Ticket Prices / Lions' Marketing

[SammyGreene]

So now the Lions are selling upper bowl tickets for $25 including all fees? This sounds too good to be true...

FINALLY upper bowl seats that are cheaper than the lower bowl. Corner seats for $25 or $30 are a good deal. Well done Lions.


http://bclions.com/single-game

[sj-roc]

So now the Lions are selling upper bowl tickets for $25 including all fees? This sounds too good to be true...

FINALLY upper bowl seats that are cheaper than the lower bowl. Corner seats for $25 or $30 are a good deal. Well done Lions.


http://bclions.com/single-game

While this shows the Lions are starting to listen to customer concerns re: ticket pricing voiced here and otherwise, it remains to be seen whether these two initiatives will have the desired effect of boosting attendance. What we could end up seeing is people who already would otherwise buy in the back of the endzones — i.e., the previous lowest price point — simply shifting to one of these lower-priced sections, with few if any newcomers getting on board.

Some people are sufficiently price-sensitive that they'll always buy the cheapest available ticket, and this would translate into stagnating attendance and less ticket revenue. I'd have to believe the Lions will be watching very closely for this effect, and indeed the very limited inventory of these seats — only five sections in total — seems to be a deliberate hedge against it.

[TheLionKing]

Pleased to hear the Lions are listening to the fans. Finally..

[SammyGreene]

What we could end up seeing is people who already would otherwise buy in the back of the endzones — i.e., the previous lowest price point — simply shifting to one of these lower-priced sections, with few if any newcomers getting on board.

Some people are sufficiently price-sensitive that they'll always buy the cheapest available ticket, and this would translate into stagnating attendance and less ticket revenue. I'd have to believe the Lions will be watching very closely for this effect, and indeed the very limited inventory of these seats — only five sections in total — seems to be a deliberate hedge against it.

This could be the case but they still get full marks from me for at least trying and being creative. But $25 (all in) for corner upper deck is easily the best deal in the house. Those $47 upper deck sections right next to the family and tailgate zones will be a tough sell but the smaller seating configuration should help this cause.

[sj-roc]

* Thought it was quite a lively crowd for a Friday night preseason game. 26,733 on hand which was the 3rd highest gate in the league this year. Yes, there were no shows and likely a lot of freebies in the crowd, but still a good sign. The concourse was packed at half-time like it was a regular season game and LONG line-ups for merchandise at the souvenir stands.

I haven't read a whole lot of media accounts of the game so I'm not sure how loudly the following fact has been trumpeted, but Friday's game represents the largest attendance for a Lions preseason game... since 1990! That was basically the tail-end of BCP's status as a novel venue and the point at which the effects of Bob Ackles' departure to Dallas were first felt. So if the crowd was indeed lively (and I agree it was), well, it was the largest such one in about a generation!

I had a look, over the history of the 18-game season era dating back through 1986, at how regular season average attendances correlate to the preseason attendance. It's not that strong a correlation — the scattergraph does show some scatter — but if you try to project the 2012 average attendance from the 2012 preseason attendance and the 1986-2011 data, you get a result of 30,713, compared to the actual average of 30,356: not too bad. Buoyed by that close agreement I've tried to project this year's average in like fashion and I get 31,940. That's still below the 34,083 peak in the final season of the 2002-2008 Ackles II era but it seems to indicate things are still going in the right direction re: regular season average attendance:

2008...34,083 (BCP I)
2009...28,610 (BCP I)
2010...24,327 (Empire)
2011...29,725 (Empire/BCP II)
2012...30,356 (BCP II)
2013...31,940?????
...

[Toppy Vann]

Roughly 1,000-1,200 seats will be targeted and appropriately themed, said Skulsky. It’s a clear nod to the fact the club heard it from paying customers who feel the club’s price points are too high. Despite having almost a month to sell the West Division final last year, the game only drew 43,216 fans, which is partly behind the response to create family and tailgating tickets of $25 and $30 respectively, including all additional fees, Skulsky said. It previously had been reported the club plans to close off a majority of the upper bowl.

You don't win new market niches with one off pitches to groups. You do friend building in these communities first and this starts in the off season with players and coach and GM getting out in the various communities and getting fans interested. These pitches then work best from their.

The Coast Capital type arrangements are good too as the credit union movement reaches many homes and long time customers. But not all will pay for sponsoring but getting businesses onside is huge too.

