Grey Cup & Banjo Bowl Temporary Stands

[blueandgoldguy]

 

The Riders sucking this year has really hurt sales.

 

I would say by at least 2,000-3,000.  Thanks Regina.

 

I doubt it.  They have the best contingent at the Grey Cup when their team is not in the game.  The hard cores buy their tickets well in advance, probably prior to the season.  2000 - 3000?  Try maybe a few hundred.  I was at the last game in Winnipeg and there was approx. 3000 or so in green. 

[rebusrankin]

Re: Sun article

 

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

 

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

We had about 3-3.5 million in profit this past year, no? 25,500 tickets at say $250 is 6.4 million. Lose $, no. Make less than expected, yes.

[gbill2004]

The Riders sucking this year has really hurt sales.

I mostly disagree. If this game was priced correctly most of the tickets would have been sold prior to the season. Rider fans were somewhat optimistic about their team at the beginning of the season and most of those with the income would have bought tickets at that point. At the last Grey Cup in Winnipeg, I would estimate only 3000 or so fans were from Sasky (assuming they all are wearing green). I suspect only a few hundred more would buy tickets if the Riders were playing better.

Anyways, the Bombers should not have to rely on the Riders being a good team to sellout the game. Again if they had the proper pricing structure, we would have seen more ticket sold to both Bomber fans and out-of-town fans.

It's a combo of a lot of factors:

1. Ticket prices too high

2. Bombers not playing well

3. Riders suck

4. HDTV big screen TVs

[JuranBoldenRules]

 

Re: Sun article

 

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

 

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

We had about 3-3.5 million in profit this past year, no? 25,500 tickets at say $250 is 6.4 million. Lose $, no. Make less than expected, yes.

 

 

I think they have to front quite a bit just to get the event here, and then all the operations cost of putting it on.  If they grossed $6.5 million on ticket sales they'd likely lose a bunch of money.

[gbill2004]

Re: Sun article

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

We had about 3-3.5 million in profit this past year, no? 25,500 tickets at say $250 is 6.4 million. Lose $, no. Make less than expected, yes.

I think they have to front quite a bit just to get the event here, and then all the operations cost of putting it on. If they grossed $6.5 million on ticket sales they'd likely lose a bunch of money.

The city and province fronted a bunch of money.

[blueandgoldguy]

I've been to about 12 Grey Cups. I've travelled all over the country and sat in all kinds of weather to watch all kinds of teams I barely cared about play in the game. That being said, I don't have tickets to this years game and don't plan too.

There isn't one big reason I'm not going but the pricing doesn't help. To buy my seasons for the Coupe and take the wife and the boy (neither would have been pleased with being excluded) would have been $900. That's a lot of money for a family. We all have to make our own budgetary decisions and maybe others would have had bought the tickets. But one afternoon watching Hamilton vs Edmonton in potential minus 20 at almost the cost of half a trip to Disneyland didn't work for me. And that's coming from a guy who has spent thousands and thousands of $$$ so the CFL product over the years.

Had the tickets been $200 instead of $300 would I have considered it more strongly? Maybe. If the Bombers were a legit contender would that have changed my decision? Maybe. But neither is the case, and as much as I feel kind of guilty not going I probably won't.

I also don't have a lot of hope for some huge last minute walk up. I think people have made their decision. You'll probably see corporations and sponsors buy a bunch of tickets to make it respectable. But with the Bombers and Riders all but out it won't be regular joes.

Then again if they land the Biebs for half time ya never know.

Yep, tickets are simply too expensive...especially for families.

 

2006 Grey Cup in Winnipeg nearly half the tickets were available for $150 or less

 

4000 north endzone seats sold for $100 each so a family of 4 could be there for $400.

 

14,000 temporary south endzone seats sold for $130 so a family of 4 could attend for less than $600

 

2015 Grey Cup

 

0 seats available for under $150.  Cheapest a family of 4 could attend for is nearly $800.

 

I see media-types like Hustler are trying to frame this as a weather issue and the Bombers and Riders sucking.  Well, the Bombers sucked in 2005 and were not exactly setting the world on fire in 2006, while the weather would have been an issue back then as well.  When ticket prices were brought up as the reason for the slow sales, Hustler said the ticket prices were the same as other cities.  Not entirely true, as the ticket prices are more expensive than recent past Grey Cup cities and since there is a much smaller season ticket base here than say Calgary in 2009 (close to 30,000 season ticket holders that year), there are quite a few less folks getting the discount for the big game. 

