Final 2013 CFL attendance

[sj-roc]

It'll be interesting to see whether the budget-priced sections are retained. I sit on the wrong side of the lower bowl to get the best view of these during games but my impression (possibly wrong) from TM is that these sections did not fill up very much through most of the season (aside from the Riders visit). As such they may be discontinued, although the tailgate deck section had a sponsor in Gemstone so it could return if their agreement with the Lions was slated to run beyond this year (not sure if these terms were ever disclosed like with the three-year cresting agreement with Coast Capital Savings).

At this point both categories remain unavailable in the 2014 season ticket seating chart with the only upper deck seating currently available for 2014 being the first five rows of sections 437 through 445 (plus the halves of 436 & 446 abutting thereto). Capacity for this config is about half the ~54,300 total (for the lower bowl) plus about 1000 seats above, or about 28,150 overall, which happens to be a hair below this year's average of 28,311.

BTW, thanks for the effort on the graph. I said so on the other thread, (I think) I wish they had us figuring out this kind of stuff in school. I hated pie charts, graphs, percentages and fractions etc... If they had tied it into hockey or football, I would have figured out it was worth learning how to do....... Probably only took you a second ( ) but its appreciated....

I've probably learned as much about Excel just from these hobby-related projects as from anything work-related. It was from drawing up these att charts that I figured out how to add team colours to the bars instead of just having them all in the same boring black or whatever, and how to make sure each block of colour is for 1000 fans (which it turns out isn't completely trivial, at least for how I attacked it).

[Bosco]

I would like to know how many potential bums in the seats the Lions lost with their terrible 2013 schedule? From the Thursday night opener, plus the four Friday night games and only two Saturday night games, this would have discouraged fans from the Interior, Vancouver Island, and heck - even people from outside of Langley willing to battle rush hour traffic into town.

As a shared tenant with the Whitecaps, Dennis Skulsky has admitted that he did not get the schedule he wanted in 2013, and, has vowed that the 2014 schedule will be "better" for Lions fans . Time to start the negotiations now, Dennis.

[B.C.FAN]

I would like to know how many potential bums in the seats the Lions lost with their terrible 2013 schedule? From the Thursday night opener, plus the four Friday night games and only two Saturday night games, this would have discouraged fans from the Interior, Vancouver Island, and heck - even people from outside of Langley willing to battle rush hour traffic into town.

As a shared tenant with the Whitecaps, Dennis Skulsky has admitted that he did not get the schedule he wanted in 2013, and, has vowed that the 2014 schedule will be "better" for Lions fans . Time to start the negotiations now, Dennis.

I knew it wold be bad when the Whitecaps schedule came out and locked up most of the prime Saturdays, which meant the Lions couldn't play those weekends. It shouldn't be hard to leave half the Saturday dates open for the Lions.

[South Pender]

If they had tied it into hockey or football, I would have figured out it was worth learning how to do.......

But then, of course, you'd have had the girls screaming bloody murder that the teaching was sexist!

[sj-roc]

I would like to know how many potential bums in the seats the Lions lost with their terrible 2013 schedule? From the Thursday night opener, plus the four Friday night games and only two Saturday night games, this would have discouraged fans from the Interior, Vancouver Island, and heck - even people from outside of Langley willing to battle rush hour traffic into town.

As a shared tenant with the Whitecaps, Dennis Skulsky has admitted that he did not get the schedule he wanted in 2013, and, has vowed that the 2014 schedule will be "better" for Lions fans . Time to start the negotiations now, Dennis.

I knew it wold be bad when the Whitecaps schedule came out and locked up most of the prime Saturdays, which meant the Lions couldn't play those weekends. It shouldn't be hard to leave half the Saturday dates open for the Lions.

I recall during his President's Club appearance Skulsky mentioned part of the problem with this is the slow CFL<->MLS field conversion process but that next year things will be sped up with one less idle day in the conversion. He also said they'll try to avoid completely the BC Day Long Weekend in 2014. As far as Thu games though, I think as long as TSN broadcasts on this night, we'll prob never be able to completely avoid these every year. *Someone* has to host these and this will fall to us from time to time. Frankly we've done well overall, better than anybody, to avoid these as much as we have. Prior to the Thu game we hosted in July this year, the league played no less than 39 Thursday night games all in other markets over the previous almost six years. Wpg had 7 of these, Edm 8 and Mtl 13.

One thing they did do well with the schedule this year was the relative lack of back-to-back homers. Historically this saturation effect usually reduces the gate for the 2nd game from what it might be if there were a road game or bye week in between. Unfortunately our b2b's couldn't have come at a worse time this year, after a string of three poor outings (one home, then two road games) and we were stuck in 3rd. I can't recall the last time we were locked out of a home playoff game with fully two home games left to play. Often it comes down to our last home game and occasionally even beyond this. In almost any other year two home games to wrap the season would have been a boon with the higher stakes of a playoff game/1st place still up for grabs but this wasn't the case in 2013.

