2015 All Things Lions Marketing & Promotions

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Toppy Vann
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TheLionKing wrote:
Toppy Vann wrote:Great half time interview by the Moj with David Braley. Nice job by the Moj and great insights from DB.

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040- ... r-1.348743
I'm in Braley's corner when it comes to blackouts. Didn't know that blackouts are in effect in all home games in the NFL
I get the concept but let's not forget the blackouts hit the bars and pubs way, way back thus reducing the exposure of the game. I think they need both - the TV fans for the revenues and the gates.
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J5V
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TheLionKing wrote:
Toppy Vann wrote:Great half time interview by the Moj with David Braley. Nice job by the Moj and great insights from DB.

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040- ... r-1.348743
I'm in Braley's corner when it comes to blackouts. Didn't know that blackouts are in effect in all home games in the NFL
They are, but, if something like 90 % of tickets are sold 48 hrs before kickoff then the blackout is lifted (which happens almost all the time in the NFL.)
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sj-roc
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J5V wrote:
TheLionKing wrote:
Toppy Vann wrote:Great half time interview by the Moj with David Braley. Nice job by the Moj and great insights from DB.

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040- ... r-1.348743
I'm in Braley's corner when it comes to blackouts. Didn't know that blackouts are in effect in all home games in the NFL
They are, but, if something like 90 % of tickets are sold 48 hrs before kickoff then the blackout is lifted (which happens almost all the time in the NFL.)
I believe I've posted about this before but since the topic has come up...

Historically the NFL has been very draconian in its use of blackouts. There was a time when they would blackout sold out games, even sold out playoff games, and it was only because of US government and/or court intervention that they relented on this practice. In 1958 for example the Colts-Giants NFL championship at Yankee Stadium (pre-Super Bowl) was sold out but still blacked out in New York, forcing people in that area who wanted to watch the game on TV to travel out of state (say, Connecticut or Pennsylvania).

The NFL's blackout radius is 75 miles from the stadium but you don't necessarily need to live within this radius to be subject to blackouts, because it affects all broadcast partners whose TV signals extend into the 75-mile radius, even if the signal itself doesn't originate within the radius. A particularly pathological example of this is Syracuse, NY, which is something like 150 miles east from Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium.

For at least one affiliate of the league's broadcast partners in Syracuse, its signal extends marginally into a small town (pop ~1200) halfway between Syracuse and Buffalo, only barely within the blackout radius. And it's actually not even the entire town but only a small portion of it. So just because of this rather mild happenstance, Bills games on that Syracuse affiliate are subject to blackout, which affects viewers well beyond the 75 mile radius, and even farther than 150 miles from RWS for those living east of Syracuse who receive this affiliate.

Having said all this, the NFL is lifting all blackouts for the 2015 season.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_ ... t_policies
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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DanoT
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I thought blackouts only applied to non HD TV and that it was somehow physically impossible to blackout HD TV. If this is the case then blackout/lifting blackout is pretty much irrelevant.
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sj-roc
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DanoT wrote:I thought blackouts only applied to non HD TV and that it was somehow physically impossible to blackout HD TV. If this is the case then blackout/lifting blackout is pretty much irrelevant.
True. If there was any confusion, everything in my last post was re: SDTV.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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sj-roc
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David wrote:Someone just wrote an interesting blog illustrating the Lions' Marketing woes HERE. Some points may resonate more than others, and I don't necessarily agree with all of them (the Lions have actually already tried "Promotions" point #3: the NFL-CFL alliance. At their first home game this season, they hosted some Seahawk Seahawks players for autograph signings), but it's a great (and sobering) read.


DH :cool:
They've also had some NHLers as field level guests at games. A few times in past years there would be a handful of Canuck players at games. Kevin Bieksa was always among them with a different cast of cohorts each time. Earlier this season Joe Sakic (always popular here because of his Burnaby roots) was at field level and was even briefly interviewed on the video board. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, another Burnaby native, was at the Mtl game Thu night although there was no interview, just a quick acknowledgement of his presence and a wave to the crowd.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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One other thing that has had a negative effect the season tix base, is the strong health of the club.

I became a SSH because i decided to put my money wear my mouth was and keep the club alive. I moved up the from corner to platinum and invested in the club because they needed it. I think with the TSN money now drastically lowering braley's breakeven many feel they can step aside for a season or two and it won't hurt the club.

I still feel that i need to be a SSH to invest in the club, not just pay for entertainment. i believe (hope!) braley puts most of my extra cash into scouting or facilities and not all in his pocket.
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JohnHenry
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J5V wrote:
TheLionKing wrote:
Toppy Vann wrote:Great half time interview by the Moj with David Braley. Nice job by the Moj and great insights from DB.

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/vancouver-1040- ... r-1.348743
I'm in Braley's corner when it comes to blackouts. Didn't know that blackouts are in effect in all home games in the NFL
They are, but, if something like 90 % of tickets are sold 48 hrs before kickoff then the blackout is lifted (which happens almost all the time in the NFL.)
I believe the NFL blackout policy is if 95% of the tickets aren't sold 48 hrs before kickoff the game is blacked out in the local market. The NFL allows the team or sponsors to buy excess tickets at 34% of their face value to lift the blackouts (the money is transferred to the player's pension fund). The NFL announced earlier this year that the blackouts will be lifted for all games this season, regardless of ticket sales.

