Health of the CFL.?

CFL Talk
#1
:oops:

[b]I am worried about the future of the CFL for the following reasons:

  1. Stats are showing more and more people would rather stay at home and watch games on cable or however they receive broadcasts rather than attend games in person. This is hugely worrisome and is playing out in Toronto and sadly now Vancouver as well.
  2. CFL is now really lacking in exciting star quarterbacks who play a wide open style. (e.g. Flutie, Clements, Moon, McManus, etc.) Ricky Ray is considered # 1 in our league and is BORING!!
  3. Scoring is way down. The CFL 's selling point used to be the wide open play, and high scoring games. Yikes, it is not happening anymore.
  4. Hate to say it but the CFL is missing coaches with strong personalities. What happened to the type of characters we used to have who we all enjoyed ranting at refs and cajoling at players and fans.
  5. Ticket prices are too high. What happened to the corner store ticket deals that made it affordable for families or young people to fill the endzones and upper decks. Now they are vacant and the ambience is eery, not conducive to excitement.

There are exceptions still thankfully like the Banjo Bowl rivalry between the Riders and Bombers which has some flair and outrageousness which makes it appealing.
But, if one was hoping to showcase the CFL and showed the B.C. lions vs. Ottawa Redblacks game tonight to entice someone to come to a CFL live game - well- that snoozefest would have convinced most anyone NEVER to attend a CFL game.
How sad this is. The CFL was once exciting, affordable, with recognizable star players and a unique Canadian experience. Now, I fear, it may become like last years star video game, a worn out cliché.
Please CFL prove me wrong and bring back excitement, personality and affordability. :rockin: :thup: [/b]

#2

There's a lot of truth to that. :thup:

#3

What are you talking about.
Vancouver is one of the stronger CFL markets. Its the number #1 CFL Market for LOCAL tv numbers every year for last five years. 250k-300k in Vancouver watch LIon games. Thats the same ratings the Canucks get. Lions National TV numbers are always strong. Lions TV games are usually the #1 watched national game as well.

Attendance has always been 25k is summer, 30k in fall here (with the exception of a few up and down years), we are a land locked city. Only people who go to games are people that live in Vancouver city or live on the skytrain route. Its just easier to watch on TV, if you live outside those areas. its just a fact of life

#4

Pretty sure you just sold his points there

#5

Last week on TSN Montreal radio, A lady called up. She had been a (4) season ticket holder for 14 years but this year she decided to buy some flex packs. Priced out after relocating her seats a couple times, she compared her ticket prices over fourteen years and realized they had QUADRUPLED, also mentioned that players had become less approachable and friendly.

Now that may be unique to Montreal, (My better tickets in Ottawa were much cheaper than Montreal this year, about half the price) and you add in HD on these magnificent home theatres, I think there is some truth that the CFL is getting away from its core customer base. CFL can't live on corporate season tickets like Hockey does and relies probably more than ever on families. Less families means less adults down the road too.

#6

The game attendance market is tapped out. Its been 25-30k for 40years. Thats the market. If you drop prices its only to be the same number. Why would the league decide to lower prices. Causal fans watch on TV. Its free. Only potential for significant revenue growth in the league is growing its TV revenue.

#7

Agreed...growth is in TV revenue and it has worked for the CFL. In a capatlistic society prices are going to go up, not down, as people try to make more and more money. The CFL is as strong now as it will ever be, and it's solid...but it will never be the NFL juggernaut...the fand base is just not there no matter how cheap the tix.

#8

There is a fine line between not leaving money on table and customer perception that they are not getting value for their entertainment dollar. Also have to keep in mind fluctuations in the economy. How can I pay 50 bucks with free parking for better seats in a brand new stadium (Ottawa) then I got in Montreal (86.00) plus 23.00 for parking to sit on a wood plank ???

