Winnipeg | NHL Jets

[thurmas]

Who was this Trotz fellow everyone was clamoring for? Bowness seems like the perfect fit for this team a great teacher and a very good human being players want to play for.

[drew]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Once the line-up gets solidified after the injuries, should set-up nicely for a playoff run. Not sure we're on par with the 17-18 squad, we'll see. Sure do miss Buff back in his hey day.

I miss Buff - my favorite 2.0 Jet. He was such a unique talent - definitely an X-factor player on the ice.

[harls]

Originally Posted by drew

I miss Buff - my favorite 2.0 Jet. He was such a unique talent - definitely an X-factor player on the ice.

He is the most charismatic guy in Jets history, IMO.

• Video Link

[GreyGarden]

I saw lots of chatter last night around attendance. The arena felt very empty and quiet for a Friday night. I must’ve missed it when it was published at the start of November but saw it going around yesterday:

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/2022/11/04/people-still-arent-coming

I’m starting to get concerned for the Jets and the City. This seems like it may be a more deep-seated problem with the market rather than post-COVID anxieties. Also, I keep seeing people whine about “game day experience”. Does anyone know what that means? I’ve been to games in a few Canadian cities and it all feels pretty similar. Is it just Winnipeg speak for “give me free stuff”? Coupled with the general vibe of the city and the next to no development that we’re seeing, I’m getting worried that the City is in for some really tough times.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by GreyGarden

I saw lots of chatter last night around attendance. The arena felt very empty and quiet for a Friday night. I must’ve missed it when it was published at the start of November but saw it going around yesterday:

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/columnists/2022/11/04/people-still-arent-coming

I’m starting to get concerned for the Jets and the City. This seems like it may be a more deep-seated problem with the market rather than post-COVID anxieties. Also, I keep seeing people whine about “game day experience”. Does anyone know what that means? I’ve been to games in a few Canadian cities and it all feels pretty similar. Is it just Winnipeg speak for “give me free stuff”? Coupled with the general vibe of the city and the next to no development that we’re seeing, I’m getting worried that the City is in for some really tough times.

I noticed that too. The funny thing is that Jets tickets are by far cheaper than ever, I'm fairly certain that TNSE is consistently dumping upper deck seats on the resale market as low as $25 a pop, all in. That's like the price of a Goldeyes ticket. They run other promos too, like the $60 Jets/Moose/skills competition combo, or the Tuesday cheap ticket + beer special. I never take advantage of them myself though, between the WHL games I go to plus my kids' games and activities, I just don't have the time for it. I do have tickets for some Jets games coming up after Christmas, though.

I honestly wonder if TNSE was a little too greedy in the early years with the $90 nosebleed seats and all that. It got people used to the idea of simply watching on TV and not going to the arena. When I was a kid, the old Jets games were a little pricy but they were still within the grasp of even a working class family like the one I grew up in. Now it seems firmly geared towards the high end expense account crowd, the kinds of people who own businesses and can write off the costs as an entertainment expense, etc. And the problem is that Winnipeg doesn't have a ton of people like that relative to other NHL cities.

Personally the threat of "buy tickets or we move the team" doesn't hold any water at all with me, I lived through the Jets leaving once and I can live through it again. It doesn't matter at all. I am more than happy with WHL hockey. I don't need to spend $300+ to have a good time at a hockey game.

[EdwardTH]

Originally Posted by esquire

Personally the threat of "buy tickets or we move the team" doesn't hold any water at all with me, I lived through the Jets leaving once and I can live through it again. It doesn't matter at all. I am more than happy with WHL hockey. I don't need to spend $300+ to have a good time at a hockey game.

Yeah why would you wanna watch the highest-calibre league in the entire world when you can watch a bunch of high-school kids, most of whom will never play a pro game in their life, essentially a bunch of amateur 16 year-olds, instead?

The fact that even the people with money in Winnipeg think this way is why our city stays 3rd-rate. "Why would I want to see the best in the world when I can save a buck watching amateur kids playing in a glorified community centre instead and then have a shorter drive back to my mcmansion?"

[esquire]

[pegcityboy]

Season ticket holder 1.0 and 2.0 here . I’m not an expect but one of the biggest problems i see right now is some of my friends who love hockey but are casual fans and go to 6-10 games a year , they sometimes wait till game day or day before to make decision on going , we sit in P3s and the wanted to get seats by us , seats were available but ticketmaster price was $247 a SEAT ! Our seats aren’t cheap but work out to $132 a seat ( season ticket price ) so for casual fan paying more than $100-$150 more per seat is ridiculous, some games like Montreal and Toronto have been over $400 a ticket from ticketmaster which is just ridiculous to pay for a hockey game IMO .