The main difference between the leagues is NFL teams can basically cover 100% of their operating expenses from TV revenue. In the CFL the TV contract pays only 15%-25% of team expenses. CFL teams earn 2 to 3 times more from ticket sales than from TV. So should the league cater to TSN with Thursday night games, for example, when they're a tough selling ticket?

While it's great to "promote" CFL games by showing home games on local TV, this may be a factor in reduced attendance in some markets. Once fans know all the home games will be on TV for free, the seasons ticket base starts to erode, especially in the larger markets where clogged traffic arteries (i.e. Toronto & Vancouver) make the decision to stay home and watch games easier. Once you rely on walk-up crowds, fans can evaporate with a losing season.
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DanoT
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AFAIK HD TV cannot be blacked out. So if you don't have HD TV because you can't afford it, then you likely can't afford football tickets either or if your budget forces you to chose between season tickets and HD TV, then with 4 games/week HD TV is the better value. If you don't own or watch TV by choice, then you can go to a sports bar and still pay less for a beer than at the stadium.

So the live experience is competing with cheap or free HD TV. What will happen when 3D or holographic TV/internet broadcasting takes over?
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SammyGreene
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This clown is supposedly the Lions beat writer for VanCity Buzz. Reads more like a guy moonlighting from the Whitecaps PR department.

I will give him the criticism of the ticket prices and product on the field but there is plenty of crap in here too. "Stealing the hearts of the Vancouver sports fan" Really? "Consistently selling out the lower bowl" Has he not noticed the 6,000 tarped seats down there? And nothing like adding your own opinion why Whitecap games are so much better than being around drunk Lions fans all the time.
Apparently the Lions have already played in Winnipeg. Must have missed that game. Scary this crap is posted on a popular social media site.
The B.C. Lions are really struggling these days. After starting the season strong with a 2-1 record, not only has Travis Lulay and company fallen apart, but so has the Leos fanbase, one that is fickle, but rightfully so.

Gone are the days where the Lions were a fairly hot ticket in town. Even with the Canucks already past their window of contention in the NHL, the Vancouver Whitecaps have stolen sports fans hearts throughout the province.

Being one of the best up and coming teams in the MLS ever since the franchise joined the prestigious Northern American soccer league in 2011, “Vancouverites” haven’t stopped going to games at BC Place and it’s a consistent draw of near sellouts in the lower bowl portion of the dome.

The crowd sings, are invested throughout, and you really don’t need to have a clue about the rules of the game at all to get excited yourself.

Would you rather bring your partner and family to a sports event like that or a CFL game where fans are exceedingly drunk (not in a fun way) with flags being thrown every two players and “Crazy P” incessantly banging on a drum right next to you?

I mean, you have got to be kidding me! The choice, at least at this point, is quite easy.

To pour salt in the wound, it’s well-apparent that Vancouver is officially a Seattle Seahawks football town. Two straight Super Bowl appearances will do that to a non-saturated sports market here in this city, and attending an NFL game is a mere two hour drive down the I-5.

Last Friday, Blue Jays fans in B.C. (including myself) stormed down to Seattle for the annual “Safeco Field Takeover” against the Mariners in baseball. The same night, the Lions played host to the Toronto Argonauts.

Maybe it’s a coincidence, perhaps not, but an absolutely pitiful crowd of 20,085 was announced as the final attendance, the lowest the Lions have had since August 21 in 2002.

Losing yesterday in Winnipeg will only make matters worse. B.C. is now 2-3 on the year, and with a home game next week on a Thursday (oh boy), could we see an even bigger drop in gate?

Only time will tell, but in the meantime, #MemoTo Dennis Skulsky, President of the Lions: The cheapest ticket for your games are $38 flat. Whitecaps’ are as low as $30.

The Lions have attempted model themselves after the Whitecaps in one case, which has seen attendance success partially because it closes the upper bowl of the stadium to artificially create a “high demand” for tickets. But much more needs to be done.

The only way to mend fences with the fan base is to modify everything that has to do with this franchise, which includes the team’s schemes and play style, the spectator amenities, in-game entertainment within the stadium, and of course ticket prices.

Sports fans in Vancouver have been patient for far too long.

2015 B.C. Lions home game attendance numbers to date
Friday, July 10 vs. Saskatchewan: 23,062
Friday, July 24 vs. Toronto: 20,085
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sj-roc
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SammyGreene wrote:This clown is supposedly the Lions beat writer for VanCity Buzz. Reads more like a guy moonlighting from the Whitecaps PR department.

