Ticket Prices / Lions' Marketing

[Ron]

Back in the mid-90's my wife and I had Season Tickets for a two seasons, we paid $99 each and paid $10 to park in a lot next to the stadium. I checked this years pricing to compare with my original Season Tickets,with seating reconfiguration those same seats this season cost $371.70 and parking is at least $20.

As my kids got older I started taking them to games I couldn't afford more than 2 regular season tickets and purchased some Flex Season Tickets so we could all make it out to 3 or 4 games a year. Last year we were able to make it out to 2 games. As I haven't been afforded a wage increase in over 3 years times are tight. 2 of my now teenage boys spent almost a month's worth of their paper route money to buy a ticket each to come with me to what will be our only game of the season last night against Hamilton. We would love to come to more games but it is just too expensive to attend. Ticket price, parking, gas and travel time from Abbotsford = too much money! We love the CFL and the Lions but it is now for us like going to a Canucks game, just too expensive.

Where are the Family Pack tickets? Where are the Student Tickets? Where do the Lions expect the next generation of fans to come from? Again while we would love to be at more games, we will be watching the games at home on TV as long as there is no blackout and cheering just as passionately as if we were there. That is the only option my family of Lions fans has!

[TheLionKing]

As others have alluded to, the Lions so called marketing department is atrocious. They haven't got a clue on how to sell a product. The current pricing structure does not encourage the average fan to come out. There is no incentive for folks to bring their kids to the game. The young fans of today is tomorrow's season ticket holders

[pennw]

If price is an issue, select a cheaper ticket category. I just found two tickets to the Edmonton game on Ticketmaster in the front row of Section 252 (in Geroy's touchdown corner) for $86, including HST and fees. They're great seats for atmosphere and fan experience if you don't mind looking at the small side of the scoreboard. You can probably get even better prices from season ticketholders or scalpers.

I realize there are cheaper tickets than the ones I had suggested , but those are endzone . Myself , if I'm coming in for a game I still have to pay all the other costs for a game associated with getting there , parking ,hotel plus dinner etc. If I'm going to pay all that other cost ,why would I settle for the cheapest tickets ? Why not just stay home and see the game on my big screen HDTV ? I've sat many times in the endzones in the past and for the quality of the game ,( when the action is happening at the far end of the field) I couldn't be bothered to come downtown for endzone seats . I know they're great when the action is coming your way , not so much going the other way .
None the less , I was planning to come to that game anyway , will pony up for better seats , but it won't happen too often . Just trying to offer a perspective of some one from outside Vancouver that the Lions may want to entice into taking in more games .
As stated by a few others , there are a whole lot of empty seats in the upper level that could maybe be sold , if the prices up there reflected the fact that they are much further from the action . The orange zone pricing should not extend all the way to the top and should be narrower up high , not actually wider out toward the endzone than at the bottom , likewise the rest of the high up seats . High up corner seats should all be no more than endzone prices because they are further back from from the action than lower endzone seats etc. Lions marketing needs to have a look at it and ask themselves what they would do if they were paying customers looking at that price structure and most of the good seats are taken . I'd hate to pay the orange zone price and show up at the stadium to find myself way up top close the endzone .
Gotta remember the HDTV is already paid for .

[David]

High up corner seats should all be no more than endzone prices because they are further back from from the action than lower endzone seats etc. Lions marketing needs to have a look at it and ask themselves what they would do if they were paying customers looking at that price structure and most of the good seats are taken. I'd hate to pay the orange zone price and show up at the stadium to find myself way up top close the endzone.

That's just it. We have "fanboys" running the football club. Braley, Skulsky, and Chayka are too attached to this team to set pricing objectively and can't identify with the average working stiff sports fan in this market. They think because the team went on a roll last year and play in refurbished digs that the public will pay top dollar for the experience - clearly without first researching the effects of another price increase.

