Ticket Prices / Lions' Marketing

[DanoT]

I bought a 3 pack and wanted to sit low down in the upper deck, price IIRC was $180 for 1 seat 3 pack which was pretty good but the seat was on the 12 yard line. I would have been happy to pay more to sit more towards mid field but apparently the 3 packs are all in the sections between the goal line and the 15 yard line. The piss off to me was seeing all the empty upper deck seats near mid field that are not for sale for three packs.

It almost seems that the seats for sale/price structure is being set up for the ease and convenience of the ticket sellers not the ticket buyers. Lions have a top team and top notch stadium so I guess the front office figures they can do what ever they want with seating and pricing and fans will still fill the stadium. WRONG.

Hmm. That is strange because I bought a 3-game pack as well and was able to get upper deck 439 row D. The seats we are in are actually closer to the 40yrd line. When did you purchase yours? I ordered mine back in May I believe, maybe first week in June. Called my Ticket rep at the Lions Office. Total was around $550 or so. Almost double what it was 4-5 years ago. I complain but I pay it.. lol. Love Live Lion's games but I don't get to as many games a year as I really want to.

I talked to my Lions ticket rep in April and he made notes on my file because the tickets weren't for sale at that time, then he came up with section 411 row B.

[Toppy Vann]

Were I calling the shots, the first 10-15 or so rows in the upper deck would have a premium price tag (because, lets face it, they're excellent seats) but everything above that should be significantly cheaper. Endzone seats in the upper bowl should be ridiculously cheap, like 15-20 bucks cheap. They should be marketed exclusively to college and high school kids.

That is a great idea. They would have to really push the advertising and you will see way more teens and college students buying in especially at that price range. Lets be honest. They are better off trying to sell them for 15-20 bucks than to have them empty. Right now those seats are empty which means zero revenue. 35k+ would be more realistic for attendance with the price slash

To those who think the marketing dept just needs to spin the product and prices better the reality is that it simply won't work. It is one thing to spin an idea for some cheap political gain but you can't spin a price that is not palatable to the budget of those who are finding this economy a challenge. While I am overseas these days and have trouble buying tickets etc to games there is a price at which I'd simply staff home and watch it on TV and I can afford the games.

BC Place is huge and their marketing and ticket structure should be trying to fill more of the stadium. In many ways I never understood the move to summer as it is hard with vacations and good weather to get fans in BC to stop their own outdoor activities and want to come to a game.

[David]

This is what I was afraid of. The Lions come off a Grey Cup, charge ticket prices higher than the market will bear and miss the mark on their Marketing push. This of course has affected attendance, so now you get the uninformed weighing in that this is a soft football market. Of course, bad news spreads fast, so this may be like the not-so-trendy restaurant: folks may hear that the food is good, but when there are lots of empty tables in a big room, they begin to speculate that it's no longer popular and not the place to be so it dies on the vine. In reality, the restaurant owner just charged too much for his entrées.

LINK HERE

WARNING: some of the comments in this link may make your blood boil, so don't read this when you're stressed. You'll be screaming at the Lions' braintrust for causing this mess.


DH

[MikeAK]

I bought a 3 pack and wanted to sit low down in the upper deck, price IIRC was $180 for 1 seat 3 pack which was pretty good but the seat was on the 12 yard line. I would have been happy to pay more to sit more towards mid field but apparently the 3 packs are all in the sections between the goal line and the 15 yard line. The piss off to me was seeing all the empty upper deck seats near mid field that are not for sale for three packs.

It almost seems that the seats for sale/price structure is being set up for the ease and convenience of the ticket sellers not the ticket buyers. Lions have a top team and top notch stadium so I guess the front office figures they can do what ever they want with seating and pricing and fans will still fill the stadium. WRONG.

Hmm. That is strange because I bought a 3-game pack as well and was able to get upper deck 439 row D. The seats we are in are actually closer to the 40yrd line. When did you purchase yours? I ordered mine back in May I believe, maybe first week in June. Called my Ticket rep at the Lions Office. Total was around $550 or so. Almost double what it was 4-5 years ago. I complain but I pay it.. lol. Love Live Lion's games but I don't get to as many games a year as I really want to.

I talked to my Lions ticket rep in April and he made notes on my file because the tickets weren't for sale at that time, then he came up with section 411 row B.

Strange... I can't think of any reason why you couldn't get over more, especially if you were willing to pay the difference. I have been dealing with my rep a while though so maybe that had something to do with it. Not sure though. Next time try telling your rep to search a specific section instead of letting him choose. Start with the section and row. I usually say I want section "" row A and go from there.

[Rammer]

Hey all,

I think stating that prices are too high isn't helpful as a general comment, and isn't a useful criticism if the Lions' brain trust stops by here to gather intel. That said, prices are too high generally.

