NJDevs26
Once upon a time...
- Mar 21, 2007
- 68,481
- 33,967
Maybe they’re paranoid Bettman moves them to Arizona again now that the market’s finally open
OOT Scoreboard 2024-25 season
- Thread starter SJinNewJersey
- Start date
It doesn't matter what their record is if people are struggling financially, it's a small city too so the pool of people who can go to begin with is smaller and then the pool of people who can afford to go is even smaller.
Ticket prices are just too expensive, that goes for league wide too but god forbid the billionaire owners and millionaire players sacrifice taking a bit less money to help people in the cities and states that are the reason they get that much money to begin with.
I know it's a "business" but live sports should be accessible to all, especially since most of these stadiums that they play in benefit from being built by tax payer money or get other tax breaks that none of us regular schmucks ever see in our lifetimes.
They get more ad revenue than ever before, ads on helmets, ads on jerseys now, digital ads on TV, betting shit up the wazoo and everything is sponsored, entrances, giveaways, power plays, penalty kills but do the fans see any benefit from that in terms of making things more affordable? Nope, everyone's just a greedy f*** head.
Sorry I'm done ranting now, this topic gets me fired up lol
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Lou is God
Registered User
I'm not looking for a fight, I'm just sharing my perspective that the best team in the league isn't even coming close to selling out the house, the Devils struggled to sell tickets during the cup years but there were other factors such as playing in a metro area that has about a dozen other pro sports teams, terrible location and plus a GM who refused to market the team like we see now.
I'm not fighting with you either, just saying stuff is unaffordable for a lot of people still. Winnipeg is more a blue collar town than a lot of NHL cities too and they were hit hard during the pandemic and the Canadian dollar is doing awful right now.
People up there are struggling to afford groceries and make payments on important bills, that's the reason people are not going and probably just watching from home, it's just unattainable for people right now.
Look at these face value prices for tickets vs the Blues on a Tuesday night, 81 Canadian dollars just to get into the building, these are ridiculous...
Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues Tickets Dec 03, 2024 Winnipeg, MB | Ticketmaster
Buy Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues tickets at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, MB for Dec 03, 2024 at Ticketmaster.
www.ticketmaster.ca
I watched the end of the game and was making a point to look at the seats…it didn’t really look that empty though. Hell, the Prudential Center usually looks emptier even when it’s a sell out.
Obviously the Fire and Ice lounges don’t really help the optics. It’s a really cool concept and I understand why they did it, but it makes the arena look a lot more empty than it really is because so many people just stay up there. I also think the seat colors make the empties stick out even more.
DerekDevils30
Registered User
I'm not fighting with you either, just saying stuff is unaffordable for a lot of people still. Winnipeg is more a blue collar town than a lot of NHL cities too and they were hit hard during the pandemic and the Canadian dollar is doing awful right now.
People up there are struggling to afford groceries and make payments on important bills, that's the reason people are not going and probably just watching from home, it's just unattainable for people right now.
Look at these face value prices for tickets vs the Blues on a Tuesday night, 81 Canadian dollars just to get into the building, these are ridiculous...
Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues Tickets Dec 03, 2024 Winnipeg, MB | Ticketmaster
Buy Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues tickets at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, MB for Dec 03, 2024 at Ticketmaster.
Jets also have a low corporate turnout. I’d have to double check but it’s like 15% which is among the leagues lowest. True North needs to do better there. Would help a lot to have more businesses buying season tickets
They should have never put those sections on the side the camera faces behind the benches, it should have all been on the side of the penalty box. That would have eliminated seeing empty seats because people are eating at the buffets instead of watching the game.
Attendance lags behind performance. Most ticket sales are season ticket, partial plans or well in advance sale. A hot start isn’t going to boost attendance (like it didn’t in 22-23 here when the team hit the streak). Especially if there is distrust in management you get a “let’s wait and see if it is real” response.
The Jets as a team the last few years have gone back and forth on “are the a good team or just a middle of the row team that needs to hit the reset after underwhelming playoffs.” There was a sense the team was going to blow up two years ago only for them not to do that. Last year was a good year, but they underwhelmed in the playoffs again. They had good starts but faded down the stretch the last two seasons so there probably is some skepticism in the market.