[blueandgoldguy]

 

@friesensunmedia: #Bombers have quietly reduced capacity for 103rd Grey Cup, to 36,634. North end temporary stands scrapped. Just 25,576 tics sold.

 

What is it with the Grey Cup sales the last couple years?! BC struggled to sell tickets last year (it wasn't until right before the game that they actually got to 50K) and now this one is half full. I remember when the Grey Cup sold almost right away upon beginning of sales to the general public. Strange.

 

Prices were more reasonable a few years ago.  I would say the Rider Grey Cup set some sort of new expectations with regards to pricing for Grey Cups.  Non-discounted prices of $399 for almost all lower deck sideline seats. $349 and $299 for upper deck seats. $299 for endzone seats.  Only thing is Riders had 27, 000 season ticket holders and I'm sure all of them brought tickets to the Grey Cup and received the dicount.  I wouldn't be surprised if the Corporations and sponsors also receive some kind of discount as well.

 

These new expectations carried over into BC Place last year where there were reportedly 20,000 or even fewer season ticket holders and thus, a lower portion receiving the discount.  The lower ticket base and the ridiculous prices ($379 for upper deck goal line seats and $179 for upper deck endzone seats) resulted in 15,000 -  20,000 seats unsold prior to the season after the previous 5 Grey Cups had sold out at a comparable time.

 

This is what frustrates me about the Bomber organization.  You think they would have learned from the poor ticket sales from last year's over-priced game and applied it to their pricing structure for this year's Grey Cup.  Instead, they just looked at Sasky's pricing structure, applied it here and hoped for the best ignoring certain factors that would dissuade the public from paying those prices.

[blueandgoldguy]

 

The last 3 Grey Cups have been priced ridiculously. Saskatchewan made some sense because they were pushing hard to be in that game and they knew they had a sellout in the bag. The last 2 have made no sense. If you are going to place the value of a Grey Cup seat higher than the value of potentially 11 games between pre-season, reg season and playoffs in any stadium, you are going to have empty seats. If they price the game as they have, there will be empty seats in almost every CFL stadium without the circumstances that happened in Regina in 2013.

The pricing models have been very similar more than just the last 3 years. Taking a look at the past 6 or 7 and you will still have similar averages give or take $50.

 

Not true except for the Grey Cup in 2012 and that was the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto, by far the biggest corporate city in all of Canada.  Even there, the cheapest tickets were cheaper than this year's Grey Cup and many comparable seats were cheaper.

 

I have heard from many BC Lions fans that attended the 2011 Grey Cup that comparable seats for that game were considerably cheaper than the 2013 which means they are considerably cheaper than this year's game.  $100 to $295 with the discount and there were something like 20,000 - 30,000 seats available at less than $200 without the discount.  Cheap tickets were much cheaper than here

 

2010 tickets  in Edmonton were a substantially cheaper.  Tonnes of $100 tickets and their most expensive ticket was at $250 was cheaper than almost all of the tickets for this year's game.

 

2009 tickets in Calgary had a sustantially larger number of cheap seats than Winnipeg thanks to the large number of season ticker holders (near 30,000) who bought tickets to the game. I believe all the temp seats were $119 and a substantial portion of corner endzone seats were $200 with or without the discount.

 

2008 Grey Cup in Montreal had tonnes of cheap and reasonably priced seats like Edmonton - $84 - $274.

 

I realize Winnipeg, being in a smaller stadium, would have to charge higher prices than places like Edmonton and Montreal, but I also realize that the team cannot charge overly high prices given the limited number of hotels here (gouging more prevalent than large cities) and the outdoor stadium which is sure to attract less out-of-towners than anywhere but Regina and Hamilton.

[gbill2004]

Winnipegers are notoriously cheap too.

[blueandgoldguy]

Re: Sun article

 

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

 

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

Keep in mind, all those other events outside the game itself probably generate (awards, banquets, concert series, tailgate party, team parties, post grey cup party) generate significant revenue.  I hear all of them are selling quite well and I wouldn't be surprised if at least 30% of all Grey Cup revenues are derived from these events.

