2017 All Things Lions Marketing & Promotions

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David
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The other strategy I don't get is the constant "charge as much (or just a tiny break - in some cases more) and get "X" or "X and Y" with it." The Lions do these value adds with almost every promotion.

NO! Just try a promotion with a steep discount sans the extras. I don't want a car flag or a hat. I already have them just like most Lions fans. Just give me a true and honest discount. They're so deathly afraid of "cheapening their product." Guess what? It's already been cheapened, SMH.

Like this year's over-priced 7-11 end-zone promotion. $39 each plus taxes and fees, sold in pairs only. But.... you receive a coupon for a FREE Smokie and large Slurpee with each ticket purchased. So you're forced into two over-priced tickets and the extras - something you might not even want.


DH :cool:
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Belize City Lion
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Currently the Lions are probably attracting paid crowds of about 16,000. Average ticket price would be about $67. That means they are making a bit less that $1.1M in revenue from each home game.

If the Lions average ticket price was $35 a crowd of 30,000 would bring in nearly the same revenue per game, or about $9.5M for the season (not including preseason or playoff games). On top of that each team gets $4M per season from the TSN deal.

So $13.5 minus the salary cap of $5.15M would leave $8.35M for operating expenses (stadium rental, travel, coaches, executives, etc.).

Do you not think 30,000 is a realistic crowd IF tickets were priced at $35? 30,000 is also the "tipping point" where BC Place goes from feeling way too big to being a fun place to watch a game. 30,000 looks way better on TV which makes TSN happy. The extra 14,000 fans that are not coming now are potential consumers of merchandise. BC Place is happy because more people mean more concession sales which could mean a lower stadium rental fee. 30,000 people at every home game gets the attention of the local media who may be less inclined to ignore the Lions in favour of reports about "what did the twins eat for lunch?".

Quite simply, the goal of the front office should not be to charge as much as the market will bear and maximise per seat profit, but to put at least 30,000 people in the stadium for every home game. If they do that everything else on the business side will take care of itself.

So if you are Slusky or Braley you would be thinking "but what if we cut prices by nearly 50% but only 20,000 show up?". Well I have a plan for that too...

Give fans a rebate (either in the form of a coupon or a partial refund back to the credit or debit card used to purchase tickets) if attendance exceeds certain targets. For example, sell the tickets for an average price of $45 and if the Lions sell more than 25,000 everyone gets $5 back (or a $5 voucher for their next ticket purchase). If they sell more than 30,000 tickets everyone gets a $10 rebate.
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B.C.FAN
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Belize City Lion wrote:
Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:33 pm
Currently the Lions are probably attracting paid crowds of about 16,000. Average ticket price would be about $67. That means they are making a bit less that $1.1M in revenue from each home game.

If the Lions average ticket price was $35 a crowd of 30,000 would bring in nearly the same revenue per game, or about $9.5M for the season (not including preseason or playoff games). On top of that each team gets $4M per season from the TSN deal.

So $13.5 minus the salary cap of $5.15M would leave $8.35M for operating expenses (stadium rental, travel, coaches, executives, etc.).
The upper bowl is not going to be opened anytime soon so crowds of 30,000 are impossible. I believe the current lower bowl configuration seats about 27,000 for football, so an average crowd of 25,000 would be a more realistic target. Using your math, to generate $1.1 million per game would require an average ticket price of $44 with a paid attendance of 25,000.
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Belize City Lion
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:42 pm
Belize City Lion wrote:
Fri Nov 10, 2017 3:33 pm
Currently the Lions are probably attracting paid crowds of about 16,000. Average ticket price would be about $67. That means they are making a bit less that $1.1M in revenue from each home game.

If the Lions average ticket price was $35 a crowd of 30,000 would bring in nearly the same revenue per game, or about $9.5M for the season (not including preseason or playoff games). On top of that each team gets $4M per season from the TSN deal.

So $13.5 minus the salary cap of $5.15M would leave $8.35M for operating expenses (stadium rental, travel, coaches, executives, etc.).
The upper bowl is not going to be opened anytime soon so crowds of 30,000 are impossible. I believe the current lower bowl configuration seats about 27,000 for football, so an average crowd of 25,000 would be a more realistic target. Using your math, to generate $1.1 million per game would require an average ticket price of $44 with a paid attendance of 25,000.
OK, so make the target a lower bowl sell out of 27,000 and reduce prices accordingly so revenue remains neutral but more people are at the game. Then you could look at opening sections in the upper bowl if you think the potential is for larger crowds. Bottom line is Skulsky's strategy of maximising profit per seat is seriously doing damage to the product and the brand. He has reached the point of diminishing returns.
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I'm not going to tread into the issue of the costs of tickets. Cost of tickets is not the only strategy that needs to reviewed. I was on the bus coming down to the last game and overheard 2 young women having a discussion and it turned out that they were going to the game... they were not Lions fans, seemed to have little knowledge of football and the team or players. One asked the other if the stadium was an outdoor one or "indoor"... apparently concerned if she was dressed warmly enough. These women were in their 20's, had much discussion about their workplaces, their careers, were reading their phones and checking on what their various friends were doing or where they were going to on a Saturday night... in other words, they were the demographic completely opposite from me....me being a lifetime Lions fan, retired, old and in the way.....

