Let's pack the dome for the WSF ! WSF ticket sales thread

[almo89]

Do they not have a computer at Team 1040 ? They're debating whether the upper bowl will be used when there is at least a third of the lower bowl still available. Forget the upper bowl- at this rate the crowd size will be an embarrassment.

Great. So if 21-22,000 show up on Sunday that will be a bigger discussion throughout the day on Monday than the game itself. This is why as small part of me didn't care if the Bombers ended up in 2nd.

A tight time frame and too many tickets to sell (with no discounted deals) for a semi-final game added up to trouble. Winnipeg doesn't seem to be a great draw either. Not even 20,000 for their visit back in October despite a thrilling game a week earlier.
It's going to be pretty disheartening for the players to come out of the tunnel if there are large pockets of empty corner and end zone seats. Maybe the Lions will pull another Tim Horton's ticket giveaway on the weekend?

If there is a time to paper the crowd, Sunday would be the time. They need to fill the place and have a good feeling for the fans going into the next season.

[SammyGreene]

Given what I see now on the Ticketmaster map there really must have been only 11,000 sold as of Tuesday morning and probably no more than 16,000-17,000 sold as of now.
Still a chunk of good sideline seats available as clearly not all season ticket holders purchased their seats. Couple of the end zone sections are almost completely unsold.

[J5V]

People have stopped caring. Dennis Skulsky has a built in excuse for this one (ie. short week.) Instead of making up excuses he should actually do some listening. How long do people have to keep saying give us a break on tickets when we want to take our families ?! If the Vancouver Canucks and Vancouver Giants can, can't the BC Lions ?! All they have done is taken over priced regular season tickets and added a few dollars on each. Nice marketing. This has been going on for years and people have just stopped caring. Even as good as this team has been all year it's just not that fun going to a game with a bunch of empty seats.

Is it so hard to put a family-type promotion together ?! Isn't it obvious that what you're doing is not working ?!

Is very sad to see this slow-moving spiral downward especially after all of the good work and results Bobby Ackles added.

[Huge Talent]

Ah man, just looked on the ticketmaster seat map... there are soooo many seats available. Even like primo 55 yd line aisle seats! WF? more like WTF. Oh well, it is what it is. We'll enjoy the game anyways. My first season as a STH and i really enjoyed going to games. I imagine it would be even better if it were an "in demand" ticket and the place was buzzing. Anyways, still CFL playoff football! Go LIONS!

[J5V]

What in the world is Dave Pratt smoking ?! He's ranting on Team 1040 this morning how the lower bowl is almost sold out already. Do they not have a computer at the Team 1040 ? A quick look at TM shows that there is at least 7 or 8,000 tickets unsold in the lower bowl.

[TheLionKing]

Dave Pratt is a clown, so is his sidekick. Doesn't know what he's talking about most of the time.

[David]

What in the world is Dave Pratt smoking ?! He's ranting on Team 1040 this morning how the lower bowl is almost sold out already. Do they not have a computer at the Team 1040 ? A quick look at TM shows that there is at least 7 or 8,000 tickets unsold in the lower bowl.

No kidding! The only thing I can think of is that, because Pratt is a huge Lions fan, he's trying to build as much hype as possible for the game so that people will think it's a hot ticket and be moved to action. This has always been his modus operandi...make a bold pronouncement, however outrageous, then beat that idea to death so listeners take it as fact. What are we, Day 10 of "this is likely Willy D's last game!" (although I am not sure why he would ask Wally if they're now going to open up the Upper Bowl. Jesus, man!! I also question his football acumen by asking Geroy this morning whether he thinks Manny's game reminds him of his. Say what?!? That's like asking Lynn Swann whether he thinks he and Gronk are similar. If anyone has Geroy's grace and speed, it's Burnham but I digress...).

Thank God the media is not running with "slow moving tickets" as the narrative or we're definitely dead in the water Sunday. Maybe people will start to believe the hype? With what looks to be about 14,000 or 15,000 tickets sold, I am so embarrassed for the players! We're setting them up for a big let down when they come out of the tunnel, so that's already a huge win for the Bombers. If it's so quiet Matt Nichols can order a hot dog from one of the vendors, we're screwed.

