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I love the afternoon games, coming in from Chilliwack it makes things so much easier.

Definately after labour day 4pm on saturday is the best start time. I love those games.


in July and August on saturday 6 or 7pm probably make more sense, since people get busy with summer activities.

J5V wrote:Hard to believe that guarantee win night against the Riders was only three years ago in 2013 and over 37000 were at BC Place and it was considered a bit of a disappointment.

just for the record, GWN was august 24, 2014, and the announced attendance was 33,196. i haven't checked but i don't think there were regular season crowds in the 37000 range since 2008 or 2009 before the move to tempire (and the 1st game after bc place reopened).

mountaincat wrote:

J5V wrote:Hard to believe that guarantee win night against the Riders was only three years ago in 2013 and over 37000 were at BC Place and it was considered a bit of a disappointment.

just for the record, GWN was august 24, 2014, and the announced attendance was 33,196. i haven't checked but i don't think there were regular season crowds in the 37000 range since 2008 or 2009 before the move to tempire (and the 1st game after bc place reopened).

Close. Had a 37312 in the 7th home game of 2013. Likely was the Riders. The season finale in 2012 was just under 37000 at 36357.

Crowds over 30000:
2016 - 0
2015 - 0
2014 - 3 with an asterisk. The first was the GWN game and the other 2 were padded by the freebies created by GWN
2013 - 2 (top crowd 37312)
2012 - 4 (top crowd 36357)
2011 - 3 (top crowd 50213 for new BCP opener, 2nd biggest was 35454)
2010 - n/a
2009 - 3 (top crowd 31958)
2008 - 9 (top crowd 38608)
2007 - 8 (top crowd 37011)
2006 - 6 (top crowd 35971)
2005 - 5 (top crowd 38847)
2004 - 1 (top crowd 32402)
2003 - 0

Total 37000+ crowds 2003-2016: 6 in 111 games including the 1st game back in BCP. I excluded Tempire games. That 50213 for the 1st game back from Tempire is also the only regular season crowd bigger than 39000 since the season finale in 1994.

Another who loves the Saturday afternoon games. Makes so much sense. Even in August.

Can still sleep in, lots of time to get there, less traffic, and can almost get home in time for dinner.

louharris74 wrote:Another who loves the Saturday afternoon games. Makes so much sense. Even in August.

Can still sleep in, lots of time to get there, less traffic, and can almost get home in time for dinner.

I wasn't a fan of them initially but have definitely warmed up to them. I don't know if I'd want a full diet of 4:00 starts but have no problems with 2 or 3.

Hambone wrote:

louharris74 wrote:Another who loves the Saturday afternoon games. Makes so much sense. Even in August.

Can still sleep in, lots of time to get there, less traffic, and can almost get home in time for dinner.

I wasn't a fan of them initially but have definitely warmed up to them. I don't know if I'd want a full diet of 4:00 starts but have no problems with 2 or 3.

I wasn't a fan of the 4 p.m. Saturday starts either but it seems family-friendly and a much better option for commuters than weekday evenings.

I think the Saturday 4:00pm starts are a good idea in October and November, but I don't think they would work as well in the dead of summer. 7:00pm or 7:30pm would be a better idea (and has proven to be a good start time). There's just too much going on pre-Labour Day on the Lower Mainland - people aren't going to come away from the beaches, and boating on the water etc to attend a game at BC Place with that little roof opening.

While it's better than old BC Place and there is more natural light and air circulating, it's not the "outdoor" experience like Rogers Centre that people here crave; it's a sunroof. Big difference.


DH

David wrote:I think the Saturday 4:00pm starts are a good idea in October and November, but I don't think they would work as well in the dead of summer. 7:00pm or 7:30pm would be a better idea (and has proven to be a good start time). There's just too much going on pre-Labour Day on the Lower Mainland - people aren't going to come away from the beaches, and boating on the water etc to attend a game at BC Place with that little roof opening.

While it's better than old BC Place and there is more natural light and air circulating, it's not the "outdoor" experience like Rogers Centre that people here crave; it's a sunroof. Big difference.


