2017 All Things Lions Marketing & Promotions

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Qman
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cjones2451 wrote:
Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:50 pm
The biggest thing I don't get is they have the $5 kids offer during the regular season, by all accounts it is well received, but there is NEVER a kids offer on seasons tickets. I have had my tickets for 23 years and take my 4 and 7 year olds to games and get NO discount for their seats . I would even take it on just 1 since am only 1 adult. WHY can there not be a kids ticket price with purchase of an adult in say RED and below?
I am tempted not to renew and just use the kids offer tickets...

On the other hand they did reduce the end zone seats, so when we say they aren't trying to attract new fans they are to a certain extent, but they are forgetting about the LOYAL season ticket holders too much IMHO.
there should be a $75-100 Kids season ticket for all endzone and corner sections ... i have no idea why the lions don't have this
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CardiacKid
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Not entirely certain but I think our STs in section 246 decreased in price....
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The_Pauser
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cjones2451 wrote:
Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:50 pm
The biggest thing I don't get is they have the $5 kids offer during the regular season, by all accounts it is well received, but there is NEVER a kids offer on seasons tickets. I have had my tickets for 23 years and take my 4 and 7 year olds to games and get NO discount for their seats . I would even take it on just 1 since am only 1 adult. WHY can there not be a kids ticket price with purchase of an adult in say RED and below?
I am tempted not to renew and just use the kids offer tickets...

On the other hand they did reduce the end zone seats, so when we say they aren't trying to attract new fans they are to a certain extent, but they are forgetting about the LOYAL season ticket holders too much IMHO.
Back in 1995 they had kids priced season tickets. Kids season tickets were $1/game with the purchase of an adult season ticket. I agree with you. No excuse not to offer that deal for season ticketholders. Especially with how great the TSN TV deal is, right now is the time to drop ticket prices and try to fill that stadium. Build your fanbase because the next TV deal may not be so lucrative, and at that point if you're still only drawing 18-20k fans per game you're really going to be hurting.
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TheLionKing
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Lions used to have special prices for students. My niece got season tickets at reduced rates when she provide proof she was student. Now she is a regular season ticket holder. This current management have no idea how to build a fan base.
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David
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The_Pauser wrote:
Sun Oct 22, 2017 12:18 am
Back in 1995 they had kids priced season tickets. Kids season tickets were $1/game with the purchase of an adult season ticket. I agree with you. No excuse not to offer that deal for season ticketholders. Especially with how great the TSN TV deal is, right now is the time to drop ticket prices and try to fill that stadium. Build your fanbase because the next TV deal may not be so lucrative, and at that point if you're still only drawing 18-20k fans per game you're really going to be hurting.
I could almost guarantee the Lions would not have lost that game tonight if they had 5,000 more fans in the stands. It's not a humongous increase. It's do-able. But BC Place used to be such an intimidating place for opponents. Now it's a "get well" card on the calendar.

Drop prices - do whatever you need to do. But get butts in the seats. It makes a difference. :popcorn:


DH :cool:
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MikeAK
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David wrote:
Sun Oct 22, 2017 1:15 am
The_Pauser wrote:
Sun Oct 22, 2017 12:18 am
Back in 1995 they had kids priced season tickets. Kids season tickets were $1/game with the purchase of an adult season ticket. I agree with you. No excuse not to offer that deal for season ticketholders. Especially with how great the TSN TV deal is, right now is the time to drop ticket prices and try to fill that stadium. Build your fanbase because the next TV deal may not be so lucrative, and at that point if you're still only drawing 18-20k fans per game you're really going to be hurting.
I could almost guarantee the Lions would not have lost that game tonight if they had 5,000 more fans in the stands. It's not a humongous increase. It's do-able. But BC Place used to be such an intimidating place for opponents. Now it's a "get well" card on the calendar.

Drop prices - do whatever you need to do. But get butts in the seats. It makes a difference. :popcorn:


DH :cool:
The Lions have put themselves in a real tough position because of the pricing structure we've been seeing for over 10 years now. They are going to have a real hard time putting buts in the seats when they, in my opinion, have lost an entire generation of new fans because of the way they started pricing out families and late teens/young adults starting around 2005.

I work within the community and have a really hard time finding a single person in their late teens and into their late 20's who knows much about the BC Lions. The team may as well not even exist for that generation. I usually have to talk lions with people in their mid to late 30's and beyond.

