Let's pack the dome for the WSF ! WSF ticket sales thread

[B.C.FAN]

I know it's not a Western Final but previous two Lions home playoff crowds have been 54,000 (2007) and 41,000 (2011). How big of drop off will this be?

There's no comparison between a Western Final crowd and a WSF crowd. As mentioned above, the average WSF crowd, regardless of city, is 4,000 to 7,000 smaller than the average regular-season crowd. The last time the Lions hosted a WSF in 1986 the crowd was 6,000 smaller than the regular-season average. In 1977, when the Lions first hosted a WSF, the crowd was 182 smaller than the regular-season average. Since the Lions averaged just over 21,000 during the regular season this year, this crowd is likely to be in the teens. Hitting 21,000 would be a bonus. There isn't a sizable season-ticket base as a starting point. With an extra week to sell a Western Final, there would be time to build some hype around town and sell more tickets.

[dawg3648]

Well the crowd looks like between 18-20K as of this morning and while disappointing you know these fans that bought tix are hard-core and want to be there. This is opposed to regular season casual fan and non-fan accepting tix from STH. I think it will still be a very good atmosphere with the rowdy "hard-cores", the roof closed and five thousand cowbells (not my idea!).... should be fun. And to anyone severely hungover today going to the game my condolences!!! Go Leos!!....Enjoy everyone and let's get this! ....and one last thing if I may....Mr. Braley please sell this team!

[CardiacKid]

The Island is doing its bit....usual familiar faces on the ferry with a fair number of Lion's jerseys. Certainly more Lion's gear on display than Canucks.

[Hambone]

The Island is doing its bit....usual familiar faces on the ferry with a fair number of Lion's jerseys. Certainly more Lion's gear on display than Canucks.

Same downtown. Lion orange is outnumbering Canuck blue by at least 20 to 1.

[Robbie]

I recall sitting in the Dome during the last WSF held in B.C. in 1986 and feeling embarrassed at the small crowd (by that year's standards) of 40,381. The Lions averaged 46,637 during the regular season that year. The playoff attendance barely exceeded the smallest crowd of the regular season, 40,091.

If this year's WSF attendance follows the typical pattern of being 4,000 to 7,000 less than the host team's regular season average, we should expect an attendance this week of 14,000 to 17,000.

I know it's not a Western Final but previous two Lions home playoff crowds have been 54,000 (2007) and 41,000 (2011). How big of drop off will this be?

There's no comparison between a Western Final crowd and a WSF crowd. As mentioned above, the average WSF crowd, regardless of city, is 4,000 to 7,000 smaller than the average regular-season crowd. The last time the Lions hosted a WSF in 1986 the crowd was 6,000 smaller than the regular-season average. In 1977, when the Lions first hosted a WSF, the crowd was 182 smaller than the regular-season average. Since the Lions averaged just over 21,000 during the regular season this year, this crowd is likely to be in the teens. Hitting 21,000 would be a bonus. There isn't a sizable season-ticket base as a starting point. With an extra week to sell a Western Final, there would be time to build some hype around town and sell more tickets.

So in the end, the attendance of 19,176 was lower than the season average of 21,055 though only by about 2,000 although it was significantly lower than the season high of 26,481.

I mentioned that perhaps the fact that the Canucks were playing next door had something to do with the lower attendance.

The 1986 WDSF was on a Saturday afternoon, November 15 at 1:00 PM on day that the Canucks were not playing.

[CardiacKid]

A work colleague who is a very casual follower of the Lions who watches the occasional game approached me about the attendance at the semi-final yesterday. He asked "were there actually empty seats at the game?' to which I replied yes, there were. His response was "wow, that is really lame. People don't want to watch a playoff game?"

Now before you wonder out loud why he wasn't at the game, we are located in Victoria.

But again, here is an example of how the optics of a game played in a stadium that is blighted by wide swaths of empty seats, translates negatively on TV. That was a friggin' exciting game with a TON of atmosphere (aside from mis-timed cowbell clanging); unfortunately an awful lot of what is great, gets lost in translation.

