The Great Canadian Sports Attendance, Marketing and TV Ratings Thread

[esquire]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

Looks like 9000-9500 tickets left for the NFL game in Winnipeg. So a crowd of approx. 24,000 right now. If they can get another 1-2,000 sold before tomorrow night that would be pretty good considering how dire things looked 2-3 weeks ago.

The promoters said this evening that they were expecting about 20,000 fans to attend. Which is fine considering what it is and how much they're charging for tickets.

But it's too bad that the tickets weren't priced to encourage a sellout, because a full stadium could have generated pretty good atmosphere and enhanced the experience for everyone. As things stand, I doubt the atmosphere will be much different than it would be for a Bombers preseason game.

[elly63]

CFL, top rated sports programming for the week August 5-August 11 2019

[thurmas]

Congrats on the Eskimos for drawing over 34,000 fans last night on a rainy night. Best CFL attendance so far this season. Game did have $25 tickets and kids get in free which is what the league should be doing across the country right now to fill up the empty seats and attract young people to the game.

[megadude]

This kind of thing always happens when you mention something out of the ordinary and then whaddya know. I mentioned bc lions and today saw a three year old girl wearing an orange bc lions hat waiting on the train platform with her mom.

Originally Posted by megadude

Big cats are the most popular team nickname and logo in sports, up there with birds.

There are a shit tonne of cool logos to choose from. But I must admit, I find the Detroit's logo better than the Ti-cats due to its simplicity (new updated one and previous one), which is a big factor for me. Plus it doesn't say the city or team name on it. For a kid though, the extra detail in the Ti-cats logo and more cartoonish look would be more appealing.

BC Lions has a great logo too but it says BC. So if I were wearing a cat logo just because I like cats I'd go for Detroit's, but not because it's NFL. The LIONS font for Detroit is also amazing, old and new.

My favourite college team is MSU and their one of their two main logo is a block "S". My daughter's name starts with S so it worked out when I bought her an infant ball cap for $6 on lids.ca. If I find Syracuse infant block S for cheap I'll also get that.

I also happen to have over 100 hats all bought for between $6 and $12 with a few over $20 due to Lids clearance sales over the years. They are TO teams, Canada, soccer, college, NFL (due to no local team) and some other sports. Also have at least 75 jerseys and 50 tshirts to go along (average price of $25 for jersey and $10 for shirt).

I also find vintage logos really cool. Like going back to say the 50s. The logos look like they were drawn by an 8 year old. But they are so bad they are good now.

If that kid still loves big cats when he's older then he might go crazy and buy all the hats with cat logos, preferably on clearance over a 15 year period like I did so it's not a huge waste of money, though still a waste of money I admit.

[elly63]

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by elly63

Some good numbers for Labour Day weekend.

[blueandgoldguy]

It looks like MLS Soccer will be experiencing a second consecutive season of a decline in attendance.

https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2019-mls-attendance/

2019 - 21,028 average
2018 - 21,873 average

The Canadian teams have all experienced a significant decrease in attendance.

Toronto FC

2019 - 25,154
2018 - 26,628

Montreal

2019 - 16,226
2018 - 18,569

Vancouver

2019 - 19,950
2018 - 21,946

[thurmas]

This is a trend in most sports in North America. The average consumer has flat incomes for several decades and when pro sports teams charge 10 bucks plus for parking, $12 bucks for a single beer ect… it has become way too expensive for the average fan to take a family of 4 to a game when it makes no economic sense. Especially now with most games all being broadcast and in excellent quality on tv.

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by thurmas

This is a trend in most sports in North America. The average consumer has flat incomes for several decades and when pro sports teams charge 10 bucks plus for parking, $12 bucks for a single beer ect… it has become way too expensive for the average fan to take a family of 4 to a game when it makes no economic sense. Especially now with most games all being broadcast and in excellent quality on tv.

NHL and NBA attendance has remained steady for years. Also, the decline in NFL attendance is highly exaggerated. The average attendance per game is the same as it was in 2010. MLB is the only big-4 professional league in North America that has experienced a noticeable decline in attendance.

[megadude]

I'm okay if attendance drastically drops in every sport for a decade. Enough time for players contracts, TV contracts and any contract to expire so those can be reset to more reasonable standards.

During all this I hope the owners and commissioners, etc. have a wake up call that it's TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE. And tickets and parking will be halved at the very least.

Something like German soccer would be ideal.

[osmo]

Originally Posted by megadude

I'm okay if attendance drastically drops in every sport for a decade. Enough time for players contracts, TV contracts and any contract to expire so those can be reset to more reasonable standards.