Also, I don’t know what is going on economically in the city. It’s a small midwestern Canadian market so I imagine it got hit hard by inflation.
With the prices for sports teams booming they aren’t in danger. Values have skyrocketed and costs are controlled.
Too much also gets made of attendance. I remember in college doing a sports business study abroad in England and visiting a Premier League team (one of the top ones). They said they rather have attendance be at 90% than fully sold out because if it’s fully sold out that means they underpriced the tickets.
- Dec 20, 2018
- 22,704
- 50,706
There’s a club on penalty box side.
In fact there’s two clubs because the Fire Lounge is there plus there’s an entrance to the fancier premium lounge at ice level.
I know, I'm saying they should have put all the clubs only on the penalty box side, 7 to 9 shouldn't have been clubs with food, 17 and 21 should have been clubs instead if they wanted more club sections with food buffets.
That way when you tune into a game people who are sitting in 7-9 are actually in their seats watching the game instead of those looking empty half the time on TV.
- Dec 20, 2018
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- 50,706
I know, I'm saying they should have put all the clubs only on the penalty box side, 7 to 9 shouldn't have been clubs with food, 17 and 21 should have been clubs instead if they wanted more club sections with food buffets.
That way when you tune into a game people who are sitting in 7-9 are actually in their seats watching the game instead of those looking empty half the time on TV.
They can’t add more club seats to one side because then the club gets too crowded.
Plus you can’t charge premium prices for seats that aren’t on center ice either.
Hockey teams rely on their gate and the clubs are a way to sell more expensive season ticket plans. You’re screaming into the void here.
The only reason we have this team is because this is a wealthier area with enough buyers for the pricier tickets.
The team doesn’t have to make changes for appearance sake. If it doesn’t affect ratings then it doesn’t affect the bottom line at all.
We’ve had attendance problems for years due to the losing, I care about sustained success, not what non-attending viewers think.
I also think they can make improvements with the arena and game day experience, but again, don’t give a shit about what it looks like on TV.
You should in the abstract. What it looks like on tv helps bring more people to the arena.
- Dec 20, 2018
- 22,704
- 50,706
The only thing that brings people to the arena, if they can afford it, is high scoring stars and winning.
The team squeezing more money out of premium seating is central to how they make a good bulk of their profits.
It’s how arenas work these days.
This is such a goofy debate. People can hate the club seats if they want but it doesn’t make business sense to get rid of them.
People also hang out all game in the premium lounge too, probably more than the Fire & Ice lounge. That’s the fancy club for people with all-inclusive season tickets (all teams & all shows).
theoptimist
Trade Siegenthaler
- Apr 22, 2014
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BostonDevil
Registered User
- Jun 28, 2019
- 4,791
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I sort of see both sides to this. They had a pretty good year last season and you'd be tough to expect an instant crater when they added the guys that they did. Next year? Year after? Sure, but it's way too quick for this type of results every night.
It's not like Pittsburgh who added and retained older and slower guys to an unsuccessful old and slow team. They doubled down on it.
The thing that's shocking me right now is Washington. WTF is going on there? Never saw that coming. Keep telling myself it will run its course and they will be in the back half of the division, but maybe not. I can't figure them out.
- May 1, 2011
- 133,282
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Washington did have one of the best offseasons, if not THE best offseason.
It was last year when they were legitimately horrible and FLUKED into the playoffs with a team that probably should have finished around 80-85 points. They looked closer to a 75 point roster last year than a 90+ point/playoff roster.
How is a matchup that has seen 11 playoff series between the two teams a forced rivalry? 9 of those series went 6 games. 6 times of the 11 series the winner went in to win the Cup.
Meanwhile Columbus and Pittsburgh have played each other once and Columbus was in a different conference for most of their existence.
If it looks shitty on tv there is some dad sitting at home who won’t spend the money to go to the game with his two older sons even if he can afford the good seats the team is trying to sell and calls him relentlessly to buy them. Trust me on this.
