When that was said, the Canadian economy was strong, everything has gone downhill economically and has affected peoples bottom line.
While I agree with you -- the economy is down, people are having to choose their entertainment outings more wisely, etc -- the fact is the same lines were used to justify dumping on markets like Atlanta, Arizona, and Long Island for not filling their barns without any understanding of (or simply not caring about) what circumstances existed in those cities. Any responses pointing out circumstances surrounding attendance was met with that line exactly, that any Canadian market would fill the building without a second thought.
The Atlanta situation is widely known now, in that attendance wasn't a factor to what happened here. Try as people might though, they can't take back what was said. The Arizona situation, like it or not, is ongoing, and hopefully they have a solution. Long Island's problem was their owner was terrible and the arena was a literal dump. Their new barn is light years ahead of where that old building was (the Forsyth County, Georgia government even toured UBS earlier this year to get an idea of what to expect with the arena plans here), and the fans are filling that building pretty nicely.
With regards to the Jets, I feel the economy absolutely is a major issue, one that people and companies are still reeling from. This is why I feel public statements from TNSE about sustainability of the franchise are incredibly deaf. If this economic downturn persists or gets worse, then there might be an issue. Smaller markets, whether we like it or not, aren't very well insulated against the effects of economic downturn.
Another five to ten years of lost season ticket holders very well could be unsustainable. I don't know, I'm not an economist. But TNSE preying on the fears of Jets fans in Winnipeg by going public with the alarm bells is predatory, and will absolutely do more harm than good. In this way, I feel like TNSE really needs to change their approach. Offer the carrot, not the stick. Be more friendly and listen to the fans. Offer better customer service in the event (as the story related earlier goes) will call tickets aren't made available. There's a lot of little things they could be doing to be better to the community, but simply choose not to. That's one hell of a choice.
TNSE earned a ton of goodwill by bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg, but are showing that maybe that goodwill was too freely given.
