View from the East

[ceecee44]

As an Argo fan its understandable why attendance would be down about 3-4 thousand per game. I guess a 10 game home losing streak and a team with absolutely no offense will do that. But why has attendance in BC dropped even more? At least the Argos have the excuse of missing the play offs last year. What gives in BC? Will then Lions hit the 30K or over again?

[SammyGreene]

They did surpass 30,000 for the Riders visit in early August but the attendance has taken a big hit from last season.

Reason for decline in season ticket base (in no particular order)
• the exodus of some star players — Wake, Clermont, Logan, Murphy.
• recession
• the sudden extreme high expectations of Lions fans during the Buono era (losing the WF on the road isn't good enough).
• the loss of Bob Ackles from the Lions command post.

Decline in walk-up sales:
• Poor start
• 2-3 record at home including two putrid games against the Stamps and Bombers.
• recession

Attendance should pick-up in the next two months with pending visits from the Riders, Eskimos and Stamps IF the Lions are in the thick of the playoff race. Expect another crowd in the 27,000 range on Saturday however.
Should the Lions continue their roller-coaster season and miss the playoffs look for an even bigger hit on the season ticket base 2010.

[Rammer]

That topped off with incredible weather for us during the summer months opening up the multiple things that can be done in the GVRD.

I think that the moves of Clermont and Wake for differing reasons hurt, but to me, Logan's move was the biggest impact, as he was a reason to watch a game, making you ask yourself did he just do what I think he did?

That our O didn't hit stride in pre-season certainly didn't help build anything but uncertainty that some of the borderline fans were waiting out. They may have decided to wait until after the LD weekend to begin to get interested, so the Lions had better start putting on a show or expect a further reduction at the gate.

[WestCoastJoe]

Choices. A tough economy. The sauna bath that is B.C. Place. Beautiful weather outside. A losing football team. Et cetera.

Vancouverites (read Lower Mainland and anyone willing to drive here) are a tough audience. They are with you win or tie. Ummmm ... well, actually just with the win. Lose and lose the fans. Win and you gain fans. Like with the Giants.

With an open air stadium I expect the attendance would be much better. It would be a most enjoyable experience, lessening the focus on just winning all the time.

[Solar Max]

Vancouverites (read Lower Mainland and anyone willing to drive here) are a tough audience. They are with you win or tie. Ummmm ... well, actually just with the win. Lose and lose the fans. Win and you gain fans.

Ok, but how about a team that loses for 39 years, and they line up for ST for that losing franchise? Their fans are there for them lose, lose, or lose.

I know I will burn in hell for asking, but sometimes ya just gotta.

[B.C.FAN]

Friday night games. The Lions are taking one for the league this year by playing on an unpopular night to satisfy the Friday Night Football TV commitment. Attendance for Saturday games over the years has been 3,000 to 4,000 higher but the Lions play only two Saturday games this year, including this week's.

Also, this isn't unique to this season, but the Lions play the majority of their home games in summer, when the weather is hot and many Vancouverites are out of town. Why do the Lions have to host five home games indoors before Labour Day while Winnipeg hosted only three this year? At the last home game, five of the seven season ticket holders who sit immediately beside and in front of me were away, and only two of those seats were occupied by others, who bought them from a scalper.

[WestCoastJoe]

Vancouverites (read Lower Mainland and anyone willing to drive here) are a tough audience. They are with you win or tie. Ummmm ... well, actually just with the win. Lose and lose the fans. Win and you gain fans.

Ok, but how about a team that loses for 39 years, and they line up for ST for that losing franchise? Their fans are there for them lose, lose, or lose.

I know I will burn in hell for asking, but sometimes ya just gotta.

That would be the Leafs? Not Liking the Leafs. I think it must be 42 years and no Cup for them. What can you say about fans that will not quit on a losing, lousy, boring team? It must be like loving the ugly, family dog. Nah, such a dog would have redeeming qualities, and I do not wish to insult the dog.

If you did mean the Leafs, I would add: one more difference between Vancouver and Toronto. For Vancouver fans, you gotta perform. For Toronto fans, you have to show up. Just kidding. There must be people in Vancouver who like Toronto. Aren't there?

[Solar Max]

Vancouverites (read Lower Mainland and anyone willing to drive here) are a tough audience. They are with you win or tie. Ummmm ... well, actually just with the win. Lose and lose the fans. Win and you gain fans.

Ok, but how about a team that loses for 39 years, and they line up for ST for that losing franchise? Their fans are there for them lose, lose, or lose.

I know I will burn in hell for asking, but sometimes ya just gotta.

