Riders vs. Lions, October 4th - Attendance/Seating

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sj-roc
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B.C.FAN wrote:Rider fans will turn out, no matter how their team is faring in the standings. The ones who come to B.C. Place are usually quiet and subdued since their team hasn't won there since the renovation and they didn't win too often before that.
They don't even have a place in the building anymore to not watch the lack of Rider highlights since they put in the centre-hung video board visible from all angles — right, Ballistic Bob? :rotf:

But jokes aside, I wouldn't consider the Riders' record in Vancouver dowright terrible: 9-10 dating back through 2001 in regular season games, albeit with only one of these nine wins coming since the start of the 2009 season, this being in the 2010 Tempire opener. They had an 8-3 run here in 2001-2008 inclusive, but are only 1-7 since. Not that any of this has any relevance for Oct 4, of course.

The Lions have an active attendance streak of 30k+ for the last seven consecutive Rider visits to BCP dating back to 2007/08/02, which surely will be extended with Geroy's return.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Hambone
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notahomer wrote:I know it shouldn't matter but will the recent play affect turnout? IMO, the Riders are in a bit of a freefall AT THIS POINT IN TIME. Hopefully, that continues because I want to have to buy a playoff ticket. That being said, all of that is still a long ways off and who knows who'll end up where when the season ends.
That won't make a difference. Minor slumps aside this will still be a crucial game for playoff positioning for both teams. It's said that Rider fans "travel well" as in they travel in droves from Saskatchewan to wherever their team is playing on the road. There is definitely truth to that when they play road games on the prairies where it's easy and inexpensive to load up their pickup trucks for a weekend road trip. Elsewhere it's a falacy. However the majority of the green and white jerseys you see at a game in BC Place belong to Saskatchewan ex-Pats who are permanent residents of what you might call the BC Lions Season Ticket catchment area. Possible playoff game aside this is the only chance they get this year to see their beloved Riders in their own back yard. They will be there in their usual numbers.
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Rammer
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Hambone wrote:
notahomer wrote:I know it shouldn't matter but will the recent play affect turnout? IMO, the Riders are in a bit of a freefall AT THIS POINT IN TIME. Hopefully, that continues because I want to have to buy a playoff ticket. That being said, all of that is still a long ways off and who knows who'll end up where when the season ends.
That won't make a difference. Minor slumps aside this will still be a crucial game for playoff positioning for both teams. It's said that Rider fans "travel well" as in they travel in droves from Saskatchewan to wherever their team is playing on the road. There is definitely truth to that when they play road games on the prairies where it's easy and inexpensive to load up their pickup trucks for a weekend road trip. Elsewhere it's a falacy. However the majority of the green and white jerseys you see at a game in BC Place belong to Saskatchewan ex-Pats who are permanent residents of what you might call the BC Lions Season Ticket catchment area. Possible playoff game aside this is the only chance they get this year to see their beloved Riders in their own back yard. They will be there in their usual numbers.
I would add a few more diehard Saskatchewan fans than from any team di travel to various CFL cities, with summer being the peak travel period as they incorporate some holiday time around the Riders schedule. But there is noway that you see the numbers that rod Petersen likes to portray in any stadium. IIRC he said for this years Eskimo road game that 20' in the stands were Rider faithful, not even close to the reality of Rider fans. Of course this is the same media person thattried to get into the Lions DJ booth when Ackles made one of his many football moves and prevented him from entering, all on Petersen's assumption that the Lions pump in criowd noise. His credibility jumped in Riderland solely based on his acusations being exactly what the fanbase wanted to hear, at least in Riderland.

