Montreal vs lions semi final ticket count

[dupsdell1]

I suspect that is not accurate with season ticket holders seats not being caught up with the system. Considering that they had about 23K the last two home games a good shot this will be sold out IMHO.


I hard this Quote from someone on the cfl website. who thinks this is right ?

[dupsdell1]

Look at this add from the Montreal site

http://en.montrealalouettes.com/page/eastern-semi-final

BUY 3 TICKETS GET ONE FREE

[dupsdell1]

Just found out that Montreal will most likely get around 17,000 they said they will be very lucky to 20,000.

NOT GOOD

[korey&dante4ever]

East and West Semi-Finals have been a very tough sell historically.
The Lions would probably get around 23-25k out to a semi-final. Though we haven't hosted a West-semi since 1986.

[TheLionKing]

Just found out that Montreal will most likely get around 17,000 they said they will be very lucky to 20,000.

NOT GOOD

No excuse for Dean Valli to be called offside because of the noise.

[Ravi]

East and West Semi-Finals have been a very tough sell historically.
The Lions would probably get around 23-25k out to a semi-final. Though we haven't hosted a West-semi since 1986.

And in '86, the Lions drew their third smallest crowd of the season for the West semi-final against Winnipeg (40,381). That crowd, interestingly enough, was more than 14k less than the crowd they drew the previous week against the same Bombers in the regular season finale.

[sj-roc]

East and West Semi-Finals have been a very tough sell historically.
The Lions would probably get around 23-25k out to a semi-final. Though we haven't hosted a West-semi since 1986.

And in '86, the Lions drew their third smallest crowd of the season for the West semi-final against Winnipeg (40,381). That crowd, interestingly enough, was more than 14k less than the crowd they drew the previous week against the same Bombers in the regular season finale.

Maybe so, but that 1986 WSF attendance is nonetheless the largest-ever for a CFL semifinal playoff game — by a healthy margin, in fact; Edm is next with over 3k less at 37,359 in 2004. SF attendances are shown below for all years since 1973, when both divisions first went sudden-death for both playoff rounds. In some years more than one SF was played, so to remain consistent with the rest of the data I've reported the SF played at the home of the division's 2nd place team (or in the case of 1986 eastern playoffs, the first of the two-game final series). All data is taken from stats.cfldb.ca and if discrepancies exist, transcription errors from source are mine.

The attendances exceeding 25k are shown in red and represent slightly less than half (40 of 82) of the data set, with the last decade providing a very good stretch of crowds relative to the historical mean. Last year's ESF, like the rest of Ham's 2013 season was played in Guelph's Alumni Stadium (capacity ~13.3k) so that figure probably deserves an asterisk; attendance at Ivor Wynne might well have been comparable to 2009/10 figures had the venue still existed (at the time I actually ruminated on the possibility of playing that game at Skydome, what with the large number of Ticat fans who showed up for the Tor season opener that year, which happened to be against Ham).



All-time averages (and medians) of these figures:

ESF: 22,759 (22,785)
WSF: 25,912 (26,397)
both SF: 24,335 (24,651)

[Ravi]

You are definitely the stats guru, sj-roc! Just one correction - the '04 East semi-final in Toronto outdrew the West semi-final in Edmonton by a few hundred. That game in Toronto was on a Friday night btw. Also, the '04 playoffs set a post-season attendance record for the CFL. Everything fell nicely into place for that to happen as the four largest stadiums in the league hosted playoff games. Furthermore, Hamilton was the visitor to Toronto while Saskatchewan brought their contingent of fans on the road for two games. There was a wonderful resurgence in football interest in B.C. that season which, I believe, the incredibly exciting QB Casey Printers had much to do with. Say what you want about Casey but he got people excited about the game and put people in the seats IMO.

[dupsdell1]

East and West Semi-Finals have been a very tough sell historically.
The Lions would probably get around 23-25k out to a semi-final. Though we haven't hosted a West-semi since 1986.

I disagree with that the lions hosted a semi final game would probably be around 35,000 , There is nothing else going on around town the grey cup is here, etc.

