Quote:
Originally Posted by jigglysquishy
15,000 fans in a 15,000 seat arena will ALWAYS make more money than 15,000 fans in a 20,000 seat arena.
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And it's certainly better than 10,000 fans in any seat arena, paying $25 for lower bowl tickets. I think a lot of people really truly do not understand just how poor attendance and pricing has been in a lot of the sun belt. And contrary to how some pretend, this is not a recent phenomenon nor does it have anything to do with the recession.
I saw a report a while back that basically shows how Phoenix has lost more money, on average, per season than the Jets lost COMBINED in their ENTIRE WINNIPEG HISTORY. The Jets who were arguably one of the least successful franchises in NHL history, who played in arguably the NHL's smallest market.
I mean seriously: the nickel and diming type discussions recently make me laugh out loud, literally. These teams are bleeding money and have been pretty much since their inception. This isn't a 10% profit/loss margin we're talking about here. This is tens of millions of dollars. A franchise in Winnipeg would have to sell at Moose prices and Moose attendance levels to even approach the level of losses in Phoenix and Atlanta. And I don't think even the most pessimistic naysayer would claim that Winnipeg cannot support NHL hockey at Moose prices and attendance.
I fully admit that a team in Winnipeg will likely always remain in the bottom 1/3 of NHL revenues. But it will blow several existing franchises out of the water, and that should be enough.