[notahomer]

Like I said on the gameday thread, I got (I mean HAD TO) to sit in the upperdeck instead of my usual 218 season ticket. I watched the game in Section 438. Out on the concourse, the Lions have this gigantic patio-type setup with I guess is meant as a backyard chill set up. I personally don't know why a person would go pay good money to chill in BC Places new patio setup but theres obviously a market (or someone THINKS there is). I guess the idea is you watch the game and drift in/out of the patio. Its got a DJ and its meant to be fun, I guess. Hopefully it does well and maybe it'll get some people out to a game that wouldn't have gone otherwise. I don't see it but I'm one of those boring types that just wants to watch the football game.....

[Hambone]

You don't win new market niches with one off pitches to groups. You do friend building in these communities first and this starts in the off season with players and coach and GM getting out in the various communities and getting fans interested. These pitches then work best from their.

Not sure if the team can do much more than they have been doing in that regard. According to Chayka in an interview with Jay Janower a couple months ago the club participated in over 200 events. He said obviously they can't take on every request that comes their way but they try their damndest to not say no.

[Hambone]

Like I said on the gameday thread, I got (I mean HAD TO) to sit in the upperdeck instead of my usual 218 season ticket. I watched the game in Section 438. Out on the concourse, the Lions have this gigantic patio-type setup with I guess is meant as a backyard chill set up. I personally don't know why a person would go pay good money to chill in BC Places new patio setup but theres obviously a market (or someone THINKS there is). I guess the idea is you watch the game and drift in/out of the patio. Its got a DJ and its meant to be fun, I guess. Hopefully it does well and maybe it'll get some people out to a game that wouldn't have gone otherwise. I don't see it but I'm one of those boring types that just wants to watch the football game.....

I think the intended target market for the patio thing is younger folks like college students. Try to attract them in with that sort of thing and hope they grow up to be stodgy old foorball fans and ST holders like most of the rest of us.

[sj-roc]

Like I said on the gameday thread, I got (I mean HAD TO) to sit in the upperdeck instead of my usual 218 season ticket. I watched the game in Section 438. Out on the concourse, the Lions have this gigantic patio-type setup with I guess is meant as a backyard chill set up. I personally don't know why a person would go pay good money to chill in BC Places new patio setup but theres obviously a market (or someone THINKS there is). I guess the idea is you watch the game and drift in/out of the patio. Its got a DJ and its meant to be fun, I guess. Hopefully it does well and maybe it'll get some people out to a game that wouldn't have gone otherwise. I don't see it but I'm one of those boring types that just wants to watch the football game.....

I think the intended target market for the patio thing is younger folks like college students. Try to attract them in with that sort of thing and hope they grow up to be stodgy old foorball fans and ST holders like most of the rest of us.

Yep. I think it's safe to say that many longtime fans, such as regulars on this board, are happy to buy the steak the Lions are selling. But there's a larger, and largely, untapped segment of the population who would need to be sold on the sizzle. So credit the Lions for trying something new this year (that goes for the dry "family zone", too). It might succeed or it might fail but you have to change things up somehow when the old formula isn't working well enough.

[David]

Noticed this on Twitter this morning. Good sign.

News1130 Sports
#BCLions happy with ticket sales for their home opener July 4th vs Argos. Will be good crowd

DH

[almo89]

I was listening to Skulsky during the preason season half time show and he said that there are 18000 season tickets sold so for this season. Isn't this a little low compared to previous years?

[TheLionKing]

Noticed this on Twitter this morning. Good sign.

News1130 Sports
#BCLions happy with ticket sales for their home opener July 4th vs Argos. Will be good crowd

DH

Any numbers ?

[danfootball48]

Nothing Yet , but i would say they are probely around the 27,000 mark still 2 weeks to go .

i would say 32,000 opening night,

[sj-roc]

Lions have begun their 2014 season ticket selling campaign with an email to STHs today. Given that there is a Dec 11 deadline to lock in renewals at 2013 prices, it seems clear that ticket prices will otherwise increase yet again in 2014.

According to their 2014 seating chart, the upper deck will be further tarped off next year with the only available seating being the first five rows (those below the concourse access) between the goal lines above the Lions' bench. At this stage the economy-priced family and tailgate sections appear not to be in the works for next year but these could be rolled out again in due course. As it stands now, capacity with this configuration should be somewhere around 30k.