[Goalie]

Im under the impression that Ticket sales will pick up after labour day... Get back to this in a month and see how it's doing really. 

[gbill2004]

Re: Sun article

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

Keep in mind, all those other events outside the game itself probably generate (awards, banquets, concert series, tailgate party, team parties, post grey cup party) generate significant revenue. I hear all of them are selling quite well and I wouldn't be surprised if at least 30% of all Grey Cup revenues are derived from these events.

So you figure there's $2-3 million in profit on a Loverboy and 54-40 concert?

[blueandgoldguy]

 

 

Re: Sun article

 

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

 

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

We had about 3-3.5 million in profit this past year, no? 25,500 tickets at say $250 is 6.4 million. Lose $, no. Make less than expected, yes.

 

 

I think they have to front quite a bit just to get the event here, and then all the operations cost of putting it on.  If they grossed $6.5 million on ticket sales they'd likely lose a bunch of money.

 

If the game was the only revenue generator yes.  But all those other events generate a substantial amount of revenue. as well.  Don't forget ticket sales aren't the only revenues for the game.  I'm sure there will be millions from merchandise and concession sales especially once you factor in the stadium doors being opened up 2 hours or so prior to game time.  It's not called the grand national drunk for nothing.  

 

Still it's too bad the poor pricing structure will prevent the expected profits from Grey Cup week.  The extra money would have gone a long way to secure the club's future during seasons in which the club might have experienced a shortfall in revenues.  Now, there will be less margin for error.

[blueandgoldguy]

 

 

Re: Sun article

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

Keep in mind, all those other events outside the game itself probably generate (awards, banquets, concert series, tailgate party, team parties, post grey cup party) generate significant revenue. I hear all of them are selling quite well and I wouldn't be surprised if at least 30% of all Grey Cup revenues are derived from these events.

So you figure there's $2-3 million in profit on a Loverboy and 54-40 concert?

 

Noooooo.    I'm saying there is several millions in profits to be had by those 3 concerts plus

 

Shaw CFL Player awards and players' party

the CFL Alumni Lunch

Touchdown Manitoba

Grey Cup gala dinner

Pre-game tailgate party

Post-game party

various team parties at convention centre and elsewhere

 

Don't buy the Winnipeggers are cheap bit either.  If they were, people in this city wouldn't have record levels of household debt.

[JuranBoldenRules]

 

 

 

Re: Sun article

 

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

 

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

We had about 3-3.5 million in profit this past year, no? 25,500 tickets at say $250 is 6.4 million. Lose $, no. Make less than expected, yes.

 

 

I think they have to front quite a bit just to get the event here, and then all the operations cost of putting it on.  If they grossed $6.5 million on ticket sales they'd likely lose a bunch of money.

 

If the game was the only revenue generator yes.  But all those other events generate a substantial amount of revenue. as well.  Don't forget ticket sales aren't the only revenues for the game.  I'm sure there will be millions from merchandise and concession sales especially once you factor in the stadium doors being opened up 2 hours or so prior to game time.  It's not called the grand national drunk for nothing.  

 

Still it's too bad the poor pricing structure will prevent the expected profits from Grey Cup week.  The extra money would have gone a long way to secure the club's future during seasons in which the club might have experienced a shortfall in revenues.  Now, there will be less margin for error.

 

 

I doubt that they gross much above low 7 figures from the rest of the event, including merchandise and concessions.  Unless they are selling beers for $100, which is possible considering my tickets are 12x their value for any other game.  They are basically on pace to gross $10 million if they can move most of the tickets.  If they have 3000-4000 empty seats that knocks $1 million off that number.  Once they pay for the event and kick up to the league they are looking at having $3 million on the good side of the ledger from the Grey Cup game based on the number of tickets they are selling.

[blueandgoldguy]

 

 

 

 

Re: Sun article

 

"The Bombers guaranteed a profit of $4.3 million to the league, and need to make a mortgage payment of $4 million this year. Another $1.5 million in Grey Cup profits go to Triple-B, the team's quasi-landlord. Miller told us back in April the big game would generate profits of between $4 million and $7 million."

 

We gonna host the GC and lose money this year? That be major bad.