#9
:cry:

Just looked at the BC LIONS schedule of remaing home games.
The Lions play Ottawa, Toronto and Hamilton at home in Vancouver. Yikes!!! Not much of a draw!!!!!!!! :oops:
Would you attend any of those games?
I predict very poor attendance and remember that will include those free tickets that the Lions head office has to pay up for due to the dumb bet the President of the Lions made.
This is not good for the league. We likely will see crowds below 20,000 for these games and in BC Place that looks and feels like a crowd of 2000 fans. Yikes! :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

#10

WIth the new TV deal. Lions said their breakeven dropped from 22k to 16k.

seems their strategy is charge $70-100 a game to the 15000 diehard SSH who sit between the 20s, and everything else is gravy.

Vancouver is 25k in summer and 30k in fall. Add +5k more for SSK game. Thats the market for 50 years. Why people complain I don't know. Its because the stadium to too big. Its still a great atmosphere in BC place.

FYI. 25,000 tickets have been sold from these games already. You can check on ticketmaster. On stubhub, the tickets are still way above SSH face value. Hamilton is BC's worst draw historically did 25,000 already. its WPG,TOR, OTT and CGY

#11

I'm not sure what schedule your'e looking at there Mr.Turkey,but the Lions have 4 home games remaining this season.They do play the Cats one more time but the games in Hamilton on the 4th of Oct. not in B.C.
The Lions do play Toronto and Ottawa at home,but their other two remaining home games are against the Bombers and the Stampeders and I'm guessing that both will have decent attendance as both should have play-off implications,and largely factor in to if the Lions make the play-offs for an 18th straight season or not.As for your prediction of below 20,000 fans,I think that is rather unlikely for the two Eastern teams visits.The Lions drew attendances of 25,063 vs Mtl and 24,236 vs Ham this season.I suspect they'll get the same size crowds or bigger against Toronto and Ottawa when they come to town.

http://www.bclions.com/schedule/list/team/1/
#12

You're wasting your time, friend. Through personal bias - not sure of his axe to grind - Turkeybend2 will always paint the Vancouver area as a toxic CFL market, regardless of circumstance. :roll:

#13

What crazy is...

With the new TV deal and all the new stadiums, the league hasn't been this healthy in 40 years... yet the product has been terrible - hopefully it is just ebb and flow.

#14

I think its over coaching and technology. Look at the size of the coaching staffs now compared to ten years ago... add to that all the film, scouting and other resources that use to be much more difficult to access and you have your answer. The talent is better both import and non, so its not the athletes.

#15

We do have a expansion team, we also have our vet QB's retiring, some not soon enough. A lot of young guys player earlier then expected because of the expansion and it will only get better as time goes on. Nothing to worry about. We just need to get the argos back on track.

#16

No, not at all. The game attendance is far from being tapped out, that's where the revenue has to come from and it's things like the "Club Seats" and "Private Suites". I don't know about other teams but I know Hamilton and Ottawa are drawing extra revenue from the 30 or so private suites and 1,000 club seats. Them Club seats are going for $250 and $350 per game that is the equivalent in attendance of 6,000 or more regular seats selling at $50 to $60 average.

There is no potential for growth in TV revenue for another 5 years, the teams now are getting $2 Million more per year than they did last year. If you are the Argos that have attendance down by 6,000 per game this year so far, that means a loss in revenue of close to $4 Million. They can't make up for it by increasing their TV revenue that's locked in for 5 years, they can only work on attendance and the concessions etc that go with the attendance.
No guarantees that TV revenue would increase 5 years from now. If the current TV ratings continue as they have for the last 5 years between 700k - 800k then they can't expect a raise in the TV contract.

#17

Also about 800k of that 2 million went to the players.

#18

Could you please provide a source for this ?

#19

That's not bad when you think about it. the NHL will receive $375 million this season from Rogers and the cap only increased by $5 million.

I hope you not suggesting that the players should have got all the new money.

#20

Dennis Skulsky - TEAM 1040 presidents day .. I think you can find a link at lionbackers website.

Anyways, i didn't believe him ... but i did the math: 2.8M extra from TV deal is like adding 6000 season tix holders at $467 season tix package.

So it makes sense.