[Ravi]

East and West Semi-Finals have been a very tough sell historically.
The Lions would probably get around 23-25k out to a semi-final. Though we haven't hosted a West-semi since 1986.

I disagree with that the lions hosted a semi final game would probably be around 35,000 , There is nothing else going on around town the grey cup is here, etc.

You really think the Lions would have drawn 35k for a divisional semi-final game? I think they would have been lucky to get 25k for such a game. Remember that the Lions got something like 41k or 42k for the West Final back in 2011 when football interest and interest in the new BC Place were at an all-time high so I see no reason to believe that they could draw anything close to 35k for a divisional semi-final game. I will concede that hosting Saskatchewan would push the attendance figure higher but hosting Edmonton would be a very tough sell.

[David]

Interesting article from Herb Zurkowsky (Montreal Gazzette) on the problems moving tickets for this game. As a sidenote, we really catch a break if the Als are without Sutton and Rodgers. That's a lot of speed.

Alouettes president Mark Weightman won’t disclose how many tickets have been sold for Sunday’s East Division semifinal against the British Columbia Lions.

Therefore, he also won’t disclose how many tickets remain at 24,000-seat Molson Stadium.

Weightman will admit, however, he anticipates total attendance will be somewhere between 15,000 and 16,000, depending on the walk-up crowd.

That would be Montreal’s lowest crowd of the year- for a playoff game. Draw your own conclusions. But Weightman denied professional football’s becoming a tough sell in the city.

“I don’t think one game’s a barometer for the interest of football in this city,” he said. “There’s a very strong interest for football in this city. We have to work extra hard and give our fans easier access.”

While the Als were guaranteed a playoff berth with two games remaining, once they defeated Toronto, they didn’t know until last weekend, following a loss at Hamilton, they would finish second and play in the semifinal.

Had the Als defeated the Tiger-Cats, they would have automatically advanced to the division final, Nov. 23, giving the organization an extra week in which to sell tickets.

A one-week window, Weightman believes, was simply too short a period.

The Als averaged 20,675 spectators this season, not once coming close to selling out the facility, located on the campus of McGill University.

The Als’ smallest crowd was 19,440, for a game in late August against the expansion Ottawa Redblacks. A season-high 23,069 attended a Thanksgiving Day game against Saskatchewan during which the jersey of legend quarterback Anthony Calvillo was retired.

While Montreal season-ticket holders must purchase the exhibition game as part of their package, any potential playoff match is optional – a procedure Weightman admits might have to be re-addressed moving forward.

The Als control the gate for Sunday’s game, although all sponsorship properties go to the Canadian Football League. The team – specifically, owner Robert Wetenhall – covers the operating costs of both teams.

In other words, Wetenhall potentially will take a financial bath on Sunday.

“Would it be a better financial situation if we were sold out? Sure,” Weightman admitted, stating the obvious. “Are we disappointed we won’t sell out? I’m disappointed every game that doesn’t sell out.”

Between 1997-2000, the Als staged all playoff games at Molson Stadium. Starting in 2002, they decided to move indoors, to 55,000-seat Olympic Stadium, since it provided the opportunity of a larger gate and increased revenue.

But now, because of the tenuous state of the roof at Olympic Stadium, playoff games no longer can be staged there. The Olympic Installations Board has decreed no games shall be played when snow’s forecast within 24 hours of kickoff.

Coincidentally, some weather forecasts are calling for between 1 and 3-cm of snow on Sunday.

Notes – Als running-back Tyrell Sutton, recovering from a sprained ankle, didn’t practice all week, potentially making him doubtful to face the Lions. He would be replaced by Brandon Rutley. …

Kick-returner James Rodgers, recovering from a concussion, also didn’t practice this week. He’ll probably be replaced by Mardy Gilyard, who suffered a partially torn hamstring on Aug. 1, against Toronto, and hasn’t played since. …

The Als are offering a ticket promotion for the Lions game. Fans can purchase four tickets for the price of three. There will also be numerous pre-game activities. There’s a “warm zone” located in the Fan Zone, along with a pre-game party in the park, located on the east side of the stadium, which begins at 9 a.m. Barbecues will be provided by the team, along with free crepes.