[Toppy Vann]

I would like to know how many potential bums in the seats the Lions lost with their terrible 2013 schedule? From the Thursday night opener, plus the four Friday night games and only two Saturday night games, this would have discouraged fans from the Interior, Vancouver Island, and heck - even people from outside of Langley willing to battle rush hour traffic into town.

As a shared tenant with the Whitecaps, Dennis Skulsky has admitted that he did not get the schedule he wanted in 2013, and, has vowed that the 2014 schedule will be "better" for Lions fans . Time to start the negotiations now, Dennis.

I knew it wold be bad when the Whitecaps schedule came out and locked up most of the prime Saturdays, which meant the Lions couldn't play those weekends. It shouldn't be hard to leave half the Saturday dates open for the Lions.

I recall during his President's Club appearance Skulsky mentioned part of the problem with this is the slow CFL<->MLS field conversion process but that next year things will be sped up with one less idle day in the conversion. He also said they'll try to avoid completely the BC Day Long Weekend in 2014. As far as Thu games though, I think as long as TSN broadcasts on this night, we'll prob never be able to completely avoid these every year. *Someone* has to host these and this will fall to us from time to time. Frankly we've done well overall, better than anybody, to avoid these as much as we have. Prior to the Thu game we hosted in July this year, the league played no less than 39 Thursday night games all in other markets over the previous almost six years. Wpg had 7 of these, Edm 8 and Mtl 13.

One thing they did do well with the schedule this year was the relative lack of back-to-back homers. Historically this saturation effect usually reduces the gate for the 2nd game from what it might be if there were a road game or bye week in between. Unfortunately our b2b's couldn't have come at a worse time this year, after a string of three poor outings (one home, then two road games) and we were stuck in 3rd. I can't recall the last time we were locked out of a home playoff game with fully two home games left to play. Often it comes down to our last home game and occasionally even beyond this. In almost any other year two home games to wrap the season would have been a boon with the higher stakes of a playoff game/1st place still up for grabs but this wasn't the case in 2013.

I can't recall a year where the entire last week's games meant absolutely nothing in the standings for anyone.

And I can't recall a year where so many stars sat out who were close to 1000 yd games etc. Durie, Owens, Cornish to a lesser extent and then there was Harris just a few yards short of his 1000 yd season. Burris some 75 yds short of a milestone, etc.

Harris using the Paredes argument that a blocked FG attempt is not a missed FG and Harris should appeal to the CFL as it was a botched play losing yards that did not reach the LOS and thus should not count - making him a 1000 yarder again...lol. Paredes should be embarrassed to claim that record for consecutive FGs.

I question the summer season in the CFL but that isn't going to change where even TSN gets caught saying the season doesn't begin until Labour Day.

I'd like to see bolder marketing moves by the CFL and the Lions into ethnic communities more as in soccer these guys once hooked are not only good fans they buy jerseys.

[BC 1988]

Excellent thread and discussion, I hope Lions marketing people read it.

I attended every game this season except for Jul 20th EDM. My friend didn't bother with the last 2 games, after the turnover circus in Regina Oct 19th, and because they were "mean-nothing".

I was very entertained by most of the games. The $25 no-alcohol "Family Zone" was a great incentive to go; otherwise I would have bought Lower End Zone Flex packs instead. Next season I expect the Lions to do something similar given the Season Ticket configuration they're offering now. The only issue is the huge disparity in price between the sections adjacent to the discount sections. The "Family Zone" had a lot of adults without kids and was better attended than the Gemstone Gridiron Deck (looking at TM just before game time to check availability).

One thing the Lions could do about Upper Level seating, particularly for families with small kids is advise that the first row is really not suitable for short people, because of the increased thickness from the White Caps tarp assembly and LED ad ring. Pre-renovation this was not the case, now you have to lean over to see the field immediately below.

[xon100]

Sorry if you already created a threat on this topic, sjroc. The one anomoly for me this season was the 30,564 at the Hamilton game on August 30. Not sure if this was an end-of-summer treat for a lot of kids, or if there were a substantial number of freebies (handed out with report cards?), but it was a surprisingly great crowd with lots of families in attendance.

What the club has to realize is that in order to generate the noise, the energy, and the intimidation that they so covet for "home field advantage," they need in excess of 35,000 to make this happen. But they're not going to see those types of crowds with a pricing strategy the way it's currently set up! I will say the benefit to higher ticket prices though is a reduction in the number of yahoos who make trouble at games (almost never see that anymore), and idiots who run on the field (same). Not sure if there is a direct correlation (or just better security), but it seems a generally well-behaved crowd nowadays.