Some of us have been saying it for years and we're now starting to see the reality of it. The Lions have a long hill to climb in order to reestablish the Franchise as a community team. Their over charging of tickets and lack of any type of marketing for over a decade has left them with no fan interest between the late teens and 20's crowd. Those are supposed to be your next wave of fans. Nope. I really worry about this teams future if things don't change. The diehards don't live forever and most of us are now into the second half of our lives. They have got to wake up and get new blood into the stadium.
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MikeAK wrote:
Sun Oct 22, 2017 9:08 am

The Lions have put themselves in a real tough position because of the pricing structure we've been seeing for over 10 years now. They are going to have a real hard time putting buts in the seats when they, in my opinion, have lost an entire generation of new fans because of the way they started pricing out families and late teens/young adults starting around 2005.

I work within the community and have a really hard time finding a single person in their late teens and into their late 20's who knows much about the BC Lions. The team may as well not even exist for that generation. I usually have to talk lions with people in their mid to late 30's and beyond.

Some of us have been saying it for years and we're now starting to see the reality of it. The Lions have a long hill to climb in order to reestablish the Franchise aIs a community team. Their over charging of tickets and lack of any type of marketing for over a decade has left them with no fan interest between the late teens and 20's crowd. Those are supposed to be your next wave of fans. Nope. I really worry about this teams future if things don't change. The diehards don't live forever and most of us are now into the second half of our lives. They have got to wake up and get new blood into the stadium.
I have the same concerns. I'm 21, and I have a hard time finding anyone my age who has any sort of fandom for the BC Lions. I only went to two games this season, and for both games there was an overwhelming amount of older people in the stands, and an apparent lack of young people. It's really great that the older generation is coming out and supporting the team. However, with the lack of young people at the games it makes me wonder how many people will show up in 10--20 years from now. Compare this to a Whitecaps or Canucks game, where in the crowd you will find numerous people of all age groups and ethnicities. I do have faith in the Lions organization though that with some effort, and an improved on field product, the Lions could turn this around and get back to having 25-30k in attendance.

Also, what exactly happened in 2005?
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ZLions wrote:
Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:48 pm
Also, what exactly happened in 2005?
2005 was the year they essentially "returned" to being a top attraction in the city, for lack of a better term. They did very well in 2004,, both on and off the field, with going to the Grey Cup and attracting disgruntled NHL fans while the 04/05 lockout was going on. Going into 2005 they had arguably the two best QBs in the league and were exoected to win the Grey Cup . They also hosted the Grey Cup that season and would have been in it had the refs all agreed to ignore a blatant pass interference penalty on Edmonton with no time left in the West Final. Consolation was the 2005 Grey Cup was probably the greastest Grey Cup game in history, but that's another conversation.

Pretty much from 04 until Bobby Ackles passed away, the Lions were a very close 2nd behind the Canucks and had sports writers comparing their popularity to the period they had in the 80s of being the #1 team in town.

I think it speaks volumes to how much losing Bobby Ackles has hurt the Lions. No one seems to be able to re-create the passion and excitement in the city for the Lions like Bobby did.
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The_Pauser
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Casey Printers really helped the Lions resurgence in the market. He was a flashy, hot-shot QB who was very exciting to watch and kept fans at the edge of their seats. Unfortunately his time here was short-lived. He battled through injuries in 2005, and then went to the NFL before the 2006 season. That move really ruined his career as he was never the same dynamic QB when he came back (signed with Hamilton and looked lost).

Off the heels of that, the Lions retained their fans as they were the class of the league, winning the Grey Cup in 2006.

Bob Ackles passed away in July 2008. Our average attendance for that season was 34k. One season later our average attendance plummeted to 28k, despite getting to the WDF in 2008 (3rd place team though). The Lions record also fell from 11-7 to 8-10 which didn't help. QBing had become a problem. Buck Pierce couldn't stay healthy. Jarious Jackson wasn't that good as a starter, and the team faltered. Casey Printers was brought back at the end of the season, and helped lead the team to an Eastern Semi-Final win in Hamilton, but the team got slaughtered a week later in Montreal.

In 2010 the Lions moved to TEmpire Field as BC Place underwent renovations. The stadium didn't hold nearly as many as BC Place, but average attendance fell once again to 24k (stadium held 27,500). Another 8-10 season which saw a transition at QB from Casey Printers to Travis Lulay. The team got off to a dismal 1-6 start, and lost in the Western Semi's to Saskatchewan in double OT. What started off as a gloomy start to the season ended in promise as Lulay really had his coming out party in that playoff game. He and Manny Arceneaux both looked like ethe future.

