I need some clarification about C & S era attendance

[Will]

I'm having trouble putting some facts together.

[1] Are the accusations that C & S were inflating attendance numbers or that a significant amount of the people in the seats were "comped?"

[2] I guess if it is the former, what were actual attendance numbers and if it is the latter how many people had "comped" seats?

[Ticats85]

So when they had average attendance of 30 000 during the C&S era it was papered? During the Flutie era they couldn't draw people to the dome, the last time they had good crowds was at exhibition stadium? Mr Braley has his work cut out for him, i really hope he can turn it around

[Will]

The Argos drew reasonably well for the first few years at Skydome until 1993.

Does anybody know to what extent the house was papered under C&S?

[argolio]

Does anybody know to what extent the house was papered under C&S?

Ten bucks says no one really knows.

Another ten says someone will claim to know.

[AngeloV]

Ten bucks says no one really knows.

Another ten says someone will claim to know.

LOL!!! I wonder who you can possibly be talking about.

[Will]

LOL!!! I wonder who you can possibly be talking about.

I can think of several posters.

[Invader]

Glad you asked. But seriously folks, the lower bowl was often packed in the first few C & S seasons, with very few no-shows. There weren't big gaps of empty blue seats that is more the norm at Skydome. The upper decks were open back then too, I believe. Many fans liked the view from up there, but perhaps not enough to justify opening them up. Perhaps one side of the upper deck could be opened when demand warrants it?

How many tickets were given away? At the time there was no mention of that. Nobody accused C & S of papering the crowd until after they had left the team. We don't know if that was just some sour-faced columnist who wrote that to pile some negative Karma on the Argos...or if it was actually true. I suspect there were some comp tickets, but probably no more than 2 or 3,000 a game. (It's not as easy to give away sports tickets as one might think and have the people actually show up, as the BJ's and Bills have found out). While it's unlikely anybody here knows the actual season ticket totals back then, they were often quoted as "approaching 15,000"...which could mean 12,500...or 14,000. There's no denying the Argos had a very strong walk-up crowd back then. And that's the truth...pthhhhhh

[argonaut11xx]

I liked the way that the dome was presented during the C&S era. It had an "argo-feel"...those big posters in the 500 level were awesome, and covering over the crappy seats with blue argo banners was better than looking at empty seats.
For the first few years there was a real electricity. (i had seasons tickets in sec 109 during this time)

This year will be interesting, the crowd levels should increase, and hopefully the game day experience will be more "electric", and a bunch of these new fans will stick around for AFTER Grey Cup 100.

[argotom]

C & S did a good job during their era and I agree the dome did have a much better feel to it.
As for papering the house, I would guess everyone in all sports is involved.
Perhaps the only exception is becaus of the stupidity factor for the fans of the Leafs?

[Ballstothewall]

The Argos did have close to 14,000 season ticket holders under CS, but when MR B bought the team, it was under 5,000. They should be back to close to 10,000 this year and i say between 22,500 and 24,000 PAID for this year, which would be a great step forward

[KCargosfan]

The Argos did have close to 14,000 season ticket holders under CS, but when MR B bought the team, it was under 5,000. They should be back to close to 10,000 this year and i say between 22,500 and 24,000 PAID for this year, which would be a great step forward

Besides winning, what kind of marketing has worked the best in the past?

[argonaut11xx]

i was kinda excited when former owner Sherwood Schwartz wanted to have a "stripper night"...but sadly the promo fell through...

hehe...