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

[KillerMillerTime]

I posted this on the Kings board earlier, but this was my cost to go to LA's home opener:

$459 for 2 tickets (lower bowl)
$20 for parking
$95 for 4 small beers
$65 for 2 kabob rice bows in the arena
$20 for a hotdog in the arena
$90 in gas (I drive a Titan)

$749 total spent to watch the Kings lose

You read that right. After tax and tip, almost 100 bucks for 4 beers.

Two well known phrases come to mind when reading this.

 

[John Price]

I posted this on the Kings board earlier, but this was my cost to go to LA's home opener:

$459 for 2 tickets (lower bowl)
$20 for parking
$95 for 4 small beers
$65 for 2 kabob rice bows in the arena
$20 for a hotdog in the arena
$90 in gas (I drive a Titan)

$749 total spent to watch the Kings lose

You read that right. After tax and tip, almost 100 bucks for 4 beers.

Do not drink at the game. Don't.

Even 16 for a tall boy here x 4 is 64

I usually go myself so costs are low (secret). I also sit way up high.

I wonder how much that goes into account, I've never been in a stadium for hockey other than the Caps one. Most of the time I avoid drinking alcohol, and eat outside the stadium for less. The other day, I was walking out of warmups, I saw the double cheeseburger, so I was like "I might have one of those" and then it said 26 dollars. I could have sworn that was 18 last year. I noped the f*** out of that.

 

[stealth1]

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.

I know. I'm just going off what they were saying. For me I judge a market not just on attendance but also TV numbers. IMO if you're a fan of a team and can't go to the game odds are you will still most likely watch it on TV. In the traditional markets, while fans did stay away when teams were bad, they still tuned into the games on TV for the most part.

Compare that to some not all Southern markets, they constantly had low TV numbers

 

[Gabe Kupari]

Winnipeg is not LA NYC or an original 6 or ffs we don't have 1 million ppl living in Winnipeg... or close to it. We aren't ultra rich, or ultra poor but sorta middle ish... so when shit goes down, doesn't effect the ultra rich, they still going.. it does effect the middle tho who have to chose between groceries rent gas or Jets tickets. That's Winnipeg

 

[tucker3434]

I know. I'm just going off what they were saying. For me I judge a market not just on attendance but also TV numbers. IMO if you're a fan of a team and can't go to the game odds are you will still most likely watch it on TV. In the traditional markets, while fans did stay away when teams were bad, they still tuned into the games on TV for the most part.

Compare that to some not all Southern markets, they constantly had low TV numbers

That’s fine, but unless the economics of the NHL tv contracts change significantly, the butts in seats matter a lot more.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

They also do nothing during the game btw. Or really b4. The game day experience is the game so 85 to 300$ for seats to pay 50$ for food and beverages plus $20 for parking or free on TV. Duh

 

[Gabe Kupari]

I'll go waste about 500$ a year on a couple games with my daughter but not a school night one lol

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I'll go waste about 500$ a year on a couple games with my daughter but not a school night one lol

The prices suck for sure . Hell , I'm not dishing money to go see the habs any time soon but the whole point is that theres always a sucker in Montreal , Toronto or Vancouver that is willing to pay whatever to go , its not the case for smaller markets

 

[MrHeiskanen]

I'll go waste about 500$ a year on a couple games with my daughter but not a school night one lol

If you post one more time about school night I might go insane.

 

[dem]

They also do nothing during the game btw. Or really b4. The game day experience is the game so 85 to 300$ for seats to pay 50$ for food and beverages plus $20 for parking or free on TV. Duh

Live sports is the worst value for the dollar that I can imagine.

The presentation sucks. The seats suck. The food is insanely overpriced. Getting to the game sucks.
And after all that.. you have a 50% chance of your team losing and going home depressed.

This isn't some hot ticket rare experience, either. This isn't like the Rolling Stones coming to town and an experience you will fondly remember your whole life. This happens 40+ times a year.. EVERY YEAR.

I swear some of these people pay 500 bucks to get selfie at the game.

 

[Puckclektr]

So now its about market size? All along Canadian fans said it was about being a hockey market.

Pick a lane and stick with it.

Where did "I" say that? Yes when it comes to hockey a smaller market in canada would be better than a market of similar size in the US. You literally compared a metro of 6+million to a city of 800k especially currently whn the economy is worse than pretty much anyone has seen in their life time.

