So, TA this year isn't sold out. Not sure how far away it is, but it's far enough that Naylor brought it up in his weekly column. I think it's pretty likely this doesn't fly if they can't sell out one game a year.
The issue seems to be in large part ticket prices. They're up across the board this year, and in particular the cheapest non-endzone seats are $80 ($88 with fees tacked on). That's even if you're on the 5 yard line. That was the same price as the most expensive ticket in the house last year, and they had options going down for less. This year the cheapest ticket is $40 in the endzone, or $50 and still in the endzone (just not at field level).
If you compare to Toronto, you can get seats on the 20 for $51. Endzone tickets are $22. Endzone tickets in Montreal are $28. I couldn't actually find anywhere that didn't have cheaper tickets then Moncton (though BC came close).
It really looks like someone got greedy and just jacked prices up too high for the area to sustain. In particular this relies on travel from NB/NS/PEI to fly, and once you tack travel costs onto what appears to be the highest ticket prices in the league in one of the poorest provinces in the country? That's just not going to work. I wanted to get tickets but just couldn't scrape that kind of money together.
any franshise awarded to the maritimes should go to Halifax not Moncton!
the people who travelled to Moncton for last years game are not going to do it again. Moncton doesn't have the population to support a team/game without outside visitors. you can't expect people to travel hours to Moncton on a regular basis for football games.
people might travel to Monton for a game here and there, but not all 9 games and not year after year.
Cant disagree with you there. I was at the game in moncton last y. ear, and I predicted this year they would have problems with ticket sales. Most people at the game last year were not from moncton and a lot were sponsors of the league
So nobody thinks that having the most expensive tickets in the league is part of the problem?
As for Halifax, that's not the league. That's local politics. Moncton City Council got their ducks in a row in terms of hosting it, and went out and sought it out (and got provincial money to help). Halifax City Council bickered a lot about if they should do it or not after Moncton got going.
Nobody at the league office has ruled out Halifax. Moncton is just more aggressive about making it happen... and has a stadium that can be expanded enough to make it work. Where can you fit 20k in Halifax?
sure high ticket prices may have an effect, although don’t forget these are one off games per year. A special annual event. Thus, you would imagine demand to be high regardless.
And it may be true that Moncton coucil has been the more aggressive of the two cities, although that does not necessarily mean that Moncton should take precedence over Halifax.
An expansion franchise should be awarded to the city with the most suitable market demand with long term prospects/potential. Halifax has nearly 3 times the population base as Moncton and business wise makes sense to use due diligence with market research. The CFL doesn’t need another failed franchise on the books.
I think you may be right and I will likely have to change my pro stand on Moncton.
After being there last year and seeing how rabid the fans were and together how fast that game sold, this is very worrisome.
Maybe this does open the door for Halifax.
But again, no stadium, weak political will and no owner on the horizon?
Maybe we should again look at Quebec City, whose situation is really no different.
Unbelievably this Quebec/Atlantic Canada region is so pathetic.
How about the US again, with the northern most states only?
It’s also the second poorest region of the country (the far north being #1). You can’t charge BC prices for stuff without chasing off too many people.
And it may be true that Moncton coucil has been the more aggressive of the two cities, although that does not necessarily mean that Moncton should take precedence over Halifax.
It is true. I live here, and I've followed it. :) That's how Moncton got these games. They had a location, provincial funding, and a council dedicated to making it happen. It doesn't put them at the front of the line for an expansion team, but these one-off games go where people push hard to get them.
Now that’s hardly fair. If you look at it per-capita, Moncton buys a lot more CFL tickets then Toronto does.
ArgoT wrote: Maybe this does open the door for Halifax.
But again, no stadium, weak political will and no owner on the horizon?
Maybe we should again look at Quebec City, whose situation is really no different.
Unbelievably this Quebec/Atlantic Canada region is so pathetic.
How about the US again, with the northern most states only?
