Winnipeg | NHL Jets

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by dmacc

Can you even imagine meeting the Oilers in the first round and having Pionk move back into his rent free home in McDavids head just like 2021? It would be glorious.

Delicious. I suppose it could happen, never say never. Although I don't know if I could stand another let down like the Montreal series...

[blueandgoldguy]

Originally Posted by prairiedog007

If each of the corporate accounts has 4 seats and lets say there are 1500 corporate accounts, so that's 6000 seats which is 40% of the building

What you say is true but I think Chipman was saying 15% of all the season tickets were accounted for by businesses.

[Danny D Oh]

Originally Posted by TimeFadesAway

I'm actually surprised they are down only 3500. Our group dissolved a couple of years ago and it was just my wife and me and we would unload games we didn't go to on her parents. After management decided to mail in the back half of last season by not hiring a real coach and them the mailing in of some of the players in the back half of this season, we've decided to let it go and just buy the games we want to see. Listening and talking to those in the seats around us, it seems like a fair number are doing the same.

Just wanted to add two things to this that speak to the complete sales/marketing failure of TNSE with Jets tickets:

1- In our area of the rink they have been discounting tickets by 60% and giving a voucher for a free beer per seat. They give these perks to people buying walk-up tickets but I've held half a seat in a group (4 people for 2 seats) for 12 seasons and have got nothing like that even once. They had even better deals for people willing to buy 4 game packs midseason with free merch and vouchers for concessions. What in the actual fuck? They pissed off the people who guarantee their revenue and devalued their product at season seat prices. Who is running this organization?

2- TNSE insisted on doing away with season ticket contracts and now have everyone on year-to-year. They totally shot themselves in the foot with this one. At least with the 3 or 5 year deal you were locked in and would be more willing to ride out down years for an agreement to not raise prices below a certain level (although they usually maxed this out).

We waited 9 seasons for relocation even as seats were vacated. Dealing with our ticket rep was pure insanity. Any query we had was met with contempt.

They didn't have to market their tickets until the pandemic and that muscle in the organization is completely atrophied. They took their fans for granted.

The only benefit to pay season seat prices is the guaranteed playoff ticket. Otherwise any discounts we get now on concessions and merch are far exceeded by paying 60% more for our seats than we can get them on resale or directly from Ticketmaster now.

[thurmas]

Wade Miller and the Bombers do a much better job than TN when it comes to treating season ticket holders properly and have better fan engagement.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by Crisis

Crap, you're right. I had a nice, long explanation prepared about how all 3 teams could end up tied and that the Avs have the better head to head record against the other two teams. Then I figured I should actually check the tie-breaking criteria. Turns out that H-H is only 4th on the tie-breaker list:
- Regulation Wins
- Regulation & OT wins
- Total wins incl. shootouts
- Head to head

The Avs only have 34 Regulation wins, 3 less than Vegas and 10 less than the Oilers. Should be good competition in the West, with no dominant team, though the Oilers are red hot right now.

It's a weird system.

I could be wrong, but before I believe it was what team had the most non-shootout wins, but they now go by regulation wins.

I personally prefer "rock, paper, scissors."

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by Danny D Oh

Just wanted to add two things to this that speak to the complete sales/marketing failure of TNSE with Jets tickets:

1- In our area of the rink they have been discounting tickets by 60% and giving a voucher for a free beer per seat. They give these perks to people buying walk-up tickets but I've held half a seat in a group (4 people for 2 seats) for 12 seasons and have got nothing like that even once. They had even better deals for people willing to buy 4 game packs midseason with free merch and vouchers for concessions. What in the actual fuck? They pissed off the people who guarantee their revenue and devalued their product at season seat prices. Who is running this organization?

2- TNSE insisted on doing away with season ticket contracts and now have everyone on year-to-year. They totally shot themselves in the foot with this one. At least with the 3 or 5 year deal you were locked in and would be more willing to ride out down years for an agreement to not raise prices below a certain level (although they usually maxed this out).

We waited 9 seasons for relocation even as seats were vacated. Dealing with our ticket rep was pure insanity. Any query we had was met with contempt.

They didn't have to market their tickets until the pandemic and that muscle in the organization is completely atrophied. They took their fans for granted.

The only benefit to pay season seat prices is the guaranteed playoff ticket. Otherwise any discounts we get now on concessions and merch are far exceeded by paying 60% more for our seats than we can get them on resale or directly from Ticketmaster now.

I'm actually not at all surprised by this. I have a amusing story that goes back nearly 20 years.

My gf and I at the time were thinking of getting a 10 game pack to see the AHL Moose in 2004, around the time the MTS Centre was about to open. We got a tour of the arena, and it's enmities. Then the ticket sales rep, who was leading the group of potential had a Q & A session. After most of the basic questions were addressed regarding the Moose, questions arose about the arena being "NHL compatible' which the rep replied that the capacity met the NHL standards.

