2016 All Things Lions Marketing & Promotions

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LakeLions
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I hate to be the jerk who brings this up...but have you tried skytrain to games?

From Langley, you could get on at Scott Road station. Take the new South Fraser Perimeter Road, and it goes right there.

From Ladner, get thru the tunnel and then jump on at Richmond Centre.

It's not ideal...and it's busy right after the game...but it's not a bad option if you really do want to get there.
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B.C.FAN
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LakeLions wrote:I hate to be the jerk who brings this up...but have you tried skytrain to games?

From Langley, you could get on at Scott Road station. Take the new South Fraser Perimeter Road, and it goes right there.

From Ladner, get thru the tunnel and then jump on at Richmond Centre.

It's not ideal...and it's busy right after the game...but it's not a bad option if you really do want to get there.
SkyTrain is a good option for many people living near public transit. I commute from Langley to downtown Vancouver every day. I used to take SkyTrain. It takes me 40 minutes to drive to SkyTrain and another 40 minutes to get downtown, plus waiting and walking time. Aside from rush hours and weeknights, I can drive between Langley and downtown Vancouver in 48 minutes. I have monthly parking spot downtown. SkyTrain is competitive on weeknights but it's not a time-saver.
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David
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So are the Lions just going to "open the doors" against the Als next Friday and hope for the best?

I hate to be a d*ck about this, but I find this passive approach to getting people in the building really irksome. While I am sure staff are doing what they can to sell packages, the club needs to have a clear strategy and treat each home game as an "event." My own philosophy as to why our Leos tend to come out flat at home is there aren't enough butts in the seats and energy in the building (especially at kick-off) to provide these young players with the added spark. There just isn't a clear 'home field advantage' any more.

September 9 should be "Back To School" night and heavily promoted as such. Kids under 12 get in free again with a parent, and/or high school football teams get into the stadium at a heavily discounted rate. And I'd respectfully suggest that if they already have plans along these lines, they'd better get their a$$es in gear and start hyping it. What are they waiting for?


DH :cool:
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SammyGreene
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David wrote:So are the Lions just going to "open the doors" against the Als next Friday and hope for the best?

I hate to be a d*ck about this, but I find this passive approach to getting people in the building really irksome. While I am sure staff are doing what they can to sell packages, the club needs to have a clear strategy and treat each home game as an "event." My own philosophy as to why our Leos tend to come out flat at home is there aren't enough butts in the seats and energy in the building (especially at kick-off) to provide these young players with the added spark. There just isn't a clear 'home field advantage' any more.

September 9 should be "Back To School" night and heavily promoted as such. Kids under 12 get in free again with a parent, and/or high school football teams get into the stadium at a heavily discounted rate. And I'd respectfully suggest that if they already have plans along these lines, they'd better get their a$$es in gear and start hyping it. What are they waiting for?


DH :cool:
Yes, the typical large inventory of seats are unsold for this game and its going to take more than a win on Wednesday to start moving them. Likely 12,000 to 13,000 rattling around at kickoff time or for player intros. A nice welcome back after a potential successful road trip.

They need to do something like a back to school free ticket offer or even a fall "drive for playoffs" 3-game package that includes one game free of charge.

Right now I'm just hoping there will be buzz for the Bombers and Eskimos visits that we haven't seen for 4 or 5 years with these games having playoff implications against traditional Western rivals.

I was sitting there watching yesterday's mic'd up game thinking this is cool but it's just adding to the stay at home experience of watching games. Why pay for a ticket? Better replays and now better features. If they think the constant coaches' challenges are bad for TV, try sitting through them at the stadium.
footballtom
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SammyGreene wrote:
David wrote:So are the Lions just going to "open the doors" against the Als next Friday and hope for the best?

I hate to be a d*ck about this, but I find this passive approach to getting people in the building really irksome. While I am sure staff are doing what they can to sell packages, the club needs to have a clear strategy and treat each home game as an "event." My own philosophy as to why our Leos tend to come out flat at home is there aren't enough butts in the seats and energy in the building (especially at kick-off) to provide these young players with the added spark. There just isn't a clear 'home field advantage' any more.

