Considering the escalating costs of tickets, parking, concessions, etc., you damn better present a product that delivers a bang for the buck.
During Gretzky's last few years here, the attendance at the Great Western Forum was pitiful, even with the best player in the league on this team. We all know why that happened, and we don't have to go through a history lesson to explain it.
The fans don't want to support a losing team. Call them bandwagoners, fair weather fans, what have you, but this organization needs those fans to blindly support them and foolishly spend money to support this current, mediocre product that is being presented to them.
They lost a lot of season ticket holders after missing the post season, and I think repeated failures and a boring product could further impact attendance. From my own personal experience, I was less compelled to go to games due to the cost. I didn't find that it was worth my time or the money. Even on the secondary market, tickets were overpriced.
Of course, I still watch every game, I'm just not foolish enough to spend money hand over fist. I limited myself to two games this season, considered playoff tix, but thought better after what transpired in 2016 and wanted to wait out to see how the team performed in Round One before making any commitment, and boy is my wallet thankful of that!