I was wondering what would bring them back for another game.... likely not the win/loss record or more knowledge about the players... I figured that their in-stadium experience, if it was fun, lively, exciting, upbeat and connected in that it included a mix of their "eyes on the field and their eyes on their phones" might leave them with a feeling that it would be fun to go to another game..

Putting a winning product on the field will help, especially in keeping us old farts happy, but I'm not sure that it is most important. There is too much happening in people's connected lives to not focus a huge portion of the offseason in making the game day and in-game experience something very exciting and cool.... Considering the number of young people and condo couples nearby, the game is not just a game, its a night out.
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David
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Leos are nowhere close to getting 30,000 people, BCL. There aren't many CFL franchises that can. Maybe Edmonton - which seems to be trending downward, and the Riders of course. Winnipeg can get 30K for 1-2 games a year, but that's your lot. Sadly, it's gotten to the point where the Leos could give away tickets and I am not sure they would sell out that stadium. They need to re-build interest and fan investment first. It's really not there.

A realistic goal is crowds in the 23,000 - 24,000 range. That completely changes the atmosphere in the stadium and doesn't represent a massive increase from where they are right now. I would revamp the pricing strategy (charging less for Eastern teams). There's no way a Hamilton ticket should cost the same as Saskatchewan; completely different demand. I would also be tempted to tarp a couple of lower bowl corners to get fans packed in tighter (like the Whitecaps) to lower capacity and improve optics - at least until they get this thing turned around.


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B.C.FAN
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Here are the Lions' actual attendance figures, obtained by Bob Mackin through a freedom of information request to PavCo, which runs B.C. Place. As Mackin found through similar requests in the past, both the Lions and Whitecaps overstate their attendance.

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David
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Mackin, a known opponent of the BC Place reno project, needs to release this alleged Freedom of Information report. He tried to claim the Western Semi attendance last year was padded by a couple of thousand fans when most of us thought there were significantly more than 19K in the building. Even though the east endzone was fairly sparse, other parts of the stadium were packed.

So now he claims there were under 20,000 fans at the Rider game earlier this year, and the Montreal and Calgary games just so happened to have the exact same number of fans? I am sure the Lions have done some inflating this year, but I question the integrity of this data.


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cjones2451
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Dusty wrote:
Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:33 pm
I'm not going to tread into the issue of the costs of tickets. Cost of tickets is not the only strategy that needs to reviewed. I was on the bus coming down to the last game and overheard 2 young women having a discussion and it turned out that they were going to the game... they were not Lions fans, seemed to have little knowledge of football and the team or players. One asked the other if the stadium was an outdoor one or "indoor"... apparently concerned if she was dressed warmly enough. These women were in their 20's, had much discussion about their workplaces, their careers, were reading their phones and checking on what their various friends were doing or where they were going to on a Saturday night... in other words, they were the demographic completely opposite from me....me being a lifetime Lions fan, retired, old and in the way.....

I was wondering what would bring them back for another game.... likely not the win/loss record or more knowledge about the players... I figured that their in-stadium experience, if it was fun, lively, exciting, upbeat and connected in that it included a mix of their "eyes on the field and their eyes on their phones" might leave them with a feeling that it would be fun to go to another game.

Putting a winning product on the field will help, especially in keeping us old farts happy, but I'm not sure that it is most important. There is too much happening in people's connected lives to not focus a huge portion of the offseason in making the game day and in-game experience something very exciting and cool.... Considering the number of young people and condo couples nearby, the game is not just a game, its a night out.
I have thought about this too and it is more than 1 thing that will work, but I took my kids to a movie last week for the first time in a LONG time and in before the movie started there was a trivia type game that people could play on their phones and earn "Scene" points. What if you had something like that, trivia etc. not only football but current events that apply to millenials. They could earn "BC Place Bucks" towards concession or merch. Would engage them in the game, you could do it on TV time outs, half time, etc. too and could lead to repeat business. This would be one thing in addition to other things like a get on the field after the game to meet the players or punt, pass or kick the ball (maybe you do this after a 4pm game, so it is not too late).
Contrary to what Braley thinks it is not only the on field product that needs fixing

I think we should start email our ideas to Terri Breker, BC Lions Director of Marketing and see if anything sticks. Tbreker@bclions.com
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cjones2451
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So I emailed my ticket rep to say I was hoping for a family pricing on my kids tickets and am probably going to drop from 3 to 2 tickets and she said hold tight they had tons of feedback on this and may have something for me next week. Not sure if it will be public or maybe something for STH who are not renewing, downsizing like me etc.