Well, the public (and indeed, some Lionbackers) have spoken. $35 plus taxes and fees is too much to pay for an endzone seat, $45 for the corners is out to lunch, and no way upper level prices should be the same as the lower level. The 15K - 20K hardcore Lions fans who occupy lower level seats between the goallines are somewhat impervious to price increases; they wouldn't miss out on the live experience (hence the reason those seats and luxury boxes sell out). For everyone else it's a tougher sell and price is very much a factor.


DH

[MikeAK]

Just checked ticketmaster and it's $146 for two tickets on the goal line , section 236 , not very good seats IMO . Would like to get better seats than that really . Same price carries all the way up to the rafters in a given section .Something wrong with that . For an out-of-towner to come in to see a game plus stay one night probably will end up being $600 night out with all the gouging that takes place every where you go in Vancouver . Hardly any wonder people just don't want to head into the city anymore .

If price is an issue, select a cheaper ticket category. I just found two tickets to the Edmonton game on Ticketmaster in the front row of Section 252 (in Geroy's touchdown corner) for $86, including HST and fees. They're great seats for atmosphere and fan experience if you don't mind looking at the small side of the scoreboard. You can probably get even better prices from season ticketholders or scalpers.

Those are not great seats! If faced with that as my option because I can't afford anything else then I'd rather watch the game in HD. This is the issue now. A lot of people are electing to watch the game on TV because TSN's presentation is stellar. Not everyone wants to watch the game from the endzone and be faced with watching half the game on the screen. There comes a point where atmosphere loses out on reality, especially when that reality is $$$.

[B.C.FAN]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in the ticket price discussions is the opening of the two end zone upper decks for cheaper 7-Eleven zones. The price for a pair of tickets is only $10 less than lower bowl end zone seats but both upper decks are in use and people are buying them.

As for first row in the end zone, try it. After having top-price sideline seats at Empire in the '60s and '70s, I was persuaded by family and neighbours to switch my BCP tickets to the front row of the end zone where people seemed to be having more fun. I used to think higher sideline seats were best because that's where the TV cameras were placed. Initially, broadcasters used only two or three cameras so they had to be high in the middle to see everything from one vantage point. Now, the hottest angles are provided by Skycams behind the quarerback, field-level sideline cameras and on-field cameras behind the offensive huddle. They bring you close to the action from more of a player's perspective, much like sitting down low near field level in the end zone. From my seat I can see what the quarterback or safety sees and make my reads as the play unfolds, and it's the only perspective that allows for decent evaluation of the line play and linebacking.

[SammyGreene]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in the ticket price discussions is the opening of the two end zone upper decks for cheaper 7-Eleven zones. The price for a pair of tickets is only $10 less than lower bowl end zone seats but both upper decks are in use and people are buying them.

The numbers still look pretty sparse up there and no wonder given the mere $10 savings. Here's the 7-Eleven ads from 2009 (the last time the club played a full season at B.C. Place ) and from today.

With Friday's final 2009 home date versus the Edmonton Eskimos just days away, the BC Lions Football Club reminds our fans that specially-priced tickets are available once again at all Lower Mainland 7-Eleven locations.  
For just $42.00 per pair (plus GST), fans will receive two tickets to the game and a free Slurpee or coffee courtesy of 7-Eleven along with a free $2.00 Sports Action play courtesy of Sports Action!  Tickets will be sold in pairs on a first come, first serve basis at all Lower Mainland 7-Eleven locations in select seating only.

The all-new 7-Eleven Zone, available for all Lions home games this season, gives fans the best value to catch all the hard-hitting Lions action at the world-class BC Place stadium. For only $76 including all taxes and fees, fans receive two Touchdown End Zone seats in the new 7-Eleven Zone, a savings of $10 off a pair of regular-priced game tickets.

So even the so called 7-Eleven "cheap seats" have nearly doubled in price in 3 years. Sure wish my salary did too. Just don't know what the Lions are thinking but guaranteed there would be plenty more 7-Eleven seats filled if it was a far more reasonable and realistic $49 per pair.