2011 started off at TEmpire Field, and midway through the season went back to BC Place. Average attendance rebounded to 29k, mostly boosted by the back half of the season. The opening game at BC Place drew over 50k as people were curious to see the new stadium. Attendance did continue to increase over the average and the Lions finished strong with a 41k finale. We started off 0-5 to start the season, but after that something clicked and the Lions went on to win 11 of their final 13 regular season games. No doubt the acquisition of Arland Bruce helped bolster the team (much to the chagrin of some veteran Lionbackers on here who opposed the acquisition at the time it was made), and Andrew Harris had his coming out party in the back half of the season. This was a young and exciting team once again that marched all the way to a home Grey Cup victory.

Attendance teetered around the 28-30k mark for the next 3 seasons. The Lions didn't do anything significant, following up a GC win with a disappointing West final loss to Calgary ( a game which we trailed 31-16 heading into the 4th quarter). 2013 saw the team fall from a 13-5 first place finish to a 11-7 third place finish, and a Western Semi-final loss to Saskatchewan after blowing a 25-16 third quarter lead. This was the game where in the fourth quarter our defense couldn't do anything to stop Henry Burris. We would take away his passing options and Burris would then break out for a 15-20 yard run himself. Very frustrating. 2014 saw the Lions continue to fall, finishing with a 9-9 record, 4th place, and getting slaughtered by Montreal 50-17 in the Eastern Semi-final.

2015 saw our attendance drop significantly to 21k. Jeff Tedford was brought in as Head Coach, and the season was a disaster. 7-11 third place finish, and a 35-9 West semi-final loss to Calgary. Attendance held at 21k last year as we finished second in the division with a 12-6 record, had an exciting WSF win against Winnipeg, but another embarrassing loss to Calgary in the WDF. And that brings us to this year: en route to missing the playoffs, last in the West, and a further erosion to our attendance that is now averaging a shade under 20k. The last time our average attendance was this poor was the 2002 season, Bob Ackles first year back with the Lions, and the season before Wally Buono took over as head coach.
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The_Pauser wrote:
Sat Oct 21, 2017 12:21 pm
Bosco wrote:
Fri Oct 20, 2017 11:26 pm
TheLionKing wrote:
Fri Oct 20, 2017 3:56 pm


Fired off an email to the Lions expressing my frustrations at the last couple of seasons under Buono and his inept coaching staff. Asked them for reasons why I should give them $2,000 for another season of boring football.
IMO, the Lions organization has real big ones asking their remaining season ticket holders to commit to 2018 when we're still going through the stench of 2017. Sorry, Lions - I can be bought, but not for Playland tickets or a complimentary transit pass. :dizzy:
That's fine. It's standard to begin the renewal process in October though so I'm not sure what your complaint about that is. Should a team that's in tough when it comes to its season ticket base begin their campaign later? What good would that do?

And for a bunch of people who have always complained about the lack of extra perks with their season tickets I'm shocked (actually not really) that there's complaints about the freebees being offered this year. Seems to me like some people just like complaining. I think it's great that they're offering people a transit pass/parking discounts, OR playland passes, OR memorabilia/meet and greet. That's better than what they've traditionally done.
It's not that they are sending out renewal notices - obviously, they want to collect sooner rather than later - it's just the idea that with uncertainty with the ownership & management , combined with a less than stellar season, the Lions are asking for a commitment from their season ticket holders without seemingly presenting any kind of forward business plan. This season is not like other seasons. Before they solicit money from the season ticket holders, fans might wish to know what the organization of the team will be in 2017, and then make a decision.
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Bosco wrote:
Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:06 am

It's not that they are sending out renewal notices - obviously, they want to collect sooner rather than later - it's just the idea that with uncertainty with the ownership & management , combined with a less than stellar season, the Lions are asking for a commitment from their season ticket holders without seemingly presenting any kind of forward business plan. This season is not like other seasons. Before they solicit money from the season ticket holders, fans might wish to know what the organization of the team will be in 2017, and then make a decision.
That's fine, but when does that ever happen?

What are you realistically expecting the team to do here? Hold off on sending out renewals? Send out their full business plan complete with NDA's with those renewal sheets? They have no news on a pending sale so everything on that front is in limbo, what can they do?

Tell me, if you were interim President of the BC Lions, how would you approach this renewal?
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The_Pauser wrote:
Mon Oct 30, 2017 1:56 pm
Bosco wrote:
Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:06 am

It's not that they are sending out renewal notices - obviously, they want to collect sooner rather than later - it's just the idea that with uncertainty with the ownership & management , combined with a less than stellar season, the Lions are asking for a commitment from their season ticket holders without seemingly presenting any kind of forward business plan. This season is not like other seasons. Before they solicit money from the season ticket holders, fans might wish to know what the organization of the team will be in 2017, and then make a decision.
That's fine, but when does that ever happen?