Between the 25 yard lines in the lower bowl, I think the ticket pricing structure is about right. A little too rich for my blood, but not so outrageous I couldn't splurge and pick up a pair on the 50 yard line for one spectacular game if I so chose. Where the pricing is just ridiculous is in a). the upper bowl and b). the end zones extending to the 25 yard line. There is no way that seat 1, row zz on the 55 in the upper bowl is worth as much as the same seat in the first row of the lower bowl, and yet, that's how it's priced. That's just dumb.

Were I calling the shots, the first 10-15 or so rows in the upper deck would have a premium price tag (because, lets face it, they're excellent seats) but everything above that should be significantly cheaper. Endzone seats in the upper bowl should be ridiculously cheap, like 15-20 bucks cheap. They should be marketed exclusively to college and high school kids.

When the Lions moved back into BC Place and released their new pricing, I discussed it with a buddy of mine who is, if not wealthy, extremely well to do. He recoiled at the cost of 70--80 a ticket for average seats, saying something like "that's just instinctively too high". This guy likes football, but we're only going to one game this year. That should tell the Lions something.

Finally, the Lions need to get kids into the stadium. There should be a cut rate for kids tickets and a package deal: (1 adult and 1 kid for a flat amount, add ____ amount for each additional kid, etc. You sell all these tickets in the same area of the stadium, and then you PR the sh*t out of those sections. Cheerleaders posing for photos with little kids, giveaways of power paws and those little yellow footballs, kids t-shirts, etc. Have the mascot up there pre-game and at half-time. Have a free popcorn stand just for kids. This wouldn't cost the Lions anything if done right. But the goal is you want every parent that goes to talk about how much fun his kids had, how well they were treated, how reasonable the price was, etc.

Oh, and on a final marketing point, in a tight economy it would be wise for the Lions to stress the common man behaviour, background and attitudes of the players. They aren't multi-millionaires, they aren't pampered playboys, they don't have cars that are worth a quarter-million dollars. They're working stiffs like you and me, that occasionally rise to greatness, and then often stay in the community and contribute to it long after their playing days are over. Guys like Ned Armour, Gary Robinson, Brett Anderson, etc. That type of marketing would be totally on message right now, far more than "pride".

Cheers,

James

I think that you have most of the possibilities nailed James. However to be fair, the Lions do offer a buy a ticket and use a coupon for a child for the first five games of the season, that is sent to some School Districts.

[sj-roc]

Finally, the Lions need to get kids into the stadium. There should be a cut rate for kids tickets and a package deal: (1 adult and 1 kid for a flat amount, add ____ amount for each additional kid, etc. You sell all these tickets in the same area of the stadium, and then you PR the sh*t out of those sections. Cheerleaders posing for photos with little kids, giveaways of power paws and those little yellow footballs, kids t-shirts, etc. Have the mascot up there pre-game and at half-time. Have a free popcorn stand just for kids. This wouldn't cost the Lions anything if done right. But the goal is you want every parent that goes to talk about how much fun his kids had, how well they were treated, how reasonable the price was, etc.

Sometimes I wonder if the tendency toward evening start times has cut into this negatively: do parents want to take their kids out for an event that keeps them from bedtime until at least 11pm, assuming they stay for the whole game? We have at least two early starts this year and had a few at Empire in 2010/11 but historically speaking we must have the heaviest concentration of 7pm+ kickoffs in the whole league. That may be good for putting sleep in the eyes of the Montreals and the Torontos by the 4th quarter according to a well-worn talking point among league observers, but one has to admit it runs some risk of doing likewise to the future fanbase who can't stay up late enough to watch you play.

[B.C.FAN]

Sometimes I wonder if the tendency toward evening start times has cut into this negatively: do parents want to take their kids out for an event that keeps them from bedtime until at least 11pm, assuming they stay for the whole game? We have at least two early starts this year and had a few at Empire in 2010/11 but historically speaking we must have the heaviest concentration of 7pm+ kickoffs in the whole league. That may be good for putting sleep in the eyes of the Montreals and the Torontos by the 4th quarter according to a well-worn talking point among league observers, but one has to admit it runs some risk of doing likewise to the future fanbase who can't stay up late enough to watch you play.

Judging by the number of empty seats at 7:05, I'd argue that later start times would help, especially to allow suburban commuters to get to the games. This is even more noticeable at Canuck games, where the arena often seems largely empty at 7 p.m.

As a longtime Lions fan, I loved the old days of 8 p.m. kickoffs at Empire Stadium in the 1960s.

