Expected crowd?

Does anyone have a sense how many people will be in attendance? Such a huge game...would be great to see 50,000+ attending the game on Friday!

I'll be happy to see 30,000 on Friday night. Lions have only hit that number twice this season and both times it was against the Riders. Average attendance is down significantly from a year ago (34,000 to 27,500).

A number of reasons for this including the recession and a poor start to the season but that's a lot of fans that suddenly have stopped going to games. I know there are number of season ticket holders where we sit that didn't renew this year.

Playing on Halloween night killed the gate for the Stamps game — basically taking families out of the equation and anyone with party plans. Even an afternoon start would have been better.

Thats truly dissappointing. I can't understand why the fans in the bigger cities don't get behind their teams. This is the biggest game of the year, against a team you have to beat just to stay alive in the playoffs. And the Canucks are on the road. Best value for your dollar in town. What the he**else do people have to do?

You'd think the Lions would be all over this one with their marketing. Even if they had to offer slightly discounted tickets as a way to get people in the house. If I was the Lions, I'd rather have 55,000 in there, even at reduced revenue. The reality is, the Lions are likely not going to have a home playoff game, and at the very least, you get the fans excited about the team going into the playoffs and for season tickets next year. Basically this IS your playoff game for the year.

My guess is 30K for Friday. I'm hoping we'll hit 35K but I think that's a stretch.

The recession certainly hurts attendance, but the team starting the season so poorly didn't help either.

I'm a season ticket holder and I go to every game regardless - but I would say the average person on the street only wants to go to a game if they feel the team has a good chance to win (or if they feel the game will be highly entertaining). It takes a while for the hype of a winning streak to build. The fact that there are only 18 regular season games (9 at home) makes it tough to get everyone thinking and talking Lions.

On the bright side, there are three things going in our favour over the next little while are: Casey sells tickets; BC Place is being upgraded; and the Grey Cup is coming in 2011.

Well, good thing there are good fans like you out there Biggs. Best of luck on Friday, I hope the Lions win.

Excellent point about the Stamps game Miles_9. You might be right about the recession idea as well but the Canucks aren’t suffering. They are sold out every game and tickets are much more expensive.

I don’t know if we can blame lower attendance to the poor start to the season either. Season’s ticket holders usually renew well before the season begins. It might be that with certain players gone [Wake, Logan, Cleremont, Murphy] many fans figured it would be tough year. They were apparently right. But not necessarily because those players were gone. Several things have happened that have made things rough this year. But above all, the poor start certainly didn’t help attract new fans.

Just how many people will show up for the last game given that a win guarantees a playoff spot for B.C? Hmmm…? In 2005 B.C. finished in 1st place and hosted the Western Final against Edmonton. That game drew 37,000 fans. I was expecting 45,000+ in that game.

I think we could draw 32000 [+ or - 500]

People think this is always a good idea, but mostly it turns out as a little bonus for the regular fans. It usually does not draw as many new people as you might think and taking a revenue hit it the CFL means a lot more than any other professional league for close to zero gain.

If you are going to promote the Lions, it is better to put that loss into effective advertising. Effective advertising will bring in many more warm bodies that slashing prices could ever bring in.

That will be part of the problem too yukoner2009 — the Canucks road game will keep people at home to watch it on the tube. As Beaglehound astutely pointed out — the recession hasn’t hurt the Canucks at all. With home games sold out a road game has the same impact in that people are so accustomed to watching them on TV (Given the implications of playing on Halloween the Lions would have been wise to lift the blackout last Saturday for all the parents/fans who were stuck at home).

I wish more people in this town would have a balanced view when it comes to supporting our teams. If we’re lucky there is 4 weeks left in the Lions season and one last chance to attend a game. Friday will be game #20 of 82 for the Canucks and the season won’t end until next spring. Unfortunately, many don’t see it that way.

I will be at BC Place cheering loudly. Can’t believe it will be the last time this season. Where has the year gone? :frowning:

" I will be at BC Place cheering loudly. Can't believe it will be the last time this season. Where has the year gone?"

I hope not down the toilet for the Lions, Miles_9..I hope not down the toilet.

But it won't happen......................................

....will it? :roll:

Ditto by us too.

And I think price cant be considered as big an issue with Football as there are such few games you’re actually buying tickets for.

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Ya, most people already bought Grey Cup tickets that year expecting the hometown Lions to be in the game. But even still, not drawing at least 40,000 for that game was a disappointment