Calgary Flames Experiencing Attendance Issues

[Frank Drebin]

I think normal people are just kind of at their breaking point with ticket prices. A coworker of mine had lower bowl tickets to round 2 vs Vegas (game 4 or 5 I can't remember who had home ice) and couldn't even get rid of them for face value. ($840 for the pair IIRC)

 

[Frank Drebin]

And you're going to see it over and over. Probably for years. The harassment the sunbelt teams have seen for the last 15 years is inexcusable. And harassment is a nice word for what they suffered. Atlanta doesn't even have a team and people STILL talk some of the worst shit I have ever seen about them.

The shoe is on the other foot. I don't want to see Canadian fans get tortured over this but it's gonna happen.

Are these prices a f***ing joke?

 

[hfman]

we're stuck right in the middle of a recession

fewer people have the money to spend on hockey games right now.


They're spinning the same b.s. story about the Jets but it's the same old: people just don't have the extra money to go watch hockey games right now.


That's all it is. Calgary and Winnipeg are hockey towns. They aren't going anywhere lol, this is the typical fear mongering horsesh*t

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

They have an agreement that the team will stay in Calgary for 30 or 35 years with the new arena.

That would literally be a multi billion dollar lawsuit if the owner tries to move the team.

Hurting Edwards in the pocketbook is the only way he will listen.

This team is going to be bad for a few years at least. But with some decent prospects Wolf, Poirier, Coronato, Morin, Zary, Pelletier, Ruzicka and maybe Honzek they should be able to turn it around in 3-4 years

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

Incredible that the numpty government funded them a new arena. I doubt they even looked at the numbers, not sure they even believe in numbers.

 

[iCanada]

Incredible that the numpty government funded them a new arena. I doubt they even looked at the numbers, not sure they even believe in numbers.

They didn't care about the numbers, just buying votes.

 

[Calgarybrutalist]

We had a spell of bad weather last week that might have contributed. But Alberta has been economically stagnant since 2015-- due to oil prices and then the pandemic. I think it's really starting to show now.

But the Saddledome is still awesome, There isnt three stories of boxes like the new arenas, so 90% of the seats are good quality. I have seats in the orange and its really good value. I don't think I'll be able to afford the same seats in the new arena.

 

[blueandgoldguy]

Just looked on StubHub and tickets are available for the Stars @ Flames game on Wednesday night for $8.

These are resale seats though so I'm don't think you are making a point. Whether they get what they want for those tickets is irrelevant, it's a sold seat. Those are season seat holders probably trying to dump their seats for whatever they can get. The cheapest non-resale seats (blue dots on ticketmaster) I have seen at Flames games are the $50 or $60 seats in the third deck.

So far the cheapest blue dots (again, non-resale seats) I have seen at any arena are the $18 and $19 upper deck seats at the San Jose Sharks arena.

Are these prices a f***ing joke?

Again, resale seats meeting they were brought and whoever has them - probably season ticket holders are likely trying to unload them for whatever they can get.

 

[Terry Yake]

I don't want anyone to lose their teams. It is the worst (2X here, Whale and Thrash).

You should know all about that.

it was a joke

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

These are resale seats though so I'm don't think you are making a point. Whether they get what they want for those tickets is irrelevant, it's a sold seat. Those are season seat holders probably trying to dump their seats for whatever they can get. The cheapest non-resale seats (blue dots on ticketmaster) I have seen at Flames games are the $50 or $60 seats in the third deck.

So far the cheapest blue dots (again, non-resale seats) I have seen at any arena are the $18 and $19 upper deck seats at the San Jose Sharks arena.


Again, resale seats meeting they were brought and whoever has them - probably season ticket holders are likely trying to unload them for whatever they can get.

1) Those tickets are for sale on StubHub. Why does it matter where hockey fans buy the tickets from? I buy most of my tickets (Falcons, Braves) from brokers. Ticketmaster is not the only way to go to a game. Point is, there is a mass of tickets available for under $10 that are going unsold to Calgary fans.

2) My point...I was replying to someone knocking on Florida prices (for some reason) saying Canadian teams would sell out if they were cheaper. I was just pointing out that certainly isn't the case.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

it was a joke

It's HF...tough to tell.

 

[WF19]

Canadian Economy. You'll get by if you make 100k a year

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

It isn't about a lack of interest in hockey or the teams. It is about prices. Calgary sold out the Saddledome last year to watch Bedard play. Why ? Bc it didn't cost a fortune to go.

Ticket

Prices

Well, luckily, there are plenty of seats available for $7 tomorrow night. Hopefully that brings out the fans.

