Any word on season ticket sales?

[Rammer]

Still, if you were to price out each seat and take an average, I think we would come out at or near the top (especially since we have the highest low-end price point in the league).

DH

Without a need to be the highest priced low-end seating, as we have end-zone seating and well over the average stadium capacity of most other teams. I would love to hear the reasoning that the Lions came up with that price point for the Upper Bowl and End-zone seating, it just limits the attendance unnecessarily, IMO.

[SammyGreene]

I have seen a lot of price resistance, though, from walkup buyers confronted by $35 or $40 tickets. A new Lions marketing partnership with 7-Eleven, Safeway or another business selling cheap tickets at $50 per pair would probably be attractive and would help broaden the fan base. Unlike the old B.C. Place, though, there really are no bad seats in the new stadium. The upper deck in the end zone is not open to regular sales so is the only place that casual fans with discounted tickets would not be among season ticket holders who paid more for their seats.

Hope you're right B.C. FAN. Given for walk-up tickets you can't sit in the upper deck for less than $50 per game, it's not a stretch to say these will be a very tough sell. Same goes for corner end zone at $45 per game which is ridiculous. With the season ticket base likely to stay status quo or just marginally better, the Lions better be careful or they could easily be staring at the days again where it's only necessary to open the lower bowl with the 29,000 seat capacity.

[TheFanWithTheFlag]

I definitely agree with you Sammy for sure, I don’t want to see just the lower bowl open I actually like seeing more people, but with the prices of ST the way there going I could very well see just the lower bowl open.

[MacNews]

I would love to hear the reasoning that the Lions came up with that price point for the Upper Bowl and End-zone seating, it just limits the attendance unnecessarily, IMO.

Because the Lions get 0 parking revenue and I bet they receive limited or no concession revenue as well. The way I look at it, there is no incentive for the Lions to have a large crowd because they don't receive the spin-off revenue. So they play the only game they can and have high tickets prices to extract their pound of flesh before you enter in the reach of PavCo.

[cromartie]

I would love to hear the reasoning that the Lions came up with that price point for the Upper Bowl and End-zone seating, it just limits the attendance unnecessarily, IMO.

Because the Lions get 0 parking revenue and I bet they receive limited or no concession revenue as well. The way I look at it, there is no incentive for the Lions to have a large crowd because they don't receive the spin-off revenue. So they play the only game they can and have high tickets prices to extract their pound of flesh before you enter in the reach of PavCo.

This. The Lions don't get revenue from outside sources and hence the need to maximize ticket revenue.

Of course, they could maximize merchandizing revenue in the same way but they don't really make the effort that some other teams do in that area. (In fairness, a lot of NFL teams don't, either).

[David]

The latest:

News1130 Sports ‏ @News1130Sports
Braley says his Lions on pace to reach last year's 22,000 season tickets sold. His Argos have already passed last year's total.

DH

[B.C.FAN]

Still, if you were to price out each seat and take an average, I think we would come out at or near the top (especially since we have the highest low-end price point in the league).

DH

Some of the numbers in the Blue Bombers' annual report provide an interestnig comparison. The team reported ticket sales of $8.366 million on record attendance of 324,000, including preseason (well over 29,000 per game). By my calculations, that works out to an average of just under $26 per ticket, which seems really low. I don't know enough about their accounting methods to know whether that's a fair calculation. I know they expect costs and ticket prices to rise sharply this year with the new stadium.

[Hambone]

All I know is my seat in Section 242 Row O is cheaper than the same seat would cost in McMahon or Mosiac. It's about 8% more than the same seat would cost at Commonwealth. An engineer would probably calculate that it's 10% closer to the field than Commonwealth where the track makes all seats farther away from the field than comparable seats at any other CFL field. Google Earth's ruler seems to be quite accurate based on measuring the Commonwealth playing surface. It shows 63' from sidelines to Row 1 on the east side of the sidelines and 75 feet between Row 1 and the west sideline. In Calgary it's 42' from sideline to Row 1 both sides. Regina seems to be about the same on the Rider's side and a little closer on the visitor's side. The picture becomes grainy but it appears Row 1 in Commonwealth is the same distance from the sideline as Row 12 at McMahon. I'm assuming BC Place Row 1 will be a similar distance from the field as McMahon. Distance across McMahon from top row one side to top row the other is about 570'. At Commonwealth it's 750'. BC Place is roughly 600' across. According to Google Earth it's 523' from between Row 1 of the upper deck on side across to Row 1 of the upper deck the other side. Running the ruler 600' across at Commonwealth and nearly 2/3 of the upper deck there would be located outside of BC Place looking in. Something to keep in mind when you ponder why Edmonton offers price breaks in the upper deck and the Lions don't. For the record the Riders also do not give price breaks for their nose bleeds. Row 1 and the top row at Mosaic are the same price. The worst 55 yard line seat in BC Place is better than 2/3 of the 55 yard line upper deck seats at Commonwealth. And none of those flatlanders on the prairies get to ogle the Felions on an 82' HD screen from their location.

[vanhalendlrband]

I find it funny how some people would compare the whitecaps to the lions. I mean leave it to Vancouver to put so much into a team that's in what not even in the top ten of soccer leagues. The CFL is the only Canadian rules football game in the world and is the highest competing level of Canadian Football in the world. Meaning Lions tickets should be worth more.

CFL tops in the world for Canadian Football. There is no league above it. As much as NFL fans seem to think money means better players somehow. Going by that Bobby Holik would be at least twice as talented as Wayne gretzky.


MLS benefits from top end business and marketing for a market of soccer fans that are clearly out there. But to ever say its major league even is a joke. It's tops in north America sure, but that's really not saying much at all. You can notice a huuuge difference in skill when you watch UEFA even and that's not even including the rest of the world like Brazil.

Even tho I can barely afford go I know this league is worth way more than this. The CFL is not lesser than the NFL in terms of talent, half our teams are Canadian and would never make the NFL either cuz of politics, different positions, or being suited more for the Canadian game.

I laugh at ppl that laugh at the rouge too. Sorry we don't give away yardage and make our players work for every step lol