Considering Brandon would play at least one game a year in Winnipeg for 3-4 consecutive years in the mid 2000s, I had inquired about if there was any interest in the Moose sharing the arena with a possible WHL tenant. The TNSE sales rep became visibly annoyed, with a forced smile, replied "this is the 3rd time I have been asked this question this week!" and proceeded to tell the group about a man on a different tour of his becoming irate when he learned that TNSE had no interest in allowing a Winnipeg-based WHL team to share the arena.

Considering we were seriously considering plunking down $400 for two seats of 10 Moose games, being that unprofessional, we decided to pass. Perhaps it was not his day, or there were personal issues in play, but I could not help think that if this guy was a real estate agent or working at a car dealership, he probably would not last very long. It was off-putting, to say the least.

Keep in mind, this predates the negative experiences I have become accustomed to hearing about ticket sales agents from TNSE, within two years of the Jets return. Perhaps TNSE should revamp their sales and marketing department, before we begin to see a half full arena.

[bomberjet]

The season ticket drive is timing is not a surprise. First payments were due already for next year, and they obviously saw the numbers plummet. Timing the media release with the playoff clinch seems like they're trying to suck everything they can out of it before the first round exit (I still have zero faith).

For me, my seats are either equal to or actually cheaper than they were 2 years ago. Last row at the top in the corner. I cant remember the exact pricing, but they have not gone up. My playoff ticket for first round is $90 per game. walk up will be 2-3 times that.

Besides that perk, It's $10 bucks a beer, $15 for chicken nuggets lol but that's what you pay to go. I have not been to a game at another rink is a long time. My uncle was in Vegas 2 weeks ago. It's $20USD for everything. Beer? $20. Hotdog? $20. These are the prices of pro sports. But Winnipeg is cheap. Everyone wants the Cadillac for free.

[drew]

^ to me it's not the being cheap factor - it's the complete lack of benefits to being a season ticket holder, and no effort on TNSE's part for little extras and other things that help with retention. I think Danny summarized it pretty much bang on:

1- In our area of the rink they have been discounting tickets by 60% and giving a voucher for a free beer per seat. They give these perks to people buying walk-up tickets but I've held half a seat in a group (4 people for 2 seats) for 12 seasons and have got nothing like that even once. They had even better deals for people willing to buy 4 game packs midseason with free merch and vouchers for concessions. What in the actual fuck? They pissed off the people who guarantee their revenue and devalued their product at season seat prices. Who is running this organization?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Besides that perk, It's $10 bucks a beer, $15 for chicken nuggets lol but that's what you pay to go. I have not been to a game at another rink is a long time. My uncle was in Vegas 2 weeks ago. It's $20USD for everything. Beer? $20. Hotdog? $20. These are the prices of pro sports. But Winnipeg is cheap. Everyone wants the Cadillac for free.

I agree on the price thing, I took in some sports while in California recently... it was my first time going to sports events in the US in years. I definitely got sticker shock. Prices are exorbitant. As you say, almost $20 a pop for things like beer and popcorn. Soft drinks $10. Parking $30. All in US dollars. It's shocking. I can live without eating at the game but it's hard to say no to my kids who are accustomed to having some snacks at the game - based on Winnipeg prices, haha.

I definitely won't be complaining about prices around here anymore.

Mind you, there is just a ton of money down there on a scale that doesn't exist here. In LA I took a tour of the LA Memorial Coliseum. They took us into one of the palatial founders suites... the cost of the founders suite is a $20 million donation to USC, which gets you the suite for 10 years. To watch college football. And there are several of these suites. It is very hard to imagine anyone at all coughing up that kind of dough in Winnipeg.

Originally Posted by Danny D Oh

2- TNSE insisted on doing away with season ticket contracts and now have everyone on year-to-year. They totally shot themselves in the foot with this one. At least with the 3 or 5 year deal you were locked in and would be more willing to ride out down years for an agreement to not raise prices below a certain level (although they usually maxed this out).

You can't do multi-year contracts when you have a pile of unsold seats. It only worked when demand vastly exceeded supply, i.e. the first five years. Maybe it still works with premium seats where corporate accounts are comfortable signing on for 4 or 5 years, but I think a lot of people will be hesitant to sign on for multi-year contracts, especially in light of all the tumult of the past few years.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Besides that perk, It's $10 bucks a beer, $15 for chicken nuggets lol but that's what you pay to go. I have not been to a game at another rink is a long time. My uncle was in Vegas 2 weeks ago. It's $20USD for everything. Beer? $20. Hotdog? $20. These are the prices of pro sports. But Winnipeg is cheap. Everyone wants the Cadillac for free.

source:

https://time2play.com/ca-en/blog/most-expensive-arenas-watch-nhl-game/

Well, I was sceptical of your post, considering that in 2011, the Jets were only behind Toronto and Montreal when it came to costs of attending an NHL games, but you are absolutely correct. It's even more expensive to attend an NHL game in places like Nashville and Tampa Bay, two non-traditional hockey markets, that sellout all of their games.