I will give him the criticism of the ticket prices and product on the field but there is plenty of crap in here too. "Stealing the hearts of the Vancouver sports fan" Really? "Consistently selling out the lower bowl" Has he not noticed the 6,000 tarped seats down there? And nothing like adding your own opinion why Whitecap games are so much better than being around drunk Lions fans all the time.
Apparently the Lions have already played in Winnipeg. Must have missed that game. Scary this crap is posted on a popular social media site.
I had a look at his twitter page; from looking at his last several weeks of activity he seems like a Blue Jays fanboi. Or maybe just a Jays bandwagoner; I couldn't be bothered to check back to what he was tweeting a year ago. For a guy with a fairly public media writing gig, 467 followers doesn't sound like much. I know people, just average joes and janes with no public profile who have similar numbers. And he says he's in "Vancouver, BC (For Now)." With that parenthesis he's prob a guy from southern Ontario angling for the right gig back home and he's on the next plane. He wouldn't be missed here.

As for the Wpg thing, not sure if you intended that as a dig at him for supposedly not getting facts straight but he was actually right about that. The article you quote was written on July 31, one month ago today. We played in Wpg the night before and lost 23-13 to, among other things, what we might have taken too lightly as a badly hobbled Drew Willy. Not that his grasp of this should be regarded as a metric of his writing quality. Even if you don't care for Crazy P, the dig at him is ridiculous when you consider Whitecaps games have multiple sections, the ones above the dressing rooms, filled almost exclusively with soccer versions of Crazy P. And like nobody ever drinks at MLS games, really? The dig at the next game being on a Thu seems a bit of piling on considering the Caps have plenty of midweek home games themselves. If Lions deserve flak for that why not the Caps, too? Also worth pointing out, Lions would prob have more weekend games if they didn't have to share with the new kid on the block (to be sure, some of it due to the whims of a TSN programmer who sits in an ivory tower office some 3,000 miles away).

In the bigger picture, it's worth having a look through these local "lifestyle" blogs, such VC Buzz, Miss 604, Vancouver Is Awesome, etc, to see their overall amount of Lions content, compared to hockey and even perhaps soccer. Last I checked it was fairly sparse, which I would regard as an accurate reflection of where the Lions currently sit in the public's consciousness.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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BC 1988
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I just received this by email from Telus (as an Optik customer) It's only for the endzones, and is what Skulsky was saying during President's Week on 1040. (It's called "Telus Back to School Offer", and they are the gameday sponsor).
Kind of useless though, since right now there is nothing available in Rows AA and higher, which I prefer for a better view of the field. (The Lions have greyed all of those higher row seats out until closer to gameday). It's basically the same discount as Coast Capital CU offers, but restricted to the endzones.


TELUS is a proud partner of the BC Lions. As a benefit of this partnership, we are excited to offer you a special deal on BC Lions football tickets for the upcoming TELUS sponsored game day.
BC Lions vs. Ottawa Redblacks
Sunday, September 13, 2015
1 pm
BC Place, Vancouver BC
Only $30 per ticket (that's a $14 savings)
All taxes and fees included
This discount expires on September 11, 2015.
To purchase, click here and use promo code: ROAR
Please note:
Tickets must be purchased in advance of the game.
Offer is available online only at Ticketmaster®. Use the special link and promo code in this email to redeem special pricing.
Offer is not available at the Ticketmaster box office.
Your heart makes all the difference. Lions fans, show your love for the team on social media using #AllHeartLions!
dupsdell1
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BC 1988 wrote:I just received this by email from Telus (as an Optik customer) It's only for the endzones, and is what Skulsky was saying during President's Week on 1040. (It's called "Telus Back to School Offer", and they are the gameday sponsor).
Kind of useless though, since right now there is nothing available in Rows AA and higher, which I prefer for a better view of the field. (The Lions have greyed all of those higher row seats out until closer to gameday). It's basically the same discount as Coast Capital CU offers, but restricted to the endzones.


TELUS is a proud partner of the BC Lions. As a benefit of this partnership, we are excited to offer you a special deal on BC Lions football tickets for the upcoming TELUS sponsored game day.
BC Lions vs. Ottawa Redblacks
Sunday, September 13, 2015
1 pm
BC Place, Vancouver BC
Only $30 per ticket (that's a $14 savings)
All taxes and fees included
This discount expires on September 11, 2015.
To purchase, click here and use promo code: ROAR
Please note:
Tickets must be purchased in advance of the game.
Offer is available online only at Ticketmaster®. Use the special link and promo code in this email to redeem special pricing.
Offer is not available at the Ticketmaster box office.
Your heart makes all the difference. Lions fans, show your love for the team on social media using #AllHeartLions!



That is not good , that is like saying we have a sale on cetin item but it is not available.
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sj-roc
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Current poll on tsn1040.ca :

Who Are Your Favorite 'Boys Of Summer'?

Results so far:

Lions, 33% ; Blue Jays, 24% ; Mariners, 7% ; Whitecaps, 36%
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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DanoT
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I just saw a float plane in Victoria's Inner Harbour with a large Whitecaps logo emblazoned on its tail. A nice bit of advertising to a fairly well off Vict. to Van. float plane commuter crowd. The Lions are missing the boat er plane on this one...again. Just Sayin.
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