[optimusREIM]

Okay so what I’m hearing is Winnipeg will never be ready for prime time again, because that’s the cost of doing business. It would be embarrassing if we lost our team again because of peoples shitty attitudes.

[thebasketballgeek]

There’s a lot more question marks in the NHL before we harp on Winnipeg for its subpar attendance.

Arizona is a disaster, Buffalo has sucked for awhile, Ottawa has had dwindling fan support ever since their ECF appearance, Columbus is a dumpster fire, and funny thing is even New Jersey (the 19-4 team) has a lower average attendance then us.

That’s not even considering tickets are dirt cheap in a lot of American markets. If they had Jets prices they would likely be at 50% capacity.

Enough with the doomerism. The Jets are a good team, Chipman & Thompson have not even hinted towards those talks, and they play in the middle of the city. Let’s not act like half the cities license plates don’t have a Jets logo on it, or ignore the vast amount of Jets clothing you will see in public literally anywhere in the city. It’s our cities identity and is the best shot we have at garnering anything worthy of international attention. Just look at the relevance of Kansas City when they got Mahomes, or Edmonton when they got McDavid. Not saying we have a Mahomes or McDavid like player, but a successful franchise in a world class league sometimes can provide the moral boost necessary for legitimate growth and progress.

The reality is times are tough right now for Canadians in general. A lot of people are struggling to make ends meet they definitely aren’t considering dropping $250 for entertainment purposes. That’s enough for a week of groceries at most with how absurd food prices have climbed up recently. Winnipeggers are a resilient bunch I’m sure the tides will turn and hopefully when the Jets are in the playoffs and the whiteout returns we won’t be having these talks again for a while.

Although, maybe they could consider trying to up their game with promotional deals for idk university students, Indigenous people, and families for start. I bet 50% off drinks on certain nights would get butts in seats as well.

[thurmas]

I always get lambasted for it on here but a lot of suburbanites do not want to go back downtown especially since covid-19 as its just too dangerous abandoned and unwelcoming to many people's viewpoint. Until downtown can be cleaned up atleast somewhat to pre covid-19 downtown levels i doubt many will want to comeback.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by thebasketballgeek

There’s a lot more question marks in the NHL before we harp on Winnipeg for its subpar attendance.

Arizona is a disaster, Buffalo has sucked for awhile, Ottawa has had dwindling fan support ever since their ECF appearance, Columbus is a dumpster fire, and funny thing is even New Jersey (the 19-4 team) has a lower average attendance then us.

That’s not even considering tickets are dirt cheap in a lot of American markets. If they had Jets prices they would likely be at 50% capacity.

Enough with the doomerism. The Jets are a good team, Chipman & Thompson have not even hinted towards those talks, and they play in the middle of the city. Let’s not act like half the cities license plates don’t have a Jets logo on it, or ignore the vast amount of Jets clothing you will see in public literally anywhere in the city. It’s our cities identity and is the best shot we have at garnering anything worthy of international attention. Just look at the relevance of Kansas City when they got Mahomes, or Edmonton when they got McDavid. Not saying we have a Mahomes or McDavid like player, but a successful franchise in a world class league sometimes can provide the moral boost necessary for legitimate growth and progress.

The reality is times are tough right now for Canadians in general. A lot of people are struggling to make ends meet they definitely aren’t considering dropping $250 for entertainment purposes. That’s enough for a week of groceries at most with how absurd food prices have climbed up recently. Winnipeggers are a resilient bunch I’m sure the tides will turn and hopefully when the Jets are in the playoffs and the whiteout returns we won’t be having these talks again for a while.

Although, maybe they could consider trying to up their game with promotional deals for idk university students, Indigenous people, and families for start. I bet 50% off drinks on certain nights would get butts in seats as well.

This is a good perspective. The Jets will be fine. Winnipeg will always support them. The Stockholm Syndrome "OMG we have to buy tickets or we're worthless as a city" is pure silliness.