DH

Yes, I fully agree. Saturday evenings are ideal in summer; Saturday at 4 p.m. in October-November.

37k for the Saskatchewan game just 3 years ago. The return of Geroy, in Green.

The on field product was not good in 2014 & 2015 ... one thing to lose, but another to lose and be boring as heck. I remember the 2014 crowd for the Geroy ceremony only being about 25 or 26k. That seemed terrible then, would be considered good now. Yikes.

Now the team is very entertaining, but many people got turned off and are in the habit of not showing up. Plus the ticket prices and all the other reasons cited here.

Would be great if the Lions could host the Western semi-final. Dare we dream of a 30k crowd.

Unbeknownst to me, there's now a beer garden included with the Nissan Tailgate Party, and has been for a couple years now. I also notice that it's only open for AN HOUR AND 15 MINUTES?!

If the Lions would like to try and foster some sort of pre-game tradition, hurrying people through a beer garden, while probably charging $10 a cup, isn't going to help much. I'll go sit at the Back Forty or Library Square and save a couple of bucks while getting full pints, thank you very much.

As Matt Baker posted a few pages back, the reason a lot of us go down south for games is because of the atmosphere before the game. At times, it's more fun than the game itself. That's what football is all about. He's not lying when he said it starts early in the morning. I go down for Washington Huskies games every year, and they get started at 6am. At the very least, the Lions should have this open for 2.5 hours prior to kickoff.

Rocko604 wrote:I go down for Washington Huskies games every year, and they get started at 6am. At the very least, the Lions should have this open for 2.5 hours prior to kickoff.

Do the Huskies still play on campus at Husky Stadium? Several years ago the tailgating had to start early because once you were in the stadium the taps were turned off. This is going back more than 20 years but the year the Seahawks were displaced from the Kingdome because of chunks falling from the roof I took in one of their games over at Husky. Even though it was NFL it was still a dry stadium.

Hambone wrote:

Rocko604 wrote:I go down for Washington Huskies games every year, and they get started at 6am. At the very least, the Lions should have this open for 2.5 hours prior to kickoff.

Do the Huskies still play on campus at Husky Stadium? Several years ago the tailgating had to start early because once you were in the stadium the taps were turned off. This is going back more than 20 years but the year the Seahawks were displaced from the Kingdome because of chunks falling from the roof I took in one of their games over at Husky. Even though it was NFL it was still a dry stadium.

Yes, they're still on campus. So they have the traditional tailgating in the parking lots, and then put on their own tailgate party called The Zone on their practice field on the south side of the stadium. Beer gardens, food stands, TVs showing the other games etc. The stadium itself is still dry with the exception of a 500 capacity beer garden/viewing deck in the northwest corner. The Zone opens again at half time but almost pointless to walk to if you're sitting on the other side of the stadium. The NCAA lifted the ban of alcohol on campus stadiums a few years back so now it' s done on a school by school basis. Won't surprise me if they start selling around the stadium in a few years.

Hambone wrote:

Rocko604 wrote:I go down for Washington Huskies games every year, and they get started at 6am. At the very least, the Lions should have this open for 2.5 hours prior to kickoff.

Do the Huskies still play on campus at Husky Stadium? Several years ago the tailgating had to start early because once you were in the stadium the taps were turned off. This is going back more than 20 years but the year the Seahawks were displaced from the Kingdome because of chunks falling from the roof I took in one of their games over at Husky. Even though it was NFL it was still a dry stadium.

Yes, the UW Huskies play out of the now-renovated Husky Stadium. It is still a dry facility with the exception of a patio area which can accommodate up to 500 or so called the Off Leash deck or some such. Never been but I understand it serves beer & wine.

And just my $0.02, I'd love to see the CFL move to having a double header FNF and Saturday nights in the summer and then Saturday afternoons in the fall. Unfortunately, TSN will continue having them play 7 days a week I'm sure. That's the one thing I do not like about the CFL is that you never know when you're going to be playing.