I guess having families or young blue collar men have been priced out of the market. Hopefully the Winnipeg business community comes through and gobbles up a significant percentage of tickets. I know that the average Winnipegger is being priced out of the market.

[VANRIDERFAN]

Originally Posted by esquire

I definitely won't be complaining about prices around here anymore.

Mind you, there is just a ton of money down there on a scale that doesn't exist here. In LA I took a tour of the LA Memorial Coliseum. They took us into one of the palatial founders suites... the cost of the founders suite is a $20 million donation to USC, which gets you the suite for 10 years. To watch college football. And there are several of these suites. It is very hard to imagine anyone at all coughing up that kind of dough in Winnipeg.

What sort of shape is the stadium in? Its pushing 80 years old isn't it?

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

What sort of shape is the stadium in? Its pushing 80 years old isn't it?

It's exactly 100 years old.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by VANRIDERFAN

What sort of shape is the stadium in? Its pushing 80 years old isn't it?

It's spectacular, in a historic kind of way. It will be an Olympic venue for the third time in 2028... it is amazing that in a world where 25 year old stadiums get demolished, the LAMC just keeps on going.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by drew

^ to me it's not the being cheap factor - it's the complete lack of benefits to being a season ticket holder, and no effort on TNSE's part for little extras and other things that help with retention. I think Danny summarized it pretty much bang on:

Ya I'd agree with that. They do nothing for us and do the promo programs like you said.

Back in the earlier days, STH would at least get the ticket package thing delivered to your home at start of season. With a pin, lanyard, some junk to at least make it feel like you were appreciated.

[bomberjet]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

source:

https://time2play.com/ca-en/blog/most-expensive-arenas-watch-nhl-game/

Well, I was sceptical of your post, considering that in 2011, the Jets were only behind Toronto and Montreal when it came to costs of attending an NHL games, but you are absolutely correct. It's even more expensive to attend an NHL game in places like Nashville and Tampa Bay, two non-traditional hockey markets, that sellout all of their games.

I guess having families or young blue collar men have been priced out of the market. Hopefully the Winnipeg business community comes through and gobbles up a significant percentage of tickets. I know that the average Winnipegger is being priced out of the market.

No surprise at the top it's original 6 line-up, Vegas and Seattle (both of whom just paid over $1 billion for the NHL team package). Original 6 have the fan base to support the high prices.

[thurmas]

Over $5600 a year just to watch before you even pay for grub drinks or merchandise. No thanks I will stick with cfl for the average joe.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by thurmas

Over $5600 a year just to watch before you even pay for grub drinks or merchandise. No thanks I will stick with cfl for the average joe.

Actually, that chart includes some concessions. That may shave off $30-40/game, depending on how much parking costs in a 2 block radius.

"Our total costs consist of the Average Weighted Ticket + 2 Beers + Cheapest Hot Dog + Parking; per NHL team."

[esquire]

Originally Posted by thurmas

Over $5600 a year just to watch before you even pay for grub drinks or merchandise. No thanks I will stick with cfl for the average joe.

I don't even think you have to bring cost into it. Bomber games, at least in recent years, have been straight up more entertaining. I think that the loud leather-lunged fans who were at Jets games for the first five years are all at IG Field now... atmosphere is definitely better there.

[pspeid]

I think the season-ticket push by the Jets is, for the moment, an effort to avoid a financial disaster, rather than deal with a current one. I'm sure the team was hurting after the pandemic shut-downs, but if you do a search on NHL teams that are currently in financial trouble, the Jets don't seem to make the list (at least not any list i could find). Outside of Phoenix, most references seem to be for income lost from the collapse of a regional cable network in the States, leaving many teams in a financial bind.

Asking more local companies to step up and support the team with season tickets isn't a bad idea, IMO. I think it's natural for companies to assume that "someone else" is stepping up to carry the load, even if that "someone else" is the average schmo season-ticket buyer. Maybe they needed a little shaking up to consider supporting the team?

As for appreciating season ticket holders, what would people suggest? Do little things like free pins and hats mean enough to keep someone buying season tickets, or do you want discounts on food/drink? I'm just asking because I've never been a season ticket holder for the Jets (just the Bombers) so I'm not sure if more swag would change people's minds?

[esquire]

^ The only thing I ever got as a Jets (half) STH that felt in any way special was the season ticket holder skate. That was a nice event. The rest was pretty forgettable, e.g. the annual tchotchke they'd send you... I'm struggling to remember anything. I think I got a couple of perks with Jets Rewards when that was a thing. Food and drink discounts are offered now and that is a nice touch... might as well give your best customers a little reprieve from the exorbitant concession prices.

It seems typical for US teams to give STHs a free jacket, or jersey or whatever. That is pretty classy.