The Great Canadian Sports Attendance, Marketing and TV Ratings Thread

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

2 months worth of nice weather per year, especially after a long cold winter on the prairies.

Where is this jibberjabber about a Bomber attendance drop coming from? Attendance through the first 2 home games has been roughly on par with what we've seen since 2014, which is in the mid 20 thousands, say 24 to 27 thousand a game range (crowds were higher in 2013, which was IGF's first season).

[Hackslack]

It’s coming from the typical “CFL is no longer relevant” argument we see and hear every season. Which is obviously not the case.

[esquire]

^ Obviously not.

And as for the Riders, if there has been a drop in attendance I'm sure it has to do with the fact that they have a bad team charging high prices in a small city. What Regina manages to pull in for Rider games week in and week out is pretty damn impressive all things considered. The Riders are outdrawing the Blue Jays in terms of average attendance despite the fact that Regina has fewer people than a typical Toronto neighbourhood.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

Is Saputo that crappy cheese company? It's always on sale and is such horrible quality.

Yeah. Saputo is the largest dairy producer in Canada. The Saputo family are amongst the richest in the country.

I can't vouch for the quality of its products, I hate dairy.

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Obviously not.

And as for the Riders, if there has been a drop in attendance I'm sure it has to do with the fact that they have a bad team charging high prices in a small city. What Regina manages to pull in for Rider games week in and week out is pretty damn impressive all things considered. The Riders are outdrawing the Blue Jays in terms of average attendance despite the fact that Regina has fewer people than a typical Toronto neighbourhood.

Don’t the riders have 3rd highest merchandise sales of any sports team in the country, behind only the Leafs and Canadiens... I thought I heard that a few years back. Likely has changed since the success of the Jay and Raptors though

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

The Riders are outdrawing the Blue Jays in terms of average attendance despite the fact that Regina has fewer people than a typical Toronto neighbourhood.

45 home games versus two home games. Good sample sizes.

It doesn't really make much sense to compare the average of two such wildly different teams and markets, but if you wanted to the Jays are nearly outdrawing the CFL as a whole during one of their worst years on record (21K versus a low 22K CFL average). In a normal year the Jays outdraw the entire CFL in both average and total attendance in the same number of total games.

Originally Posted by esquire

Where is this jibberjabber about a Bomber attendance drop coming from?

I think it's less a drop and more from the fact that the Bombers are only filling 70% of their stadium when they're having one of their best seasons in decades. It's pretty obvious at this point that IGF was built too large for the historic crowds that the Bombers typically get but there's still a lot of empty seats given how good the team has been so far. Teams like Valour and the Goldeyes aren't conceivably eating into their crowd that much.

It's also the first year they didn't carry a 25K average through their first two home games at IGF, although they just fractionally missed it. 2016 was around the same mark as what the team has so far this season.

Blue Bombers total crowd through two home games at IGF:
2013: 64,757
2014: 52,425
2015: 52,884
2016: 50,440
2017: 55,250
2018: 52,025
2019: 49,523

We'll see how they fare this week but honestly Winnipeg are one of the least concerns for CFL crowds right now.

Originally Posted by Hackslack

Don’t the riders have 3rd highest merchandise sales of any sports team in the country, behind only the Leafs and Canadiens... I thought I heard that a few years back. Likely has changed since the success of the Jay and Raptors though

From eight years ago:

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/...ughriders.aspx

Last year the Riders had $7M in merchandise sales.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

45 home games versus two home games. Good sample sizes.

It doesn't really make much sense to compare the average of two such wildly different teams and markets, but if you wanted to the Jays are nearly outdrawing the CFL as a whole during one of their worst years on record (21K versus a low 22K CFL average). In a normal year the Jays outdraw the entire CFL in both average and total attendance in the same number of total games.

I kind of figured you'd have something to say about that.

The point of my comment is that Regina does impressively well to support the Riders by any measure. They cannot be faulted for not selling out games considering that on a per capita basis they absolutely whip the ass of pretty well any pro team you can think of. If people can't or won't buy pricy tickets to watch a bad team this season, I'm not going to blame them, certainly not any more than I'd blame people in Toronto from staying away from their teams which are apparently all having lacklustre seasons this summer.

As for the Bombers, the numbers you posted demonstrate that they are squarely within the attendance range that they have been in over the past 6 years.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

The point of my comment is that Regina does impressively well to support the Riders by any measure. They cannot be faulted for not selling out games considering that on a per capita basis they absolutely whip the ass of pretty well any pro team you can think of.

Is it just Regina, though? I feel like we're always reminded that the entire province supports the Riders and that people commute for hours to watch them play.

Originally Posted by esquire

If people can't or won't buy pricy tickets to watch a bad team this season, I'm not going to blame them, certainly not any more than I'd blame people in Toronto from staying away from their teams which are apparently all having lacklustre seasons this summer.

I mean, the Wolfpack are doing pretty well again this summer.

I agree in theory but the issue becomes when it starts to fall into a general trend with other teams from the same league. If they're all more or less trending down, or reaching more for their floors than usual, then it's more than just weather or ticket prices affecting general gate figures.

This isn't just some fascination on this forum, either. The official CFL forums have a number of recent threads with it users discussing the attendance figures for this season.

Originally Posted by esquire

As for the Bombers, the numbers you posted demonstrate that they are squarely within the attendance range that they have been in over the past 6 years.