We had about 3-3.5 million in profit this past year, no? 25,500 tickets at say $250 is 6.4 million. Lose $, no. Make less than expected, yes.

 

 

I think they have to front quite a bit just to get the event here, and then all the operations cost of putting it on.  If they grossed $6.5 million on ticket sales they'd likely lose a bunch of money.

 

If the game was the only revenue generator yes.  But all those other events generate a substantial amount of revenue. as well.  Don't forget ticket sales aren't the only revenues for the game.  I'm sure there will be millions from merchandise and concession sales especially once you factor in the stadium doors being opened up 2 hours or so prior to game time.  It's not called the grand national drunk for nothing.  

 

Still it's too bad the poor pricing structure will prevent the expected profits from Grey Cup week.  The extra money would have gone a long way to secure the club's future during seasons in which the club might have experienced a shortfall in revenues.  Now, there will be less margin for error.

 

 

I doubt that they gross much above low 7 figures from the rest of the event, including merchandise and concessions.  Unless they are selling beers for $100, which is possible considering my tickets are 12x their value for any other game.  They are basically on pace to gross $10 million if they can move most of the tickets.  If they have 3000-4000 empty seats that knocks $1 million off that number.  Once they pay for the event and kick up to the league they are looking at having $3 million on the good side of the ledger from the Grey Cup game based on the number of tickets they are selling.

 

I think they can gross quite a bit more than that.

 

Club Regent awards show

 

approx. 500 tickets sold * $75 or $165 (use $100 average) = $50,000

 

3 concerts

 

10000 tickets sold * $50 = $500,000

 

TD Manitoba

 

5000 tickets sold * $25 = $125,000

 

Alumni Legend Lunch - soldout

 

can't find the price but isn't it $150?

 

1000 * $150 = $150,000

 

Grey Cup Gala Dinner

 

1000 * $350 =  $350,000

 

Monsanto Indoor tailgate party

 

1000 * $100 = $100,000

 

Post-game Party

 

5000 * $30 =  $150,000

 

Plus all the teams parties.  What are tickets - $20 each or $60 for a pass to all of them?

 

10,000 * $60 = $600,000

 

That doesn't even include all the booze consumed at these events which I'm sure the Bombers take a significant portion of the profits.  

[TrueBlue]

The last 3 Grey Cups have been priced ridiculously. Saskatchewan made some sense because they were pushing hard to be in that game and they knew they had a sellout in the bag. The last 2 have made no sense. If you are going to place the value of a Grey Cup seat higher than the value of potentially 11 games between pre-season, reg season and playoffs in any stadium, you are going to have empty seats. If they price the game as they have, there will be empty seats in almost every CFL stadium without the circumstances that happened in Regina in 2013.

The pricing models have been very similar more than just the last 3 years. Taking a look at the past 6 or 7 and you will still have similar averages give or take $50.

Not true except for the Grey Cup in 2012 and that was the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto, by far the biggest corporate city in all of Canada. Even there, the cheapest tickets were cheaper than this year's Grey Cup and many comparable seats were cheaper.

I have heard from many BC Lions fans that attended the 2011 Grey Cup that comparable seats for that game were considerably cheaper than the 2013 which means they are considerably cheaper than this year's game. $100 to $295 with the discount and there were something like 20,000 - 30,000 seats available at less than $200 without the discount. Cheap tickets were much cheaper than here

2010 tickets in Edmonton were a substantially cheaper. Tonnes of $100 tickets and their most expensive ticket was at $250 was cheaper than almost all of the tickets for this year's game.

2009 tickets in Calgary had a sustantially larger number of cheap seats than Winnipeg thanks to the large number of season ticker holders (near 30,000) who bought tickets to the game. I believe all the temp seats were $119 and a substantial portion of corner endzone seats were $200 with or without the discount.

2008 Grey Cup in Montreal had tonnes of cheap and reasonably priced seats like Edmonton - $84 - $274.

I realize Winnipeg, being in a smaller stadium, would have to charge higher prices than places like Edmonton and Montreal, but I also realize that the team cannot charge overly high prices given the limited number of hotels here (gouging more prevalent than large cities) and the outdoor stadium which is sure to attract less out-of-towners than anywhere but Regina and Hamilton.

