Oh fear not ! They will make money if they have to conduct cavity searches and charge 10 bucks for a beer...
I am pretty sure the league was stuck with the ESF game next week too. Probably the first playoff game in the CFL not purchased by a team in a long time. But they won't talk about that.
As far as I know both Hamilton and Ottawa are both going to be around 24,000 capacity (this includes permanent seats plus end zone terraces, berm sitting, standing room).
The esf game should have been moved to a larger venue (sky dome) or Montreal by default. A lot of money is being lost and I'm sure we will never hear how much of a bath the Ti cats took this year !
I feel like I need to give a shout out to the Eskimo and Bomber fans, impressive that they finished #2 and #3 in attendance with a terrible product on the field. Quite disappointed in Calgary, can't crack 30k with the top team in the league.
Not that I want to make excuses for Toronto, but with the dates Rogers made available to them this season e.g. Tuesday & Thursday night games, I'm pretty sure they'd be up from last season if they had more Friday night and weekend games.
Just another example of why Chris rudge needs to get fired ASAP! Argo attendance was a joke this year and I guarantee you that they lead the league in giving away free tickets as well. Grey cup champs from last year ,clinched first place in the eastern division , star players on the team from every position! And yet Chris idiot rudge can't do his job proper. Rudge likes to sit around all day and complain how the Argos are not "big time" enough for toronto!
Really, the CFL can exist quite fine without the Argos and everyone and their brother knows it. Get with the program 1991. C & S asked for compensation from Saskatchewan. What a joke, the Argos don't even deserve to exist IMHO.
The team has said that they need to sellout every game at an average ticket price of $50 to break even. But that was before the new TV deal was signed, so who knows what they need to make now (obviously, it's less).
I can't speak for any other playoff game, but I know the 2009 East Semi between the Lions and Ti-Cats was not purchased by the team. You can tell because the ads around the stadium are all league sponsors, not team sponsors.
Much like Winnipeg the sale of the new suites should be very high and generate a stream of new and regular revenue that they did not have at the old stadium. The Riders the same thing. They invested 17 million in renos in 2012 which included better end zone seating as suites at the top of those seats.
TiCat season seat holder here. I have seats for next year because they guaranteed the same price as this year. However, the year after I fully expect to be priced out of my seats in 2015 as prices will certainly rise significantly. Oh well, they will be making money from somebody else.
There is a limit to what market will bare. If they are too greedy, they may sell your seats to fans who want to be there because it will be the trendy thing in Hamilton for a couple years but long term its not a smart move. I think you will see end zone seats being added in short order. It makes no sense to have 26 000 paying fans and lockout 5000 of them.
