Bengals Aiming for sold out season

[MadCardDisease]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=sellingoutincincy&prov=tsn&type=lgns



Selling out in Cincy

By Mike DeCourcy - SportingNews


The first day the Bengals placed two-game ticket packages on sale, ticket director Kevin Lane did some morning TV interviews. The hype wasn't necessary. At 8 a.m., when Lane drove up to Paul Brown Stadium, he saw a line "a football field long."

Once the NFL's longest-running joke, the Bengals -- who were 8-6 in 2003 before falling from the playoff race -- inspired fans to buy more two-game plans in one day last week than they did all last season. New season-ticket sales have tripled from the same point last year. "The response has been phenomenal," Lane says.

Bengals season-ticket sales generally pick up as the season approaches. Lane believes selling out the entire season in advance is a reasonable goal. Given that they averaged nearly 14,000 under capacity in 2002 -- the last year before coach-savior Marvin Lewis was hired -- that's a comeback even Kurt Warner couldn't top.

 

[MadCardDisease]

If Green has early sucess like Lewis, look for fans to flock back to the stadium in 2005.

 

[azdad1978]

If we start out 4-4 single game tickets sales will be double IMO.

 

[MadCardDisease]

If we start out 4-4 single game tickets sales will be double IMO.

I think it depend on how exciting the offense is. If they can play like a top offense then ticket sales will increase.

 

[Ryanwb]

If we start out 4-4 single game tickets sales will be double IMO.

No they won't.... The Diamondbacks didn't even sell out the National League Championship series or Division Series in 2001. Nobody showed until the World Series. Phoenix fans are a joke, its like they have to be guaranteed a championship to even show up

 

[MadCardDisease]

No they won't.... The Diamondbacks didn't even sell out the National League Championship series or Division Series in 2001. Nobody showed until the World Series. Phoenix fans are a joke, its like they have to be guaranteed a championship to even show up

Baseball is so different from Football. We are talking 80 games compared to 8 games. Not to mention baseball is boring as hell. This city is thirsty of a NFL winner and will show up if the Cardinals turn it around.

 

[azdad1978]

No they won't.... The Diamondbacks didn't even sell out the National League Championship series or Division Series in 2001. Nobody showed until the World Series. Phoenix fans are a joke, its like they have to be guaranteed a championship to even show up

Like MadCard said football bandwagon fans are different from Baseball bandwagon fans and I agree with MadCard.

 

[Ryanwb]

Baseball is so different from Football. We are talking 80 games compared to 8 games. Not to mention baseball is boring as hell. This city is thirsty of a NFL winner and will show up if the Cardinals turn it around.

I'm not talking about a regular season game, i'm talking about the playoffs. My point is, the D'backs were the talk of the town at that point in time, television ratings were off the charts, but nobody showed up indicitive of Phoenix fans

 

[Ryanwb]

Like MadCard said football bandwagon fans are different from Baseball bandwagon fans and I agree with MadCard.

Duh! Of course you agree he is supporting your point :roll:

 

[azdad1978]

Duh! Of course you agree he is supporting your point :roll:

 

[MadCardDisease]

I'm not talking about a regular season game, i'm talking about the playoffs. My point is, the D'backs were the talk of the town at that point in time, television ratings were off the charts, but nobody showed up indicitive of Phoenix fans

I still think Baseball is a totally different animal from Football. They can't be compared. You are talking a 5 or 7 game series for baseball playoffs compared to just one game for Football playoffs. That's a huge difference.

 

[jf-08]

i agree with my take on this one.

 

[Ryanwb]

i agree with my take on this one.

Your "the d'backs should just field a team of midgets because their strike zone would be so small they would just walk every time up to the plate" theory?

wouldn't work

 

[azdad1978]

i agree with my take on this one.

huh Agree with MadCard or Ryan?

 

[Brevity]

huh Agree with MadCard or Ryan?

The other guy...

 

[azdad1978]

The other guy...

The third party?

 

[ajcardfan]

I think the crowds will come back for the Cardinals, but it's going to take a more than one 8-8 season. This team has the most negative perception about it, hands down, in the NFL. The last few years have been very tough. And, they burned some bridges with a lot of people with the stadium location mess and the ASU lawsuit.

That said, any playoff game would definitely sell out.

 

[MadCardDisease]

I think the crowds will come back for the Cardinals, but it's going to take a more than one 8-8 season. This team has the most negative perception about it, hands down, in the NFL. The last few years have been very tough. And, they burned some bridges with a lot of people with the stadium location mess and the ASU lawsuit.

That said, any playoff game would definitely sell out.

I really don't think people care about burned bridges. All they want is a quality product on the field. If the Cardinals can consistantly put a quality product on the field, the Fans will come out to watch them.

 

[Brevity]

I think Phoenix is a football town. My evidence is the number of license plate frames with the names of football teams on them.

The problem is most are names of teams other than the Cards. It will take a few winning seasons to begin getting fans to switch allegiances and thus begin filling SDS.

 

[MadCardDisease]

It will take a few winning seasons to begin getting fans to switch allegiances and thus begin filling SDS.

If it takes a few seasons it won't be SDS that we are filling!

 

[azdad1978]

If it takes a few seasons it won't be SDS that we are filling!

It will be the new Stadium that will be full of Cards fan.

 

[ajcardfan]

I really don't think people care about burned bridges. All they want is a quality product on the field. If the Cardinals can consistantly put a quality product on the field, the Fans will come out to watch them.

Agreed.

But, I just think one 8-8 season won't be enough to generate Cardinals mania on a large scale. I know several people who swear they will never get Cardinals tickets again. Yeah, they might change their minds, but it won't happen overnight. It took years of losing and PR blunders to make this mess, they won't climb out of it in one season.

 

[BigRedMO]

I think most fans pick teams for life regardless of where the team has moved or they have moved. I think you will have a hard time getting lifelong fans of other team to drop their allegiances. That said I think natives of Arizona and corporate sales are the key. If the Cards put an exciting product on the field companies will want to woo their customers by taking them to the game. So with corporate tickets you will have filled stands but not neccessarily die hard Cards fans. It wont be as bad as large numbers of overtly hostile fans but more neutral sit on their hands types. The key to having large number of die hard, rabid and noisy Cards fans at the game is also winning.

 

[Freddie]

I'm getting season tickets this year. I would've never considered season tickets if the organization didn't look like they're headed in the right direction.

My friends are the same way, yet some of us are going to take the plunge. If we can get a good offensive team out there and achieve a .500 record, the new stadium will be filled almost every game when it opens.