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NHL » Attendance issues in Winnipeg?

Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg? [message #830291 is a reply to message #830264 ]	Wed, 28 February 2024 19:05

PlusOne
Messages: 1548
Registered: July 2006
Location: Regina, Sask

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inverno76 wrote on Tue, 27 February 2024 23:05

Why do the Jets have such poor attendance? 13k a game in a barn that only holds 15,225. Rink is right downtown and has more going on around the rink pre and post game than lots of other markets. Team is battling for the top spot in the NHL and the population base is 75% of Edmonton’s.

Seems odd. Last time I was in the Peg I couldn’t find a ticket unless I wanted to pay 1.5x above retail.

I can touch on this from a personal POV;
I was part of a group of 10, here in Regina, that had 2 season seats. We had them from day one until 19-20. Over those 9 seasons a number of factors changed and led to us cancelling.
At the start, when we had 82 tickets/~ 10 games each it was all excitement. I didnt care if it was the Devils on a Tuesday, or the Penguins on a Sat I was pumped up to go. After a few years the 5 hour, each way, drive, night in a hotel, using vacation time from work, etc got tedious. As years went on there were less of us willing to take on those mid week/non interesting team options.
I have heard this from a number of other Sask people, the novelty wore off and it just wasnt worth it. I have family that farms near the Sask/Man border that had a combined 6 season tix. They are down to 2.
This leads me to selling tickets. Early on we had a lot of people hitting us up for tickets. Our excitement was high so we didnt want to sell but if for some reason we did it was an easy deal to make.
As years went on this became harder and harder and by that last year we could barely give them away, even to locals.

The next issue was the attitude of Jets fans. The first three years it was a big family in the stands, no one cared where you were from or even who you cheered for, they were so happy to have a team back that they appreciated everyone.
Semi related story as it lends to the cheap beer and the good natured relationship with Jets fans; I was at my 2nd or 3rd game of year one. The pairs on both sides of our seats were Jets fans, from Winnipeg. Its a midweek and I bought a round of drinks. One of the guy besides be says "what is the deal with these season tickets, its always 2 different guys, cheering against the Jets, and the drunkest guys in the building" I am not sure if we were the drunkest but we drank the same amount whether it was a Tuesday or HNIC.
By the end the fan experience changed if you werent cheering for the Jets. I had a guy burn a hole in my Fuhr jersey. Another guy had beer dumped on him while cheering for the lighting, there were stories online, quite often, of negative fan experiences.
I took my then 14 year old son to a game, wearing Leafs jerseys. A guy a couple rows back yelled homophobic slurs at the Leafs and their fans for the entire 1st period. He was ejected between the 1st and 2nd after other Jets fans reported him.
My group had fans of different teams and one one Jets fan. I had a deal with every guy that if they provided the jersey I would wear it and cheer on that team as long it wasnt a Flames or Canucks jersey. It was an interesting experiment hearing the thoughts of Jets fans towards different fan bases and how it changed over the years.
What was good natured fan fun turned ugly as time passed and while non of us ever got into fight every one of our group has stories about having to de-escalate a potentially violent Jets fan.
It is important to note that LOTS of the Jets fans were awesome. Many I am still in contact with. As always, a few jerks can have a big impact and unfortunately the jerk numbers grew to a point the fan experience became worse.

Third, and this was lesser than the first two, ownership/management. Right from the start ownership had a pompous air to them. They knew the market was excited to have the teams back and in our groups opinion they took advantage of that. Prices went up, restrictions went up, in stadium experiences went down. It started to feel like a budget experience at a premium price (more on that in the next point). Every year come renewal time the tone became more condescending and often threatening. This isnt unique to the Jets but as the first two issues grew this one got more annoying. Every time a renewal email demanded more while offering less it became a tougher bill to pay.
In addition, and this didnt matter to us, but the constant exit of players previously sold by the team to fans as cornerstones, got tiring to Jets fans. They always seemed to be good but not good enough and in the offseason a premium piece of that team would leave.

I mentioned the premium price above. I am not saying they were outrageously priced but it definitely wasnt cheap. I just meant that going to a po sporting event is a premium expense for most people. I think when they started they were in the lower third of the NHL scale and last I heard they had crept up a few spaces but still not above the median.

I know my story is one set of tickets but there are a number of stories like ours, people that had tickets, that drove in for games, that dont anymore. What overall effect that has on the revenues or current issues I dont know but it obviously doesnt help.

The corporate money issue is a big one but it shouldn't be a surprise. It was considered one of the biggest issues to the Jets coming back and I am sure the downturn in the economy hasnt helped.

Survivor LX(I) and 67 Champ(i)on

CrusaderPi wrote on Thu, 30 January 2020 12:21

und(i)sputed O.L.F.N Heavybra(i)n Champ(i)on of the Woooooooooooooooooorld. Plus. One.

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Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: inverno76 on Tue, 27 February 2024 22:05
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: smyth260 on Tue, 27 February 2024 23:18
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: Kr55 on Tue, 27 February 2024 23:37
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: NZ Oiler Fan on Wed, 28 February 2024 05:28
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: inverno76 on Wed, 28 February 2024 17:34
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: PlusOne on Wed, 28 February 2024 19:05
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: inverno76 on Fri, 01 March 2024 06:34
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: halfafrog on Tue, 21 May 2024 13:26
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: Casade on Mon, 13 May 2024 22:33
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: CrusaderPi on Tue, 14 May 2024 10:33
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: Casade on Tue, 14 May 2024 17:54
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: oilfan94 on Wed, 15 May 2024 12:18
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: CrusaderPi on Wed, 15 May 2024 13:20
Re: Attendance issues in Winnipeg?	By: Oscargasm on Tue, 21 May 2024 20:21

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