blueandgoldguy

I was at the last two Grey Cups in Winnipeg and the crowd was decidely pro-west in both cases (Calgary in 1998 and BC in 2006). In '91 it was obvious which team virtually everyone in the stadium was cheering for.

I was completely wrong on the score but right as to who the victor would be. Long range forecast calling for -8 next Sunday. If that holds up I expect a decisive victory for the Esks. Hank is awful in cold weather.

Great game. That's what CFL football is all about. If there were a few more games like this year the TV ratings wouldn't have declined as they did. I have to say Hank was VERY fortunate to not be picked off one play prior to his late TD pass.

If the Bombers were playing in the Grey Cup in Winnipeg, the profits and attendance to all functions would be better. The Riders cashed in on that in 2013. Put BC and Hamilton in that game, and the atmosphere the whole week would have been drastically different. Where on earth did this idea come from that most of the profits from Grey Cup week are derived from all the festivities, galas and concerts beyond the game itself? Got any proof to back that up? Going by TrueBlue's estimate of $270 per ticket for this year's Grey Cup that would mean: $270 * 36,000 = $9.72 million in revenue from gate receipts alone Let's say the typical person at the game spends $25 on concessions - a conservative amount. $25 * 36,000 = $900,000 Let's also say the average person at the game spends $25 for merchandise - again, a conservative amount $25 * 36,000 = $900,000 I'm assuming all the parking spots will be spoken for - 5000 spots? $20 * 5000 = $100,000 I haven't even included all the revenues tied to advertisements at the stadium for this specific event. Not including that, we have a total of $11.62 million in revenues from the Grey Cup game itself. Minus the $5 million bid and that would mean.. $6.62 million in profits from the game itself not including advertising. Even if you factor in daily operating costs for the stadium, employees, security and transit, I doubt profits drop that much below $6 million if at all. The game day revenue determines the majority of the profit.