 

[FrankMTL]

The big cities with tons of fans and lots of big earners and corporate season ticket holders will always do well. The issue with the smaller cities is that they're not able to cope with the loss of some fans that can't afford to go anymore...there's not enough demand and fans to take their place.

I'm actually shocked Montreal fans are still packing the largest and one of the most expensive arenas in the league......on a rebuilding team. I just checked the prices on StubHub for the Habs/Bruins game on November 11th and the cheapest are the nosebleeds at $221 each. With parking and food, that will run you about $550-$600 to watch the game with binoculars.

You can say what you want about Canadian teams, but they still have 4 of the top 7 attendances in the league so far this season.

On another note....how the hell does Edmonton jam 27,511 people into a 19,581 person arena? Standing room for 8,000?

Regular Season​

Team	Arena Name	Capacity	GP	Total	Avg. ▼	% Capacity
Edmonton Oilers	Commonwealth Stadium,Rogers Place	19,581	4	110,044	27,511	140.5
Montreal Canadiens	Bell Centre	21,105	6	126,630	21,105	100.0
Chicago Blackhawks	United Center	20,500	2	39,237	19,619	95.7
Tampa Bay Lightning	Amalie Arena	19,204	6	114,552	19,092	99.4
Toronto Maple Leafs	Scotiabank Arena	18,819	3	56,952	18,984	100.9
Carolina Hurricanes	PNC Arena	18,680	3	56,373	18,791	100.6
Vancouver Canucks	Rogers Arena	18,910	3	55,737	18,579	98.2
Dallas Stars	American Airlines Center	18,532	4	74,128	18,532	100.0
Minnesota Wild	Xcel Energy Center	17,954	4	73,208	18,302	101.9
Detroit Red Wings	Little Caesars Arena	20,000	5	90,787	18,157	90.8
Colorado Avalanche	Ball Arena	18,007	2	36,271	18,136	100.7
St. Louis Blues	Enterprise Center	18,400	3	54,288	18,096	98.3
Vegas Golden Knights	T-Mobile Arena	17,500	6	108,215	18,036	103.1
New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden (IV)	18,006	2	36,012	18,006	100.0
Los Angeles Kings	Crypto.com Arena	18,118	5	89,620	17,924	98.9
Boston Bruins	TD Garden	17,565	5	89,250	17,850	101.6
Philadelphia Flyers	Wells Fargo Center	19,537	5	87,461	17,492	89.5
Pittsburgh Penguins	PPG Paints Arena	18,387	6	104,943	17,491	95.1
Nashville Predators	Bridgestone Arena	17,113	5	86,763	17,353	101.4
Florida Panthers	FLA Live Arena	19,250	4	69,201	17,300	89.9
Seattle Kraken	Climate Pledge Arena,T-Mobile Park	17,852	3	51,453	17,151	96.1
Calgary Flames	Scotiabank Saddledome	19,289	3	51,111	17,037	88.3
Washington Capitals	Capital One Arena	18,506	5	84,161	16,832	91.0
Ottawa Senators	Canadian Tire Centre	18,652	5	83,728	16,746	89.8
Columbus Blue Jackets	Nationwide Arena	18,144	6	98,225	16,371	90.2
New Jersey Devils	MetLife Stadium,Prudential Center	18,123	6	97,196	16,199	89.4
New York Islanders	MetLife Stadium,UBS Arena	18,708	6	94,140	15,690	83.9
Anaheim Ducks	Honda Center	17,174	3	45,816	15,272	88.9
Buffalo Sabres	KeyBank Center	19,070	6	90,096	15,016	78.7
San Jose Sharks	SAP Center at San Jose	17,435	4	57,749	14,437	82.8
Winnipeg Jets	Canada Life Centre	15,004	5	59,191	11,838	78.9
Arizona Coyotes	Mullett Arena	4,600	3	13,800	4,600	100.0

 

[Frank Drebin]

The heritage classic likely brought the average attendance up, especially considering there have only been a half dozen home games at most

 

[MrLunatik]

Click bait article.

The Flames have had just 3 home games. All mid-week games, the biggest rival being the Jets and that was opening night. The other 2 games were against the Rangers and Blues... no offense to either of those teams but I'm not dealing with crappy road conditions to see either.

Oh and the Flames have one of the larger arenas in the league, so while they are near the bottom for capacity percentage, that's actually mid for actual attendance.... This for a struggling team, with high ticket prices.... This is hardly newsworthy and certainly nothing to be concerned about.