DH

I know there was quite a few tickets given to minor football that night, as I think 8 teams from Surrey were there, and a few from New West as well.

[Hambone]

A second visit from the Riders this season, as in most previous years, would have helped a lot. Winnipeg moving back to the West should also help attendance, assuming they play here twice a season. I'm not sure how Ottawa's re-entry will affect scheduling.

Beyond that, I'd like to see all games played on Friday and Saturday nights, but TSN's influence is so strong on the league these days (fairly so), I'm not sure it would go for that.

They could revert to the format of many years ago when they played East clubs only once per season alternating home and away one year to the next. In that scenario they'd have 2 home games vs East and 7 home games to split between their 4 West Div rivals. Otherwise 4 home games will be chewed up by Eastern opponents leaving 5 home dates for the other 4 West clubs. They'd play 1 West team twice and the other 3 only once. Maybe that will actually help attendance. It may create a bigger demand on those games given it would be the only regular season visit of the year for 3 of their biggest rivals.

[Hambone]

I recall during his President's Club appearance Skulsky mentioned part of the problem with this is the slow CFL<->MLS field conversion process but that next year things will be sped up with one less idle day in the conversion. He also said they'll try to avoid completely the BC Day Long Weekend in 2014.

I think they'll have to go on the road to avoid the BC Day Long weekend. Definitely won't be getting a bye as you can guarantee they'll get that 4 weeks later on Labour Day weekend what with the LD Classics out West etched in stone and likely a desire to have HAM/TOR and MTL/OTT pencilled in for East LDC's. Back when it was a 9 team league the Lions usually were idle on LD Weekend.

[notahomer]

If they had tied it into hockey or football, I would have figured out it was worth learning how to do.......

But then, of course, you'd have had the girls screaming bloody murder that the teaching was sexist!

Oh I'm sure they coulda come up with some questions the girls would have found stimulating too (what those are, I'm not sure, without also sounding sexist ). My sisters hated math too. Speaking for myself, if I don't see a need, I don't care and I don't take it in. Show me value and I learn.

I do wonder sometimes too about the scheduling of games earlier in the season. Are Sunday games played in July/August? IF so, not that often and then WHAM, NFL is on, lets start playing Sundays.....

[B.C.FAN]

I think they'll have to go on the road to avoid the BC Day Long weekend. Definitely won't be getting a bye as you can guarantee they'll get that 4 weeks later on Labour Day weekend what with the LD Classics out West etched in stone and likely a desire to have HAM/TOR and MTL/OTT pencilled in for East LDC's. Back when it was a 9 team league the Lions usually were idle on LD Weekend.

I wonder if the schedule will be lengthened by a week to give all teams two byes. I'd rather see that than the alternative, which would be to schedule more midweek games to keep all nine teams active (e.g. one team plays Thursday-Tuesday while their opponents play Friday-Thursday and Tuesday-Saturday).

[Hambone]

I wonder if the schedule will be lengthened by a week to give all teams two byes. I'd rather see that than the alternative, which would be to schedule more midweek games to keep all nine teams active (e.g. one team plays Thursday-Tuesday while their opponents play Friday-Thursday and Tuesday-Saturday).

Most likely the case. Back in 2005, the last year of 9 teams, it was a 20 week schedule. As Grey Cup has been announced for Nov. 30, 2014 you can expect the season to start on Friday June 27th, if not the day before, and end on the weekend of November 8/9.

[JohnHenry]

I wonder if the schedule will be lengthened by a week to give all teams two byes. I'd rather see that than the alternative, which would be to schedule more midweek games to keep all nine teams active (e.g. one team plays Thursday-Tuesday while their opponents play Friday-Thursday and Tuesday-Saturday).

Most likely the case. Back in 2005, the last year of 9 teams, it was a 20 week schedule. As Grey Cup has been announced for Nov. 30, 2014 you can expect the season to start on Friday June 27th, if not the day before, and end on the weekend of November 8/9.

Commissioner Cohon said they'll be going to a 20-week schedule (up from 19) with each team having 2 bye weeks a different times during the season. The Grey Cup will still be played on the last Sunday in November with the regular season starting one week earlier in June. I'd imagine training camps and exhibition games will start 1 week earlier also.

Each team will play a home/away game against all 8 opponents (= 16) + 2 games vs. divisional opponents on a rotational basis. So it's a fairly balanced schedule. The downside is that popular divisional opponents, like Sask, will only visit Vancouver twice every 4 or 5 years.

[Toppy Vann]

My sense is that Lionbacker posters who used to go MOST if not all games have cut back due to the lack of excitement and frustrations with problems that can be fixed but with this team and its coaching - seemingly left until they have to fix them. This outfit needs to get a sense of urgency back into its coaches.

If there is a running problem - acknowledge the issues right away and end this BS that it is too hard to fix fast - posters here are even on that never heard of before tack.