[Moncton] Centre Avenir Centre | 26.65m |~6 Fl | Completed

[lirette]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Any other shows at risk of a Playoff bump? If that's an issue that may discourage the Broadway Show touring group in the future. (Or at least encourage them to schedule sometime other than SPring Playoffs season).

I'm still hoping to go to the "Come from Away" show on Thursday the 8th, but I haven't bought tix yet; waiting for my budget to get some wiggle room with the pay before it.

No I don't think so

If they make the finals it would look something like this

May 10/11 @ Avenir
May 13/14 @ Road
May 16 @ Avenir
May 18 @ Road
May 20 @ Avenir

The come from away show works pretty well because they didnt book up an entire fri-sun.

I'm sure when Chicago signed up for the Broadway shows they were well aware of the priority the Wildcats had in the building. Possibly they are even being given some financial compensation.

Obviously upsets do happen in junior hockey so this *could* happen any year, but most years this will not be an issue beyond a single weekend, and the only reason this one was an issue was because they added extra shows otherwise the cats could have played Thursday Sunday (and sunday tickets arent selling well at all for Chicago)

[felip_ars]

I dont know how they manage it in the Q, but usually, hockey will be above everything.

Back in 2014, Corey Hart had to moved his "final" concert at the Bell Center because Game 7 of the Conference Final was scheduled on that date (MTL vs NYR).

Lots of piss off people has most of them made the trip because at the time it was suppose/advertised to be the final gig (that lasted about 2 months he was in PEI later opening for Shania Twain hehe), but the league made it clear that Game 7 would be on that day.

[MonctonRad]

One of the last times the Cats made a deep playoff run, there was a conflict at the old Coliseum (trade show I believe), and they were forced to play at the L. Louis Levesque Arena at UdeM. It was not ideal.

This was one of the main impeti to building the Avenir Centre. When Irving signed his contract with the city to use the Avenir Centre, he made sure that the Wildcats would always have precedence if there was ever a scheduling conflict.

[jnaygull]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

One of the last times the Cats made a deep playoff run, there was a conflict at the old Coliseum (trade show I believe), and they were forced to play at the L. Louis Levesque Arena at UdeM. It was not ideal.

This was one of the main impeti to building the Avenir Centre. When Irving signed his contract with the city to use the Avenir Centre, he made sure that the Wildcats would always have precedence if there was ever a scheduling conflict.

I'm just surprised that they didn't have a contingency plan in place. I have tickets to Friday's Chicago show, and haven't heard a thing about when that show will be rescheduled.

One would have thought with the Wildcats being a powerhouse team, that they would have had a plan in place to release as soon as it was known that the Cats would need the Avenir. I'm not very impressed with the communication so far.

[lirette]

Originally Posted by jnaygull

I'm just surprised that they didn't have a contingency plan in place. I have tickets to Friday's Chicago show, and haven't heard a thing about when that show will be rescheduled.

One would have thought with the Wildcats being a powerhouse team, that they would have had a plan in place to release as soon as it was known that the Cats would need the Avenir. I'm not very impressed with the communication so far.

Given how few tickets are sold for sundays shows I would think the easiest thing they could do immediately is to over a transfer to either of those shows (or one of the saturday shows). I would tend to agree with you if i was someone who had bought the ticket to the show i'd be annoyed there wasn't an immediate plan in place and im still waiting to know whats going on 3 days from the show date when the Cats won on Friday night. They obviously knew since the email went out immediately following the game

[lirette]

Originally Posted by lirette

Given how few tickets are sold for sundays shows I would think the easiest thing they could do immediately is to over a transfer to either of those shows (or one of the saturday shows). I would tend to agree with you if i was someone who had bought the ticket to the show i'd be annoyed there wasn't an immediate plan in place and im still waiting to know whats going on 3 days from the show date when the Cats won on Friday night. They obviously knew since the email went out immediately following the game

update: i wonder if they are contacting people to move their tickets to sunday. There was tons of tickets available on sunday and now they are all gone

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by lirette

update: i wonder if they are contacting people to move their tickets to sunday. There was tons of tickets available on sunday and now they are all gone

That would appear to be the easiest thing to do.

[Sandbagger]

I also have tickets for the show on the 25th. This is the email that was sent out. It doesn't say the show is outright cancelled. In fact it says the performance will still be scheduled over the weekend. But this was also 4 days ago and there has not been any more communication since.

[habs33]

Avenir center posted on FB that for tonight's game they are using new system for security checks.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BCY2dB1xE/

The Centre is officially launching our Evolv walk-through magnetometers at tonight’s Moncton Wildcats playoff game! 🎉
Say goodbye to long lines — this new technology is designed to create a faster, smoother, and more accurate entry process for all guests.

[MonctonRad]

Well, this should be interesting!

[habs33]

Yeah I'm going tonight. Will report back

[Monctoncore]

Tonight’s Wildcats game was amazing.. but the disappointment and the embarrassment was the fact we have this stunning arena and only 4550 people showed up .. to the third round of the playoffs.. COME ON MONCTON get out and support your team

[SevenSquared]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

Tonight’s Wildcats game was amazing.. but the disappointment and the embarrassment was the fact we have this stunning arena and only 4550 people showed up .. to the third round of the playoffs.. COME ON MONCTON get out and support your team

You should probably go have a look at how many people are attending CHL games in cities as small as Moncton. There's nothing wrong with 4500 on a Thursday night, especially when tomorrow looks like it'll have around 6500.