The worst anyone can say is that the days of the Jets being a Leafs-style cash cow with 100% sellouts every night at very inflated price points are gone. But no one including TNSE ever thought that would last forever. It's impressive that it lasted for nearly a decade. Maybe in decade two TNSE will have to mark down some seats and run more specials and promos like most other NHL teams do.

[blueandgoldguy]

I doubt the danger of downtown Winnipeg plays much of a role in the vast majority of people's decision to attend a Jets game. It's more likely inflation in the cost of gas/food that has caused people to cutback on tickets....and the upcoming recession.

Gate revenue is still important for NHL teams' bottom lines, more so than any of the big-4 leagues, but it is less important than it was 11 years ago when the Jets came back. The league's other revenue streams have improved and the Jets new regional TV deal with TSN pays TNSE significantly more than the one the old one.

Sportico values the Jets more valuable than 10 other NHL teams. Part of that value is derived from revenue. The Jets are fine at this point.

https://www.sportico.com/feature/most-valuable-nhl-franchises-chart-1234693075/

[EdwardTH]

Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy

I doubt the danger of downtown Winnipeg plays much of a role in the vast majority of people's decision to attend a Jets game. It's more likely inflation in the cost of gas/food that has caused people to cutback on tickets....and the upcoming recession.

Yeah I don't see it either, but I do think work-from-home makes a big difference. maybe even more so than cost of living. You have tens of thousands of people who used to be downtown every weekday anyway, so no doubt many chose to stay downtown for dinner or just stay late at the office and then head to a game. Now those people never leave their living room and don't wanna be bothered to drive all the way downtown and find parking. Kinda sad that we're devolving into a society of people who never leave the couch and just stare at a screen all day and night.

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by EdwardTH

Yeah I don't see it either, but I do think work-from-home makes a big difference. maybe even more so than cost of living. You have tens of thousands of people who used to be downtown every weekday anyway, so no doubt many chose to stay downtown for dinner or just stay late at the office and then head to a game. Now those people never leave their living room and don't wanna be bothered to drive all the way downtown and find parking. Kinda sad that we're devolving into a society of people who never leave the couch and just stare at a screen all day and night.

Yeah the more things go online and digital the more I appreciate analog and real life….

[pegcityboy]

Thurmas not picking on you , but not one person i know has ever said to me downtown isn’t safe i’m not going to Jets , Concerts , Shaw Park , The Forks or Convention Centre etc etc because of feeling unsafe . Sorry i think that’s a big reach to say that , just my opinion . My wife used to work downtown we are downtown a fair bit not worried at all about our safety , sure we are aware of our surroundings but we are fine , lots of less safe downtowns than ours around North America .

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by pegcityboy

Thurmas not picking on you , but not one person i know has ever said to me downtown isn’t safe i’m not going to Jets , Concerts , Shaw Park , The Forks or Convention Centre etc etc because of feeling unsafe . Sorry i think that’s a big reach to say that , just my opinion . My wife used to work downtown we are downtown a fair bit not worried at all about our safety , sure we are aware of our surroundings but we are fine , lots of less safe downtowns than ours around North America .

I agree completely.

[thurmas]

Originally Posted by pegcityboy

Thurmas not picking on you , but not one person i know has ever said to me downtown isn’t safe i’m not going to Jets , Concerts , Shaw Park , The Forks or Convention Centre etc etc because of feeling unsafe . Sorry i think that’s a big reach to say that , just my opinion . My wife used to work downtown we are downtown a fair bit not worried at all about our safety , sure we are aware of our surroundings but we are fine , lots of less safe downtowns than ours around North America .

We must be in different circles tons of friends and work colleagues of mine in st vital Windsor Park st boniface and Waverly heights refuse to go now.

[esquire]

I'm not shocked that some people might feel unsafe/uncomfortable downtown but no one I know has cited that as a reason. I'd imagine that cost/overall level of hassle are a much bigger deal, though.

Nice to see the Jets get the W today after starting out embarrassingly slowly.

[bomberjet]

In my circle of people. Not one has said they're not going to games because of safety. I don't really get the safety angle. Sure things happen. But it's not a warzone with thugs running rampent. Expesically during events where there are thousnds of other people around.

They just don't care to go. The older crowd who were season ticket holders since 2011 have dropped off. Because they're getting old and just can't be bothered to leave their couch.

The younger people who are interested in tickets can easily get them now. I was at the game on Friday vs Columbus. It's mostly the upper bowl cheap seats that are empty. What was attendance. Probably still 14k. The premier was there schmoozing lol