Winnipeg Jets: 11,226 Attendance tonight, cause for concern? What's going on in the 'Peg?

[jetsmooseice]

Nobody knows how much they each own but I believe the consensus is Thomson has the majority, he is just a very private guy, more than happy to have Chipman be the face of the team.

For a guy with his net worth, I dont think anyone would be able to recognize him in public. He doesn't care to have a public profile.

I think it needs to be emphasized that David Thomson is literally the fourth richest owner of a sports franchise in the entire WORLD.

Winnipeg Jets’ David Thomson listed as fourth richest sports franchise owner in the world at $52 billion

Winnipeg Jets fans shouldn’t be too concerned about the team's owners running out of money any time soon. Read more.

nationalpost.com

For this guy, $10 million in operating losses has about the same financial impact as buying a cup of coffee does on the rest of us.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Kroger is a business. They can charge what they want. If prices are too high, shop elsewhere. If enough people agree with you, Kroger's sales will plummet and they'll either go out of business or lower prices.

Ironically, that's exactly what we're seeing at Canada Life Centre. People exercising their rights in a free market. The Jets will listen and adapt, or they won't.

Lol, your comparing discretionary spending to an oligopoly in a life staple?
Good job man...lol.

 

[Tom Polakis]

That's not what poster said at all. THey were patting themselves on the back for their team's attendance. And some BS about Canadian fans talking shit about Dallas.

Yeah, Dallas should pat themselves on the back. They have a good team in a large city, sort of like Vegas and the Florida teams. It's easier for a big city fill an arena, even if only a couple percent of the wealthy people care about hockey. Even hockey-crazed small towns in Canada may have problems filling to capacity due to there not being a large and wealthy enough base.

I'm sure this will enrage some of the more shallow-minded people on this board, but I'm certain that even Phoenix would have little attendance problems if it's team had made the playoffs a couple times in the past decade, Even if 10 percent of the population followed hockey only casually, that's 450,000 people. For Winnipeg, that would have to be nearly 60 percent of the population. And they have to have disposable income to afford to go to games.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Yikes...definitely not performance based...didn't Peg make the playoffs last year?

Personally, I think this highlights why I don't like putting teams in markets under at least 1M in population (honestly, probably 2M). Ownership is depending on the same fans to buy tickets every single season. And when there's an issue (economic, poor performance, ownership issues), it's amplified because of the small population to draw from. There is no question that there are some of the most passionate hockey fans in the world in Peg, but only enough money and patience to draw from the well there.

Pair this with Chipman going to the media a few months ago asking local corporations for money...it's not a good look. Hopefully this gets turned around.

 

[MMC]

People seriously saying they can’t afford to go to a game? I see plenty of tickets for $25 (WITH fees included) on StubHub

 

[Svechhammer]

but but but I thought Canadian markets were so perfect for hockey that such fluctuations would never ever ever happen


Nothing against you specifically (EDIT: or really against the Jets in particular or their fans) but I still remember the days when folks would insist the Jackets were obviously hopeless because folks would prefer Buckeye football games.

Excuses are only allowed for Canadian and O6 markets. Cmon, we all have known this for a while.

 

[Buffdog]

Lol, your comparing discretionary spending to an oligopoly in a life staple?
Good job man...lol.

Ginger ale isn't a life staple last time I checked

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Third time’s the charm

Over a million people added and tons of corporations since 2010. With good ownership and a location in the burbs (like what's proposed for expansion), should be.

 

[MrHeiskanen]

I think it needs to be emphasized that David Thomson is literally the fourth richest owner of a sports franchise in the entire WORLD.

Winnipeg Jets’ David Thomson listed as fourth richest sports franchise owner in the world at $52 billion

Winnipeg Jets fans shouldn’t be too concerned about the team's owners running out of money any time soon. Read more.

nationalpost.com

For this guy, $10 million in operating losses has about the same financial impact as buying a cup of coffee does on the rest of us.

So rich he doesn't even own the team outright!

 

[stealth1]

They both can't handle a team , stop putting NHL teams in small rural villages

How about putting teams in places that understand the game and actually like the game.

 

[Waterbuf]

Trickle down economy, but the wrong substance is trickling

 

[Tom Polakis]

Winnipeg is a hockey market. Much more so then Dallas I can guarantee you that.

No disagreement there. "Hockey market" is a percentage of population who follow hockey, right?

If you want to consider actual attendance at games, though, you have to consider the population, not just the percentage, and more importantly, the number of those who can afford to attend games. That pulls large, southern-tier cities (with good teams) like Dallas nearly even with great hockey towns like Winnipeg.

 

[Bond]

Flames are trending the same. Boring on-ice product and everything is expensive. If the Jets were good then I bet they'd have no attendance issues

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Ginger ale isn't a life staple last time I checked

You realize I used G Ale as an example. There are numerous more. Ultimately your
vision of life is another version of let them eat cake.

 

[stealth1]

Historically they didn't; such folks would go on and on about how the Canadian economy was a valid issue but absolutely every other possible problem was just garbage excuses by fans proppig up loser non-hockey markets.

Judging by your join date, you weren't around for when those days peaked (it didn't start to really calm down until the return of the Jets, and even then it persisted for a few years afterward, altho at that point it was being driven by Nordiques fans).

IMO a lot of that stemmed from the cost of going to a game in Canadian and some of the Northern US markets compared to many Southern markets. Win or lose for the most part Northern US and Canadian Markets will still be high in attendance with high priced tickets.

Then you have the some of the Southern markets constantly have ticket deals like "4 tickets, drink and popcorn for $200". It felt like even with deals like that they still had issues filling the arena consistently. Many in Northern US markets and Canada would kill for deals like that.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Flames are trending the same. Boring on-ice product and everything is expensive. If the Jets were good then I bet they'd have no attendance issues

Weren't they a playoff team last year?