September 9 should be "Back To School" night and heavily promoted as such. Kids under 12 get in free again with a parent, and/or high school football teams get into the stadium at a heavily discounted rate. And I'd respectfully suggest that if they already have plans along these lines, they'd better get their a$$es in gear and start hyping it. What are they waiting for?


DH :cool:
Yes, the typical large inventory of seats are unsold for this game and its going to take more than a win on Wednesday to start moving them. Likely 12,000 to 13,000 rattling around at kickoff time or for player intros. A nice welcome back after a potential successful road trip.



It is the CFL nobody wants to go

They need to do something like a back to school free ticket offer or even a fall "drive for playoffs" 3-game package that includes one game free of charge.

Right now I'm just hoping there will be buzz for the Bombers and Eskimos visits that we haven't seen for 4 or 5 years with these games having playoff implications against traditional Western rivals.

I was sitting there watching yesterday's mic'd up game thinking this is cool but it's just adding to the stay at home experience of watching games. Why pay for a ticket? Better replays and now better features. If they think the constant coaches' challenges are bad for TV, try sitting through them at the stadium.
footballtom
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Just Listening to tonight's post game show there are a lot of reasons why the lions are only getting 20,000 a game and it looks like they are not even going to get close to that against Montreal next Friday.


1. From listing to the post game show all the callers are over 60 years old .
2. right now the Lions are a forth rate team in this city by anyone under 30 years old { even the Vancouver Canadians get more young people at there games that the lions do }
4. too many people watching on tv. { need to get the black out back in to save the league or there will be no league } I know that is old fashioned but it has to happen .
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almo89
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footballtom wrote:Just Listening to tonight's post game show there are a lot of reasons why the lions are only getting 20,000 a game and it looks like they are not even going to get close to that against Montreal next Friday.


1. From listing to the post game show all the callers are over 60 years old .
2. right now the Lions are a forth rate team in this city by anyone under 30 years old { even the Vancouver Canadians get more young people at there games that the lions do }
4. too many people watching on tv. { need to get the black out back in to save the league or there will be no league } I know that is old fashioned but it has to happen .
Blackout is not coming back and it shouldn't. The TV deal is good money for every team in the league. If you bring blackouts back, TV numbers go down and TSN won't be paying as much. TV is here to stay and it's up to the teams to adjust and market accordingly.
footballtom
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almo89 wrote:
footballtom wrote:Just Listening to tonight's post game show there are a lot of reasons why the lions are only getting 20,000 a game and it looks like they are not even going to get close to that against Montreal next Friday.


1. From listing to the post game show all the callers are over 60 years old .
2. right now the Lions are a forth rate team in this city by anyone under 30 years old { even the Vancouver Canadians get more young people at there games that the lions do }
4. too many people watching on tv. { need to get the black out back in to save the league or there will be no league } I know that is old fashioned but it has to happen .
Blackout is not coming back and it shouldn't. The TV deal is good money for every team in the league. If you bring blackouts back, TV numbers go down and TSN won't be paying as much. TV is here to stay and it's up to the teams to adjust and market accordingly.

Good point something has to be done
Qman
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footballtom wrote: 2. right now the Lions are a forth rate team in this city by anyone under 30 years old { even the Vancouver Canadians get more young people at there games that the lions do n .
you have been banned before for trolling daniel ... can't give it up, eh


you obviously don't go to games, tons of kids in my section (720s), lots of 20-somethings too
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jcalhoun
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Hey all,

A blackout isn't going to help get young people into the stands. Not to be a debbie-downer, but I didn't even watch the game tonight. I checked the live play by play a couple of times on my phone, saw that it was a dull defensive battle, and decided to give this one a miss. And giving a game a miss means not listening to it on an internet radio stream. I'll watch the game sometime next week, a quarter at a time (with the ads removed) on YouTube while I fold laundry or do mindless research online. I haven't watched a game live on TV this season, and don't intend to.