As for the only reason 4-5 NHL teams are in Canada is because it is a hockey market. Winnipeg would be around the 80th largest metropolitan area if it were in the US. But because it is in Canada and they have a good market, maybe that is why it was chosen over major cities, like Houston, San Antonio, Houston, KC, Sacramento, San Diego, Portland, Baltimore, Cincinatti, etc. who all have markets signifigianly larger than Winnipeg.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Winnipeg is not LA NYC or an original 6 or ffs we don't have 1 million ppl living in Winnipeg... or close to it. We aren't ultra rich, or ultra poor but sorta middle ish... so when shit goes down, doesn't effect the ultra rich, they still going.. it does effect the middle tho who have to chose between groceries rent gas or Jets tickets. That's Winnipeg

And that's the point. Also why the league hasn't run back to QC or Hamilton IMO.

 

[Ezekial]

Everyone was getting groceries and tucking their children into bed.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

If you post one more time about school night I might go insane.

School Night.

 

[SimpleJack]

I just like how the Kings came in and kicked the shit out of those former players on their new teams home ice.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

Live sports is the worst value for the dollar that I can imagine.

The presentation sucks. The seats suck. The food is insanely overpriced. Getting to the game sucks.
And after all that.. you have a 50% chance of your team losing and going home depressed.

This isn't some hot ticket rare experience, either. This isn't like the Rolling Stones coming to town and an experience you will fondly remember your whole life. This happens 40+ times a year.. EVERY YEAR.

I swear some of these people pay 500 bucks to get selfie at the game.

Our CFL football teams draws sellouts every game. (30k plus)

True North nothing to do with them.
True North owns the Jets, they have built up some ill will with folks, but mainly it's the prices... it just seems they are out of touch with what the fans want or enjoy. Blue Bombers certainly don't have a problem there. 10 12 x a year tho vs 41

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

aren't the average tickets prices in Winnipeg quite high? like even in the nosebleeds?
kinda wild they only got 11,000+ but Winnipeg is small

 

[Puckclektr]

And that's the point. Also why the league hasn't run back to QC or Hamilton IMO.

I'm quite sure Winnipeg is econmy related and only an issue this year as the avaerage family struggles to put food on the table. aside from that Hamilton isn't a small market it is in the 3-4 largest sports market in North America.

 

[RickyLafleur]

I'm not going to dump on the Jets or their fans, as I'm sure they have their reasons not to go.

But I really hope this alleviates the elitist discussions about how the sunbelt teams are awful markets (and no, I'm not saying Jets fans are guilty specifically).

It helps that most of those sunbelt teams have actually won the cup. It would be interesting to see the attendance before and after the cup wins.

 

[Coffee]

The Canadian economy is in big trouble to be honest. Been stagnating for a while now. Losing a lot of skilled workers to the States. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see several Canadian teams have attendance issues this season.

11K is definitely concerning though.

Will we recover? Any time soonv

 

[heretik27]

It's a Tuesday folks. Jets are big with kids and families, not as many last night... it's a school night, also there is an illness going around that lots of kids and adults have, if this happens Friday Saturday night, ok but week Night against a non rival.. plus everything else... there it is.

Ppl gonna pick n chose which games to go to. LA ain't a draw even with Dubois

I've been out of commission since Saturday because of covid. Found out another co-worker is off with it too. People have been passing their germs around at work for weeks now.

 

[jigglysquishy]

A big part of it is just the general decline of hockey's popularity in Canada.

Kids just don't care the same way. Basketball has exploded in popularity.

Like half the guys I knew who followed the sport 10 years ago don't anymore. Lots have moved on to NBA and NFL. Lots just don't follow sports at all.

Sad to see but it's the reality of hockey in Canada now.

 

[Sniper99]

All the smart ass remarks about moving the team. As long as there are teams like the Coyotes in the league, the Jets should be safe.

They are safe, people are just overreacting to dumb shit. You have a team pretty much on life support in Tempe that should have relocated years maybe a decade ago but Bettman dumb enough to keep them there. Some people are pathetic.

 

[MessierII]

The Bombers lmfaso!!!! Hey didn’t they go on on a thirty year grey cup drought in a league with eight teams?! Just based on the laws of probabilities, that’s laughable…

Regardless the bombers are massive in Winnipeg.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Regardless the bombers are massive in Winnipeg.

the Bombers are 1 day every 2 weeks for like 6 months

that's a poor excuse