Not sure what the break even number is, but this article says that
70% of revenues are derived from ticket sales which I assume includes concessions and maybe merchandise bought at the game.
Ticats try to expand reach
Focus is on London, 3 other cities
August 07, 2009
Drew Edwards
The Hamilton Spectator
(Aug 7, 2009)
Like all burgeoning superpowers, Ticat Nation is looking for lands to conquer.
The team has identified four communities -- Burlington, Guelph, St. Catharines and London -- as it tries to expand its fan base, develop its brand and, perhaps most importantly, put butts in the seats at Ivor Wynne Stadium.
The team has held events in all four communities in 2009 but Tiger Cats president Scott Mitchell said the greater London area, with a population approaching half a million, is of particular interest.
"London is an important market for us and it's a great football town," Mitchell said. "There is some interest developing there but it's up to us to plant some roots and get more involved in the community."
As part of that effort, 40 kids from the Boys and Girls Club of London will be at the game tomorrow as part of the Hage's Heroes program. Established by offensive lineman Marwan Hage, it lets kids from economically challenged situations attend a Ticat game, get field-level access, spend time with Hage and go home with a T-shirt.
This will be the second year a group from London has attended.
"The experience for these kids is tremendously valuable because many of them have never been outside London before," said Christopher Hood, who runs an educational program with the Boys and Girls Club. "Things like going to a football game is something other kids get to do, not them.
"When they get to meet and spend time with Marwan, it has an impact. Some of the kids don't take those T-shirts off for weeks afterwards."
The Boys and Girls Club partnership is just one element of the plan to reach London. With former McMaster director of athletics Therese Quigley now at the University of Western Ontario and former Hamilton head coach Greg Marshall running the school's football program, Mitchell said there are some "natural relationships" already in place.
"In the short term, you're looking at some practices, a lot more community events and potentially part of a training camp or a full training camp within the next few years," Mitchell said.
With 70 per cent of the team's revenue derived from ticket sales and no sell-outs yet at Ivor Wynne this season, Mitchell hopes ticket buyers from outside the main Hamilton market can help fill the gaps.
"What we'd like to do is get more destination transactions where people are buying tickets ahead of time," Mitchell said. "We're after the higher-end ticket-buying public that's going to put the date on their calendar and look forward to it accordingly."
Ticket sales for tomorrow's game against Edmonton have been steady but not spectacular, Mitchell said, after a crowd of 20,103 saw last week's win against the Lions.
"The B.C. and Edmonton games were always going to be our two toughest challenges this year," he said. "The week's been very good but we have a long way to go to get to the crowd we want to get to."
The team's strong start is beginning to manifest itself at the gate, Mitchell said.
"It is helping. If every single person that told me they were coming to the game actually showed up, we would be sold out. Certainly there's a lot of talk about it."
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can you two find anything positive about this city ??
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