Attendance Prediction for Sunday, August 19th

[DanoT]

I was at the Lions game in Calgary. Paid $80 for row 30 on the 50 yard line, so isn't that comparable to a Lion's ticket?

One feature that i would like to see the Lions copy: On the score board, beside the video screen, they have a running tally of each teams running an passing, and combined yardage totals.

A part of the competition for sports dollars is the fact that teams are competing with large screen HD TV and excellent TSN production values as well as the easy and low cost of watching at home or in a sports bar.

I think that the Lions under utilize their replay screen. For one, since TSN does such a good job of televising games, I would like to see the replay screen utilize the TSN feed. When plays are under review, fans in the stadium should get the same multi looks as the fans watching at home.

[ziggy]

The Canucks are an example of a small venue !8K(?) that sells out partially because it is a small venue and therefore the place to be. Having been to games ,the one thing I noticed is that most of the lower bowl is sold out to coporate sponsors and long term season ticket holders. Not sure what the breakdown is but there seems to be a lot of coporate seats judging by the suits and non stop texting during the game. In the upper bowl nose bleeds you have the cheap seats and sadly with that, the drunks.

I think you need to be carefull when pricing seats, I'd rather for example pay for a better seat at a Canucks game especially if taking the family, simply to avoid the swearing drunks. I've found the same thing at football games, if the tickets are too cheap, you seem to attract the drunks who could care less about the game and are more interested in downing beer and looking for trouble/attention.

Not sure where the pricing point is for the Lions, I think it's a little high now, but I'm also wary about what too low of a price brings.

[sj-roc]

I was at the Lions game in Calgary. Paid $80 for row 30 on the 50 yard line, so isn't that comparable to a Lion's ticket?

One feature that i would like to see the Lions copy: On the score board, beside the video screen, they have a running tally of each teams running an passing, and combined yardage totals.

A part of the competition for sports dollars is the fact that teams are competing with large screen HD TV and excellent TSN production values as well as the easy and low cost of watching at home or in a sports bar.

I think that the Lions under utilize their replay screen. For one, since TSN does such a good job of televising games, I would like to see the replay screen utilize the TSN feed. When plays are under review, fans in the stadium should get the same multi looks as the fans watching at home.

I agree and have said so here a few times. But in fairness, I have to give them some credit for their slo-mo replay of the hammy lip syncher near the end of yesterday's game. I didn't find it all that funny myself (mostly because I don't care for the song), but it got a good reaction from the crowd and more importantly, it showed some on-the-fly smarts that in my view have been greatly lacking thus far in the BCPII-era gameday presentation. Just as significantly, it gave the fans something that you likely won't get from the TV broadcast — i.e., a REASON to attend games. Let's see more such creativity in the future, please, Mr. Skulsky.

[David]

While we're on the topic of attendance, here is CFL's average attendance for 2012 ranked by city. Edmonton, Calgary, BC, and Hamilton have all played 4 home games; Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Saskatchewan have played 3 home games:

Edmonton - 36,201
Saskatchewan - 32,146
Winnipeg - 29,533
British Columbia - 29,285
Calgary - 28,710
Hamilton - 23,993
Toronto - 21,924
Montreal - 21,651


DH

[Blue In BC]

I was at the Lions game in Calgary. Paid $80 for row 30 on the 50 yard line, so isn't that comparable to a Lion's ticket?

One feature that i would like to see the Lions copy: On the score board, beside the video screen, they have a running tally of each teams running an passing, and combined yardage totals.

A part of the competition for sports dollars is the fact that teams are competing with large screen HD TV and excellent TSN production values as well as the easy and low cost of watching at home or in a sports bar.

I think that the Lions under utilize their replay screen. For one, since TSN does such a good job of televising games, I would like to see the replay screen utilize the TSN feed. When plays are under review, fans in the stadium should get the same multi looks as the fans watching at home.

The tickets I was going to buy if they had been available were $73 with all the service charges on the 10 yard line. So no, I don't think that's comparable at all. The general feeling I got about the upper bowl was even more expensive and not as desirable seats. The upper bowl should have less expensive seats as a starting point.

[Toppy Vann]

The Canucks are an example of a small venue !8K(?) that sells out partially because it is a small venue and therefore the place to be. Having been to games ,the one thing I noticed is that most of the lower bowl is sold out to coporate sponsors and long term season ticket holders. Not sure what the breakdown is but there seems to be a lot of coporate seats judging by the suits and non stop texting during the game. In the upper bowl nose bleeds you have the cheap seats and sadly with that, the drunks.

