Season ticket sales down 12-13%

[gbill2004]

Finally some concrete numbers, from Gary Lawless in today's Free Press:

Wade Miller has been running from one mess to the next, doing his best to clean up the operation and image of the Blue Bombers. But he can only manage one mop at a time and the spillage is beginning to show.

The Free Press has learned the Bombers are expecting a 12 to 13 per cent drop in season ticket sales this season.

This is a blow and the Bombers clearly have a perception issue, but Miller has begun to re-establish some confidence in the organization. Who knows how steep this drop would have been had Miller not begun the rehabilitation of the Bombers brand since taking over the reins last August?

Miller, the team's president and CEO, faces the monumental task of gaining back public trust, which the Bombers carelessly torched during the Joe Mack and stadium fiascoes of the last few years.

The Bombers are now into their renewal campaign, and the club is forecasting a season ticket base of just under 22,000 for the coming season. That's compared to last year's record mark of 24,620.

The drop could be as high as 3,000 season tickets when all is said and done. The team has currently sold approximately 20,000 season ticket packages for the coming campaign.

Give Miller credit as there's lots to like about the new look of the organization, with GM Kyle Walter and head coach Mike O'Shea making steps to improve the win-loss record. But the disastrous operation of the club over the last few years, before Miller was hired, is proving more than fans will ignore. And that has resulted in stress at the box office.

Miller must reverse the momentum of the current ticket slide. If not, more people will decide to stay away and the Bombers, saddled by stadium debt obligations, could decline into a financial miasma.

Unable to pay bills and unable to spend money on football operations is the prognosis for the Bombers if Miller can't win the day.

In the interim, Miller said he budgeted for this hit, and it won't affect the team's ability to meet its debt commitments or the product on the field.

"We're on target to meet our financial obligations," said Miller. "The budget for football ops is set and our entire budget was set on the expectation that we wouldn't have as many season ticket sales as last year."

Miller has proven adept at anticipating problems and then presenting solutions. While this dip in sales is large, it doesn't put the Bombers in crisis mode.

A similar drop next year, however, will do just that.

"This was expected. Our ticket sales rose due to the honeymoon period of the new stadium," explained Miller. "We've heard from fans the location of the stadium and team performance and natural attrition are why they're not renewing. And it breaks down to almost a third, a third and a third. I think 21,500 will be a normalized season ticket number for us."

Miller noted none of the failed ticket subscriptions are of the high-priced variety.

"Our premium seats, suites, loges, Blue and Gold club are all sold out. They all remain under contract for a number of years," he said. "We're in the middle of this, and we'll have all those numbers at the fan forum, which we'll be holding on May 12. We've just announced flex- and mini-packs. They have to be factored as well. We've just started our marketing campaign. It's too early to give final numbers."

Unfortunately, as bad as the obvious on-field problems associated with a 3-15 mark, the Bombers' issues go deeper. They inhabit a publicly funded stadium that has been marred by a poor transition plan, design flaws, failed promises and missed deadlines.

None of these problems is of Miller's making but mostly fall at the feet of his board of directors. The board, designed for governance, got involved in the day-to-day operations on the stadium file and the results have been disastrous.

Miller continues to fight those issues but can't let them drag on the progress needed today. Covering up the mistakes of the past can't be Miller's focus.

Recently, the stadium roof leaked, damaging a number of luxury suites. Miller blocked the media from access to the stadium to survey the harm. It smacked of a cover-up and it was unnecessary.

All he needed to say was, "We have a leaky roof and our builder is working on repairs. Come and take a picture if you must and then get out of the way of workers." End of story.

Don't get hung by the mistakes of others, Wade. Just ask your predecessor Garth Buchko how that works out. Buchko inherited a litany of board-generated problems and when he couldn't solve them, was made a scapegoat.

Miller has a number of strengths that are being revealed as he goes forward. Chief among them appear to be his zeal to win and his understanding the fans of the Bombers are the organization's lifeblood.

"We're going to have over 21,000 season tickets sold. This shows how loyal Bombers fans are. We're coming off a tough season, but they believe we're headed in the right direction and they're supporting us," said Miller.

"My job is to listen to them and I do every day. We're trying to meet the demands of our fans. We just have to work harder and get more people out to the stadium. That's my job. Every game should be like the Banjo Bowl. We have the fans to do it. That's what I hang my hat on."

[Brandon]

Considering how poorly the team has played in the last three years this isn't such a huge drop off...

[The Unknown Poster]

Wouldnt a drop be expected just from the fact the new stadium likely generated a "false" increase?  They will have a big increase for Grey Cup and NHL year...