 

[RickyLafleur]

Much like threads discussing struggling southern markets in America devolving into Canadian based fans making wise-cracks about the Southern teams relocating to such thriving metropoli as Quebec City and Hamilton...

Come out for the curtain call.

Only one fifth of the NHL's teams are Canadian, yet the country's fans account for nearly one-third of the league's revenues. And a good chunk of those Canadian dollars end up in the US through revenue sharing, in what has effectively become an effort to subsidize Americans to watch Canada's national sport.

 

[RickyLafleur]

And you're going to see it over and over. Probably for years. The harassment the sunbelt teams have seen for the last 15 years is inexcusable. And harassment is a nice word for what they suffered. Atlanta doesn't even have a team and people STILL talk some of the worst shit I have ever seen about them.

The shoe is on the other foot. I don't want to see Canadian fans get tortured over this but it's gonna happen.

Why does Atlanta deserve a 3rd NHL team? They only made it to the first round twice since 1972 and haven't won a single round 1 game in the 24 years they spent in Atlanta.

 

[joestevens29]

These are resale seats though so I'm don't think you are making a point. Whether they get what they want for those tickets is irrelevant, it's a sold seat. Those are season seat holders probably trying to dump their seats for whatever they can get. The cheapest non-resale seats (blue dots on ticketmaster) I have seen at Flames games are the $50 or $60 seats in the third deck.

So far the cheapest blue dots (again, non-resale seats) I have seen at any arena are the $18 and $19 upper deck seats at the San Jose Sharks arena.


Again, resale seats meeting they were brought and whoever has them - probably season ticket holders are likely trying to unload them for whatever they can get.

it becomes a problem when next year those people that originally bought the tickets don't buy them next year. It's very shortsighted not to look at the resale market.

That and if people don't by the resale tickets it actually has an impact on current revenues too. Less butts in the stands equals less sales in the arena on gameday for food, drink, merchandise etc...

 

[madmike77]

The team sucks, playstyle is boring and tickets are expensive. It‘s natural attendance is going to decline. I doubt it will get to Winnipeg levels though. The absolute floor for Calgary is likely in the 16K range. And it will come up a bit once more interesting teams come to town.

No offense to the Blues and Rangers, but they’re not exactly big draws in Calgary.

 

[Crabapple]

No one has money to spend on a disappointing team. I haven't gone to an Oilers game that I paid for in probably 5 years.

 

[madmike77]

I would add that Calgary was drawing good crowds when Gaudreau and Tkachuk were there.

But if big stars continue to leave teams like Calgary for other markets, you can’t expect Calgary fans to line up around the block to see a second-tier product. No stars = lower ticket sales. That’s the way it is with any sport.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Why does Atlanta deserve a 3rd NHL team? They only made it to the first round twice since 1972 and haven't won a single round 1 game in the 24 years they spent in Atlanta.

So, all the excuses in this thread of why fans aren't showing up to these games are because they don't want to pay to watch a "bad team". That doesn't work for Atlanta?

Or is the economy, because Atlanta left at the tail end of the worst economic conditions since the great depression. Funny how the excuses only work for your favorite teams.

 

[MessierII]

So, all the excuses in this thread of why fans aren't showing up to these games are because they don't want to pay to watch a "bad team". That doesn't work for Atlanta?

Or is the economy, because Atlanta left at the tail end of the worst economic conditions since the great depression. Funny how the excuses only work for your favorite teams.

Ok if this goes on for another couple decades you’ve got an argument.

 

[K1984]

What I don't understand is why in the world anyone would eat/drink at a game? That's like having a 2hr flight and choosing to eat at the airport. Eat/drink before you get to the game. You'll survive the 3hrs at the arena.

To add to this - the number of people willing to line up to buy shitty arena concession food and miss half of the following period because they were waiting is incredible to me. A thought process I can't even begin to understand.

1) Those tickets are for sale on StubHub. Why does it matter where hockey fans buy the tickets from? I buy most of my tickets (Falcons, Braves) from brokers. Ticketmaster is not the only way to go to a game. Point is, there is a mass of tickets available for under $10 that are going unsold to Calgary fans.

View attachment 760740

2) My point...I was replying to someone knocking on Florida prices (for some reason) saying Canadian teams would sell out if they were cheaper. I was just pointing out that certainly isn't the case.

I loathe to defend Calgary, but if you knew anything about those seats you would understand why they are only $7 and still not popular at that price. Those are incredibly far from the ice, if anyone in front of you gets up it blocks half of the view and a lot of seats in that section are obstructed view.