In hindsight a seat similar to yours in BC last year would have been $225, or $249 in Regina the year before, or $250 in Toronto in 2012. Prices are comparable to what they have been in recent Grey Cup games for most sections. Prices are actually more expensive for this year's Grey Cup when you look at comparable seats in Vancouver last year. ----------------------- Vancouver-----------Winnipeg lower bowl $315 $399 w/dsct betw. 30s lower bowl wo/dsct betw 30s $350 $499 lower bowl w/dsct. $315 $299 30s - goal line and upper deck goal line to goal line lower bowl wo/dsct $350 $399 30s - goal line and upper deck goal line to goal line lower bowl corners $225 $249 w/dsct. lower bowl corners $250 $350 wo/dsct. upper deck corners $225 $200 w/dsct upper deck corners $250 $300 wo/dsct end zone lower bowl $135 $199 w/dsct end zone lower bowl $150 $299 wo/dsct end zone upper deck $135 $175 w/dsct. end zone upper deck $150 $175 wo/dsct. THe bolded are the more expensive price points so as you can see in almost every case other than two, comparable seats are more expensive than last year's Grey Cup. IN several instances, it's quite noticeable especially when we are looking at non-discounted tickets. Vancouver had nearly ten thousand or so seats available in the month leading up to the game and had to give away thousands to military and volunteers and charities. They also had to discount thousands to business and individuals. Wade and the Grey Cup committee should have paid attention to this. Instead, they decided to charge a higher average price - so high in fact that they had to resort to cutting capacity by 3000 or so to have the lowest Grey Cup capacity in 40 years. Not only that, I have heard they were giving businesses (not sure if it was specific sponsors or something beyond that) $100 discounts on tickets given the slow sales. I have also confirmed from someone else who recently bought a pair of the cheap seats in the temporary end zone ($175 each) that they were upgraded to the next highest price point ($299 lower bowl end zone) at no additional charge. In essence they were given a $125 discount on tickets. So factor in who knows how many giveaways have been offered to military, charities and volunteers and this will be a rather hollow sellout. If Grey Cup organizing committee had paid attention to recent history and offered an extra price point and some better discounted and non-discounted prices - not to mention get rid of the stupid 3-year commitment to get said discount - then they wouldn't have had to reduce capacity and resort to huge discounts and giveaways. A sellout will be a hollow victory. Touching on some of your points because I feel that that you share information without knowing all the facts. 1. NOT factoring in the temp seating, the average price is about $270/ticket for this year's game and was about $238/ticket in BC last year.Source? So if you do add in that the $175 tickets would drop that $270. So it is a little more. You concede there are only two price points that are lower for this year's game, but they are the most important ones: the seats between the goal lines, which are mostly season ticket holders. Most of the seats between the goal lines in the upper deck did not sell for the reduced price of $299 though for this year's game. I saw the number of blue seats available on ticketmaster back in May and June and over half the seats were still unsold. Therefore most were to be sold for $399 - an increase of $50 over comparable seats at BC Place last year. Same thing with the upper deck corners - most of those remained unsold when the season began so it's safe to assume that almost all those seats were sold (or at least attemped to sell) at the non-discounted price of $300 - more expensive than the non-discounted prices for the upper deck corners are BC Place. 2. Again cutting the capacity of the stadium for the game had nothing to do with the sales. The temp seating has been the hottest sellers and even if it wasn't going to be a sellout, another 3000 in the north end zone, if it was viable would have made more sense from a business standpoint. When the sales of 24,000 were announced to the general public back in August over half the seats in the temporary end zones were still available on ticketmaster. Since ticketmaster often holds back seats for a variety of reasons (corporate sponsors, other teams, travel packages), safe to say there was even more available than what appeared on the site. They reduced capacity because of the poor demand exacerbated by high prices. Nice try though on the hottest seller bit though. 3. Discounts offered to corporate sponsors, most of whom have multiple season tickets, would be given the $100 discount just like regular season ticket holders. Others may have had it written into their contract if they signed on just this year as well. A discount to Nissan this late in the game? For 1000 tickets? Somehow I doubt that would have happened if the Bomber organization had priced the tickets correctly. Those tickets would have been sold out long ago. 4. And the people you know who were upgraded, were done so because either they had purchased in the non-existent north end zone temp seating, or had purchased in the south, but had to be moved after the actual seating was constructed and the seating was reconfigured. These fans were all informed by email, but obviously some would have been surprised by this if they had never read the message. Will have to get back to you on this individual who received the free upgrade. I don't believe he received the discount offer by email. Your opinion is that will be a hollow victory and that is your opinion. The fact is though is that we will have a sold out stadium at a higher than last year's price point, in addition to the premium sections (loges and suites) all being sold to max capacity. Whether it happened now or two months ago is really not that important. What's important is that the game will be sold out, and the football club will make a nice profit, and that is a hard earned victory for everyone involved. Perception is everything. If the league is concerned about Winnipeg's ability to sell out the game at such a late time compared with the most recent hosts it could compromise the city's ability to host the event in 7-9 years. Instead, we might end up waiting an additional 5 years or longer due to the concern of poor ticket sales for this year's event. Winnipeg doesn't have the advantage of a domed stadium, mild winter weather or an abundance of hotel rooms to overlook this factor. Your idea of a nice profit is what exactly? If it's $5 million that to me is disappointing. That would be half of the previous 2 Grey Cups in BC and Sasky. Anything less than a $7 million profit would be a letdown. We need to remember that despite the club's $3.9 million operating profit last season they were still $600,000 short on their annual $4.5 million stadium repayment plan. An extremely successful Grey Cup with a profit of $7 - $10 million would help bridge the gap each season until the club next hosts the Grey Cup. A less successful Grey Cup (some would say a failure) with a profit of $3 - $5 million increases the likelihood that the Bombers will have to reach into their meagre cash reserves at some point prior to the next Grey Cup hosting year. See bolded.