During all this I hope the owners and commissioners, etc. have a wake up call that it's TOO DAMN EXPENSIVE. And tickets and parking will be halved at the very least.

Something like German soccer would be ideal.

If TV and corporate money pull back then where do these leagues recoup the money ? Unless new revenue streams come in board it will just keep ticket prices for fans as is.

What will happen likely is stadiiums and arenas will be renovated and downsized (or replaced... Atlanta) with the in-game experience solely being for premium price points while the rest watch on TV in a lounge in the arena.

[megadude]

Originally Posted by osmo

If TV and corporate money pull back then where do these leagues recoup the money ? Unless new revenue streams come in board it will just keep ticket prices for fans as is.

What will happen likely is stadiiums and arenas will be renovated and downsized (or replaced... Atlanta) with the in-game experience solely being for premium price points while the rest watch on TV in a lounge in the arena.

It's a fair question, but best case scenario is that pretty much everyone revolts from one spectrum to the other until it forces ticket prices way, way down. Of course, it would be foolish to think people are going to give up their seasons tickets for NHL in this country for fear of never getting them back. Well for most of the 7 teams.

[thurmas]

The pro sports world is on the precipice of a new era soon with cable cutting, a general population in North America with stagnant incomes and record amounts of debt loads, traditional tv numbers and attendance numbers either flat or falling. The past several years have shown that there is not much room for growth and some sports are seeing real declines already from a decade ago ie: MLB

The stratospheric rise of salaries and tv deals in pro sports since the 1970's I think is near its end soon as giants like ESPN are shrinking and will soon have to decide if they can continue on paying billions to leagues while viewers continue to cut the cable cord. The most interesting thing to come in the future is to see how big a part streaming services will play in how leagues are covered and how much leagues can negotiate with them while traditional media like ESPN, TSN, Fox Sports and Sportsnet get smaller and smaller over time.

[osmo]

For TV networks they will whole and the ones that can navigate various delivery methods will succeed snd with that there will still be the need for content. Sports still commands advertising money as it is consumed live more than anything else content wise.

Big money will still be thrown at the leagues but it will stagnate and not increase unless leagues can find new viewing markets. The NBA for example is pushing for afternoon games in the weekends solely to be in tune to provide content for European primetime hours. With hopes this cracks open a new opportunity to derive new revenues from European media that desire content.

[kel]

Originally Posted by thurmas

The pro sports world is on the precipice of a new era soon with cable cutting, a general population in North America with stagnant incomes and record amounts of debt loads, traditional tv numbers and attendance numbers either flat or falling. The past several years have shown that there is not much room for growth and some sports are seeing real declines already from a decade ago ie: MLB

The stratospheric rise of salaries and tv deals in pro sports since the 1970's I think is near its end soon as giants like ESPN are shrinking and will soon have to decide if they can continue on paying billions to leagues while viewers continue to cut the cable cord. The most interesting thing to come in the future is to see how big a part streaming services will play in how leagues are covered and how much leagues can negotiate with them while traditional media like ESPN, TSN, Fox Sports and Sportsnet get smaller and smaller over time.

Part of the reason why NA pro sports are trying to enter China.

[elly63]

CFL, top rated sports programming (and only cable outlet) for the week August 19-August 25 2019



Attendance this weekend

BC @ Mtl 17,487
Tor @ Ott 22,489
Sask @ Wpg 33,134
Cgy @ EDM 40,113

Will be interesting to see what the Banjo Bowl ratings are as Rod Black is basically telling people to go watch Bianca in the US Open.

[DLLB]

Originally Posted by elly63

CFL, top rated sports programming (and only cable outlet) for the week August 19-August 25 2019


Attendance this weekend

BC @ Mtl 17,487
Tor @ Ott 22,489
Sask @ Wpg 33,134
Cgy @ EDM 40,113

Will be interesting to see what the Banjo Bowl ratings are as Rod Black is basically telling people to go watch Bianca in the US Open.

It sure didn't look like 40,113 at that Cgy/Edm game.

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by DLLB

It sure didn't look like 40,113 at that Cgy/Edm game.

It never really does. You can have 40K in Commonwealth and it will still look empty cause they're spread out in the upper level.

[elly63]

Even better week for the CFL, makes it to the Top 15, the top rated sports programming (and only cable outlet, edit: oops, missed the Jays) for the week August 26-September 1 2019

[Denscity]

Is the ctv and global news just Toronto or the total across the country?