High ticket prices keep Bills short of sellout for Toronto games
Seat sales so far show mixed results
High ticket prices have prevented what some expected to be a quick sellout of the Buffalo Bills’ games in Toronto this season.
Nevertheless, Toronto organizers of the Bills series say they are happy with the response, which already has generated significantly more revenue than the Bills collect for a single game at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park.
Rogers Communication officials reported last week that more than 90 percent of the roughly 40,000 general seats have been sold for the first three games of the series. Just more than half of the high-priced VIP packages have been sold, according to Adrian Montgomery, Rogers director of football operations. There are about 14,000 of those for sale.
“We’re really pleased with the way it’s moved,” Montgomery said. “Obviously, we wanted to put the registration program forward to give football fans the first chance at the best tickets. And we’re thrilled with the number of tickets they’ve purchased, particularly since, to this point, we’ve only offered them on a multi-game, multi-year basis.”
Not so impressive figure: Two months into the sales campaign, there still are roughly 11,000 tickets unsold for the first three games, based on officials’ sales estimates and a seating capacity of 54,000 at the Rogers Centre. (The actual capacity may be a bit less for the Bills’ games.)
Very impressive figure: Ticket sales to date represent an estimated $9 million in ticket revenue per game, which is roughly $3 million more than the Bills collect in total revenue for a game at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
There is little doubt that the Rogers company could have sold out the series quicker. It’s apparent, however, that organizers have pushed the limits of their pricing power in the fifth largest market in North Ameri - ca.
The average ticket price for general seats — those not between the 20-yard lines in the lower bowl — is $183, or double the highest-priced average ticket in the NFL last year (which was sold in New England). Still, those are mostly gone.
Sales have been tougher for the high-priced corporate seats. The prices for the VIP seats — the best in the lower bowl and the “club seats” — range from $350 to $575 a ticket.
There are 27 days remaining until the Bills play the Pittsburgh Steelers in an exhibition game at the Rogers Center on Aug. 14. The Bills’ regular-season game in Toronto this year is Dec. 7 against the Miami Dolphins. There will be six more games in Toronto over the following four years, through 2012.
Rogers continues to run newspaper and radio ads to promote the game, and officials said that will continue even after all tickets are sold.
“There are still some seats, but even when this thing is sold out to the brim, we’ll still continue to promote it,” said Phil Lind, Rogers vice chairman. “There’s a promotion schedule, and we’re doing this not just for the 50,000 at the game, but because we want to hype the interest throughout all of Toronto.”
Since the tickets went on sale in mid-May, fans who registered on a Web site to purchase tickets have been asked to buy either an eight-game package or a three-game package (including the two games this year and one regular-season game next season).
This week, Ticketmaster outlets have begun selling the preseason game against the Steelers as a one-game event and the Pittsburgh and Miami games as a two-game package.
The fact that the first game in the packages is a preseason game creates a bit more of a challenge for organizers, since sales will continue after the first game. Toronto has hosted preseason games before, and fans there are sophisticated about the exhibition nature of the games. When the Bills played Green Bay in a preseason game in Toronto in 1997, there were a good 7,000 empty seats, even though the game was announced as a virtual sellout at prices far lower than the ones for the current series.
Sales for the VIP seats did not start until mid-June. Those seats are geared toward corporate clients, and that’s a bit late in the year to be selling to corporations.
Nevertheless, no one in Toronto is expecting the Miami game in December to fall short of a sellout.
Whether or not the preseason game against the Steelers can sell out in the next month, the NFL’s owners are sure to remain pleased by the Bills’ international partnership. The owners voted, 32-0, to approve the Bills’ five-year deal, and the Bills’ opponents will share in the greatly increased gate receipts from the game.
The Bills will receive a total of $78 million from Rogers Communications for the eight-game series, an average of $9.75 million per game.
Reader Comments
Click To View and Add Comments