Edmonton was my pick at the beginning of the season to make it to the Grey Cup and win it all. I'm sticking with that pick. Low scoring affair tomorrow. Edm - 20 Cgy - 14

The game is going to sell out at these prices. Yea that miller guy was one craaaaazy fox lol The game is going to sell out at these prices. Yea that miller guy was one craaaaazy fox lol The game is going to sell out at these prices. Yea that miller guy was one craaaaazy fox lol LOL! At four thousand less capacity than planned. If you believe that they had to move the halftime show to the end zone, okay. Can anyone confirm a story I heard today from a friend in Winnipeg who told me Nissan purchased 2,000 Grey Cup tickets to be given away to students in schools all over Winnipeg? If Nissan did purchase such a huge block of tickets I would think they wouldn't have paid full price for them. Once again, it's just a story I heard. I don't know if it's true. I wouldn't be surprised. Like I said above I have already heard of free upgrades to the next highest price point - $175 seat upgraded to a $299 seat - so they are essentially offering huge discounts on tickets. If the total profits from this year's Grey Cup is only $5 million or so which is half of Regina's profit two years ago, that would have to be considered a disappointment.

I really hope the Bombers sign some highly coveted free agents like Harris AND find a few cheap gems from down south for a change.

The game is going to sell out at these prices. Yea that miller guy was one craaaaazy fox lol I'm sure reducing capacity by 3000 was all part of his strategy. Crazy indeed.

In hindsight a seat similar to yours in BC last year would have been $225, or $249 in Regina the year before, or $250 in Toronto in 2012. Prices are comparable to what they have been in recent Grey Cup games for most sections. Prices are actually more expensive for this year's Grey Cup when you look at comparable seats in Vancouver last year. ----------------------- Vancouver-----------Winnipeg lower bowl $315 $399 w/dsct betw. 30s lower bowl wo/dsct betw 30s $350 $499 lower bowl w/dsct. $315 $299 30s - goal line and upper deck goal line to goal line lower bowl wo/dsct $350 $399 30s - goal line and upper deck goal line to goal line lower bowl corners $225 $249 w/dsct. lower bowl corners $250 $350 wo/dsct. upper deck corners $225 $200 w/dsct upper deck corners $250 $300 wo/dsct end zone lower bowl $135 $199 w/dsct end zone lower bowl $150 $299 wo/dsct end zone upper deck $135 $175 w/dsct. end zone upper deck $150 $175 wo/dsct. THe bolded are the more expensive price points so as you can see in almost every case other than two, comparable seats are more expensive than last year's Grey Cup. IN several instances, it's quite noticeable especially when we are looking at non-discounted tickets. Vancouver had nearly ten thousand or so seats available in the month leading up to the game and had to give away thousands to military and volunteers and charities. They also had to discount thousands to business and individuals. Wade and the Grey Cup committee should have paid attention to this. Instead, they decided to charge a higher average price - so high in fact that they had to resort to cutting capacity by 3000 or so to have the lowest Grey Cup capacity in 40 years. Not only that, I have heard they were giving businesses (not sure if it was specific sponsors or something beyond that) $100 discounts on tickets given the slow sales. I have also confirmed from someone else who recently bought a pair of the cheap seats in the temporary end zone ($175 each) that they were upgraded to the next highest price point ($299 lower bowl end zone) at no additional charge. In essence they were given a $125 discount on tickets. So factor in who knows how many giveaways have been offered to military, charities and volunteers and this will be a rather hollow sellout. If Grey Cup organizing committee had paid attention to recent history and offered an extra price point and some better discounted and non-discounted prices - not to mention get rid of the stupid 3-year commitment to get said discount - then they wouldn't have had to reduce capacity and resort to huge discounts and giveaways. A sellout will be a hollow victory.

Latest update on ticketmaster appears to show only 500-600 tickets left. No official word as yet as to how many tickets are actually left.

