01-23-2018, 02:31 PM
(01-23-2018, 06:02 AM)kevin Wrote: I will post Bengals attendance from 1968 to now. Keep in mind they started at small Nippert Stadium, in 1970 moved to larger Riverfront Stadium and in 1990 move to larger Paul Brown Stadium. There were some strike shortened seasons such as 1982 and 1987. 1982 was only 4 home games and that was sad considering Bengals had just been in Super Bowl and it should have been more of a profit to Paul Brown. The strike years turn off fans for next few seasons also. In 1978 the NFL went from 14 games to 16 games, so one home game added. In looking at these numbers not every good attendance year is a good record season and vice versa. Some average to awful years had fans in stands and some good seasons the fans weren't there. It seems ticket sales have a great deal to do with the seasons leading up to it. 2017 poor ticket sales probably due to how awful Bengals were in 2016. The lowest turnout in Paul Brown Stadium History is 2011 and I liked that team, but the Carson and Ocho fans sure didn't get behind that team. Of course there was the bad 2008 and bad 2010 seasons and 2011 started with a strike lockout which fans hate, and Carson hold out, Ocho gone as well as one year TO gone. Still, 2011 was a good up and coming play-off team, but they were a surprise as many felt 4 win season or less was coming. So ADVANCED TICKET SALES are huge. I would guess advanced ticket sales for 2018 will not be very good coming off 2 losing seasons. The Bengals best attendance was 2006 and of course 2005 brought advanced ticket sales for 2006. So it very much looks like ticket sales have a great deal to do with the season before, so we can blame 2017 ticket sales on the 2016 season with 2017 not being much better.
The Attendance rounded off in the hundred thousand number :
1968- 180 Nippert AFL EXPANSION TEAM
1969-191
1970-408 Riverfront, Play-Offs First Year in NFL
1971-415
1972-398
1973-387 Play-Offs
1974-368
1975-360 Play-Offs
1976-363
1977-322
1978-355
1979-330
1980-364
1981-422 Play-Offs, Super Bowl
1982- 215 NFL Strike 4 Home Games, Play-Offs
1983-397
1984-390
1985-425
1986-433
1987-376 NFL Strike With Replacement Player Teams
1988-442, Play-Offs, Super Bowl
1989-440
1990-473, Play-Offs
1991-423
1992-413
1993-353
1994-415
1995-385
1996-382
1997-440
1998-444
1999-405
2000-470 Paul Brown Stadium
2001-455
2002-422
2003-479
2004-524
2005-526 Play-Offs
2006-528
2007-526
2008-517
2009-512 Play-Offs
2010-483
2011-394 Play-Offs
2012-490 Play-Offs
2013-506 Play-Offs
2014-486 Play-Offs , FCC stops TV Black-Outs of Home Games.
2015-491 Play-Offs
2016-508
2017-425
Again, as bad as 2016 team was, 508 thousand, so more to do with advanced ticket sales due to year before. Awful 2016 caused decline in 2017 and look for 2018 to be down. Again 2011 season was down due to 2010. Some awful early 1990's attendance was up from Super Bowl and Play-Offs causing advanced ticket sales. It looks like people bought tickers to see new Riverfront and new Paul Brown Stadiums, wanting to see new stadium. Sadly those first years in Paul Brown Stadium were some of worst Bengals teams ever, yet attendance up at first.
The Brown Family has urgent need to get 425 figure up as they had in 2002 with 422 figure. I don't include 2011 because play-offs with rookies Dalton and Green was already a help. New Coach Lewis and Top Pick Carson Palmer spiked ticket sales quickly after awful 2002. Bengals are bringing in new coaches after 2017. They need to fix offensive line and such in free agency and draft. If Detroit Defensive Coordinator brings over some of his Detroit Defensive free agents, that could make Bengals a Super Bowl Defense real fast. There will be no Carson Palmer draft type for fans to gush over, but fixing the O Line and Defense could bring play-off wins to increase attendance going into 2020's.
Those saying hitting 425 number as in 2002 doesn't bother Brown Family, I disagree and this is hitting them in their bank account hard. Brown Family wants back up around the 500 figure ASAP, you can count on that. To be around 400 instead of 500 is a lot of empty seats and 1/5 less home game money. A 20 % loss in home game money hurts and there is no way they can be happy. Even with TV profit sharing it is still a 20 % loss on home games to Brown Family. The good news is it was just one year. If they can get back up to around 500 fast, it will just be an off year. Still, they need wins to climb back up the ladder. Trust me, The Brown Family is hurting big time from 100 thousand missing fans. That is a ton of money and they want those 100 thousand fans and their money back. THIS IS WHY MIKE BROWN IS NOW GIVING RARE MEDIA INTERVIEWS. LAST TIME HE GAVE INTERVIEWS HE WANTED A NEW STADIUM. WHEN MIKE BROWN GIVES INTERVIEWS, HE WANTS MONEY. IN THIS CASE HE HAS LOST 20 % OF HIS HOME GAME MONEY AND HE NEEDS TO GET FANNIES IN THE SEATS AGAIN. Some of his free agency moves and draft picks have not worked out at all, and he is losing money big time at a 20 % loss in home game revenue. Even he knows that he can't stay in business long at a 20 % loss each year. To the fans it's about wins and losses, but to Mike Brown it now becomes about a 20 % loss in revenue and how does he get ticket sales back up ??? MONEY BALL. ...EMPTY SEATS ARE HIS ENEMY. EMPTY SEATS TEAMS CAN'T COMPETE.
(01-23-2018, 01:13 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: The outlook for the team in 2018 filling seats is stormy at best. At 425,000 in 2017, another 10% decrease (very possible) now put them down to 383,000 which would be lowest number since 1996. Does anyone have access to number of season tickets sold the past 20 years? The season tickets give them cash to operate prior to the season, a huge decline hurts their ability to have money to spend on free agents, renovations or frankly anything.
They will never go broke due to the CBA, but their income has to take a huge hit losing this many paying guests.
Team attendance is an irrelevant figure when it comes to the bottom line. Believing such shows a complete lack of knowledge of how NFL economics work.
Ticket revenues (minus club and suites) are pooled and shared evenly amongst the 32 teams. As you will see below, NFL attendance has been very consistent the last 10 seasons.......
Year Total League Attendance
2008 17.33 million
2009 17.15 million
2010 17.01 million
2011 17.12 million
2012 17.18 million
2013 17.3 million
2014 17.36 million
2015 17.26 million
2016 17.79 million
2017 17.26 million
So, even if the Bengals experience a significant dip in attendance (they won't BTW), that dip would not even register as a blip on the financials. The system is setup to basically guarantee revenue - the theory that Cincinnati, for example, will take a hit due to poor performance but it will be made up when a team like Jacksonville experiences a spike due to their surprising success has been proven correct time and time again.
This is why I laugh at those who think a boycott of PBS is somehow going to "hit MB where it hurts." Staying home and watching on TV actually makes him more because the NFL ratings go up which means that the TV contract values, the most important revenue stream in NFL economics, skyrocket.
Stay home, be bitter. MB will probably thank you.