[dawg3648]

We were all guessing between 21 and 23K at halftime. Seemed like a hell of a lot more than 19K. It sounded like 40K in the fourth quarter. The noise was incredible. Based on 52 sections of 500 that would mean 16 full empty sections. We did not see anywhere close to that. Bizarre.

[Hambone]

We were all guessing between 21 and 23K at halftime. Seemed like a hell of a lot more than 19K. It sounded like 40K in the fourth quarter. The noise was incredible. Based on 52 sections of 500 that would mean 16 full empty sections. We did not see anywhere close to that. Bizarre.

I thought there were more too. One of the things that makes guessing attendance deceptive is the seat colour scheme. Those old blue seats stood out when empty. The combination of grey and orange not so much, especially the grey ones. They tend to blend in with the occupied seats. At first glance looking across the way from my perch in 242 I thought things filled up real nice from the last look I took on Ticketmaster late Saturday. Upon closer look though I could pick out a lot of empty ones pretty much in the pattern of the blue dots in TM's map view.

[Qman]

A work colleague who is a very casual follower of the Lions who watches the occasional game approached me about the attendance at the semi-final yesterday. He asked "were there actually empty seats at the game?' to which I replied yes, there were. His response was "wow, that is really lame. People don't want to watch a playoff game?"

Now before you wonder out loud why he wasn't at the game, we are located in Victoria.

But again, here is an example of how the optics of a game played in a stadium that is blighted by wide swaths of empty seats, translates negatively on TV. That was a friggin' exciting game with a TON of atmosphere (aside from mis-timed cowbell clanging); unfortunately an awful lot of what is great, gets lost in translation.

Not joking, the lions should just announce 27,004 every game, then no one talks about attendance.

This is what many MLB teams and every MLS team does, maybe a local NHL team too

[Ballistic Bob]

Shook hands with Cory Philpot out side of section 250. I said to him you you sure look like Quick 6 or you are him. Maybe his jersey gave him away. His two boys were with him. Cmiiw but didn't he play for Winn after BC. Thnx BB

[David]

We were all guessing between 21 and 23K at halftime. Seemed like a hell of a lot more than 19K. It sounded like 40K in the fourth quarter. The noise was incredible. Based on 52 sections of 500 that would mean 16 full empty sections. We did not see anywhere close to that. Bizarre.

Yup. It sure looked - and sounded like more than 19,176 (if that's the case, then similar announced crowds this year must have been decidedly less). It was mostly packed between the goallines, then about 60% full in the south end zone and 20% full in the north end zone. This is the disconnect the club is going to have to solve. I suspect most people who attended were Lions fanatics, for which the admission to a playoff game was largely price inelastic. These people would have gone regardless of a price increase or decrease over the regular season. For most however, the end zone seats (or whatever was available) wasn't attractively priced, so they stayed away.

I firmly believe that interest in the club is there. Yesterday evening, I was in a grocery store for 10 minutes (in Vancouver proper, not the 'burbs), wearing my #84 gun metal jersey. No fewer than 3 people stopped me in this short time frame to talk about the game or ask me about the score and details of the game. Lions front office is clearly not connecting with the sizeable number of casuals and converting them into consumers. National viewership was in excess of 1MM, so you know there were a lot of local viewers.

If ever there was a time to fudge the actual gate, it was yesterday. They could have announced something over 20K and no one would be any of the wiser. It likely wouldn't have been such a big talking point as it was today. And were was our President? Could he not have come on local sports radio today to assuage concern? Perhaps spinning it as "while the gate may have been lower than we would have liked, revenue from tickets was X% higher than our season average," or "our local TV numbers were outstanding" etc.

No excuses for sub-20K but it may well have been over 20K without the Canucks playing across the street. Also, the Lions back-loading their schedule like they did may have contributed to buyer fatigue.


DH

[B.C.FAN]

Fans may not have packed the stadium but according to TSN an average audience of 1.1 million watched on TV, helping make TSN the most-watched channel in Canada on Sunday.

