Grey Cup Tickets

[dupsdell1]

Just saw a poll question on CTV asking are going to attend any of the grey cup festivities this weekend 94% said no , unreal I knew people were not into this but not that many .

[B.C.FAN]

Just saw a poll question on CTV asking are going to attend any of the grey cup festivities this weekend 94% said no , unreal I knew people were not into this but not that many .

Yes, but if that poll was representative of the 4.6 million people in B.C., it means about 275,000 people plan to attend some of the festivities. That's a pretty good number, and it doesn't count the thousands of fans who come in from outside B.C. and make the weekend so lively.

[sj-roc]

Just saw a poll question on CTV asking are going to attend any of the grey cup festivities this weekend 94% said no , unreal I knew people were not into this but not that many .

Yes, but if that poll was representative of the 4.6 million people in B.C., it means about 275,000 people plan to attend some of the festivities. That's a pretty good number, and it doesn't count the thousands of fans who come in from outside B.C. and make the weekend so lively.

Spot on, B.C.Fan, you can spin almost any statistic in your favour with the right framing. For all we know most of the people who voted in that poll don't even live in the area so they couldn't take part even if they wanted to.

Besides, for people who ARE going, what's foremost on their minds on this very day? Are they all, "Hmmm, I should TOTALLY spend a few hours dicking around online, to see if there's any polls about whether I'm going to any Grey Cup events. I simply MUST get my YES vote in to every last one of them!"

Or would you suppose that maybe — just throwing this out there — they're busy either travelling on the way here or otherwise preparing for/planning/already enjoying their extended weekend? That poll is completely useless AFAIC.

In either 2011 or 2012, I forget which, but it was one of those years and in the run-up to the WF, it was clear that sales wouldn't quite hit the lofty heights of 2004, 2006, 2007. It was still the largest crowd of the year (aside from the GC if it was in fact 2011), but 1040 runs a poll of "why aren't you going to the western final?" Really? They wait for the biggest attendance of the year to get into downer talk of weak crowds?

[dupsdell1]

Just saw a poll question on CTV asking are going to attend any of the grey cup festivities this weekend 94% said no , unreal I knew people were not into this but not that many .

Yes, but if that poll was representative of the 4.6 million people in B.C., it means about 275,000 people plan to attend some of the festivities. That's a pretty good number, and it doesn't count the thousands of fans who come in from outside B.C. and make the weekend so lively.

Spot on, B.C.Fan, you can spin almost any statistic in your favour with the right framing. For all we know most of the people who voted in that poll don't even live in the area so they couldn't take part even if they wanted to.

Besides, for people who ARE going, what's foremost on their minds on this very day? Are they all, "Hmmm, I should TOTALLY spend a few hours dicking around online, to see if there's any polls about whether I'm going to any Grey Cup events. I simply MUST get my YES vote in to every last one of them!"

Or would you suppose that maybe — just throwing this out there — they're busy either travelling on the way here or otherwise preparing for/planning/already enjoying their extended weekend? That poll is completely useless AFAIC.

In either 2011 or 2012, I forget which, but it was one of those years and in the run-up to the WF, it was clear that sales wouldn't quite hit the lofty heights of 2004, 2006, 2007. It was still the largest crowd of the year (aside from the GC if it was in fact 2011), but 1040 runs a poll of "why aren't you going to the western final?" Really? They wait for the biggest attendance of the year to get into downer talk of weak crowds?

Yes I agree those poll questions are useless, why would you even ask people if they are going, Vancouver is an event town , every time there is a huge event , with thousands of people coming from out of town people go why would you even ask it.

[dupsdell1]

3,600 tickets left Just Announced,

sell out yes or no ?

I still say no

[sj-roc]

3,600 tickets left Just Announced,

sell out yes or no ?

I still say no

It could very well be a sellout — but in name only. I read something about Pitblado saying that any tickets left after Sat night will be comped to military personnel. So my thinking is, the announced attendance will probably include these tickets, whether or not they're actually used, and will be somewhere around 53-54k.

[Ravi]

3,600 tickets left Just Announced,

sell out yes or no ?

I still say no

That means that they have sold over 50k so far then. I have had some harsh words about Vancouver's ability to host this year's Grey Cup but given the prices and that they have had such a short gap from when they last hosted (3 years), selling over 50k tickets - even if they don't sell another one before Sunday - isn't too shabby at all. The stadium will look full which is the main thing.

BTW, ESPN Classics had the 1981 Grey Cup on last night (the ESPN telecast interestingly enough) and that game drew a crowd of 52k in Montreal at the Big Owe which seated 68k at the time. It still stands as one of the more memorable Grey Cups.

[dupsdell1]

3,600 tickets left Just Announced,

sell out yes or no ?

I still say no

That means that they have sold over 50k so far then. I have had some harsh words about Vancouver's ability to host this year's Grey Cup but given the prices and that they have had such a short gap from when they last hosted (3 years), selling over 50k tickets - even if they don't sell another one before Sunday - isn't too shabby at all. The stadium will look full which is the main thing.