[DanoT]

I bought a 3 pack and wanted to sit low down in the upper deck, price IIRC was $180 for 1 seat 3 pack which was pretty good but the seat was on the 12 yard line. I would have been happy to pay more to sit more towards mid field but apparently the 3 packs are all in the sections between the goal line and the 15 yard line. The piss off to me was seeing all the empty upper deck seats near mid field that are not for sale for three packs.

It almost seems that the seats for sale/price structure is being set up for the ease and convenience of the ticket sellers not the ticket buyers. Lions have a top team and top notch stadium so I guess the front office figures they can do what ever they want with seating and pricing and fans will still fill the stadium. WRONG.

[almo89]

Most of us on this forum are big Lions fans and we are complaining about the ticket prices. Imagine what a casual walk up fan would think?

[WestCoastJoe]

A thread for a topic that generates a lot of discussion ... As per BCFAN's request, I have moved those comments about attendance and marketing over to this new thread, from the Lions - TiCats Post Game Stats and Comments thread ...

[Big Time]

Ok I'll bite.

Prices are way too high. No longer a family affair when all tickets are around $50 or more.

The upper bowl should be closed so that more people are in the lower bowl only.

They've done a better job of late letting people know that the roof will be open.

That's about it.

[almo89]

Were I calling the shots, the first 10-15 or so rows in the upper deck would have a premium price tag (because, lets face it, they're excellent seats) but everything above that should be significantly cheaper. Endzone seats in the upper bowl should be ridiculously cheap, like 15-20 bucks cheap. They should be marketed exclusively to college and high school kids.

That is a great idea. They would have to really push the advertising and you will see way more teens and college students buying in especially at that price range. Lets be honest. They are better off trying to sell them for 15-20 bucks than to have them empty. Right now those seats are empty which means zero revenue. 35k+ would be more realistic for attendance with the price slash

[Bobbyp]

jcalhoun[quote][/quote]
They also fail with the media. I'm a big follower of politics, and read a lot about media manipulation, creative language to frame an issue --the kind of crap that is annoying but works. The Lions should have a spin department to frame the media portrayal of their product. You don't let them go off script, don't allow them to improvise. The home opener wasn't a disappointing crowd, rather "it was about what we expected on the Friday of a long weekend where people have a lot of commitments, that's why we lifted the blackout, so as many of our fans could watch the game as possible. And you know what, it worked. More than 800,000 people watched that game on TSN. That's huge for us, a real win, that tells us about the strength of the league and is a real positive sign as we begin to negotiate a new TV contract with TSN." Didn't hear that on the radio, did you?



Its funny I have a friend that is doing some buissness with a politician and they were practising doing interviews and he was teaching him how to manipulate and avoid questions.

[MikeAK]

I bought a 3 pack and wanted to sit low down in the upper deck, price IIRC was $180 for 1 seat 3 pack which was pretty good but the seat was on the 12 yard line. I would have been happy to pay more to sit more towards mid field but apparently the 3 packs are all in the sections between the goal line and the 15 yard line. The piss off to me was seeing all the empty upper deck seats near mid field that are not for sale for three packs.

It almost seems that the seats for sale/price structure is being set up for the ease and convenience of the ticket sellers not the ticket buyers. Lions have a top team and top notch stadium so I guess the front office figures they can do what ever they want with seating and pricing and fans will still fill the stadium. WRONG.

Hmm. That is strange because I bought a 3-game pack as well and was able to get upper deck 439 row D. The seats we are in are actually closer to the 40yrd line. When did you purchase yours? I ordered mine back in May I believe, maybe first week in June. Called my Ticket rep at the Lions Office. Total was around $550 or so. Almost double what it was 4-5 years ago. I complain but I pay it.. lol. Love Live Lion's games but I don't get to as many games a year as I really want to.