Similar averages typically within $50. You have to factor in how many seats are within each price point. Obviously the farther you go back, the average has come down but still within that margin.

[blueandgoldguy]

 

 

 

The last 3 Grey Cups have been priced ridiculously. Saskatchewan made some sense because they were pushing hard to be in that game and they knew they had a sellout in the bag. The last 2 have made no sense. If you are going to place the value of a Grey Cup seat higher than the value of potentially 11 games between pre-season, reg season and playoffs in any stadium, you are going to have empty seats. If they price the game as they have, there will be empty seats in almost every CFL stadium without the circumstances that happened in Regina in 2013.

The pricing models have been very similar more than just the last 3 years. Taking a look at the past 6 or 7 and you will still have similar averages give or take $50.

Not true except for the Grey Cup in 2012 and that was the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto, by far the biggest corporate city in all of Canada. Even there, the cheapest tickets were cheaper than this year's Grey Cup and many comparable seats were cheaper.

I have heard from many BC Lions fans that attended the 2011 Grey Cup that comparable seats for that game were considerably cheaper than the 2013 which means they are considerably cheaper than this year's game. $100 to $295 with the discount and there were something like 20,000 - 30,000 seats available at less than $200 without the discount. Cheap tickets were much cheaper than here

2010 tickets in Edmonton were a substantially cheaper. Tonnes of $100 tickets and their most expensive ticket was at $250 was cheaper than almost all of the tickets for this year's game.

2009 tickets in Calgary had a sustantially larger number of cheap seats than Winnipeg thanks to the large number of season ticker holders (near 30,000) who bought tickets to the game. I believe all the temp seats were $119 and a substantial portion of corner endzone seats were $200 with or without the discount.

2008 Grey Cup in Montreal had tonnes of cheap and reasonably priced seats like Edmonton - $84 - $274.

I realize Winnipeg, being in a smaller stadium, would have to charge higher prices than places like Edmonton and Montreal, but I also realize that the team cannot charge overly high prices given the limited number of hotels here (gouging more prevalent than large cities) and the outdoor stadium which is sure to attract less out-of-towners than anywhere but Regina and Hamilton.

Similar averages typically within $50. You have to factor in how many seats are within each price point. Obviously the farther you go back, the average has come down but still within that margin.

 

In some cases 50 in others more than that.  For a couple, over $100, for 4 people over $200.  That's not an insignificant amount of money and many of the seats are not a good value proposition.

[iso_55]

It's not just the Grey Cup but it's game day tickets all across the CFL.They're too expensive. But the CFL doesn't seem to get it even though it is painfully obvious with all the empty seats we see every game on TSN.  I live in Calgary & if I bought a game day ticket say on a whim an hour before game time I could be paying $85 for a single seat on the 25 yard line. How can a family of 3 or 4 afford it?? In the past few years, the CFL has lost site of its fanbase, I believe. One thing I'll give the Bombers credit for is the Flex Packs.If I lived in Winnipeg,I'd definitely purchase 2 of them.  In Calgary, the Stamps won't even consider that option.

[DR. CFL]

The reality is there are more options and competition for people's disposable-entertainment dollar. You better have a good product or people won't buy it. If you build it they will come only has so much shine and only lasts so long.

[iso_55]

At some point people say that enough is enough. The ticket price outweighs the value of what it truly is worth & fans refuse to buy them. That's why only 25,000 seats have been sold for the Grey Cup. And it's happening right across the CFL but it's clear the league just does not get it or pretends everything is just fine when it isn't.

[bearpants]

I just wanted to reiterate what a knob Friesen is.

 

We should do this to Friesen:

 

haha, love the Corner Gas clip!

[rebusrankin]

Ticket prices are becoming an issue for sure.

[LeBird]

I'm sure Wade will drum up some discounts and 2 for 1's for his corporate buddies. 

And that's the problem. At the last Grey Cup here we paid the full amount to keep our season's ticket seats. Later they were discounting the tickets.  It sure does not make you feel good to see that happening. If I were to go again I would not buy it six weeks before but wait and get the cheap price. Don't call me cheap, call me a guy who did not appreciate being rolled.  

[mbrg]

Laugh at Sask all you guys want

 

As you wish.