[Bomber_fanaddict]

I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the fans who wanted to be there for the first season in IGF.  I personally know 4 people who only got tickets last season and had really no interest this year regardless of how the team played.  12-13% is a bit of a dip but if they get going out of the gate there walk up sales should keep them around 24-25k tix.

[Bomber Diehard]

I would say that a lot of people last year were ready to go home by half time.

They thought they could put their money to better entrainment somewhere else.

We went to more Goldeye games and really enjoyed.

Bomber fans want a better bang for their buck.

[Noeller]

I honestly thought the number would be WAY bigger when you factor in the people who just wanted to be there for the new stadium, and then how bad the team has been. This is a drop in the bucket. Hell, if you're anywhere near 21k in ST, you're going pretty damn good. Hopefully the WBB FC realizes how fortunate they are to have a fan base this passionate and loyal to a team that really hasn't given them a whole lot in return lately.

[DR. CFL]

The fact that someone has to win or lose a game means a 50% success rate per game. Sports marketing experts will tell you that you sell HOPE in the off season. I sense that people are getting tired of simply buying hope. Fans are getting impatient and want results. There will always be the diehard fans be it hockey or football. The critical element is filling in season tickets with the hopefully buyers and not relying heavily on walk up.

[17to85]

The fact that even us diehards felt like turning the game off before it was over many many times last year should be a damned good indication that selling season tickets would be tougher this year. People want entertainment and last year was not entertaining in any way. 

 

Alternately, clearly the public has spoken, they are not in favour of firing Joe Mack as GM. 

[MOBomberFan]

The fact that even us diehards felt like turning the game off before it was over many many times last year should be a damned good indication that selling season tickets would be tougher this year. People want entertainment and last year was not entertaining in any way. 

 

Alternately, clearly the public has spoken, they are not in favour of firing Joe Mack as GM. 

LOL! Perhaps we the fans are holding out for Walters to deal for Glenn, then watch the ST sales go through the roof!

[The Unknown Poster]

Honestly, I think this is much ado about nothing.  There was a false increase in season tickets last year due to the new Stadium at a time when the team sucked and everyone knew it.

 

I think the people declining to buy this year fall into some key categories:  those that bought just to be in the new stadium and are "over" it, a few who found attending the games to be a hassle (many who likely also fall into the first category) and a few who have lost some enthuesiasm for the team.  There is far more reason for optimism this year than last in my opinion so I cant see the lack of success chasing too many people away.

 

Personally, I love the experience of watching a game at the Stadium on a beautiful summer day.  But the best seat in the house is the one in my basement in front of the big screen TV.

[Westy Sucks]

I'm one of the cancelled tickets (4 of them).  I hadn't left a home game early since I was a little kid that didn't know any better...but last year...3 games, left early.  Season finale we were gone at the half and only went to see the 1988 cup team at half time otherwise that first qtr was enough for me to say **** this I'm done with these losers until they earn my $$ again.  Never thought I would ever ever say this kind of stuff but enough was enough!

I do give the bombers ticket staff props for actually asking me why I wasn't renewing.  I may not go to  single home game this year as a result.  I am going to the Thanksgiving day game in Edmonton though.

[blitzmore]

I'm one of the cancelled tickets (4 of them).  I hadn't left a home game early since I was a little kid that didn't know any better...but last year...3 games, left early.  Season finale we were gone at the half and only went to see the 1988 cup team at half time otherwise that first qtr was enough for me to say **** this I'm done with these losers until they earn my $$ again.  Never thought I would ever ever say this kind of stuff but enough was enough!

I do give the bombers ticket staff props for actually asking me why I wasn't renewing.  I may not go to  single home game this year as a result.  I am going to the Thanksgiving day game in Edmonton though.

Well good for you about the Edmonton thing...bye bye!!!!

[Goalie]

to be expected, first year of a new stadium, the next year you will see a drop off in attendance for sure.

 

IMO, anything over 20,21000 is a good number for season ticket sales.

 

If the team starts to play better, those numbers will go up.

 

Really not surprised to here this at all, know quite a bit of people who arent renewing, their reasons are simple.

 

Its either they have a new young family, just got married, had a baby etc or they really werent that big of fans to begin with and only got tix last season to be part of the first season at the new stadium.

 

Again, anything over 20,21 k is a good number IMO. 

[Jpan85]

I wonder how many people switched from season tickets to a flex pack?

[iso_55]

Why is this even news? Of course we knew that there'd be a decrease in ST sales. I think that 22,000 is pretty damned good. How many ST's have they sold in Ottawa??? Just 15,000 & they are trumpeting in Ottawa how great that is. Really?

We've sucked on the field for the better part of 20 years. A few seasons here & there back to back where we were a decent to good team & had some losing GC appearances mixed in. But overall it's been a nightmarish two decades.