TORONTO (November 14, 2016) – Yesterday’s CFL PLAYOFFS doubleheader scored season-high audiences on TSN, as overnight data from Numeris confirms that the CFL’s Eastern and Western Semi-Finals marked an increase of 14% compared to last year.

The Western Semi-Final featuring Winnipeg @ BC attracted an average audience of 1.1 million viewers on TSN, as BC quarterback Jonathon Jennings scored his second rushing touchdown of the game late in the fourth quarter as the Lions stormed back to defeat the Blue Bombers 32-31.

The Eastern Semi-Final featuring Edmonton @ Hamilton attracted an average audience of 903,000 viewers on TSN, as Edmonton secured a dramatic 24-21 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sean Whyte’s nine-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining.

TSN’s exclusive live coverage of the 2016 CFL Eastern and Western Semi-Finals also made TSN the most-watched channel in Canada on Sunday, ahead of all conventional network overnight audiences.

[Qman]

what i loved about sundays game is it was not a usual regular season type crowd it was 20000 true diehard bclions helping push the team to victory. Everyone in gear. Concourses were packed 40min before the game.

[BC 1988]

* In future, build the Playoff Game into the price of a season ticket, offering a credit or refund if they DON'T host. That way, they're not starting from scratch and wasting precious time processing ST holder orders, blocking casual fans from buying tickets.[/b][/color]

I like the idea of building the playoff tickets into the season ticket package. It's too late for next year. Ticket prices and packages are already set, but it would make it much easier to open sales to the public. Season ticketholders could still be allowed to pre-order extra tickets but not after the end of regular season as they were this year when the deadline was extended.

The WSF is often a tough sell and draws smaller crowds than regular season games, despite some good matchups. There's just not enough time to sell tickets. This is not just a B.C. phenomenon. WSF attendance has exceeded the host team's regular-season average attendance only once in the past five years, in Calgary in 2012.

WEST SEMI-FINAL ATTENDANCE AND LOCATION
2011 Edmonton (vs. Calgary) 30,183 (regular season average 34,625)
2012 Calgary (vs. Sask.) 30,027 (regular season average 28,664)
2013 Saskatchewan (vs. B.C.) 30,942 (regular season average 37,503)
2014 Edmonton (vs. Sask) 26,237 (regular season average 33,485)
2015 Calgary (vs. B.C.) 26,306 (regular season average 30,376)

I recall sitting in the Dome during the last WSF held in B.C. in 1986 and feeling embarrassed at the small crowd (by that year's standards) of 40,381. The Lions averaged 46,637 during the regular season that year. The playoff attendance barely exceeded the smallest crowd of the regular season, 40,091.

If this year's WSF attendance follows the typical pattern of being 4,000 to 7,000 less than the host team's regular season average, we should expect an attendance this week of 14,000 to 17,000.

Thank you B.C. FAN for pointing out the rather surprising attendance drops for the WSF from regular season averages, with only 2012 being an increase. This year BC did get closer to the average, but it was a pretty poor average anyway. I agree that ST holders should get more incentives. Freebie (or heavily reduced) extra tickets to introduce friends to the game would be great, since playoffs are really a chance to showcase the game.

[David]

Those numbers are misleading. The primary reason that WSF attendance is invariably lower than the regular season average (discounting the 'one week to sell the game' factor) is the weather. Folks on the Prairies don't want to sit in the cold anymore to watch games that are available to view in high def in their comfy living rooms. We don't have the wind and cold excuse at BC Place, which is why the 19K gate was all the more disappointing.

The club pulled out all the stops to bring about awareness for the game. Heavy social, :15 second TV spots, print ads, radio and TV station ticket giveaways.....but are just not converting these consumer impressions into ticket sales. Again, I would have done something creative mid-week when it was clear that tickets weren't moving.

* 2 for 1 end zone seats.
* $99 Family Pack (4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 soft drinks).
* A massive 50/50 (start with $100K jackpot) and build awareness/attendance with that 'wow' factor
* Dirt cheap group sales for amateur football.
* Anyone with Canucks tickets to the Dallas game could trade them in for Lions tickets (end zone seating)


DH