Stadiums and Arenas of Canada part 2

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

To me the biggest reason for low attendances is because they have yet to even play on a weeknd. All three of their home games have been on a weeknight, which is not favorable for fans to work that in their busy workday schedule, simple as that. When they get to the weekend game the attendances will increase dramatically. Simple as that.

Yet the Jays can play 3 games in a row during the weekdays and still draw 40k per game.

It's a factor, but not THAT big a factor.

[thefourthtower]

Originally Posted by Migs

Via Stormer

A beautiful amazing site to see

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Yet the Jays can play 3 games in a row during the weekdays and still draw 40k per game.

It's a factor, but not THAT big a factor.

The Jays are not trying to rebuild a largely lapsed fan base.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

The CFL is getting beat out by soccer in Canada's three largest cities, the CFL has become a stale referee dominated league, there is no flow to games and watching the product is becoming ever increasingly hard to do. There is a reason average CFL attendance has dropped in each of the past five seasons, the game needs fixing!

There's nothing wrong with the game aside from the league listening to fans whine about refereeing. They gone from one extreme (no video) to the other. I think the league knows this now.

You will not get as good attendance on a weeknight and there are many games scheduled on weeknights to give TSN as many nights of good ratings as they can get.

The CFL is a victim of it's own success. TSN wants weeknight games and does well with them but the attendance suffers for the league creating a self fulfilling prophecy of lower attendance.

Same reason why CFL not having some games on the full CTV network is hurting them and helping build the NFL.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Yet the Jays can play 3 games in a row during the weekdays and still draw 40k per game.

The Jays have become so trendy right now they could play at 4 am and get a crowd.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by Acajack

The Jays are not trying to rebuild a largely lapsed fan base.

Well, yeah... that was kinda my point. It's not the weekday games that are the problem.

But at the same time, how are the Jays not trying to rebuild their fan base? They missed the playoffs for 22 straight years, play out of a "crappy stadium" and were drawing poor attendance for a long time. So aren't they kind of in the same situation the Argos are in? Actually, in a worse situation because the Argos won the Grey Cup in 2012 - so the team has had success.

[Acajack]

As a follow-up to my previous post, the age of large HDTVs and a well-stocked bar fridge has made it more challenging to get people to go to a game. Traffic and parking are also IMO bigger issues than they used to be around most stadiums. Of course there is always the question of weather too.

That's why you now have more bells and whistles and in-stadium experiences like party decks, etc.

We may eventually see the return of TV black-outs in some sports, who knows?

Though it's said that in the case of the NFL, its teams could play in front of empty stadiums and still make money.

Fewer tickets sold is more problematic for the CFL which relies more strongly on the gate.

[landpirate]

Originally Posted by thefourthtower

A beautiful amazing site to see

What's Stormer? Isn't that some right wing anti-Jewish site?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Well, yeah... that was kinda my point. It's not the weekday games that are the problem.

But at the same time, how are the Jays not trying to rebuild their fan base? They missed the playoffs for 22 straight years, play out of a "crappy stadium" and were drawing poor attendance for a long time. So aren't they kind of in the same situation the Argos are in? Actually, in a worse situation because the Argos won the Grey Cup in 2012 - so the team has had success.

The Jays are much further along in their rebuild. They also get a lot more love from most of the media.

[drummer_god]

Originally Posted by osmo

14K was actual gate last night for Argos last night.

16K was sold but also some other funny business happened...

The Argos are playing the optics game long term. They don't want sentiment to stay on like things are how they "used to be". If you were at the game last night you noticed covers on some of the seats. This was an attempt to make the stadium look more "full" by covering patches of the very empty sections to hide the red.

14K has been the average this season and it will bounce in between 14-16K once the dust settles.

At least with BMO Field now nobody can no longer blame Skydome for the woes of the Argos. People can be honest that the fanbase needs to be embraced more and more work needs to be done to grow it. We are past the excuses now so it can only get better going forward.

I was at monday's game. There were no covers over seats. there were small rally towels which blew off the chairs onto the floor before the game started.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Yet the Jays can play 3 games in a row during the weekdays and still draw 40k per game.

It's a factor, but not THAT big a factor.

The SkyDome is way more accessible, especially for tourists. Once people see how nice BMO is for football (it's outstanding) the crowds should slowly build. But it takes some initial effort to get there and see it the first time, and creating the motivation is a challenge.

While the pre-season ad campaign was impressive, it was a bit odd to see so much of it focused on the CFL brand rather than the Argos brand (so you had bus shelter ads with Saskatchewan and Ottawa players and a tiny CFL logo at the bottom). The "call to action" was pretty roundabout for a market that for the most part has no clue what the Argos or CFL are or what they are selling.

[king10]

Originally Posted by rrskylar

The CFL is getting beat out by soccer in Canada's three largest cities, the CFL has become a stale referee dominated league, there is no flow to games and watching the product is becoming ever increasingly hard to do. There is a reason average CFL attendance has dropped in each of the past five seasons, the game needs fixing!