So what can be done? They definitely need to paper the house if they are serious about gaining a competitive advantage or we'll have our own version of "Deflate Gate" on our hands - the emotional kind! I paid full pop for my tickets, but I'd MUCH rather see the place full, so who cares if someone scores a good last minute deal? Braley probably won't go for these ideas, but here are some:

* 2 for 1 end zone seats. The west end zone is almost completely unsold. Nothing to lose at this point.
* $99 Family Pack (4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 soft drinks).
* A massive 50/50 jackpot and promote the heck out of it. $20,000 is the staring point in honour of the 20th consecutive playoff appearance for the Lions.
* Dirt cheap group sales for amateur football. Let's get kids in the stands!
* In future, build the Playoff Game into the price of a season ticket, offering a credit or refund if they DON'T host. That way, they're not starting from scratch and wasting precious time processing ST holder orders, blocking casual fans from buying tickets.

(this should have all been considered on Tuesday when it was obvious tickets weren't moving. I stand by my previous post - yes, the club is active in Social Media, but have absolutely zero pulse on the market, foresight or creativity).



DH

[B.C.FAN]

* In future, build the Playoff Game into the price of a season ticket, offering a credit or refund if they DON'T host. That way, they're not starting from scratch and wasting precious time processing ST holder orders, blocking casual fans from buying tickets.[/b][/color]

I like the idea of building the playoff tickets into the season ticket package. It's too late for next year. Ticket prices and packages are already set, but it would make it much easier to open sales to the public. Season ticketholders could still be allowed to pre-order extra tickets but not after the end of regular season as they were this year when the deadline was extended.

The WSF is often a tough sell and draws smaller crowds than regular season games, despite some good matchups. There's just not enough time to sell tickets. This is not just a B.C. phenomenon. WSF attendance has exceeded the host team's regular-season average attendance only once in the past five years, in Calgary in 2012.

WEST SEMI-FINAL ATTENDANCE AND LOCATION
2011 Edmonton (vs. Calgary) 30,183 (regular season average 34,625)
2012 Calgary (vs. Sask.) 30,027 (regular season average 28,664)
2013 Saskatchewan (vs. B.C.) 30,942 (regular season average 37,503)
2014 Edmonton (vs. Sask) 26,237 (regular season average 33,485)
2015 Calgary (vs. B.C.) 26,306 (regular season average 30,376)

I recall sitting in the Dome during the last WSF held in B.C. in 1986 and feeling embarrassed at the small crowd (by that year's standards) of 40,381. The Lions averaged 46,637 during the regular season that year. The playoff attendance barely exceeded the smallest crowd of the regular season, 40,091.

If this year's WSF attendance follows the typical pattern of being 4,000 to 7,000 less than the host team's regular season average, we should expect an attendance this week of 14,000 to 17,000.

[louharris74]

A few friends of mine are balking at going to the game - their "protest" against ticket prices. While I don't agree with them with respect to a playoff game, I totally understand their thinking overall / with respect to the regular season.

With wages pretty well stagnant the last decade for most people, the cost of so many things (i.e. food, gas, utilities, taxes, etc.) going ever higher, so many of the folks who make up the demographic of Lions football fans are going to stay home and watch for free on TV when a decent seat costs $80 or more (and the crappy seats still cost close to $50).

The Lions should have treated this playoff game as gravy. Raising the already too high regular season tickets another 10% or so was incredibly stupid. Especially after getting almost 27k in for the Sask game.

A crowd of 22k on Sunday better wake them up.

[louharris74]

And I'm now a bit pissed off that I bought my tickets on Wed. when lots of way better seats are now clearly available for the same price.

When seats near mid-field, in the upper portion of the lower bowl, are still available less than 2 days from kickoff ... Houston, we have a problem.

[Hambone]

And I'm now a bit pissed off that I bought my tickets on Wed. when lots of way better seats are now clearly available for the same price.

When seats near mid-field, in the upper portion of the lower bowl, are still available less than 2 days from kickoff ... Houston, we have a problem.

I would suggest calling the Lions office to explain that and see if you can exchange them. I did that for the 2013 Grey Cup in Regina. I'd put down a deposit well in advance to be in line to buy before they went on sale to the general public. While I would've happily paid the going rate for a sideline seat that price group wasn't even an option available to me when it came time to buy. I wound up with just about the worst seat possible, one in the back of the endzone 17 seats off the aisle. Then 2 weeks before Grey Cup some good sideline seats became available. I called the Rider office and they were happy to accommodate me. I just had to tell them which seat available on the map view I wanted, pay the difference and I was upgraded to the sideline seat. Hopefully the Lions office is open today. It sure the heck should be. Failing that try contacting Ticketmaster. Ticket systems being as they are these days it's quite easy to invalidate the bar code on your tickets and issue you new ones.