In the end there are many ex-Saskatchewan's living across the country and there is a couple of reasons for that. Those show up to Rider games in their new home cities that otherwise rarely if ever return to the. Motherland, yet support Saskatchewans onlu professional team.
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DanoT
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Rammer wrote:
Hambone wrote:
notahomer wrote:I know it shouldn't matter but will the recent play affect turnout? IMO, the Riders are in a bit of a freefall AT THIS POINT IN TIME. Hopefully, that continues because I want to have to buy a playoff ticket. That being said, all of that is still a long ways off and who knows who'll end up where when the season ends.
That won't make a difference. Minor slumps aside this will still be a crucial game for playoff positioning for both teams. It's said that Rider fans "travel well" as in they travel in droves from Saskatchewan to wherever their team is playing on the road. There is definitely truth to that when they play road games on the prairies where it's easy and inexpensive to load up their pickup trucks for a weekend road trip. Elsewhere it's a falacy. However the majority of the green and white jerseys you see at a game in BC Place belong to Saskatchewan ex-Pats who are permanent residents of what you might call the BC Lions Season Ticket catchment area. Possible playoff game aside this is the only chance they get this year to see their beloved Riders in their own back yard. They will be there in their usual numbers.
I would add a few more diehard Saskatchewan fans than from any team di travel to various CFL cities, with summer being the peak travel period as they incorporate some holiday time around the Riders schedule. But there is noway that you see the numbers that rod Petersen likes to portray in any stadium. IIRC he said for this years Eskimo road game that 20' in the stands were Rider faithful, not even close to the reality of Rider fans. Of course this is the same media person thattried to get into the Lions DJ booth when Ackles made one of his many football moves and prevented him from entering, all on Petersen's assumption that the Lions pump in criowd noise. His credibility jumped in Riderland solely based on his acusations being exactly what the fanbase wanted to hear, at least in Riderland.

In the end there are many ex-Saskatchewan's living across the country and there is a couple of reasons for that. Those show up to Rider games in their new home cities that otherwise rarely if ever return to the. Motherland, yet support Saskatchewans onlu professional team.

Asumption? Asumption? Everyone knows that Braley has paid off the CFL so they allow pumped in noise at BC Place but not elsewhere. :wink: It drives the Rider fans crazy. :tease:
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DanoT wrote:Asumption? Asumption? Everyone knows that Braley has paid off the CFL so they allow pumped in noise at BC Place but not elsewhere. :wink: It drives the Rider fans crazy. :tease:
For a place with so little of urban area they have by far the highest ratio of urban myths per capita than anywhere else in Canada.
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vanhalendlrband
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yeah looking at it today and the upper bowl on the one side there looks about 25-50% full and one section is now 75% sold or so.

The entire lower bowl is single seats. I know that the lower bowl was reduced from about 29,000 to around 27,000 according to BC place website although they don't give an exact number. That would mean there would be about 27,000 up top and half that is opened up for this game meaning about 13,500, so max capacity for this game right now is 40,500. Given that i'd say about nearly half that amount is sold up top that would mean we could be sitting at about 33,000 right now quite possibly. Maybe 32,000 as its not entirely soldout in the lower bowl just single tickets.

High possibility this game could fill up given the importance of it, that means over the next week they just need to sell 7-8,000 tickets and there's usually what 3,000 walkup on big games? We could easily already be at 36,000 and i'm pretty sure if we beat Winnipeg you'll see more people buy online tickets and I honestly think there's definitely a good chance of a 40,000 attended game here.
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Chris Cuthbert confirming my expectations as they were expecting 40,000 before this killer game.

This game could end up being for sole possession of first place now and the ticket sales could start really coming through over the weekend into next week.
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sj-roc
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vanhalendlrband wrote:Chris Cuthbert confirming my expectations as they were expecting 40,000 before this killer game.

This game could end up being for sole possession of first place now and the ticket sales could start really coming through over the weekend into next week.
Are we sure that the current configuration has 40k seats? Or would they have to open things up some more? Not sure if there's enough lead time for the logistics this would entail; they would have to act quickly.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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Tonight's big win certainly will help with ticket sales.
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David
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sj-roc wrote:Are we sure that the current configuration has 40k seats? Or would they have to open things up some more? Not sure if there's enough lead time for the logistics this would entail; they would have to act quickly.
I believe they already have opened up new sections, sjroc. They would be foolish to cap this game. Sell as many seats as you can and increase sections one-by-one as and when needed.

The club just needs to continually spread the word of this 40,000 number that was mentioned on the broadcast by Cuthbert and picked up by Moj on the postgame. Whether it's true or not, if enough people believe it, it will become reality.


DH :cool:
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Upper Bowl
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I heard Moj quote the 40,000 estimate too. That sounds like Skulsky propaganda to me. I was thinking 35,000 would be more realistic. But I guess there's no harm in a little hype. And of course it's tough to predict when they haven't given us a current sales total yet.
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sj-roc
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David wrote:
sj-roc wrote:Are we sure that the current configuration has 40k seats? Or would they have to open things up some more? Not sure if there's enough lead time for the logistics this would entail; they would have to act quickly.
I believe they already have opened up new sections, sjroc. They would be foolish to cap this game. Sell as many seats as you can and increase sections one-by-one as and when needed.