[Ron]

[/quote]

I think that you have most of the possibilities nailed James. However to be fair, the Lions do offer a buy a ticket and use a coupon for a child for the first five games of the season, that is sent to some School Districts.[/quote]


In Abbotsford my kids used to get those coupons with their report cards when they were in Elementary School. We would make use of as many of those as possible, my kids would even ask some of their non-football friends for their coupons which we would make use as well. My youngest has just finished Elementary School but I know we haven't seen any of those coupons for several years. Perhaps the Lions reduced their distribution area?

[Anglophone]

Finally, the Lions need to get kids into the stadium. There should be a cut rate for kids tickets and a package deal: (1 adult and 1 kid for a flat amount, add ____ amount for each additional kid, etc. You sell all these tickets in the same area of the stadium, and then you PR the sh*t out of those sections. Cheerleaders posing for photos with little kids, giveaways of power paws and those little yellow footballs, kids t-shirts, etc. Have the mascot up there pre-game and at half-time. Have a free popcorn stand just for kids. This wouldn't cost the Lions anything if done right. But the goal is you want every parent that goes to talk about how much fun his kids had, how well they were treated, how reasonable the price was, etc.

Sometimes I wonder if the tendency toward evening start times has cut into this negatively: do parents want to take their kids out for an event that keeps them from bedtime until at least 11pm, assuming they stay for the whole game? We have at least two early starts this year and had a few at Empire in 2010/11 but historically speaking we must have the heaviest concentration of 7pm+ kickoffs in the whole league. That may be good for putting sleep in the eyes of the Montreals and the Torontos by the 4th quarter according to a well-worn talking point among league observers, but one has to admit it runs some risk of doing likewise to the future fanbase who can't stay up late enough to watch you play.

Getting to stay up late to go to games was a lot of fun when I was a kid. Although I did crash and fall asleep on the Skytrain a lot... did leave early when we were getting beaten badly as well.

I can see how parents don't want their kids up that late, though. I'm just glad mine are such big fans.

[DanoT]

I always thought the Lions didn't want the weekend afternoon games because too much of the fan base was out boating, cycling, running or whatever. Since they are not drawing well with Friday night football, maybe they should rethink their strategy.

[MexicoLionFan]

7:30 should be the earliest a night game starts...way too tough on fans to get home, connect with family and still make it to the game on time...The Lions and TSN should know this...

[MikeAK]

I always thought the Lions didn't want the weekend afternoon games because too much of the fan base was out boating, cycling, running or whatever. Since they are not drawing well with Friday night football, maybe they should rethink their strategy.

I would absolutely love to see another 1 or 2 more afternoon games. Since prices have gone up I just can't justify staying over so more afternooners would allow me more Lions games in the Stadium.

[Rammer]

I think that you have most of the possibilities nailed James. However to be fair, the Lions do offer a buy a ticket and use a coupon for a child for the first five games of the season, that is sent to some School Districts.[/quote]


In Abbotsford my kids used to get those coupons with their report cards when they were in Elementary School. We would make use of as many of those as possible, my kids would even ask some of their non-football friends for their coupons which we would make use as well. My youngest has just finished Elementary School but I know we haven't seen any of those coupons for several years. Perhaps the Lions reduced their distribution area?[/quote]

Hey Ron, those coupons are still available, just contact someone from the PR department, Arlene is a good bet. They are for 12 and under, take advantage of them.

[SammyGreene]

This is what I was afraid of. The Lions come off a Grey Cup, charge ticket prices higher than the market will bear and miss the mark on their Marketing push. This of course has affected attendance, so now you get the uninformed weighing in that this is a soft football market. Of course, bad news spreads fast, so this may be like the not-so-trendy restaurant: folks may hear that the food is good, but when there are lots of empty tables in a big room, they begin to speculate that it's no longer popular and not the place to be so it dies on the vine. In reality, the restaurant owner just charged too much for his entrées.

LINK HERE

WARNING: some of the comments in this link may make your blood boil, so don't read this when you're stressed. You'll be screaming at the Lions' braintrust for causing this mess.


DH

Yep hard to stomach some of those comments but I guess the fact the topic has generated 11 pages in a hockey forum is encouraging news. The casual football fan in this town is extremely fickle and it doesn't take a lot to lose their interest, at least from a financial standpoint as believe the team is still being followed as the TV numbers suggest. It's seems like only Bob Ackles had his finger on the pulse and had figured it out. It is shame to see what he had rebuilt (season ticket base up to 24,000 in 2008) has eroded despite the team remaining rather competitive.

The blackout being lifted at least resulted in these tv numbers for week #2

Winnipeg/Montreal 591,000
Hamilton/B.C 729,000
Toronto/Calgary 434,000
Edmonton/Saskatchewan 624,000