But TV ratings are up this year and way up in the key 18 to 39 demographic. So it's not all doom and gloom.

[cjones2451]

Originally Posted by Andy6

The SkyDome is way more accessible, especially for tourists. Once people see how nice BMO is for football (it's outstanding) the crowds should slowly build. But it takes some initial effort to get there and see it the first time, and creating the motivation is a challenge.

While the pre-season ad campaign was impressive, it was a bit odd to see so much of it focused on the CFL brand rather than the Argos brand (so you had bus shelter ads with Saskatchewan and Ottawa players and a tiny CFL logo at the bottom). The "call to action" was pretty roundabout for a market that for the most part has no clue what the Argos or CFL are or what they are selling.

I think there was CFL marketing (had all the Teams) and now we are seeing Argos specific marketing now, I think the next step is to start building on some of the individual players like Ricky Ray, Ricky Foley, Andre Durie, etc.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by king10

But TV ratings are up this year and way up in the key 18 to 39 demographic. So it's not all doom and gloom.

I think all of us would enjoy TV viewership numbers based on regions of the country because it's become evident that MLS has surpassed CFL, at least in raw attendance numbers, in Canada's three largest CMAs. Knowing where people are watching from would be key to understanding what is driving growth in some areas and driving decline in others. I'm sure CFL and MLS, as well as the carriers, are privy to this information. One can get an idea of where these viewers are based on the commercials they run during their respective broadcasts.

I understand that the 18-39[34?] demographic is key but this group has a smaller proportion of TVs compared to older groups which make up a much, much larger portion of the TV-viewing pie. What happens when boomers enter old-age, or those in old-age are no longer with us? It's more of a general viewing pattern question than it is a CFL-related question.

This is a tangent away from stadiums, so carry on as normal.

[osmo]

Originally Posted by drummer_god

I was at monday's game. There were no covers over seats. there were small rally towels which blew off the chairs onto the floor before the game started.

Those are what I am talking about. There were white rally towels scattered around the stadium but also blue things placed on seats in some rows of very empty sections. Unless fans took the blue ones off all prior to kickoff, when the stadium was empty before gates opened they were on the seats.

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Yet the Jays can play 3 games in a row during the weekdays and still draw 40k per game.

It's a factor, but not THAT big a factor.

The reason the Jays can get such great numbers is because the lost out in game 6 of the 2015 ALCS, and they are in contention again this year.

To me it's definitely the biggest factor... A close second is due to having the worst of the worst schedule last year, where fans simply could not latch on to the franchise. The Argos will soon turn it around, for the simple fact, especially next year, they will have a schedule that better fits the fans.

[Oilkountry]

either than the leafs. Every Toronto sports team has had to rebuild. The raptors wernt exactly a hot ticket a few seasons ago. They almost rebranded 3-4 years ago. Jays, and TFC have also seen some bad years. Really tfc is just not in 2016 starting to really catch on in the toronto sports scene. The argos were averaging 30k 4 years ago. Ups and downs...its the world of pro sports.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Oilkountry

Really tfc is just not in 2016 starting to really catch on in the toronto sports scene.

Based on what? This is arguably TFC's most successful season to date and they have shown nothing but upward momentum for the past couple of seasons, particularly given the fact that the Jays are currently the most relevant they've been in over 20 years. If anything, having both the Jays and TFC have strong years simultaneously, concurrent with the Raptors recent success, should say a lot about the current position the Argos are in. The Rock have won numerous championships and what has that done for their exposure?

All sports teams have to rebuild at some point or another. This isn't some bizarre phenomenon that only occurs to Toronto-based teams. It should say a lot about a franchise when people only show up when the teams are good, relatively-speaking.

[Oilkountry]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I think all of us would enjoy TV viewership numbers based on regions of the country because it's become evident that MLS has surpassed CFL, at least in raw attendance numbers, in Canada's three largest CMAs.

God I absolutely cannot stand you delusional soccer fans. MLS figures havent "surpassed" anything. CFL figures have fell to match MLS figures For half a season so far. piss off!

Vancouver
Lions averaged 21,290 to the whitecaps 20,628 last season and are averaging 20,153 so far this year to the whitecaps 21,486

Montreal
Als averaged 21,430 to the impacts 17,750 and so far this season 20,810 to the impacts 21 472

Toronto is a special case obviously this season. Attendance figures could rise for the Argos yet as goes for both other said markets. CFL attendance generally rises in the "back 9" of the season

[Oilkountry]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Based on what? This is arguably TFC's most successful season to date and they have shown nothing but upward momentum for the past couple of seasons

I'm agreeing with you? You cant tell me that for the past 8 seasons TFC wasn't anything more than a niche market in Toronto. Now they are starting to catch the attention of the city as a whole.