2011 Western Final Ticket Count

[Tighthead]

Centrum - agree completely on getting the house packed, but maybe not so much juice for the bottom line.

You can skin a sheep only once, but shear it many times. Get people in, get some buzz and momentum, especially in what may be a championship season. Long term vision, etc.

Of course, Braley is a wildly succesful capitalist so perhaps I should have a nice cup of STFU.

[chuckyc78]

Im thinking With today tommorow and the Walkup we be around 45000

[mrbigglesworth]

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.

Centrum, I agree completely. The advertising and promotion dollars spent to fill the seats goes beyond ticket sales at this game. An enormous quarter-million dollar advertising campaign would only require 5000 more ticket sales to cover, plus it would be a direct long-term investment into the brand. That long-term vision and recognition of the value of the brand has been lacking IMO.

When I read the latest article in the Province about low ticket sales (http://www.theprovince.com/sports/sport ... story.html), it all seemed like excuses and complacency from Skulsky. It was all about why people might NOT come to the game and no promotion of why they SHOULD come.

As you said, this was an inexplicable lost opportunity.

[almo89]

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.

Centrum, I agree completely. The advertising and promotion dollars spent to fill the seats goes beyond ticket sales at this game. An enormous quarter-million dollar advertising campaign would only require 5000 more ticket sales to cover, plus it would be a direct long-term investment into the brand. That long-term vision and recognition of the value of the brand has been lacking IMO.

When I read the latest article in the Province about low ticket sales (http://www.theprovince.com/sports/sport ... story.html), it all seemed like excuses and complacency from Skulsky. It was all about why people might NOT come to the game and no promotion of why they SHOULD come.

As you said, this was an inexplicable lost opportunity.

I'm not sure if it's complacency from Skulsky. I think he also has to weigh in how much rope he has from Braley. Braley has always been a guy that believes "the game will sell itself". I think only a guy like Ackles would be able to sway him.

[Centrum22]

And a sell out crowd in BC Place would not just be any sell out crowd. Thanks to the renovations, it would be a sell out crowd in one of North America's sexiest, most photogenic stadiums. The optics and boost to your brand that would come from such a juxtaposition is invaluable. Why an owner would not do everything he could to take advantage of this golden opportunity is unfathomable.

Also, remember that this will be the first game played during the light of day in the new BC Place. Up until now, the games have been played at night, and it was quite dark in the upper bowl; it was hard to see on TV how many empty seats there were. But Sunday's game will be played during the day; light will be flooding through the celestory windows and transluscent roof, exposing any empty seat in the upper bowl. That the BC Lions brand cannot draw a full crowd for a playoff game will be apparent for all to see.

[sj-roc]

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.

Sorry but there's NO way I'm going to believe Rider fans accounted for that much of the crowd at those games. This has been discussed on here before and IIRC the concensus upper bound was more like 5k.

[Ravi]

So did the Lions cross the 40k mark as was expected on Friday?

[sj-roc]

And a sell out crowd in BC Place would not just be any sell out crowd. Thanks to the renovations, it would be a sell out crowd in one of North America's sexiest, most photogenic stadiums. The optics and boost to your brand that would come from such a juxtaposition is invaluable. Why an owner would not do everything he could to take advantage of this golden opportunity is unfathomable.

Also, remember that this will be the first game played during the light of day in the new BC Place. Up until now, the games have been played at night, and it was quite dark in the upper bowl; it was hard to see on TV how many empty seats there were. But Sunday's game will be played during the day; light will be flooding through the celestory windows and transluscent roof, exposing any empty seat in the upper bowl. The fact that the BC Lions cannot sell out a playoff game will be apparent for all to see.

Having always attended the games, it's been over 16 years since I've watched a game @BCP on TV. Does the upper deck actually even get much screen time during a typical broadcast?

And is it just my imagination or do the media and/or people in general seem to hold the Lions to a higher attendance standard than other teams? Montreal had a half empty stadium last week, an appreciably smaller crowd than we're going to have — one of, if not in fact, THE smallest crowd they've ever had at Olympic in their current renaissance — but unless I missed it, they seem to be getting a free pass, while for some reason people want to take a stick to the Lions. Edmonton, pretty much the same story.

[Lionheart]

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.

I'm still surprised how often this nonsense is repeated ad nausium. There were not 15,000 rider fans from sask come to the game. We had a huge crowd in oh four, and I had a great count for all the green that stood up and cheered and I'd say, looked like hundreds but might have been 1,500. Also, many many of those are Lions fans who only don their green jerseys when rider come to town.