My feeling is this was Hamilton the team would have died a long time. Teams with better overall records than us died in Ottawa & Montreal. If this was Calgary,they'd be lucky to draw 6,000 fans to McMahon Stadium. So, the team would be dead as well. The fans in Winnipeg should be commended for supporting the garbage this team puts on the field every year. And the brutal GMs (Ken Bishop & Joe Mack) & idiot HC's (Jeff Reinbold, Mike Kelly, & Tim Burke) they've hired in the past.

Everyone talks about how great Rider Nation is. The best CFL fans are Bomber Nation. Every year. we the fans show up, take our lumps & keep coming back. 

[17to85]

Everyone talks about how great Rider Nation is. The best CFL fans are Bomber Nation. Every year. we the fans show up, take our lumps & keep coming back. 

****** eh. rider fans didn't become the darlings of the CFL until they started to actually improve and then everyone piled on the bandwagon and it became hip to be a rider fan. Bomber fans though have put up with more **** than anyone and STILL show up in the stadium in numbers that every other team in the league would love to have. How do the Edmonton numbers look by the way? Anyone got them handy? Seems to me the crowds there aren't so big now that their team has hit the skids either. 

[comedygeek]

I'm going to consider getting a Flex pack after having season tickets the last 2 years.

 

A combination of having to miss about 4 out of the 10 games last year because of different responsibilities (which isn't likely to change this year), plus me being in Europe for the first 2 games of this season, made it seem absurd to get season tickets this year. However, I was pretty happy with the stadium experience. And I'm a smart enough football fan to know that the team should make improvements in enough areas to at the very least be competitive this year (and hopefully improve on that dismal 3-15 record), so the on-field product won't be keeping me away. It's just timing and financial logistics.

[kelownabomberfan]

All the Bombers have to do is win some games and show some heart and fans will be rushing back in droves. Using myself as a gauge, there are a lot of us who desperately want to love this team again, and all we want to see is some fight in this dog and a will to win. Last year was really tough to stomach, and I don't think I made it through most of the games, other than that Boltus game due to the sheer comedic value. I think O'Shea is a big key to the puzzle, we won't see a glum emotionless thousand yard stare from him on the sidelines this year.

[Rich]

All the Bombers have to do is win some games and show some heart and fans will be rushing back in droves. Using myself as a gauge, there are a lot of us who desperately want to love this team again, and all we want to see is some fight in this dog and a will to win. Last year was really tough to stomach, and I don't think I made it through most of the games, other than that Boltus game due to the sheer comedic value. I think O'Shea is a big key to the puzzle, we won't see a glum emotionless thousand yard stare from him on the sidelines this year.

 

Agree with this.  While I went to every game last season, I can't remember any other year where I was ready to leave by half time most games (never actually left).  The games were just not entertaining and you knew the team had no chance to win by half time.

[road griller]

I think they should move the team to Virden.

[17to85]

I think O'Shea is a big key to the puzzle, we won't see a glum emotionless thousand yard stare from him on the sidelines this year.

this is my thinking as well. Burke had a team that just rolled over and died at the first sign of adversity, I don't think O'Shea will tolerate that in a team. He was too competitive as a player and you know his team won't pack it in because if he has players who do that he'll get new players. 

[ALuCsRED]

Season tickets are a blessing and a curse.  Season tickets are discounted up to 35%, regular tickets are not. 

 

We have two guaranteed sell outs this year (Riders #1 and Banjo Bowl), so 7 games left.   If the team plays well and the walk up crowds are big, the club potentially can make 30% more money on those 4000 seats. 

[Atomic]

Season tickets are a blessing and a curse.  Season tickets are discounted up to 35%, regular tickets are not. 

 

We have two guaranteed sell outs this year (Riders #1 and Banjo Bowl), so 7 games left.   If the team plays well and the walk up crowds are big, the club potentially can make 30% more money on those 4000 seats. 

 

I'd be surprised if the home opener doesn't sell out too.

[Captain Blue]

This is a non-story in my opinion.  Generally the people that don't re-new are those likely more influenced by things like a terrible season, or alternatively, were more likely to buy season tickets for the first year of a stadium.

[iso_55]

I made two games last season & the Boltus  game vs BC was one of them. It was the worst performance by a Bomber qb that I'd ever seen as a fan. I mean, we're talking worse than John Schneider or Luther Selbo going back to 1968... As a fan I wanted Burke fired right after that game for being without a doubt the dumbest, most stupid, ill prepared, clueless & useless head  coach who ever walked the Bomber sidelines in history. I wanted the man strung up from the goalpost I was fuming. Jeff Reinbold was Bill Belichek compared to him.