Comment 45974

By slodrive (registered) | Posted August 19, 2010 at 11:00:55

@Andrea - Well, for this year it's more like 83%, but who's counting? When Bob first took over the team, we had a run of about 3 years where between 27k and 28k were showing up. Unfortunately, a brutally dismal product soured the fans.

As with any product or event, the results from a solid marketing mix -- something that was sorely lacking in the years were 12,000 were showing up. What Bob Young has shown is, if you serve up the product well, people in Hamilton will fill the stadium. But, you're right, you have to deliver.

I think we also have to remember that, last week for the Winnipeg game -- two 1-4 teams -- the viewership was 858,000 nationally. I think we can extrapolate that a good chunk of those numbers were from viewers in Winnipeg and here in Hamilton. Which, we can further extrapolate that people in Hamilton are engaged.

The problem is, with a lot of pro-sports franchises, the ability to make a profit isn't easy -- save for a few key markets. And, the ability to measure the benefits of said teams isn't easy. Meaning, it cannot be reflected in just profits or losses.

It is very clear -- even based on the fact that we're having this conversation -- that this team means a lot to this community. Don't entirely sell it short by limiting your judgement to number of butts-in-seats. It's a good indicator, for sure. And, I'd be right with you if there were only 16,000 showing up at games and viewership was as paltry as a team like Toronto FC. Fact is, after almost a decade of losing, we're putting well over 20,000 in the seats -- and, right now, a lot of people have become very active in our city's municipal politics solely because of this stadium issue.

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