No sympathy for blackout complainers. Buy a ticket and support the Lions.

Following a great night of football at BC Place where the BC Lions took a share of first place in the CFL west, some fans are complaining that the game was blacked out on standard definition cable.

Boo hoo.

You have a brand new stadium and a team playing in it’s biggest game in a long time and you can’t get off your butt and head to the stadium? The team hasn’t had a blackout in over a year and a half, and it hasn’t exactly resulted in sold out games. It seems there is always an excuse for “fans” not to buy a ticket. It’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s not the NFL, it’s the Lions, I can afford a Canucks ticket but the Lions are too expensive.

I’m sick of it.

The CFL is a gate driven league. They don’t have a huge TV deal that ensures a profit for each team before a ticket is sold. They count on ticket revenue to be profitable and to run their business. Do you provide your services for free?

There seems to be a sense of entitlement by BC football fans that they should be able to sit on their couch and not contribute to that business model. I have no sympathy for them.

In a day when more and more households have high definition TV, where the games are not blacked out, it’s really not that hard to see the game anyway. If you can’t afford a ticket, and you don’t have HD, you could head to a friends, a bar or a restaurant like Boston Pizza to watch the game. If you’re outside the GVRD the game isn’t blacked out anyway.

The real question you should be asking yourself, is why didn’t I buy a ticket to one of the biggest football games this city has seen in three years?

I realize there are people that simply can’t afford to go out to a game or can’t afford HD cable. People that are REAL fans of the BC Lions that would kill to be in the stadium if they could. Unless you’re one of those people, I really have no time for you sense of entitlement.

The Lions are great value for your entertainment dollar. Many of their players are making less than some of the fans complaining about blackouts.

If you were there last night you would have witnessed a record be broken and a great moment on the final play of the game. I’m pretty sure the 30,622 that were there got their money’s worth.

The Lions next game is October 29th versus the Edmonton Eskimos and will be another big battle for playoff positioning in the West. Good tickets are still available.

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Posted by Brian on Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 10:52 am
Filed under CFL/League, Den Talk, Featured · Tagged with BC Lions, BC Place, CFL, Fans, TV Blackouts

http://letfreedomrain.blogspot.com Jymn

While I agree that we should all support the Lions and tickets are way cheaper than the less entertaining Canucks, blacking out a game with 30K attendance in a smaller city like Vancouver is outrageous. Despite the lower cost for Lions games, not everyone can afford to go. In fact, a lot of people in this economy can’t afford to go. It took me a long time to save for last night’s game. I was fortunate I picked the right one. It was fantastic. Too bad so many who couldn’t afford the ticket price were left out.
- Melissa W.
  
  The Canucks are equally as entertaining as the Lions, if not more so; I take issue with that statement.
Melissa W.

But here is the point, not everybody can afford to go to the games. Oh and the game will likely be blacked out in Abbotsford.
- Melissa W.
  
  If I could get a ticket for $5 or $10, I would probably go. Being as there probably isn’t that option, I probably won’t drive from Abbotsford. There is also the added expense of food (I remember when my dad and I brought our own food in to Canucks and Lions games, not to mention the cost of dinner) and the expense of parking (its at least $20 for a downtown parking spot) and cost of gas.
Stargazer_Girl

He’s not talking about the people who can’t afford to go:

“I realize there are people that simply can’t afford to go out to a game or can’t afford HD cable. People that are REAL fans of the BC Lions that would kill to be in the stadium if they could. Unless you’re one of those people, I really have no time for you sense of entitlement.”
http://www.bclionsden.ca Brian

Again, if you read the blog, I acknowledge that there are people that can’t afford to go. That is fine, but there are ways to see the game for pretty cheap of you can’t afford a ticket or HD cable.