BTW, ESPN Classics had the 1981 Grey Cup on last night (the ESPN telecast interestingly enough) and that game drew a crowd of 52k in Montreal at the Big Owe which seated 68k at the time. It still stands as one of the more memorable Grey Cups.

Yes I remember that game Montreal was on the down side of popularity going from the al's to the Concord and back to the al's and of course folding in the 1987 season , also Edmonton being a huge advantage of winning that game I think there were 15 point favorites , also Ottawa should not have even made the playoffs being a 5-11 record got hot at the right time .

[sj-roc]

That means that they have sold over 50k so far then. I have had some harsh words about Vancouver's ability to host this year's Grey Cup but given the prices and that they have had such a short gap from when they last hosted (3 years), selling over 50k tickets - even if they don't sell another one before Sunday - isn't too shabby at all. The stadium will look full which is the main thing.

Another thing is that this Grey Cup was first awarded in just March of last year. On the other hand, the 2011 game was awarded in Feb 2009, so not only was there a quick turnaround of only three years from the last game, there was over a year less lead time to pull it off. I'm not saying this was a major factor in why ticket sales are down, but there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes in organising a GC festival and this year's committee was working on a much tighter deadline than in 2011.

My understanding is that this year's GC was first supposed, in 2008, to be played in Ottawa — with the understanding that they would be back in the league for a few years by this time. But by June 2012 it was clear the new Ott team wouldn't take the field until 2014, so the league at this point revoked Ott's hosting rights and re-opened the game to all other teams. Nobody else stepped up until the Lions were officially announced as hosts in March of last year. So under such circumstances, I would find it a bit disingenuous to dump on this city when

• we've taken on a GC that no one else wanted,
• with a year less lead time to pull it off,
• just three years removed from our last one,
• with the home team no-showing for the first time in four years, and
• with steep ticket prices on top of all this.

Even with ALL of this, we've STILL outsold the capacity of the clear majority of other GC venues. You mentioned Scott Ackles and his non-involvement with this GC. I think he might have simply recognised he'd be risking a blemish on his resume knowing he'd be unlikely to outdo 2005 & 2011 and accordingly went in a different direction.

[TheLionKing]

Volunteers who completed their shifts will get 2 free tickets to the Grey Cup. Too bad I paid for mine.

[dupsdell1]

Volunteers who completed their shifts will get 2 free tickets to the Grey Cup. Too bad I paid for mine.

That is why tickets are going so fast at Ticketmaster

[sj-roc]

Volunteers who completed their shifts will get 2 free tickets to the Grey Cup. Too bad I paid for mine.

That is why tickets are going so fast at Ticketmaster

I would think those tickets would have been blocked off and reserved right from the outset for later assignment to specific volunteers — i.e., never released for sale by TM in the first place.

[rb]

My understanding is that this year's GC was first supposed, in 2008, to be played in Ottawa — with the understanding that they would be back in the league for a few years by this time. But by June 2012 it was clear the new Ott team wouldn't take the field until 2014, so the league at this point revoked Ott's hosting rights and re-opened the game to all other teams. Nobody else stepped up until the Lions were officially announced as hosts in March of last year. So under such circumstances, I would find it a bit disingenuous to dump on this city when

• we've taken on a GC that no one else wanted,
• with a year less lead time to pull it off,
• just three years removed from our last one,
• with the home team no-showing for the first time in four years, and
• with steep ticket prices on top of all this.

Even with ALL of this, we've STILL outsold the capacity of the clear majority of other GC venues.

Well said. I'm looking forward to being there on Sunday as will more than 50,000 others, so screw the standard stupidity of the anti-CFL types.

[TheLionKing]

Volunteers who completed their shifts will get 2 free tickets to the Grey Cup. Too bad I paid for mine.

That is why tickets are going so fast at Ticketmaster

I would think those tickets would have been blocked off and reserved right from the outset for later assignment to specific volunteers — i.e., never released for sale by TM in the first place.

This was not done at the previous Grey Cups in Vancouver. (I worked at 4 previous Grey Cups). Volunteers do not get in to see the game for free. There is a viewing party for volunteers wanting to see the game along with their fellow volunteers for those interested. The original plan for this year's viewing party was to be at the Roundhouse.

[sj-roc]

I would think those tickets would have been blocked off and reserved right from the outset for later assignment to specific volunteers — i.e., never released for sale by TM in the first place.

This was not done at the previous Grey Cups in Vancouver. (I worked at 4 previous Grey Cups). Volunteers do not get in to see the game for free. There is a viewing party for volunteers wanting to see the game along with their fellow volunteers for those interested. The original plan for this year's viewing party was to be at the Roundhouse.

Wow, I figured freebies would be a normal thing for GC volunteers every year. I guess they changed it up this year with the shortfall in ticket sales. So how many hours, spread out over how long a time, were required to get comped?