tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
Tickets-sold is the only reasonable universal standard, as it sets the literal definition for a “sellout”. If the ticket is sold but the seat is empty at game time, there could very well be 10,000 people lined up to take that ticket, except that they’re not able to access it. If the ticket isn’t sold and the seat is empty at game time, then the only conclusion is that nobody wanted to buy it. That gives a clear-cut answer to the question, is this seat in demand?
Turnstile count is interesting, and I’d love to see those numbers too because they’d give us a different kind of information about demand to see that particular game. But for one thing, turnstile counts are unreliable and VERY easy to fake. Back in the days of physical tickets and three-pronged turnstiles, I worked at a concert venue and remember seeing teenaged ushers and small kids spinning them just to watch the numbers tick up. To measure attendance, the low-paid staff would actually take the plastic bags of torn tickets out of the turnstile and count them by hand.
My guess is there probably hasn’t been a game in the history of the league where literally 100% of seats were actually filled. I remember there was a Packers playoff game years ago where only one guy didn’t show up, and it made national headlines because it’s incredible to get that close to true 100% (meaning nobody got sick at the last minute, nobody’s flight got cancelled, etc). Nobody would be hitting 100% if that were the standard, but a sellout is a sellout.
I do think that a large number of those empty seats (which are also an issue at Canes games — it’s always the same entire rows which are empty) are due to brokers buying up sections, which is how sellout streaks get sustained long term. It sucks but I don’t see a way around it, seeing as the brokers are a huge source of revenue for the franchise and also for Ticketmaster. That behavior will always be encouraged at the expense of optics.
Anyway, my remark about Winnipeg was simply that we heard so much chest-thumping from the Make It Seven zealots about how the appetite for the Jets would be bottomless and there would never be a ticket available. Now they’ve got the #1 team in the entire NHL, looking to make the playoffs for the 7th time in 8 years, and they’re drawing 14K a game which is lower than what the Atlanta Thrashers drew most years. It’s not that I wish ill on the Jets, I hope they figure it out and thrive financially. But I meant exactly what I said — I don’t want to hear one single word from them about empty seats in other barns. Same with a few other teams on that list, like Calgary and Ottawa and Pittsburgh and Chicago. Oh, three Cups wasn’t enough excitement to hold you over till the next generational lottery win? Not a word.