To say you should be able to get a ticket for $5.00-$10.00 is an insult to the product. You can barely see a movie for that price these days. Despite what some people would have you believe this is professional football.
- Susan Hilton
  
  I agree that if a person is a fan living on the coast, they should make every effort to attend the games. However, do you have a way to donate empty seats for low income families and children, or children in care of the ministry? There are many people who literally don’t have 2 nickles to rub together, nevermind having enough to purchase a ticket to a game or attend a pub or bar to watch the game.
  On that note, I suppose the saying “you can’t please everyone, all the time” fits in well here!! I live in Kamloops, it is a rare occasion for me to attend a game but I do attend the Grey Cup games wherever they may be!!!
  GO LIONS GO!!!!!
  - Stargazer_Girl
    
    The Lions do have a mechanism by which you can donate your tickets – it’s called Kids Up Front. Details are here:
    
    http://www.bclions.com/page/kids-up-front
    
    There are some who don’t go to games because they can’t afford to. There are some who don’t attend because it’s logistically impossible (i.e. live far away, work shifts, tied down with kids, etc.). Those reasons are all legitimate.
    
    It’s the people who can afford to go, but choose not to because they can watch it for free on TV (or PVR it while they go to Whistler for the weekend) that are annoying. They feel entitled to access the product for free, on TV, and complain when the Lions – who are a business, not a community service – take action to try and increase ticket sales by blacking the game out. If you value the product, pay for it. It’s that simple. Otherwise, don’t be surprised when the product no longer exists for you to enjoy.
sj-roc

There were actually people complaining about this? I’m probably not plugged in to the right channels to hear about it but I’m taking your word for it, and it sounds weak. If it were simply a case of people choosing other entertainment options or ways to occupy their time, then that’s their prerogative. But if one wants to support the team, then it should be done with the wallet, if it can take the hit.

I wonder if fan expectations are being shaped with so many Canucks games being broadcast and a failure to see that this is linked to all of their sellouts?
Stargazer_Girl

That could very well be Scott.
Gerry

I agree Brian. I would have loved to have been there, but I live five hours and two ferries away. Despite that I bought a three-game pack and have been to two games already. CFL football is great value for the money and a pile of fun. If I lived in the city or even out in Abby I’d have season tickets. I don’t get why we can’t sell 40,000 tickets on a regular basis. Way better value than a hockey ticket in my opinion. If it’s the additional cost of food and beer, then don’t buy any. Who wants to miss the action standing in line anyways?
http://www.twitter.com/armpitsex Jason

I was one of those guys pissed off at the blackouts at first. I thought I was free and clear living out here in Chilliwack but nope. During a season when my wife was expecting our first child, I didn’t renew my season tickets so I upgraded to HD and caught every game. Have since re-upped my season tickets and still PVR the games for shits and giggles. Support your team any way you can. A better product will result. Pro sports is a business. You get what you pay for.

Alternately, you can support minor sports if you can’t make the trip to a Canucks or Lions game and all the expense they entail (parking, transit or fuel, food, tickets). It’s rather rewarding to see athletes in their developing years play, then move on to the professional levels.
Soundy

I get annoyed with the self-righteous “get out and see the game, stop whining about the blackout” attitude as well… for the simple fact that there are many reasons beyond budget that preclude many of us making the game.

Time budget is a big one, for example – not just the hours of travel there and back, but often being able to fit the game schedule into one’s “real life” schedule. I would have loved to make this game, but alas, I was sitting at the border on my way home from Everett when the game started, and at least made it home in time for the second half.

And there’s the fact that sometimes transportation isn’t readily available (busing from the outer ‘burbs can take several hours)… and that budget goes beyond just the cost of the ticket, but needs to cover gas and parking as well…

I expect others who would LOVE to attend more games, have plenty of other perfectly legitimate reasons that they can’t, and have to settle for radio coverage only.
http://www.bclionsden.ca Brian

I guess you missed the point too, Soundy. I’m not referring to people that can’t make it to the game for whatever reason, as was stated in the article.