Will be interesting to see what it is
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B.C.FAN
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cjones2451 wrote:
Wed Nov 22, 2017 4:30 pm
So I emailed my ticket rep to say I was hoping for a family pricing on my kids tickets and am probably going to drop from 3 to 2 tickets and she said hold tight they had tons of feedback on this and may have something for me next week. Not sure if it will be public or maybe something for STH who are not renewing, downsizing like me etc.

Will be interesting to see what it is
Interesting. Keep us posted. I had a voicemail from my rep today. I haven't renewed yet. I'm still thinking of downsizing from three tickets to two.
louharris74
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David wrote:
Fri Nov 10, 2017 2:16 pm
The other strategy I don't get is the constant "charge as much (or just a tiny break - in some cases more) and get "X" or "X and Y" with it." The Lions do these value adds with almost every promotion.

NO! Just try a promotion with a steep discount sans the extras. I don't want a car flag or a hat. I already have them just like most Lions fans. Just give me a true and honest discount. They're so deathly afraid of "cheapening their product." Guess what? It's already been cheapened, SMH.

Like this year's over-priced 7-11 end-zone promotion. $39 each plus taxes and fees, sold in pairs only. But.... you receive a coupon for a FREE Smokie and large Slurpee with each ticket purchased. So you're forced into two over-priced tickets and the extras - something you might not even want.


DH :cool:
So true. I don't need all the extra stuff, just make the games more affordable and give people an incentive to come to the stadium (i.e. a good atmosphere) rather than watch at home on TV. 20k to 25k in the lower bowl makes in way more enjoyable to bother to watch in person. Still no sign of family pricing, hopefully that is still to come. Should also have discounts for high school and university kids.

I see today on the Lions site that they have dropped the 3 game pack prices of Touchdown Corner and Touchdown Endzone seats a bit, as well as Red Zone tickets from $198 for 3 to $190. Not enough of a drop on the Red Zone tickets, those should be like $165 for 3.
louharris74
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And the Red Zone tickets should start in the sections at the 30 yard lines i.e. that's 4 more sections that should be Red Zone rather than Coach's Sideline. Or create another price point for those sections between the 20 and 30 yard lines at no more than $60 per ticket.
Casual fans, young people will want to come back if the stadium has a good atmosphere at the games, which takes at least 20k to accomplish. And that's 20k actually in their seats, not paid for but not bothering to show up. Seems like this fall a lot of season ticket holders didn't bother to show up for quite a few games. I work with one STH, and I know that was the case for him.
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I found out that Hamilton season ticket holders who renewed were eligible to receive a $200 gift card...I think it was for their Team Store but I can't say for certain as I had a few wobbly pops by that point of the conversation. :dizzy:
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cjones2451
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B.C.FAN wrote:
Wed Nov 22, 2017 9:30 pm
cjones2451 wrote:
Wed Nov 22, 2017 4:30 pm
So I emailed my ticket rep to say I was hoping for a family pricing on my kids tickets and am probably going to drop from 3 to 2 tickets and she said hold tight they had tons of feedback on this and may have something for me next week. Not sure if it will be public or maybe something for STH who are not renewing, downsizing like me etc.

Will be interesting to see what it is
Interesting. Keep us posted. I had a voicemail from my rep today. I haven't renewed yet. I'm still thinking of downsizing from three tickets to two.
So I got an email from my ticket rep saying they were offering me a kids rate (12 and under) on my Red Zone tickets. 1 kids rate with every adult purchased. The Pass and lanyard around their neck will be a different colour etc. to identify them as kids, so there is so planning to this not a off the cuff reaction, so I am thrilled that they came through with this and said that they have the seat next to me open, so now instead of reducing to 2 tickets, I am increasing to 4. Not sure if this is going public or just to those who ask or threaten to cancel, reduce etc. but it is a great move and I hope it is a public offer. $137.50 instead of $550 for kids 12 and under is huge!!

Great Job Lions, #IsitJuneyet
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