All I’ve heard for three years is how no one wants to sit in minus-30 conditions for playoff games in CGY. Fair. I guess plus-10, too. — Scott Mitchell (@SUNMitchell) November 16, 2015 When the marquee franchise can't get 35k or so to a semi final their is something wrong Look back over the past couple decades and see how attendance was for semi-finals in both conferences. 26 is probably right around the median, maybe slightly above. For back-to back semis in 2002 and 2003, the Bombers drew 22,000 - 23,000. For the 2007 semi-final Bombers drew 23,000. BC, Edmonton and Calgary have never been know to draw great crowds for semi-finals either. Sasky was 3000 short of a sellout in 2013 for the semi. Seems like a reasonably fixable problem for the spiffy new commish. to solve...seriously. Makes no sense that attendance drops off for playoff games. To start with don't crank playoff ticket prices up above regular season prices and start the season 2-4 weeks earlier to keep the fair-weather fans interested. They didn't crank ticket prices up in Calgary though. Tonnes of $35 - $45 tickets available too which is the same price those seats sell for in the regular season. If teams choose not to sell playoff games as part of their regular season packages, which I believe Calgary does not do, then it will be tough to sell 35,000 individual tickets for semi-final games. The best the league will do is move the season up one more week so the first week of the regular season does not overlap with the final week of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Another factor is the draft. The league will not move the season up any earlier than mid-June (late-May for training camp) due to the NFL and CFL draft. People need to accept this. If by some crazy chance we see a 10th team in the CFL, the Grey Cup will happen an additional week earlier in mid-November. Here's hoping...

All I’ve heard for three years is how no one wants to sit in minus-30 conditions for playoff games in CGY. Fair. I guess plus-10, too. — Scott Mitchell (@SUNMitchell) November 16, 2015 When the marquee franchise can't get 35k or so to a semi final their is something wrong Look back over the past couple decades and see how attendance was for semi-finals in both conferences. 26 is probably right around the median, maybe slightly above. For back-to back semis in 2002 and 2003, the Bombers drew 22,000 - 23,000. For the 2007 semi-final Bombers drew 23,000. BC, Edmonton and Calgary have never been know to draw great crowds for semi-finals either. Sasky was 3000 short of a sellout in 2013 for the semi.

Ok, I thought you were talking about the east semi-final. My mistake. Manning looks to be done at this point.

Ray outplayed Masoli. Hamilton D is one of the best in the league while the Argos D might be the worst. Which Qb faced the tougher D? Hamiton had a big assist from their special teams in their victory. Check out the yardage from special teams in the final stats

You need to get out more and check out other fan forums. I see this everywhere. Welcome to sports fandom.

It comes down to money. Bombers need to spend money to bring in some quality coaching. Money trumps perceived quality or reputation of the organization. See Hamilton hiring Austin after firing two head coaches in successive seasons in Marcel and Cortez.

Selective memory. The Ottawa-Hamilton game just last week was fantastic.

Harris deserved to be benched given how poorly he played the last few games of the season. Ray played fine in the second half. Stepped up in the pocket numerous times against the attacking Hamilton d-line and completed several impressive passes under pressure. My only beef with him is a couple of long passes that missed the mark on second and long. He would have been better off continuing with the passes underneath or intermediate passes. The collapse of the defense in the last quarter to quarter and a half cost the Argos the game though. Waters also played a role. Tough conditions in a budget stadium (built at ground level with now surrounding walls and thus allows for wind to play too much of a role in this day and age) but considering how good he is supposed to be he should have made two of the three field goals. Calgary proving they are still a good/great team in the CFL with what looks to be another decisive win over the Lions. Can't wait for next week's battle of Alberta.

Ticketmaster only shows around 1300 - 1500 tickets available so there may have been some significant movement in the last week on ticket sales. Instead of 4000+ left maybe there are only 3000 or so left?

My guess is they will rely on Willy to play most of the games in order to get to .500 next year. Who knows? Maybe that will actually happen with a new OC in charge.

His playoff performances will primarily be what keeps him from being regarded as one of the top-10 QBs of all time in the CFL. Even in the 2008 Grey Cup, he didn't play all that impressive. It was more a case of him sucking less than Calvillo in that game.

My early impressions are Khari is the favorite at this point so retread.

Was Turner injured? If not, I have to think he has played his last season as a Bomber. Didn't even play last night.

Didn't get to watch this game as I was running around the city finishing up some odds and ends. Heard a few minutes here and there. On the post game show, Irving said the Bombers never once made it into the red zone. I guess that's a fitting final game of the season for this much maligned offense.