I’m talking about those that have become accustomed in this day and age to sitting at home and feeling it’s their right to see the product. Not long ago you didn’t see any Lions home games on TV.

Again this isn’t the Canucks we are talking about, it’s the BC Lions and the CFL is a gate driven league. If people aren’t in the stadium, the Lions and every other team in the league will not survive. There are plenty of people that CAN attend the games, But are “self-righteous” enough to think it’s their right to see the product for free.

If you can’t make the games, fine. But the Lions have the right to try and maximize the return on their product. If that includes blacking out games, those affected will just have to accept that.
scott

love the lions but will never come vanc. (hippy vill) to watch a game so take ur over priced beer and stick it ps did i say i love the lions but really the whole vanc. experience sucks.why is it that whenever you cant sell to a full stadium you punish the people who unfortunately can not afford tickets because of the cost of life in general…. we do love the Lions, ” Roar You Lions Roar”. Never mind the price of parking and the crack heads of the downtown area ….. Which is why we stay home to watch the game
Jill

My dad is is 76 years old. For him to get on a bus from langley, then the skytrain, then up hunderds of steps, then get down a hundreds of steps, then get back on the skytrain, then at least an hour bus ride back to Langley, is not realistic. Maybe you would be ok with your father doing that, but I am not. You keep saying, stop the whining, well stop the abuse that your causing on people who saw the games way back when, and still enjoy seeing them. He is on a fixed budget, so unless your willing to make sure he gets a limo ride in and out, and free ticktets, seats which he doesnt have to walk miles to get to, then quit blacking out the games.
- http://www.bclionsden.ca Brian
  
  Read….the…article….
  
  This post has nothing to do with people that can’t go…it has to do with people that can and don’t.
  
  Also….”way back when”, no home games were televised except playoff games and you were lucky to see half the road games. I’m sure your dad remembers that.
Jason

Get your head out of your ass and wake up to the fact that the CFL is a second rate league if it cannot afford to put the damn games on tv. I am a fringe fan and quite frankly, the CFL loses me to real leagues like the NFL if they can’t show the product on television. I am not going to travel all the way out from Langley to downtown Vancouver through all that traffic, pay for parking and food for a product I could take or leave. Sorry CFL…if you want to play with the big boys, get on tv or accept the fact that it’s league that couldn’t be built up in a 100 years of existence.
- sj-roc
  
  Jason, are you aware that the “real” NFL, being so strapped for cash and all, currently applies local blackouts to home games that don’t sell out within 72 hours of kickoff, and that their practice of lifting local blackouts that satisfy this criterion is followed only because US lawmakers have ORDERED them to do so?
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_blackout#Blackout_policies
  
  BTW, the NFL’s blackout radius is 75 miles, much farther than you are from BCP. If the CFL had the same blackout policy as the NFL that you apparently so admire, nobody from Chilliwack to Whistler would have seen a Lions home game on tv since the 1980s. That “real” enough for ya?
mike

TV sells the game and blackouts takes the product out of the public eye…

i always think about heavy weight boxing and the way they went to pay per view. When I was young matches between ALI-Frazier were broadcast world wide and EVERYBODY was interested in what happened next.
then along came pay per view technology and you had to pay a premium to watch a fight that might last one or two rounds (Hello Mike Tyson) and the world began to forget about boxing. Today ask yourself who is the reigning heavyweight boxing champion of the world? better yet ask 10 people at random and you will see what blackout can do to a market.
Martin

This kind of commentary letter shows such ignorance. First of all, not everyone CAN fit a game in their schedule but still can PVR it and watch it later. (Such is my case)
Secondly, even if I could go to a game, do you honestly think I would be there every single game? Guess what, I have a life outside the BC Lions. And as much as I love going to a live game, there is something great about sitting in your living room and watch it with a bunch of friends.
BC lions are taking their games off the TV? They are unfaithful to their fans. I for one will not follow them anymore if they don’t change that ridiculous decision.
Pardell

