Edmonton Elks attendance going in the wrong direction. And how to turn it around.

 Its been one year since the new owner has taken ownership of the Edmonton Elks football club. Hope was high. Surely, the last several years of losses and misery were coming to an end. They invested in alot of new pieces in the off-season, a new CEO, GM, Coach and saying they were going with Tre Ford as their main guy and they were going to build the team around him. 

CEO Chris Morris came out with some real tough talk. Fans believed him. Things were going to change.  It would not happen overnight, but things were turning for the better, right? 

It didn't last long. The ticket sales are terrible. It seems like they have no fresh ideas to bring in new fans. Putting Eskimos on the fire truck didn't do it. They are depending on the little base they have left to step up again. It is not enough. And as the season goes on, it gets worse. The game against Toronto had an official attendance of 16,526 people. The game before was over 18,000. The game before that was 17,500+. the one before that 16,500+ and the home opener, got a whopping 14,389 people. 

These numbers are terrible. 

Now I know what you are thinking.......put a winning team on the field and the fans will come. 

Nope. No they will not. I mean sure, if this team starts blowing it out of the water, they could get 20,000 fans, maybe 24,000 fans a game against the riders, but the fans are NOT coming back. 

The name change just exposed bigger issues. The football club has no strategy to grow a fan base. None. 

The Elks need to think outside the box here. 

First, they need to promote their players. Most people in Edmonton couldn't name a member of the team. And the guy they could name...Tre Ford....they benched him. Names like Javon Leake and Justin Rankin should be as well known as Connor McDavid. Pick 4-5 guys and make them into celebrities. I mean, they should all be doing car commercials at this point and crazy social media. More people know who Pete the Plumber is than any Elks players and Pete is in Calgary. You get the idea. 

The team will find it's winning ways, but it needs a foundation. And that foundation is a loyal fan base and a full stadium. Sports is as much a mental game as a physical one. Part of the key is filling up that stadium. Kids need players to cheer for....and so do adults. Right now they are a bunch of anonymous dudes on the field. 

Now ticket sales are another matter. People buy tickets to see their heroes in person. If they do not have a hero to cheer for, what is the point? People that just "love football" can just watch it on TV. And they do. 

So I am going to propose a few things that the Elks can do to turn around the ship.

1. Find 4-5 players and promote them. I mean, people in Edmonton need to see them daily....I ain't talking about school visits, I am talking about promotional gigs. TV commercials for the local car dealership, whatever it takes to promote them. I mean, it needs to be over the top whatever it is. Basically, get it to the level that 50% of people in Edmonton could tell you who 5 players are. 50%. Right now I can PROMISE you less than 5% of people in Edmonton could name 3 Elks players. That needs to change. 

2. Let the coach and GM and the team figure out their game. This team can find a way to win, but one thing is a MUST. You need to lock in Tre Ford as the future. He will come through and he will get better and better...but they have to give him the keys and let him HOLD the keys. This year they butchered it. Tre Ford will have ups and downs, but they need to let him go through them, not throw in a band-aid to try and get a win. They must think long term. 

3. Tickets sales are a joke. They put advertising over the upper deck..that is how bad it is. After many years, it is time to invest in a few stunts to fill the seats, and it requires spending a little money.  Here is the plan I would do.  

            a) Open the entire upper deck and end zone. 

            b) Hire a marketing crew to hand out 500,000 ticket vouchers DOOR TO DOOR during the season. Gather data and market other things to these people, partner with Companies like Neo Financial or Shakepay or Telus so the Elks get a commission on new sign ups for those companies. (If you click on those links you will see what I did there....thanks for your support by the way! NEO Financial gives you free cash when you sign up, hint in....so does Shakepay. )

           c) Handing out free ticket vouchers is one thing, but how do you actually convince people to use them? Well, that is where an investment comes in. 100 fans at each game, will randomly win $1000. How to get the $100,000? Well, you better fill that concourse with people taking credit card applications for that new EE Mastercard by the local credit union like they do in Winnipeg to start. Find a way to make $3.33 per fan extra per game. I have honestly never had anyone try to pitch me a pretzel at a Elks game. That has to change. I mean, hustle me a little bit, I already bought tickets, you got me locked in a stadium for 3 hours....sell me something. You give out the free tickets, promote the $100,000 cash giveaway at the game, but they have to be IN the gate by the end of the 1st Quarter and the cash gets handed out IN THE SEATS during the game during commercial breaks. All on the big screen. People like cash. Alot.  Make sure its on the local news, make sure everyone is talking about it..it should be blowing up on social media. But Free tickets vouchers??? Really? Well the stadium is empty right now, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And it would be a steady promotion until they fill up that whole stadium. The new owner has cash. It would cost a $1 million for a season, but they would make it back with merch sales and sales funnels for promotions and sponsors. In order for the team to have a great future, they need to fill the stadium. And that requires a little investment and a little work. The status quo isn't working.  If the Elks are interested, I'll run the damn program for them, because I don't think they have it in them right now to think outside the box. They have too many people with degrees and not enough hustle. I just gave them a plan to turn it around. They have to go ALL IN. 

I know my blog is cheesy and I am not exactly a great writer....but I got some grit. Something the Elks Football Club marketing team is lacking. I hope they steal some ideas from me. They need to get INTENSE. I dare them to steal these ideas. They won't though, because they want to THINK their way to more fans instead of doing the work. Get off your laptops, start door knocking. They could put the 500,000 vouchers in my hands and I will have my team of hustlers go door to door for free while I collect the commissions. I'd be selling solar deals door to door while handing the vouchers out...but it would only work with the cash giveaways. Again, they aren't all in. My prediction....5 years from now they will average 20,000 - 21,000 fans a game if they maintain the status quo. 

Yes, I am a little crazy. But not as crazy as empty stadiums. Honest talk. 

You can find me on X/twitter @thealbertabee

jonflamesfan1@gmail.com

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