2011 Western Final Ticket Count

[Ballistic Bob]

Didn't Sam Roberts play halftime in Montreal last Sunday? Impressive given the short window the Alouettes had to organize that game. As David suggests, the game has to become an event to make it more than just a diehard football crowd.

The Canucks don't play until after the WF now so really there is nothing standing in the Lions way. They should be front and centre with the media over the next two days, leading up to kickoff. It would help if they would get a little creative. Declaring it B.C. Lions week with Geroy and Travis raising the flag at city hall wouldn't have been a bad start.

Canucks are playing at 6 pm that evening. Lets hope Canuck fans cant find a parking spot. BB

[Lionheart]

I believe the host team of the Grey Cup actually purchases the event outright from the league.

ONly if they choose to. The league has made it an option for a certain price.

[MexicoLionFan]

The economy is the only reason why this game won't be sold out...but I feel like there should be no less than 45,000 Sunday...that fills up most of the upper bowl and will make the environment very hostile for the eskies...let's hope there is news tomorrow that the Lions hit 40,000!

[mrbigglesworth]

Sales seem to be slowly picking up...

As of Thursday afternoon, the B.C. Lions had sold about 37,000 tickets for the game against the Edmonton Eskimos. Lions president and CEO Dennis Skulsky said he’s OK with the number, even though the new facility has room for 52,000 spectators.

Source: http://www.canada.com/sports/sellout+Va ... story.html

[Hambone]

Canucks are playing at 6 pm that evening. Lets hope Canuck fans cant find a parking spot. BB

That's OK Bob. I'm flying down so don't need a parking spot.

[Hambone]

I believe the host team of the Grey Cup actually purchases the event outright from the league.

ONly if they choose to. The league has made it an option for a certain price.

It's been many, many years since the host team has not taken the league up on the opportunity. Might have to go back to a time when it wasn't an option.

[Ravi]

I'd be calling up every minor football association in Greater Vancouver and the Island right now and negotiating a great 'group rate.' Get creative.
DH

IIRC, the Alouettes did something along those lines for at least a couple of the East Finals that they hosted over the past decade and they drew over 50k for most of those. I agree that the Lions should be marketing the hell out of this game. It isn't just any old game.

[CatsEyes]

Don't forget that the WDF in 05 only sold 37k. That was a GC host year as well. Just saying-people are tapped

[MikeAK]

Don't forget that the WDF in 05 only sold 37k. That was a GC host year as well. Just saying-people are tapped

Yep, I think we've all realized that the Canucks and Giants also playing at home same day/night plus the fact GC is the following weekend make for a tough sell for this WDF. I believe this years GC tickets were also the highest ever, which doesn't help matters. Just too many events in a short amount of time. Lets not forget about all the festivals going on as well. Some of those are not cheap when you factor in drinks and food. The next couple of weekends are actually going to be quite expensive for some... and that jolly fat guy is coming to dinner soon.

I originally thought a little negative about the numbers but once I took everything at work here I have since decided anything over 40k is actually more a positive than anything else. The avg football fan has got to be getting tapped for sure. I think it shows quite a bit of support if 40k people show up for Sunday given everything else going on in the next two weeks.

[Anglophone]

We've had a great atmosphere with 35k. I know I'll have a lot of fun even if we don't sell any more tickets (highly unlikely) and it looks like we are going to break 40k. I expect the crowd to be LOUD!

[Tighthead]

My general thought is that 37K is weak, especially with the stadium reno.

In 2004, and maybe 2006, there seemed to be a great buzz. The Lions just don't seem to quite move the needle in the same way - someone suggested the lack of Ackles and that may well be. Bobby was kind of like an old school carnival barker or something, he loved to sell.

[joe kapp22]

My general thought is that 37K is weak, especially with the stadium reno.

In 2004, and maybe 2006, there seemed to be a great buzz. The Lions just don't seem to quite move the needle in the same way - someone suggested the lack of Ackles and that may well be. Bobby was kind of like an old school carnival barker or something, he loved to sell.

TBH with you Tighhead, I think this is what Wally wants, being outside of BC (waay outside) I have to try and keep up with the player interviews and articles and what have you, and there has been not very much going on, just a 1 shot article about Travis's playoff experience in 2010, and a Team interview with Andrew Jones..that has been about it.

Wally has even closed down media access to practices except for the last 20 minutes.

Hard to generate buzz that way.

I'm hoping we top 40k, and think we will with walk ups.

[Tighthead]

The other thing I realized is that 2004, 2006 and 2007 drew huge but they were playing Saskatchewan. I wonder if some of that buzz was just RR fans buying up 12-15K of tickets? In my opinion the (old) stadium was very different at 50K then at 38 or 40K.

[malcolmm]

That's part of it, but I do hope the Lions are reading things like emails to the paper. Here are some casual fan comments that appeared in the Vancouver Sun story:

joeforte
7:23 PM on 11/15/2011
I wanted to go too, but the prices were too high.

temo
6:49 PM on 11/15/2011
After the "order processing fee" the cheapest ticket is $47. Sorry Leos, I realize you gotta pay the rent on a fancy new stadium but you've priced me out of your product. I guess that's the way entertainment prices are going but don't be surprised if people vote with their wallets.

I have to echo this sort of sentiment, and I'll toss in a story of my own: I was talking about the ticket prices with a buddy of mine and he's in a demographic that doesn't need to worry about the cost. He's done well for himself, he's single, and he lives downtown within spitting distance of the stadium. His initial reaction to Lions' ticket prices was, "I can afford it....but that's just too high....my instinctive reaction is to say that's just too much for a football game." Now if that's the reaction of a former season ticket holder with plenty of disposable income, what's the reaction going to be from Joe six-pack in Surrey, Burnaby or Poco?

Cheers,

James

I'm in the same situation as your downtown friend. I'm comfortably well off, but I have a lot of interests to spend my entertainment money on. I'm going to the game on sunday with a couple of friends, but I was pretty dismayed at the cost for upper deck tickets. We are sitting in section 441, row MM, so I guess reasonable tickets - but $94 each with fees.

The Lions get my money for this game, and for the one regular season game I attended. But I usually go to 4 or 5 games a year, so I'm spending less money on Lions games. I have a hard time finding friends willing to shell out for Lions tickets with the increased ticket prices.

[Centrum22]

It will be interesting to hear today's ticket count. This figure should let us know whether attendance is going to just hover around the 40k mark or significantly exceed it.

My prediction: 41,500 when all said and done.

This was an inexplicable lost opportunity. I believe that with a meaningful marketing campaign, including a good-quality, stylish television commercial, and more reasonable upper bowl ticket prices, the Lions could easily have sold this game out. The extra 10 thousand tickets sold (even at $45) would have more than paid for the advertising. But most importantly, having 1.4 million television viewers see a packed stadium watching your product would have been a priceless investment in the future value of the Lions. Seeing a packed stadium says, "Success." And seeing success makes people (spectators and sponsors alike) want to be a part of it.

Empty seats say the opposite.

To my mind, it is far better (specifically from a business perspective) to have a packed house and make a little less money this one time, than to make a few extra bucks on just one game but have people witness thousands of vacant seats. Braley does not seem to understand that for some reason.

In professional sports, there is no more important optic (and thus valuable marketing asset) than the sight of a completely full venue. It should always be the prime directive, something to be achieved at all costs.