They lost one more fan
Martin

http://www.cfl.ca/schedule/year/2012/time_zone/0
I stand corrected… They are being televised.
Awesome!
brad

hi. I am a huge supporter of the lions and i live in langley. i work in abbotsford and sometimes i work until 630 on fridays and cant make it to the game. after work i race to the beer store to get some beer and race home to catch the rest of the game on tsn, only to find out the game is blacked out. i end up sitting in my car in my driveway for a few hours and tune in to 1410 (those guys do a great job by the way) but its not the same. i wish we wern’t punished for not going to the game. I was a season ticket holder from 1990-2009, but because of a new job i cant go to all games. blackout sucks!!!!!
Sad in the Valley

Is this not discrmination? People who are not physically able or financially able (cost of tix, travel, parking, sitters, etc.) are denied the opportunity to cheer on their team.
Really bad since they only play one game a week.
;-(
Reg

I did have tickets for tonight but can’t go so I DO expect to be able to watch it on tv…and everybody in the province is paying for the new roof over the Lions’ heads so they should get to watch as well…and if you disagree then you can go piss up a rope…and no,I can’t afford hdtv
- sj-roc
  
  Reg,
  
  The Lions are not the only ones who make use of BCP – far from it in fact, and that has been the case since day one in 1983 – so I don’t see why they should be forced to give away their product to people who have the physical, financial and temporal wherewithal to go to games but feel entitled to watch it for free at home. BTW, Lions’ blackouts don’t affect the entire province. In fact, as I pointed out above in a reply to Jason (who mysteriously offered no reply to my questions), the blackout region isn’t even as large as the ones used by the NFL, and I can assure you the NFL would be even more strict about enforcing blackouts if US lawmakers hadn’t been forcing their hand for the last 40 years or so. And all this is in a land where publically funded football stadiums are FAR more commonplace than in this country.
Paul Deacon

I think the point about blackouts is made a bit simplistically. I live in the gulf islands, and we do not have the opportunity to get off the couch and go to a game. It takes 4 ferries and a hotel plus two days. The blackouts are done by postal code, and are NOT just the GVRD. The method used is just stupid. There are a lot of us who are having a tough time being loyal fans when we can’t see “our” team. So WHY is the blackout applied to areas that are Waaaayyyy outside the GVRD? It would be appreciated if next time you pulled your head out (you know where) before assuming everyone is a whiner, and deserving of your crap. When it was the “Lions roar in ’54″ I WAS THERE. When it was the lions roar in 64 I WAS THERE. For over 50 years I have been there. Where were you? So just how much support HAVE you contributed? I am NOT impressed….by the blackout policy, OR by your words. Get some time in!
- sj-roc
  
  Paul,
  
  As somone who once lived in Victoria in the 1990s I understand your frustration at seeing Lions blackouts being applied beyond the Lower Mainland (at that time, games aired on both CBC and TSN but only CBC blacked out Lions home games in Victoria). If it makes you feel any better, Lions President Dennis Skulsky indicated yesterday on 1040 that only 5 of 9 home games this year (he didn’t specify exactly which ones) will be blacked out. With all road games on TV, that means 13 of 18 regular season games will be televised in the blackout area.
Tabby Fan

I pay for TSN just to watch CFL games with my mother. I cannot afford an HDTV so I do not get TSN HD – football is the only sport we watch.

We are a single income home and this is hard enough living in Vancouver and should be able to watch the game on TV. Too bad all of us are not as rich as you to afford not only the tickets but all the other costs too. – Shakes head at superiority complex of some…
Scott

Let’s be honest, the CFL and the Lions are a bush league. There’s what…8 total teams? I know it’s bridge and tunnel people who love the CFL, and I get why, so why don’t the Lions offer the shitty upper bowl sections for $5 a ticket, knowing people will buy A) at least a beer B) probably a hot dog C) potentially merchandise…in the end, the cheaper the seats are, the more people spend on things that have equal or greater profit margins.