The club just needs to continually spread the word of this 40,000 number that was mentioned on the broadcast by Cuthbert and picked up by Moj on the postgame. Whether it's true or not, if enough people believe it, it will become reality.


DH :cool:
I had a look at the TM map before I posted the above last night (and again just now) and it didn't (still doesn't) look any different to me from when they issued the Sep 19 press release that some extra sections were opened, i.e., 431 through 452, which is what we started the season with plus three extra sections beyond each of the two economy sections (to be more precise it's technically 432-451 plus the halves of 431 and 452 flanking this continuum).

Don't get me wrong, though — I fully agree it's great that this number is getting bandied about as a way to build fan interest. I'm just skeptical whether it's mathematically possible under what TM says is the currently available seating format (lower bowl plus 431-452).
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
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sj-roc
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Upper Bowl wrote:I heard Moj quote the 40,000 estimate too. That sounds like Skulsky propaganda to me. I was thinking 35,000 would be more realistic. But I guess there's no harm in a little hype. And of course it's tough to predict when they haven't given us a current sales total yet.
I agree with your 40k/35k assessment. One might quibble, as I have, whether 40k is technically possible but as you indicate, it's tough to fault the ambition.

In the last decade or so, fans have seen lots of BCP attendances with a 3 out front. It wouldn't capture much public imagination to throw out a 36k or 38k figure. It's just too familiar-looking, too run-of-the-mill. But it becomes a different animal when you put that 4 out front — there's a psychological hurdle that's getting cleared, kind of like when the Dow Jones first passes a new milestone.
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
vanhalendlrband
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sj-roc wrote:
David wrote:
sj-roc wrote:Are we sure that the current configuration has 40k seats? Or would they have to open things up some more? Not sure if there's enough lead time for the logistics this would entail; they would have to act quickly.
I believe they already have opened up new sections, sjroc. They would be foolish to cap this game. Sell as many seats as you can and increase sections one-by-one as and when needed.

The club just needs to continually spread the word of this 40,000 number that was mentioned on the broadcast by Cuthbert and picked up by Moj on the postgame. Whether it's true or not, if enough people believe it, it will become reality.


DH :cool:
I had a look at the TM map before I posted the above last night (and again just now) and it didn't (still doesn't) look any different to me from when they issued the Sep 19 press release that some extra sections were opened, i.e., 431 through 452, which is what we started the season with plus three extra sections beyond each of the two economy sections (to be more precise it's technically 432-451 plus the halves of 431 and 452 flanking this continuum).

Don't get me wrong, though — I fully agree it's great that this number is getting bandied about as a way to build fan interest. I'm just skeptical whether it's mathematically possible under what TM says is the currently available seating format (lower bowl plus 431-452).
It definitely looks like there are 3 more sections as opposed to the previous home game. Maybe it started the year like that but I'm not sure if they've been always available.

With single seat tickets only available, how many tickets could be left in the lower bowl I guess we have to ask out of the 27,000 seats?

Then I would figure from the TM map how many of those are sold. I'm assuming its a 100% scale meaning 25-50% must be sold in the Upper Bowl that its the next shade of blue down from an empty section, or 0-25% sold section. Then going on that there are usually like 3,000 walkup on bigger games I figure at least, that we are probably already at 35,000. The one upper section is now a lighter shade of blue meaning it must be at least 75% sold and it looks like it when you look at whats left. So you have that much being sold in at least one upper bowl section a week prior to the game.

I would figure that at this exact moment if the game was tomorrow we would have 35,000. Will we sell more over the week? Many times in history have proven both ways, but most of the time we sell a lot more in the week coming up to the games date of play. I think 38-40,000 is realistic and higher than 40,000 might not be as much of a stretch as we think for this game, but I could really see a 40,000 for this game. 35,000 plus will of course be great if nothing else sells.

Either or, its going to be really loud as the endzones are full in the lower bowl or just about.
vanhalendlrband
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A huge update.

Nearly the entire lower half of each upper bowl section is soldout with maybe half of each section available except for now another section nearly soldout in the upper bowl bringing the mostly sold sections in the upper bowl to 2.

This is gonna be a packed game. They might surpass the 40,000 number even. I didn't think that they were this far sold. That means we're looking at about 34-35,000 already sold for the game as of today. Let keep filling it up!
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