay!


I am not one to harp on attendance it is what it is , but I have to agree with this statement abouve , the TV experience today is bigger than it ever was, I know a friend of mine lives in Buffalo and it effects the bills also they do not black out any games there and because of that ( and the fact they are not very good ) they do not sell out, he tells me that people would rather sit in front of there 60 inch and watch, this is a huge problem with all sports not just the CFL.

[B.C.FAN]

I'm not convinced that the rise of big-screen HDTV has led to a decline in attendance. If that were true, all sports in North America would be showing declines, and I've seen no evidence of that. In fact, I don't see any evidence of a decline in Lions' attendance. Summer is what it is in Vancouver, with or without an open roof. Attendance is always lower before Labour Day. That's why the Lions' biggest marketing blunder is to schedule 5 of 9 home games before Labour Day every year, and to play 5 road games after Labour Day. That has nothing to do with TSN wanting the Lions on Friday Night Football or in earlier time slots on Saturdays. Attendance rises after Labour Day.

The stadium atmosphere at a live sporting event trumps HDTV almost every time. The only time I prefer to stay home and watch TV is on a bad-weather day such as a Prairie playoff or Grey Cup game.

[dupsdell1]

All sports have seen the effect of big screen tv watching , it is just not noticeable to a lot of fans when they watch it on tv, ask any owner of any franchise, they might not admit it but in some way the tv experience has declined the effect of going to the game in all sports. compared to 20 years ago,

[sj-roc]

Blake Price and Rob Fay are looking for 35k tonight. Huge walkup, says Blake. Prepare to be disappointed, gentlemen. The current configuration doesn't even hold 35k. ~27k in the lower bowl plus 10 upper deck sections of about 500 each brings it to ~32k, and there are still plenty of seats left for this set up. As Blake himself would say with a voice-cracking high-pitched inflection, "not even CLOSE".

[TheLionKing]

Advantages of watching the game on HDTV: no lineups for washroom, not been ripped off by overpriced beer, overcooked hotdogs, fighting traffic to and from the stadium

[dupsdell1]

I say 27,000 at the most