That would be the Leafs? Not Liking the Leafs. I think it must be 42 years and no Cup for them. What can you say about fans that will not quit on a losing, lousy, boring team? It must be like loving the ugly, family dog. Nah, such a dog would have redeeming qualities, and I do not wish to insult the dog.

If you did mean the Leafs, I would add: one more difference between Vancouver and Toronto. For Vancouver fans, you gotta perform. For Toronto fans, you have to show up. Just kidding. There must be people in Vancouver who like Toronto. Aren't there?

Um...I didn't mean the Leafs, actually. They actually have many Stanley Cups to their credit, just not since 1967. I was thinking more of the team whose fans booed Team Canada in the Summit Series in 1972, thereby creating a dislike on my part that will never end. To this day, I think karma is still punishing those...people for what they did that night in September 1972.

http://archives.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/topics/318-1646/

I'll put up my Wile E, Coyote umbrella now and wait for the coming barrage.

[gizmo fan 2]

Friday night games. The Lions are taking one for the league this year by playing on an unpopular night to satisfy the Friday Night Football TV commitment. Attendance for Saturday games over the years has been 3,000 to 4,000 higher but the Lions play only two Saturday games this year, including this week's.

Don't mean to put down BC fans or the Lions at all...but you aren't "taking one for the league" by getting Friday nights throughout the summer.

We here in Edmonton would kill (well, maybe not kill...but maim, at least) to have your home schedule. As bad as Fridays may be in BC...try two summers solid of Thursdays.

[David]

Friday night games. The Lions are taking one for the league this year by playing on an unpopular night to satisfy the Friday Night Football TV commitment. Attendance for Saturday games over the years has been 3,000 to 4,000 higher but the Lions play only two Saturday games this year, including this week's.

Don't mean to put down BC fans or the Lions at all...but you aren't "taking one for the league" by getting Friday nights throughout the summer.

We here in Edmonton would kill (well, maybe not kill...but maim, at least) to have your home schedule. As bad as Fridays may be in BC...try two summers solid of Thursdays.

No doubt Edmonton is screwed the most and I would prefer Fridays to Thursdays to be sure, but there isn't a whole lot of difference here. It still means that we can't draw fans from a sizeable population base of the Fraser Valley or Vancouver Island. Plus Edmonton gets the odd weekend afternoon game. Due to the fact we play in a covered stadium, our best option is to play all night games.

At the risk of sounding too whiny, we don't even have a geographical rival to pad our numbers like other CFL teams either.

DH

[B.C.FAN]

Don't mean to put down BC fans or the Lions at all...but you aren't "taking one for the league" by getting Friday nights throughout the summer.

We here in Edmonton would kill (well, maybe not kill...but maim, at least) to have your home schedule. As bad as Fridays may be in BC...try two summers solid of Thursdays.

Agreed, that's a real head-scratcher. I would rather have Fridays than Thursdays but both days are bad for attendance.

[Lions4ever]

Don't mean to put down BC fans or the Lions at all...but you aren't "taking one for the league" by getting Friday nights throughout the summer.

We here in Edmonton would kill (well, maybe not kill...but maim, at least) to have your home schedule. As bad as Fridays may be in BC...try two summers solid of Thursdays.

I don't agree. In the US Thursdays have been appointment football nights for years. ESPN has featured a major college clash on Thursdays for a very long time and the stadia are packed. There have been some memorable games too (think Oregon State's epic defeat of USC last season). More recently the NFL has set its sights on Thursday nights. You can be sure they wouldn't do so unless they thought it was a winner.

[hwgill]

I personally would prefer to see the home games in the fall rather than the summer...

[CMAC]

The esks like thursdays,due to water use by-laws,thats sprinkling day

[Sir Purrcival]

Well, I'm sure that everybody has reasons. I gave my season tickets up this season which was the first in quite a few.

The reasons included

Cost - As reasonable as they are, it is still $1000.00 (2 tickets) that I couldn't afford to part with because.

A - new mortgage
B - recession = less work (self employed)
C - other costs (parking, food and what have you)

Family - Used to take my father to games but his age and health have caught up with him and many nights, the lateness, the sitting in cramped seats for several hours, heat and the general level of energy required attend was simply getting to be too much. I couldn't just say "sorry, you can't go anymore" and continue attending. It wouldn't have been right so basically I used reason one as a cover for reason two and gave up my seats. I hope someday to be able to return but it won't happen in the short term. If games were still at the PNE grounds I might still be attending. Distance is a big concern. Adding the coming and going to downtown plus the "Park Wars" plus the game turns it into a 5 plus hour exercise which is a bit much for most 80+ year olds.