This is not Quebec City, London or Halifax. And this is not the world juniors or major concerts attracting fans from all of NB and PEI. This is a local junior team drawing from southeastern NB only.

Your issue should be with the venue and the team refusing to curtain off part of the building to scale it down to where it should be. A medium-sized market CHL team playing in an 8500 seat configuration was always a ridiculous idea.

[MonctonRad]

The crowd was a little disappointing, but, I think it was entirely due to the fact it was a Thursday evening. The two home games in the last series with Baie Comeau drew nearly 7000 fans. Apparently tickets for tomorrow night's game are selling very well.

I am not a big fan of the idea of curtaining off part of the venue. I think this would affect the visual appeal of the building.

Despite the crowd size, the game atmosphere was fantastic. The fans were boisterous (whoo!!!), the organist and the jumbotron visuals were fantastic, and the fireworks at the end really sealed the deal, The Avenir Centre is a top notch facility. It truly is a mini NHL experience going to a game there. It makes Moncton seem like a bigger city than it really is. We are so very fortunate to have this facility to call our own!

Oh, and the new magnetometers used for security checks at the entrance worked really well, Seemed very professional looking. Again, a top of the line product for a top of the line facility.

[felip_ars]

To give a perspective, here are the average crowd for each cities had through
the playoff so far (according to the league's website):

Quebec (2 games): 8349
Biggest crowd: 8444

Halifax (5 games): 6743
Biggest crowd: 7251

Moncton (5 games): 5455
Biggest crowd: 6094

Chicoutimi (5 games): 3951
Biggest crowd: 4573

Cap Breton (3 games): 3947
Biggest crowd: 4249

Rimouski (5 games): 3417
Biggest crowd: 3939

Shawinigan (4 games): 3018
Biggest crowd: 3139

Gatineau (2 games): 2880
Biggest crowd: 2989

Drummondville (4 games): 2602
Biggest crowd: 2702

Sherbrooke (4 games): 2541
Biggest crowd: 2706

Rouyn (5 games): 2339
Biggest crowd: 2565

Baie Comeau (6 games): 2284
Biggest crowd: 2372

Bathurst (3 games): 2084
Biggest crowd: 2435

Blainville-Boisbriand (3 games): 1993
Biggest crowd: 2626

Charlottetown (2 games): 1845
Biggest crowd: 1934

Val d'or (3 games): 1722
Biggest crowd: 2150

The closest CMA to Moncton (#29) is Saguenay (#27) (Chicoutimi), so overall Moncton is doing pretty good so far.

For fun, I checked another close CMA that is in the playoff in another league; the Trois-Rivières's Lions of the ECHL.

After 2 games they have an average of 2895 with the biggest crowd of 3406, which would place them just above Gatineau.

[MonctonRad]

The "Big Three" in the QMJHL are QC, Halifax and Moncton. We have the third largest arena in the league, so, it makes sense we have the third highest attendance. I don't think we have much to apologize for.

Do I wish that we had sellouts for every playoff game, sure, but, I think we do pretty well.

[lirette]

I've been going to Wildcats playoff games for over 15 years. 4500 was at the higher end of what my prediction was

You need to apply some context when talking about attendance. The schedule was not known until the week before especially with the broadway show happening on the weekend. This isnt like the NHL where playoff games are just automatic sellouts. Tonight should be close to 7000. The biggest third round crowd in team history was 7260 (semis vs Sydney Crosby)

I just think people have unrealistic expectations because of the size of the building.

If the broadway show wasn't scheduled you would have had a friday/saturday game 1 and 2 and likely both crowds exceed 6000

[SevenSquared]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The "Big Three" in the QMJHL are QC, Halifax and Moncton. We have the third largest arena in the league, so, it makes sense we have the third highest attendance. I don't think we have much to apologize for.

Do I wish that we had sellouts for every playoff game, sure, but, I think we do pretty well.

Pretty well indeed.

The big thing people don't realize is that Moncton is only the 7th biggest market in the QMJHL, around middle of the pack in the CHL as well. If we weren't the Hub City and leveraging that to attract the level of events we get at Avenir (and to some extent the Coliseum until its deficiencies made it obsolete) we'd have a 4000-5000 capacity community arena like nearly all the other Moncton sized cities across the CHL have.

[Taeolas]

So I picked up tickets to the Thursday afternoon show for Come from Away for me and my parents. First time we're going to Avenir Centre.

Where can we find parking hopefully relatively close to the Centre for three coming in from out of town in the middle of a Thursday afternoon. (Paying for parking is a given of course)

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

So I picked up tickets to the Thursday afternoon show for Come from Away for me and my parents. First time we're going to Avenir Centre.

Where can we find parking hopefully relatively close to the Centre for three coming in from out of town in the middle of a Thursday afternoon. (Paying for parking is a given of course)

There's parking behind the venue outside.
Parking Indigo Moncton - 1234 Main St.
If not there, the closest would be trying to find street parking on Gordon Street. But if you get to the venue early enough, I've never had issues parking in the lot there for concerts or wildcat games.