The readership of this forum tends to skew towards the graying demographic (I assume). I'm 39. I don't own a TV, and don't have cable. I don't want 'em. Most people I know (admittedly a peculiar demographic) don't have TV's or cable, and couldn't be coerced into watching something for three hours. I believe it goes way beyond issues of cost, travel hassles, etc. It's about lifestyle. Attending a game for me (out in the burbs) is a five-six hour commitment, at least $200, and frankly, I have better things to spend my time and money on. The Lions tonight were competing against me making dinner, walking the dog, and a book. 16-13? You kidding me?

If the team somehow came out with a blackout, or removed videos from Youtube, or shut down streams, the vast majority of people are not going to head to the stadium, they're just going to tune the team out completely.

* * *

There are lots of things that could be done to make the team more popular, that would drive attendance, that wouldn't cost much, and we've discussed them to death. The Lions ain't listening. The truth is the CFL is an entertaining game, but everything about how it's run is amateurish.

Do you all remember what it was like in the 90's, trying to find Lions' merchandise? You couldn't buy jerseys anywhere, there were no t-shirts, no hats. It was really, really difficult to find CFL stuff. And we were told time and again that there just wasn't a market for it. It will never fly... And then, magically, a few retailers and distributors started carrying swag and everyone bought it. Watch the 94 Grey Cup and look at the crowd. Count the jerseys. Not many. Now look at any crowd today.

We used to be told there was no TV audience for summertime games, so the CBC didn't broadcast until Labour Day. That was the prevailing wisdom for the longest time. Social media has been around for more than a decade now. The CFL is just (and I mean just) starting to figure it out. And everyone is delighted that they've figured something out a decade (or more) after the fact.

A video game? How many times have we been told that wouldn't fly? If it ever happens it will *fly* off the shelves, be hugely popular in the US, and everyone will say, 'why didn't we do this sooner?'

I'm not worried about attendance for a bunch of reasons --but mostly because any prospective owner will look at how things are here and see room for improvement. And things will get better, but not with the current people running the show.

Cheers,

James
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B.C.FAN
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I was talking to a young woman today who got three free tickets to a game through her six-year-old son's school. The tickets were a hot commodity at the school and were snapped up fast. They loved the experience of their first game and the exposure to the passionate Lions' fans in the stadium. I've seen the same thing repeated in a number of places this year, including my office, where free tickets have been offered for most, if not all home games and have always been snapped up immediately.

I've seen lots of young families at games this year. The second-half schedule sets up well for the Lions with five of the last eight games at home, three of them on Saturdays and two of those with kid-friendly 4 p.m. kickoffs. The Lions seem to be working hard to create a buzz and get unsold tickets in the hands of people who will appreciate them, although they probably won't want to talk about it if that indeed is their marketing strategy. Their per-ticket revenue will take a hit but the only things people count are bums in the seats.
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almo89
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What did you guys think of the digital Argo and CFL logo that TSN did last night? I thought it was really slick. Would like to see it for a Leos home game since we have the blank field as well.
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B.C.FAN
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almo89 wrote:What did you guys think of the digital Argo and CFL logo that TSN did last night? I thought it was really slick. Would like to see it for a Leos home game since we have the blank field as well.
I watched the broadcast live and again on PVR and didn't even notice it.
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David
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footballtom wrote:From listing to the post game show all the callers are over 60 years old .
How can you tell that they're all over 60, did you screen them first? There were a solid 8-9 callers in the 2 and 1/2 hour post-game show last night. Pretty impressive for a Wednesday game against an Eastern opponent (and - news flash - post-game phone boards tend to skew older in any sport, BTW). Now, if only 1 person called in, you'd probably be complaining about that. :dizzy:
footballtom wrote:2. right now the Lions are a forth rate team in this city by anyone under 30 years old { even the Vancouver Canadians get more young people at there games that the lions do }
Do you even go to the games? If so, I am sure you'd notice plenty of young fans at the games. This is the same myth that "everyone is from the Fraser Valley." Yes, typically there are older fans in the better seats, but a wide range of ages everywhere else. No shortage of kids either.

And the Vancouver Canadians draw 5,000 people to their games. Total. You can't be serious with that comment.


DH :cool:
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DanoT
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soccerballtom is a troll.
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