 

[johnjm22]

Winnipeg metro population is only about 800K. It's just too small. The novelty of the Jets returning has worn off.

 

[Matty Sundin]

The cost if living has gone up in Canada. Tickets are just too much these days. I know people that would go to games 2-3 times a month. Now they might go once or twice or not even at all for the season. Adding if your team isnt exactly hopeful, a lot won’t bother giving their wallet to the team.

 

[BahlDeep]

Please stop this BS. A significant portion of inflation has been due to corporate price gouging, so just GTFO with your theory of Corporate Greed having little to do with inflation. It has PLENTY TO DO WITH INFLATION.

Before COVID a bottle of Kroger Ginger Ale was .79 cents. The average cost
since 2021 has been between 1.00 and 1.25. Do I need to do the math for you
for the increase? I guess I have to, so that's basically a 41% PRICE INCREASE
on a ****ing bottle. News flash buddy it isn't limited to Ginger Ale.

The cost of transportation (wages, diesel, equipment) & cost of financing has dramatically increased due to inflation which is due to massive monetary stimulus & fiscal policies like carbon taxes.

Looking at profit margins of grocery stores, they actually haven't changed much so the narrative of price gouging is completely false

 

[dem]

Tickets prices are obscene for highly indebted Canadians. Mortgage rates resetting is going to take a lot of money from the average Canadian's disposable income.

The coming recession is going to be a lot harder on Canada than America.

 

[paul-laus]

This is a bit disingenuous as I don't think those three were ever iced at the same time a majority of any season. There coukd have been games Paul Postma, Rob O'Gara and
Nick Holden all played for the 2017-18 Boston Bruins.

The only thing deceptive is someone trying to spout off on how Chevy has done a “competent to good job”……It’s inaccurate, unsupported, and most jets fans would likely take issue with it.

I thing one of the most telling and eye opening things that has occurred with the franchise in years is when Bowness (rightly and agreed with by most jets fans) unleashed a blistering assessment on the team’s five game exit after round 1 of the playoffs…..
A couple of days later, Chevy made sure to congratulate his squad on a season well done as soon as he got behind the mic at the end of season presser. Absolutely mind boggling based on the team being 1st or 2nd in the west to start the second half and then BARELY making it into the dance….A lot of jets fans want Chevy gone before they support heavily again…

 

[Viqsi]

IMO a lot of that stemmed from the cost of going to a game in Canadian and some of the Northern US markets compared to many Southern markets. Win or lose for the most part Northern US and Canadian Markets will still be high in attendance with high priced tickets.

Then you have the some of the Southern markets constantly have ticket deals like "4 tickets, drink and popcorn for $200". It felt like even with deals like that they still had issues filling the arena consistently. Many in Northern US markets and Canada would kill for deals like that.

The bolded is patently false. Egregiously false in the case of the subject of this thread; teams in the Unstoppable North with ownership and/or competitiveness issues had frequent attendance downturns just as often, but folks would point to Toronto being ass but still having a waiting list and say "that's how it is for TRUE HOCKEY MARKETS" and develop hearing loss or reading comprehension issues any time any other Traditional Market was looked at. (Or their rationales would be Obviously Acceptable - Chicago in the Dollar Bill days was a particularly frustrating example, as was Ottawa when Melnyk was at the height of his horrors.) Meanwhile the much-vilified "Southern markets" were having similar pains but that was never acceptable as an explanation under any circumstances whatsoever; it was always "because those aren't real hockey markets". It was a very consistent and blatant double standard.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

For all the talk about expensive Jet tickets, I can't believe how *affordable* the tickets are, looking at the resale market. For the game against STL, I see tickets starting at $15.

As a Ranger fan, I can't step foot in The Garden for less than $100, and that's the price I'd pay for Nosebleeds against the Arizona Coyotes on a Tuesday night, mimimum.

The Rangers who play in Manhattan are obviously a different animal than Winnipeg, sure. Buffalo was hyped as hell coming into the season and are a huge sports town, they only had 66% attendance last night against a good lightning team. The Sharks barely had 60% capacity against Carolina last night, looked like a covid era game with empty house.

I doubt the Jets specifically are doing anything different than ohter teams in terms of raising prices of tickets/concessions with inflation etc.

They are jsut part of a bigger issue with attendance in the league right now, and since their popluation is a lot lower than most markets, it's rearing it's head more.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

The cost if living has gone up in Canada. Tickets are just too much these days. I know people that would go to games 2-3 times a month. Now they might go once or twice or not even at all for the season. Adding if your team isnt exactly hopeful, a lot won’t bother giving their wallet to the team.

Cost of living has skyrocketed everywhere over the last three years.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

How about putting teams in places that understand the game and actually like the game.

Yes that will grow the game so much putting teams in places that only care about hockey and cant even fill up barns lol

For all the talk about expensive Jet tickets, I can't believe how *affordable* the tickets are, looking at the resale market. For the game against STL, I see tickets starting at $15.

As a Ranger fan, I can't step foot in The Garden for less than $100, and that's the price I'd pay for Nosebleeds against the Arizona Coyotes on a Tuesday night, mimimum.

The Rangers who play in Manhattan are obviously a different animal than Winnipeg, sure. Buffalo was hyped as hell coming into the season and are a huge sports town, they only had 66% attendance last night against a good lightning team. The Sharks barely had 60% capacity against Carolina last night, looked like a covid era game with empty house.

I doubt the Jets specifically are doing anything different than ohter teams in terms of raising prices of tickets/concessions with inflation etc.

They are jsut part of a bigger issue with attendance in the league right now, and since their popluation is a lot lower than most markets, it's rearing it's head more.

Exactly , sounds like excuses . 15$ tickets are ridiculous