Quebec, Halifax and possibly a few NFL-free northern border cities (i.e. Spokane, Wash. Bismarck, N.D. Milwaukee, Wisc. Columbus, OH. Providence, R.I. Portland, MN Rochester NY etc etc) may do the trick if suitable stadiums are available.
And many of these U.S. cities already have stadiums in place.
A league of 10 Canadian teams with 4-6 U.S. border cities would compromise a competitive, yet manageable number of teams IMO.
I agree with you of the mentioned US cities, however I would go one step further and insist that no city such as Milwaukee or Columbus be allowed since they have a major league team.
In another words, there must be no real competition for the CFL and the only game in town.
To guarantee success like Regina.
ArgoT wrote:
I agree with you of the mentioned US cities, however I would go one step further and insist that no city such as Milwaukee or Columbus be allowed since they have a major league team.
In another words, there must be no real competition for the CFL and the only game in town.
To guarantee success like Regina.
Yes, Milwaukee has a MLB team and Columbus an NHL team, although none of the cities I mentioned have any professional football whatsoever.
Milwaukee and Columbus may still be good candidates due to the fact that there are only 9 home games for football, the metro population of each city is quite good, and are robust football college towns. (the stadiums don’t hurt either)
Columbus has the MLS team which is like 20 dates in the summer/fall and the big US college following. So for me they would be out, also Milwaukee because of its close proximity to Green Bay and other NFL cities.
If Moncton is out, then Bismarck should be as well. Bismarck has a smaller population and is more isolated than Moncton, and North Dakota has a smaller population than New Brunswick spread out over about twice the area.
Sorry guys, but I'm totally opposed to putting teams in the US. Total non-starter for me..
Anyways, I think there will be a team in Ottawa (coming back 2014) and Halifax within 5 years. I know most think I'm crazy, but I honestly believe the long awaited 10 team league dream is pretty likely to happen.
From what I understand, those last one thousand tickets have been available for the last several months. I have heard that they aren’t selling because they’re endzone seats that don’t have the greatest sights.
It’s hard to say if the lack of a sellout is indicative of interest in the game, because from the looks of it, the stadium doesn’t have the greatest seats. But on the other hand, for a one time event, this should have been sold out by now. It’s really hard to judge the potential fan support based on so many factors.
It’s funny though, I think so many people thought that this would be a success that no one really anticipated the Moncton games failing. I thought it was a slam dunk, but now I’m starting to question it myself…
I like the CFL being our ONLY Canadian Pro League, if they expand to the US again, I stop watching. Im not going to watch a two tier league of USA teams with the advantage not using Canadian Imports. Two US teams in a Grey Cup there's a disaster waiting to happen! USA vs Canada in a Grey Cup that gets old in a hurry. I like the Crossover rule I like all Canadian divisions, I don't care if the league expands to 9 or 10 teams I just like watching CFL.
expand down south the CFL will fail in USA and Canada
back on topic the prices are high and the maritimes don't have alot of CFL history give it a couple years don't base the popularity or success on two years hosting a CFL event
Not sure I totally agree. North Dakota is a sports state. No big enough for NFL BUT they love thier football. They love the Riders cause one of thier own, Dressler, plays right next door. They also have very nice facilities down there. I see a Greenbay kind of attitude where they may actually surprise you with the level of support you could get. Dressler has his own weekly update section in the local papers about how he did during the week. And people from North Dakota are starting to phone in to the after game radio show on CKRM. Four years ago during the LD game i was at a hotel in Minot and the hotel setup a special big screen room just for the game. Rider fans and BB fans, cheering on thier teams, razing each other, it was awesome. Close game and KJ running for a TD in the last minute to win the game, well it was nice to be a Rider fan that day :thup: Point is this hotel and most others knew these games were happening and well prepared in advance.
In the past I dont know if the CFL has picked the best sites. However, grow it in Canada first before any expansion is even considered to the south.