I think you need to be carefull when pricing seats, I'd rather for example pay for a better seat at a Canucks game especially if taking the family, simply to avoid the swearing drunks. I've found the same thing at football games, if the tickets are too cheap, you seem to attract the drunks who could care less about the game and are more interested in downing beer and looking for trouble/attention.

Not sure where the pricing point is for the Lions, I think it's a little high now, but I'm also wary about what too low of a price brings.

The Canucks too have some 4o+ games and some fans I know split the tickets up among friends. I dislike the high up seats there as the puck is not the size of a football. Yes they can premium price the tickets and the corporates snap them up.

I agree that too low a price in the past led to some poor crowds but if priced right and marketed right perhaps it can attract the right mix. BC Place had done a bad job of policing the crowd too and when Ackles returned they fixed that at least I felt they had. The don't be a jerk ads by Lion players also is needed and helped too.

The upper deck (lower part) has good seats and a great view for football as it really gives you a top down perspective. But what you lack in the end zones down below is that but you get a feel for a game when a TD is scored of being close to the action. A trade off that helps with replay.

It seems the Lions price point now is a deterrent to some.

This gem in the Greg Douglas column this week had this to say so something in sales with the Lions will be changing.

SHORT HOPS: Phil Adams has left the B.C. Lions after eight years as director of corporate partnership sales to join the Whitecaps in the same capacity …

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Fr ... z2490sNGiK

[Jim Mullin]

Losing Phil Adams - especially to a competitor - is a major minus. He's a talented guy with lots of connections and positive relationships. And this is the time of the year where you start to work on renewing your sponsorships.

A decision on the price structure like the Lions have comes from higher up than corporate sales. Hopefully they listen to the fan base - who are represented by empty seats in the upper deck = in time for the 2013 season.

[AC/DC Rocks]

All of us die hard Lions fans want to see regular season crowds of 40,000 to 50,000 a game.

Unfortunately, due to all the various reasons mentioned, it aint going to happen, and that sucks.

We have a good solid core of fans and an excellent organization.

I understand what your saying Blue in BC, you miss the good old days when the crowds were big.

[sj-roc]

Re: Phil Adams defection to the Whitecaps, the guy is surely all too aware of the recent pricing hikes and perhaps it was creating greater challenges in his job the longer he stayed with the Lions. Could it be that he knew (knows?) that things aren't changing for the better in 2013 and he decided it would be more career-enhancing in the long run to be with an organisation where he felt he'd stand a better chance of honestly claiming high percentage increases in sales volumes/revenues on his resumé?

Another general comment on ticket sales/attendance: I was tuned in to 1040 for much of yesterday and got to hear many of the various hosts and some guests rehashing the Sunday game. It should be said that they were generally enthusiastic about the scheduling of the game (early-ish Sunday afternoon) and the level of attendance; I didn't hear any Debbie Downer talk of what a supposed paltry crowd showed up in light of all the positive circumstances that presented themselves — in fact, it was described a few times, correctly, as a season-high crowd. There also seemed to be a consensus, even among a couple of the players who were interviewed, that the Lions should consider having more Sunday afternoon games in the future for at least the pre-NFL part of the season, perhaps even more weekend afternoon games in general.

Before Matt Sekeres left the G&M last year, he wrote an article therein lamenting the anticipated (and eventually realised) non-sellout for the first game back at BCP; there was a bit of a downer tone to the whole piece. I emailed him a reply with many of the same carefully nuanced points re: attendance patterns, with visuals, that I've reiterated on here for at least the last year or two. We had a couple of calm, reasoned exchanges and he actually seemed impressed that someone would bother emailing him for something other than just name-calling. To his great credit, he admitted that the article might have been a bit overbearing and that he'd try to take a more balanced view of the situation going forward.

[Hambone]

The tickets I was going to buy if they had been available were $73 with all the service charges on the 10 yard line. So no, I don't think that's comparable at all. The general feeling I got about the upper bowl was even more expensive and not as desirable seats. The upper bowl should have less expensive seats as a starting point.

And yet there are a lot of football fans who believe the first 5 or 6 rows in the upper bowl are better than any lower bowl seats.

[DanoT]

The tickets I was going to buy if they had been available were $73 with all the service charges on the 10 yard line. So no, I don't think that's comparable at all. The general feeling I got about the upper bowl was even more expensive and not as desirable seats. The upper bowl should have less expensive seats as a starting point.

And yet there are a lot of football fans who believe the first 5 or 6 rows in the upper bowl are better than any lower bowl seats.

I'm one of those upper deck guys and I don't mind paying a premium for those seats, but anything above the entrance landing to the upper deck seats should be at big $ discount.