What are you realistically expecting the team to do here? Hold off on sending out renewals? Send out their full business plan complete with NDA's with those renewal sheets? They have no news on a pending sale so everything on that front is in limbo, what can they do?

Tell me, if you were interim President of the BC Lions, how would you approach this renewal?
I think if I were the Lions Pres. I would proceed with ST sales campaign just as the Lions are doing, knowing full well that the current uncertain ownership and management/coaching situation is a tough sell and make sure the owner knows that ST sales and revenue will be down in 2018.
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mountaincat
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ZLions wrote:
Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:48 pm
MikeAK wrote:
Sun Oct 22, 2017 9:08 am

The Lions have put themselves in a real tough position because of the pricing structure we've been seeing for over 10 years now. They are going to have a real hard time putting buts in the seats when they, in my opinion, have lost an entire generation of new fans because of the way they started pricing out families and late teens/young adults starting around 2005.
Also, what exactly happened in 2005?
as MikeAK said, that's when they started to jack up prices across the board. with ackles at the helm. IMO they got too greedy too quickly. 50k+ paid $45 each, flat rate for every seat every section, for the heavily hyped 2004 caseymania nhl lockout playoff game, and thereafter the milking of the fanbase commenced, a mere 2 years after crowds had barely begun to resuscitate from under 20k. braley said lions tickets were an underpriced commodity. they were more interested in milking diehards than filling the dome.
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mountaincat wrote:
Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:06 am
ZLions wrote:
Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:48 pm
MikeAK wrote:
Sun Oct 22, 2017 9:08 am

The Lions have put themselves in a real tough position because of the pricing structure we've been seeing for over 10 years now. They are going to have a real hard time putting buts in the seats when they, in my opinion, have lost an entire generation of new fans because of the way they started pricing out families and late teens/young adults starting around 2005.
Also, what exactly happened in 2005?
as MikeAK said, that's when they started to jack up prices across the board. with ackles at the helm. IMO they got too greedy too quickly. 50k+ paid $45 each, flat rate for every seat every section, for the heavily hyped 2004 caseymania nhl lockout playoff game, and thereafter the milking of the fanbase commenced, a mere 2 years after crowds had barely begun to resuscitate from under 20k. braley said lions tickets were an underpriced commodity. they were more interested in milking diehards than filling the dome.
Bingo. They also completely misread the long term impact of moving back into a renovated BC Place. That's when they expanded premium priced seating from between the 30s to between the 20s.
Now those 20-30 yard line sections are 80 percent empty on a regular basis and the optics of it look horrible on TV. Yet they have refused to adjust it back.

As well documented by Pauser and others, the hype for the renovated stadium lasted just the one game. Attendance went from 50,000 to 30,000 the following week despite the Lions steamrolling towards the Grey Cup and the Stampeders in town.
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mountaincat wrote:
Tue Oct 31, 2017 2:06 am
ZLions wrote:
Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:48 pm
MikeAK wrote:
Sun Oct 22, 2017 9:08 am

The Lions have put themselves in a real tough position because of the pricing structure we've been seeing for over 10 years now. They are going to have a real hard time putting buts in the seats when they, in my opinion, have lost an entire generation of new fans because of the way they started pricing out families and late teens/young adults starting around 2005.
Also, what exactly happened in 2005?
as MikeAK said, that's when they started to jack up prices across the board. with ackles at the helm. IMO they got too greedy too quickly. 50k+ paid $45 each, flat rate for every seat every section, for the heavily hyped 2004 caseymania nhl lockout playoff game, and thereafter the milking of the fanbase commenced, a mere 2 years after crowds had barely begun to resuscitate from under 20k. braley said lions tickets were an underpriced commodity. they were more interested in milking diehards than filling the dome.
If I recall what also happened in 2004 was they had all but locked up first place before entering the Thanksgiving weekend. They had a 6 point edge + the season series on Edmonton with 4 games left for both. It did take 2 more weeks to clinch but entering Thanksgiving BC had to totally collapse and lose their remaining 4 while Edmonton swept their final 4 for BC to not end up 1st in the West. Officially they had a full month to market the WDF. Unofficially it was game on for hosting the WDF 6 weeks before it happened. It didn't hurt the cause when it turned out to be the Riders would be the opponents BC Place. The tailgating in the parking lots between the Dome and the Cambie Street bridge was insane.
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