DH

[sj-roc]

You are definitely the stats guru, sj-roc! Just one correction - the '04 East semi-final in Toronto outdrew the West semi-final in Edmonton by a few hundred. That game in Toronto was on a Friday night btw. Also, the '04 playoffs set a post-season attendance record for the CFL. Everything fell nicely into place for that to happen as the four largest stadiums in the league hosted playoff games. Furthermore, Hamilton was the visitor to Toronto while Saskatchewan brought their contingent of fans on the road for two games. There was a wonderful resurgence in football interest in B.C. that season which, I believe, the incredibly exciting QB Casey Printers had much to do with. Say what you want about Casey but he got people excited about the game and put people in the seats IMO.

Thanks, I missed that in the dense forest of numbers — perhaps I was subconsciously assuming it had to be a western team to hold the top two spots :P So the margin is more like 2500, still not bad.

Ah yes, Casey the Comet. I remember his 2010 tantrum toward O'Neill Wilson after we blew a huge lead in Wpg for an OT loss and thinking to myself, "This town is SO OVER Printers. No one would care if they cut him tomorrow." Which is pretty much exactly what happened.

I recall the Argos hosting a home playoff on a Friday around that time — IIRC it was because of a long-since-booked Skydome concert by the Wiggles (children's musical act) whereas Tor didn't clinch 2nd place until rather late in the season. This elicited a conversation with friends around that time, with one person commenting something like: "CFL always manages to come off so bush with this stuff. Can you imagine the Dallas Cowboys getting bumped for Barney (the dinosaur)?"

Fortunately it all worked out rather well at the gate. On top of the factors you mention, I wonder if the shift was actually beneficial. I think Friday Night Football was starting to become a thing by this point so it was like a bonus FNF week. Plus, you probably get some people who won't normally attend a playoff game in their own market because you're pretty much forced to miss at least part of the *other* game played that day while you're en route either to or from your own game. Games are watched by football fans so who can blame them for choosing more football, not less? But the Wiggles precluded this difficulty. The NHL lockout at the time — which ended up cancelling their entire 04/05 season — probably also helped, by making each playoff game the hottest sports ticket in its respective market for the foreseeable future.

The playoff attendances that year were almost too good, as both the WF (55,527) & EF (51,296) outdrew the GC (51,242), albeit just barely in the latter case.

[sj-roc]

East and West Semi-Finals have been a very tough sell historically.
The Lions would probably get around 23-25k out to a semi-final. Though we haven't hosted a West-semi since 1986.

I disagree with that the lions hosted a semi final game would probably be around 35,000 , There is nothing else going on around town the grey cup is here, etc.

You really think the Lions would have drawn 35k for a divisional semi-final game? I think they would have been lucky to get 25k for such a game. Remember that the Lions got something like 41k or 42k for the West Final back in 2011 when football interest and interest in the new BC Place were at an all-time high so I see no reason to believe that they could draw anything close to 35k for a divisional semi-final game. I will concede that hosting Saskatchewan would push the attendance figure higher but hosting Edmonton would be a very tough sell.

I agree, Ravi. If we were playing here tomorrow I doubt we would have reached 35k. As I said so many times in the "Who to Cheer For?" thread, a lot of things in the last several weeks of the season needed to break our way to get us to 2nd after languishing in 4th and even 5th for so much of 2014. We wouldn't have clinched until just last weekend if at all, leaving little time to sell tickets. The Grey Cup for its part would only cannibalise fan interest as it did in both 2005 and 2011. As for nothing else to do, the Canucks are off to a pretty decent start, just one point out of first overall in the league at 12-6 with the new Linden/Benning/Desjardins regime so far providing plenty of tonic to last year's ill-fated Tortorella campaign.

[Spud387]

Wow it doesn't look like there are a lot of people at the game

[sj-roc]

Wow it doesn't look like there are a lot of people at the game

Which is a shame for those who didn't come; they're missing a home team cakewalk.