They are more or less for the time being, but do you think their crowds should be larger given that they're unbeaten and pushing for a franchise-setting start to a season? Genuinely curious for your thoughts on this because we all know the Bombers have been bad for what feels like forever.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Is it just Regina, though? I feel like we're always reminded that the entire province supports the Riders and that people commute for hours to watch them play.

They get support from across the province but from what I have heard the vast majority of their season ticket base is in or near Regina. I mean, I'm sure there are people from every corner of the province at a game and I'm sure there are more than a few hardcore fans doing lengthy commutes for every game, but generally the people from Yorkton or Prince Albert or wherever are attending games sporadically, once a year, that kind of thing.

They are more of less for the time being, but do you think their crowds should be larger given that they're unbeaten and pushing for a franchise-setting start to a season? Genuinely curious for your thoughts on this because we all know the Bombers have been bad for what feels like forever.

I guess that's the funny thing about stadium sizing and the effect it has on perception. Somehow unless every game is sold out some people are going to insist that a team is underachieving.

If the team keeps doing well, I would expect crowds to rise. But I wouldn't expect a run on the box office based on how the team has been doing in the first few weeks. The fact that the Bombers are drawing more or less as they have for the past few years is not surprising... it's about what I'd expect.

[Hackslack]

The “entire province” consists of just over 1 million people. The 2 largest centres, Regina and Saskatoon are close to 3 hrs apart from each other. Regina, the smaller of the two, has a population less than 200K (2015).... any way it is framed, it is damn impressive actually the support they do get even with a mediocre team.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Hackslack

The “entire province” consists of just over 1 million people. The 2 largest centres, Regina and Saskatoon are close to 3 hrs apart from each other. Regina, the smaller of the two, has a population less than 200K (2015).... any way it is framed, it is damn impressive actually the support they do get even with a mediocre team.

Yup. People often like to draw an analogy between Green Bay and the Riders, but consider that the largest city within a two hour drive of GB is Milwaukee, population 1.6 million. Wisconsin itself has nearly 6 million people.

The largest city within a two hour drive of Regina is Moose Jaw.

I am not a Riders fan by any measure but the level of support for the Riders in that province is damn impressive and is probably unmatched in North American professional sports. That's why the idea that the team is in trouble because of a lacklustre start to the season is a little hard to swallow.

[elly63]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

Bruv, don't deflect from my question.

The fight for entertainment dollars argument rings true in Toronto but I'm going to press you to explain what the Bombers and Riders are competing with that would make their attendance drop. The Bombers have Valour FC and not much else.

I'm talking about the negativity affecting the league as a whole, the haterz do enough (see above), they don't need help.

[thurmas]

If the CFL can have teams that do well in the regular season consistently in BC, Toronto and Montreal ratings and attendance should improve. CFL games though in most markets are overpriced compared to 10 years ago when attendance and tv ratings were much healthier league wide. the move to have the seasons tart earlier in june seems to have backfired as most people in Canada were still talking basketball, hockey or want to go to the lake. CFL should start on Canada day.

[GernB]

Originally Posted by thurmas

If the CFL can have teams that do well in the regular season consistently in BC, Toronto and Montreal ratings and attendance should improve. CFL games though in most markets are overpriced compared to 10 years ago when attendance and tv ratings were much healthier league wide. the move to have the seasons tart earlier in june seems to have backfired as most people in Canada were still talking basketball, hockey or want to go to the lake. CFL should start on Canada day.

Yes. Ambrosie listened to a very vocal minority who were whining about having to sit in the cold. Moving the season forward has blown up in his face; hopefully he'll snap out of his reverie and move the season back.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by GernB

Yes. Ambrosie listened to a very vocal minority who were whining about having to sit in the cold. Moving the season forward has blown up in his face; hopefully he'll snap out of his reverie and move the season back.

It was worth a shot IMO. I'll give him credit for trying it out. Of course, the season can only start so late because there are more bye weeks to allow for recovery than there used to be.

[thurmas]

tv numbers again very weak for last week's games for CFL.

https://3downnation.com/2019/07/18/d...umber-in-2019/

[Berklon]

Didn't they just start the regular season only 1 day earlier this year compared to last year... and about 10 days earlier than the previous years? Really doesn't sound like a big deal to me. If it's a problem, wouldn't it only be a problem for the first game or two only?

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by esquire

I kind of figured you'd have something to say about that.

The point of my comment is that Regina does impressively well to support the Riders by any measure. They cannot be faulted for not selling out games considering that on a per capita basis they absolutely whip the ass of pretty well any pro team you can think of. If people can't or won't buy pricy tickets to watch a bad team this season, I'm not going to blame them, certainly not any more than I'd blame people in Toronto from staying away from their teams which are apparently all having lacklustre seasons this summer.

As for the Bombers, the numbers you posted demonstrate that they are squarely within the attendance range that they have been in over the past 6 years.

It also cheapens the Riders accomplishments to measure them to the Jays and/or Toronto. They aren't remotely comparable.

[Hackslack]

Originally Posted by thurmas

tv numbers again very weak for last week's games for CFL.

https://3downnation.com/2019/07/18/d...umber-in-2019/

Up from last years week 5 though. Still close to half a million tuned in on average for each of the games, which I wouldn’t consider weak.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Berklon

Didn't they just start the regular season only 1 day earlier this year compared to last year... and about 10 days earlier than the previous years? Really doesn't sound like a big deal to me. If it's a problem, wouldn't it only be a problem for the first game or two only?

It certainly isn't causing the Grey Cup game to be any earlier. This will be the 11th straight year it's been the last Sunday of November