Also, why can't anyone wrap their heads around the fact that it is because of THE UPCOMING GC game the week after that ticket sales are low!! Every other city is the exact same, edmonton, calgary etc. Prices are high, very high for GC week and the game. The economy is slow, almost everyone has a large screen HD, etc etc. It has zero to do with advertising dollars or Bobby Ackles.

[Rammer]

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.

I'm still surprised how often this nonsense is repeated ad nausium. There were not 15,000 rider fans from sask come to the game. We had a huge crowd in oh four, and I had a great count for all the green that stood up and cheered and I'd say, looked like hundreds but might have been 1,500. Also, many many of those are Lions fans who only don their green jerseys when rider come to town.

Also, why can't anyone wrap their heads around the fact that it is because of THE UPCOMING GC game the week after that ticket sales are low!! Every other city is the exact same, edmonton, calgary etc. Prices are high, very high for GC week and the game. The economy is slow, almost everyone has a large screen HD, etc etc. It has zero to do with advertising dollars or Bobby Ackles.

Agreed on all fronts, I may have even touched upon the GC factor as well. The fact that this game is more of a home game than a GC game featuring the Lions would be is an awesome reason to partake of this game. This will be a partisan crowd, unlike the GC game which will house all the teams fans, most of whom are more interested in the GC week than the contestants.

[TheLionKing]

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.

Centrum, I agree completely. The advertising and promotion dollars spent to fill the seats goes beyond ticket sales at this game. An enormous quarter-million dollar advertising campaign would only require 5000 more ticket sales to cover, plus it would be a direct long-term investment into the brand. That long-term vision and recognition of the value of the brand has been lacking IMO.

When I read the latest article in the Province about low ticket sales (http://www.theprovince.com/sports/sport ... story.html), it all seemed like excuses and complacency from Skulsky. It was all about why people might NOT come to the game and no promotion of why they SHOULD come.

As you said, this was an inexplicable lost opportunity.

X3

[sj-roc]

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.

I'm still surprised how often this nonsense is repeated ad nausium. There were not 15,000 rider fans from sask come to the game. We had a huge crowd in oh four, and I had a great count for all the green that stood up and cheered and I'd say, looked like hundreds but might have been 1,500. Also, many many of those are Lions fans who only don their green jerseys when rider come to town.

Also, why can't anyone wrap their heads around the fact that it is because of THE UPCOMING GC game the week after that ticket sales are low!! Every other city is the exact same, edmonton, calgary etc. Prices are high, very high for GC week and the game. The economy is slow, almost everyone has a large screen HD, etc etc. It has zero to do with advertising dollars or Bobby Ackles.

Agreed on all fronts, I may have even touched upon the GC factor as well. The fact that this game is more of a home game than a GC game featuring the Lions would be is an awesome reason to partake of this game. This will be a partisan crowd, unlike the GC game which will house all the teams fans, most of whom are more interested in the GC week than the contestants.

It hasn't been mentioned much in this thread but it is very unlikely there will be any WF blackout and that never helps the gate. In the big picture I think it's a death-by-a-thousand-cuts scenario; there's no one single overriding reason for slow sales but rather several lesser ones that all add up (of which the GC factor is likely the largest). I think the 0-5 start may have even contributed; it's perfectly conceivable that some folks may have looked at that record and thought, "Well surely the Lions won't even be making the playoffs now, let alone hosting them," and then committed early to something else.

[Hambone]

It hasn't been mentioned much in this thread but it is very unlikely there will be any WF blackout and that never helps the gate. In the big picture I think it's a death-by-a-thousand-cuts scenario; there's no one single overriding reason for slow sales but rather several lesser ones that all add up (of which the GC factor is likely the largest). I think the 0-5 start may have even contributed; it's perfectly conceivable that some folks may have looked at that record and thought, "Well surely the Lions won't even be making the playoffs now, let alone hosting them," and then committed early to something else.

Playoff games aren't blacked out and haven't been for years.

[bc49]

What this matchup is lacking is any fringe excitement beyond the game itself.
Sure it's a chance to see the home side move onto the championship game and for 40,000 fans that is enough thank you very much.
But for the 10-15,000 other 'fans' needed to fill the joint they are looking for something more to justify the $50+

Surprisingly the new stadium doesn't appear to be much of a draw. Ricky Ray has been here a million times. And Messam didn't help by blowing up his knee.

What about some good old fashioned trash talk?
I know some people (wally included) consider it bad sportsmanship but you can't say it doesn't stir up interest and controversy - both of which sell tickets.

I know it's too late for this to take flight now but it would have been interesting to see the reaction to Calvin McCarty tweeting that Elimimian hits like a woman.
And Sol to fire back that McCarty runs like an old man. Or some such thing.

[lionsfan336]

Any new update on the ticket sales