Totally understand what you mean re: the cost. I went through this too. I once had a group sharing 4 full season tickets. Now I’m down to just 2 seats (full season), although the people left in this group (myself included) are going to keep going with it (but still, group got cut in half essentially). One thing that TNSE is doing now though (which wasn’t an option before) is they do have for next season quarter season, half season, and full season membership options. They did have a few half season options before, but those were very limited, unlike now. All this is meant to address the issue that full season “groups” encountered when some people “left” the full season group, or people who preferred less games, etc. it increases flexibility so it’s not an “all or nothing” package and it gets rid of the issues that you’ve pointed out - needing to find someone to replace someone in the group, etc. Also, I’m sure they will continue to offer mini-packs next season too once we get closer to next season (they offered all kinds of different mini pack options this year). I agree these various options should have been made available a few years ago when the drop in full season ticket memberships began. They made a mistake (or should I say mistakes (plural)). But now they are making these various options available (late, but better late than never) to address some of the issues that you’ve pointed out. A lot of people that dropped out of season seats didn’t intend to never attend games, it’s more that they preferred 5-10 games per year (regular season) and then a few playoff games too if there are some. And I think these quarter & half season seats & eventual mini pack options address that without requiring people to create large complicated groups to share with, etc.
Also, the Chipman interview and Betman coming is largely targeted at the business sector and less so to individual households (something that the Friesen article totally seemed to have missed by characterizing the whole thing as threatening Winnipeggers, etc.). I don’t think all this in the news is intended as a threat from TNSE (although Friesen and the rest of the Winnipeg media (except Murat) would like all Winnipeggers to think so). I think Chipman is saying what he’s saying to be candid, and frankly it’s not anything “new” - in fairness to Betman (say what you want to say about him), he said it in 2011 that this wasn’t going to work well if the building isn’t full every night. Comparisons to other markets who have had attendance issues isn’t really as relevant as some think given the size of Winnipeg’s market, in my view.
