Ticket Prices / Lions' Marketing

[JohnHenry]

While I would like to see the upper bowl priced differently I rather have the lower bowl completely full on a regular basis than 17,000 down low and 13,000 up top as it kills the atmosphere.

A full lower bowl looks better on TV and adds atmosphere, but it doesn't make much sense to pack 10,000 fans into the endzones while premium sideline seats on the upper deck are empty. I realize some people prefer to watch from the endzones but many would choose the upper deck sideline or corner if they weren't much more expensive.

If fans are willing to attend the game, why stick them with bad seats when good seats sit empty? I find the games much more enjoyable from the 10 yd. line than the endzone.

The problem is cutting the price of the upper-deck tickets could make the premium lower bowl seats seem over-priced...and those season-ticket holders are the lifeblood of the franchise. The marketing dept. must walk a fine line there.

[Toppy Vann]

@CFL_News: #CFL has lost two national sponsors with RONA & Scotiabank pulling out according to .@PentonKirk." Wow wonder why?

These must be the premier sponsors Skusky is referring to.

I didn't see either of those two pulling out, both have the funding to do this easily with results for themselves. Going to be hard to replace Rona, which seemed to me to go hand and hand with the captive audience.

Here you go:

Not sure I like the headline...wow...what a dumb way to do an unintended dump on your outgoing sponsors with a bit of an arrogant 'who needs 'em?' backhand that's their plenty more where they came from.

Healthy CFL not worried about losing sponsors anymore
By KIRK PENTON, QMI Agency
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/ ... 21031.html

The CFL's sponsorship picture is starting to change. According to Kirk Penton of The Winnipeg Sun, Scotiabank and RONA are both departing as national sponsors. Scotiabank will advertise with the league this year but then leave, while RONA is already out of the picture.

CFL commissioner Mark Cohon told Penton the league isn't concerned, as plenty of companies have recently inquired about getting involved, and that seems about right; the league's in a pretty good place overall right now, especially in terms of TV ratings, and that's often what really matters for sponsorship. However, not all sponsorships are effective, and the Scotiabank and RONA ones in particular didn't seem to really work (Update: RONA thinks theirs did. See the *Update section at the end of this post), so it's not all that surprising they're leaving. Companies looking to replace them should carefully think about how the CFL can help their brand before jumping in, though. Here are three tips they should consider.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55 ... 11308.html

[sj-roc]

@CFL_News: #CFL has lost two national sponsors with RONA & Scotiabank pulling out according to .@PentonKirk." Wow wonder why?

I didn't see either of those two pulling out, both have the funding to do this easily with results for themselves. Going to be hard to replace Rona, which seemed to me to go hand and hand with the captive audience.

Here you go:

Not sure I like the headline...wow...what a dumb way to do an unintended dump on your outgoing sponsors with a bit of an arrogant 'who needs 'em?' backhand that's their plenty more where they came from.

Healthy CFL not worried about losing sponsors anymore
By KIRK PENTON, QMI Agency
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/ ... 21031.html

The CFL's sponsorship picture is starting to change. According to Kirk Penton of The Winnipeg Sun, Scotiabank and RONA are both departing as national sponsors. Scotiabank will advertise with the league this year but then leave, while RONA is already out of the picture.

In fairness the league themselves doesn't write the headlines, and the quotes in the article from Cohon himself didn't seem all that alienating to me.

[TheLionKing]

Never burn your bridges.

[Hambone]

In fairness the league themselves doesn't write the headlines, and the quotes in the article from Cohon himself didn't seem all that alienating to me.

Same here. I didn't read anything alienating in the comments. Sounds like RONA's move has nothing to do with the CFL relationship but rather a move generated by other corporate business pressures. Major corporations are always re-evaluating their sponsorship activities for business value or to determine if advertising dollars need to be funneled elsewhere be it for different advertising vehicles or for different internal business requirements. Definitely the CFL is in an entirely different place when it comes to generating sponsorship revenues than they were 15 years ago. Had they lost such high profile sponsors then they'd likely have to go around knocking on doors cap in hand looking to get anybody to fill the sponsorship void. Now I suspect they already have corporations approaching them and could well have a few who had already expressed interest in getting the spots of prominence Scotiabank and RONA held the next time they were up for bid.

[SammyGreene]

Screen Shot 2013-03-06 at 11.52.16 AM.png

Lions haven't wasted anytime removing RONA and Scotiabank as sponsors.

[Toppy Vann]

Never burn your bridges.

While if I leading my organization's thinking on stepping up to the plate - then Cohon's statement would make me think twice. Rona ended up having to issue its own release which waffled around but said good things.

The way to do would be for the Commissioner to publicly recognize their value to the CFL and be thanking them - not suggesting that there so many in the pipeline we don't care or we'll wait for the right deal.

I recall the days NOT that long ago that the other Premier Clark - NDP- was going in cap in hand to get sponsors like ICBC to save the Lions. Turned out to be a great sponsorship for ICBC as the Lions fans contained exactly the target audience they wanted to get out the drink and drive message to. The Libs came in and ended that. Their road safety message got diluted from there.

[Bosco]

Hey all,

Ideas like bobble-head/lunch-pail night, free popcorn for kids, etc...these all cost rather a lot to bring into being. So lets come up with some cost-effective ideas.

These costs, James, would be picked up by sponsors, not the Lions organization. All you have to do is look at the promotional giveaways that the Vancouver Canadians, Seattle Mariners, etc offer their fans as proof that it does work. Tabs for lunch boxes, bobble heads and the like used to be picked up by companies such as Rogers & Save on Foods, so there's no reason why that couldn't work in the future with their current sponsors.

Question is, have they even approached their current sponsors?

[Bosco]

Sadly...I agree, James. Skulsky and Chayka's "marketing" efforts consist of finding ways for the fans to spend even more money, without ever offering some tangible giveaway in return. (*Buy your 2013 season tickets NOW, so it will position you to spend even more money for 2014 Grey Cup tickets"*)...etc. As I tried to ofer my 2 cents to Chayka at the 2011 Grey Cup, many CFL fans are collectors, and sometimes, the league succeeds in spite of itself.

[TheLionKing]

Lions' "marketing" appears to have season ticket holders do the work for them. Get a friend to buy season tickets and you will be "eligible" for blah, blah, blah

[Mark Spencer]

Lions' "marketing" appears to have season ticket holders do the work for them. Get a friend to buy season tickets and you will be "eligible" for blah, blah, blah

I have some questions from you:

You know the responsibilities of season ticket holders? What season ticket holders will perform? Where to buy season tickets? What type of legible role I can obtain from authorities?

[B.C.FAN]

SammyGreene already posted a link to LU's blog on the Lions' state-of-the-franchise conference call in a separate thread, but I have to applaud the Lions here for listening and trying to do something price-wise to attract families and students. Details are expected to be announced on bclions.com.

An erosion of their fan base did not go unnoticed by the B.C. Lions, who rolled out the first snippets of a couple of new ticket plans for the 2013 season when they kicked off the CFL’s state of the team media teleconference calls Wednesday.

Actually, its not the first snippets, as anyone pouring through the off-season blog postings here would realize, but nonetheless club president Dennis Skulsky announced the Lions will designate family and tailgating sections in the upper bowl at the place which was to be known as Telus Park that still goes as B.C. Place Stadium.

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.

Ticketing, ex-WR highlights on Lions call

[JohnHenry]

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