[Qman]

And I'm now a bit pissed off that I bought my tickets on Wed. when lots of way better seats are now clearly available for the same price.

When seats near mid-field, in the upper portion of the lower bowl, are still available less than 2 days from kickoff ... Houston, we have a problem.

you were told to wait a few days by numerous posters ... get off your ass and call the lions instead of trolling here

[Hambone]

* A massive 50/50 jackpot and promote the heck out of it. $20,000 is the staring point in honour of the 20th consecutive playoff appearance for the Lions.

This can be effective and something they should try once per season. Last year or the year before the Prince George Cougars tried this. It was used also a fundraiser for an ALS research fund created in memory of the mother of one of the Cougars' players. Cougar ownership started the pot off by buying the first $25000 worth of tickets and redistributing them to the fans upon arrival; 10 ($10 worth as they went 10 for $10) to season ticket holders and 1 ($2 ea) to all other adults. It turned out to be almost too successful. It was the 2nd of two games vs Victoria that weekend. Attendance on the Friday night was 2404 with the winner's share of the 50/50 being probably around $4000. On the fundraiser night it was close to a total sellout with 5404. The final pot to be split was $67066; over $33500 to the winner. The pot could've been much bigger. As I think the Lions do while the system is computerized now they still have to physically print the tickets then put them in the drum for the draw. The Cougars soon figured out they didn't have the printing capacity to be able to print the tickets in time to do the draw before the game was over. Instead of cutting off sales as usual at the end of the 2nd intermission they cut them off at the end of the 1st intermission with hundreds still in line trying to buy more. As it was they still were still madly printing the tickets at the end of the game. Finally about 20 minutes after the game was over they announced they'd have to do the draw the next day and asked people to check their website for the winning number. Bottom line though ownership easily recovered their $25000 buy-in and then some through the 3000 extra game tickets being sold.

The Lions could do something similar. Not sure if it would make more sense early in the season or late in the season. They'd also have to start the pot much bigger than $25K. Probably would have to go $100K to capture the attention of the market. The Eskimos did this for their season finale versus Toronto starting the 50/50 pot with $100K. The result was a crowd of over 33000 for a meaningless season ending game against a non-rival East team. Most of their games during the season had seen 26000 in attendance save the usual bread winning matchups with Riders and the LDC rematch vs Calgary. That 50/50 draw kick-in no doubt bought them at minimum an extra 8000 fans.

[louharris74]

And I'm now a bit pissed off that I bought my tickets on Wed. when lots of way better seats are now clearly available for the same price.

When seats near mid-field, in the upper portion of the lower bowl, are still available less than 2 days from kickoff ... Houston, we have a problem.

you were told to wait a few days by numerous posters ... get off your ass and call the lions instead of trolling here

Seems like everyone is a troll to you, Mr. Every Seat In The Lower Bowl is a great seat.
I waited till late Wed. afternoon to buy two tickets. As per usual the Ticket Master site still showed lots of tickets as not available when they were still being blocked for the STH's, even though that was not supposed to be the case at that time. Will wait even longer next time to buy given the unfortunate state of the football ticket buying market.
I'm likely going to stick with the seats we have. Leave some great seats for people still sitting on the fence about attending.

[SammyGreene]

With wages pretty well stagnant the last decade for most people, the cost of so many things (i.e. food, gas, utilities, taxes, etc.) going ever higher, so many of the folks who make up the demographic of Lions football fans are going to stay home and watch for free on TV when a decent seat costs $80 or more (and the crappy seats still cost close to $50).

The Lions should have treated this playoff game as gravy. Raising the already too high regular season tickets another 10% or so was incredibly stupid. Especially after getting almost 27k in for the Sask game.

Well said. My salary hasn't come close to matching the Lions ticket price increases in the past decade.

What a disaster. Less than 24 hours until kickoff and the north end zone doesn't even look 20 percent sold. Nobody gobbling up those $47 (all in) end zone seats? Should be more like $25 tops. If it's not the smallest crowd of the season tomorrow it's going to be damn near close to it. Great optics for TV too.

LU didn't want to get into yesterday but suggested with a 12 win team that is very entertaining the finger needs to be pointed elsewhere in the organization for the small crowds. This club badly needs a change of ownership or at the very least on the business side of the operations that is clearly out of touch with this marketplace.

I know it's not a Western Final but previous two Lions home playoff crowds have been 54,000 (2007) and 41,000 (2011). How big of drop off will this be?