NHL should offer free tickets for first 3 games

[Master Shake*]

and 50% off the next 3 games.
As payback for the fans.

It would also be a way to fill the building and maybe get some people hooked again or attract new fans. A marketing ploy.

Ticket prices also need to be lowered everywhere. The sport needs to return to its roots of the average person. When it became a fad sport briefly, prices rose like flood waters, pricing out the true fans. Fans used to be rowdy and into the game. Now fans are quiet subdued and alot of them there for business reasons.

Too many tickets end up sitting on someones desks unused as business bribes instead of in fans hands. The NHL needs to get rid of that problem.

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[X0ssbar]

I'll "buy" it

In all honesty a great idea but unfortunately I'm not gonna hold my breathe.

 

[cjbhab*]

and 50% off the next 3 games.
As payback for the fans.

It would also be a way to fill the building and maybe get some people hooked again or attract new fans. A marketing ploy.

Ticket prices also need to be lowered everywhere. The sport needs to return to its roots of the average person. When it became a fad sport briefly, prices rose like flood waters, pricing out the true fans. Fans used to be rowdy and into the game. Now fans are quiet subdued and alot of them there for business reasons.

Too many tickets end up sitting on someones desks unused as business bribes instead of in fans hands. The NHL needs to get rid of that problem.

great idea, but won't happen, its just to much lost revenue, I know that the bell centre will sell out anyway and thats all that matters.

 

[Hockeyfan02]

They haven't cared about the fans during the whole lockout so why would they start right after? I love the idea, but there is no chance in hell Jeremy Jacobs or Bill Wirtz give out free tickets.

 

[SENSational]

I wish

 

[Benji Frank]

Then everyone who'se fast enouph with ticketmaster or wherever they're being sold will make a few bucks on E-Bay sellign them to the REAL fans......

 

[cecilnyr]

Great idea but another misguided thing fans believe/think the owners will give them for treating us like dog s*** throughout this lockout...No matter what they say this lockout was NEVER about US the fans which it should have been instead it was about stuffing somebody's pockets more....

God forbid they'd throw us a bone and give us tickets to ONE game throughout the year but if you hold your breath waiting for ticket discounts I suggest having an oxygen tank nearby because you'll run out of air pretty quickly.

 

[Trottier]

and 50% off the next 3 games.
As payback for the fans.

Obviously has never had to deal with a CFO....

CecilNYR is spot on. This is big business, not the lemonade corner stand. To think that fans are going to reap the owner's windfall from this CBA is, sorry, pure naivete.

 

[London Knights]

They haven't cared about the fans during the whole lockout so why would they start right after? I love the idea, but there is no chance in hell Jeremy Jacobs or Bill Wirtz give out free tickets.

Wirtz would be all over it, but then he would black out the game inside the arena too by putting a big blanket stretched out and over the boards because there weren't enough paying customers.

 

[Rakiet*]

*Sigh*.....Most teams league-wide have already pledged to lower their ticket prices. It's not really a marketing ploy IMO to give free tickets away. Having things such as student nights, or senior sunday would be more of a ploy. They should sooner be giving away jerseys and trips to mexico in contests, or something of that nature. I don't see the rationality in the fans waiting a year for them to clean up their act financially only to see them take losses on opening day, and the 2 games thereafter.

 

[mooseOAK*]

Wirtz and Jacobs won't give out free tickets, what is the underlying reason singling them out for a statement like that? Hmmmmm.

Anyway, if the players agree to play for free then you may have a deal. Ha ha to that one too.

 

[cecilnyr]

Yes some teams have announced ticket reductions (Rangers was due to not making playoffs last hockey season not the lockout) however it will be short lived as those same teams that lower prices this year will raise them back to pre-lockout levels next year.

If you think we are going to see some sort of "benefit" from the owners soon to be financial windfall you can keep dreaming. This has been a COMMON misconception throughout the lockout that we (the fans) will have this windfall relayed to us via lower ticket prices/concessions not only for 1 season but the prevailing image portrayed to the public was that ticket prices would continue to come down in future years as well provided they got the deal they're getting now.

 

[London Knights]

The ticket reductions are about trying to get the fans to come back, not giving something back to the fans though. Had their been no lockout the ticket prices most likely wouldn't have dropped...or at least would have been limited to a smaller number of markets.

Keep in mind that most of the teams dropping prices are teams that haven't been selling out their games in ages.

 

[Habsaku]

I damn hope they do some promotions. We ate **** all year long and listened to all those bastards lies. They should be beaten if they dont give us treats all year long.

 

[cecilnyr]

I understand that, but that is not the message being portrayed by the NHL

 

[roadrunner]

With many clubs reducing ticket prices, there are many packages that could make opening night, for instance, enticing for fans. 2 for 1 admission, a $5 coupon off of concession prices, free parking, ticket giveaways, drawings for signed/game-worn gear...you know, junk like that. Maybe clubs could do deals like that for the first few home games. I doubt there will be free admission to any NHL game, unfortunately.

If opening night was packaged so that I could bring a buddy for free, get a free beer, free parking, and they give me a free T-shirt, wtf, I'd go.

 

[missK]

While I love the idea, I doubt that the entire league would implement it. And I'm sure that the Lightning won't be giving away any tickets for opening night, when a year late, we would finally get to raise our Championship banner.

 

[Boozers]

well in markets that are not hockey heavy they should, not a bad idea however ur not going to do that in well established us markets, and with every canadian team because it will be sold out anyways or close too

 

[salty justice]

Wirtz has given out plenty of free tickets over the last few years. The problem is that no one wants them.

 

[Boozers]

While I love the idea, I doubt that the entire league would implement it. And I'm sure that the Lightning won't be giving away any tickets for opening night, when a year late, we would finally get to raise our Championship banner.

I just hope people in TB will still go to the games and that they wont have to give away free tickets like they did last year for the cup finals

 

[missK]

I just hope people in TB will still go to the games and that they wont have to give away free tickets like they did last year for the cup finals

Since I don't see any smilies in your post, I will categorically say that free tickets to the Stanley Cup Finals in Tampa last season was a TOTAL LIE. Day of game there was 200 $8 tickets sold (to people who slept outside the arena for 3 days) and Standing room only tickets were also sold for $200 a person. The $8 day of game ticket deal is something the Lightning contracted with the community to do for two season now to make the game affordable to anyone in the area. They continued the $8 day of game tickets during all the playoff and Finals games.

 

[Sotnos]

Since I don't see any smilies in your post, I will categorically say that free tickets to the Stanley Cup Finals in Tampa last season was a TOTAL LIE. Day of game there was 200 $8 tickets sold (to people who slept outside the arena for 3 days) and Standing room only tickets were also sold for $200 a person.

Lord, where do people get these ridiculous ideas?

I WISH they had given away free tickets, I'd have been first in line for that.

 

[kenabnrmal]

and 50% off the next 3 games.
As payback for the fans.

It would also be a way to fill the building and maybe get some people hooked again or attract new fans. A marketing ploy.

Ticket prices also need to be lowered everywhere. The sport needs to return to its roots of the average person. When it became a fad sport briefly, prices rose like flood waters, pricing out the true fans. Fans used to be rowdy and into the game. Now fans are quiet subdued and alot of them there for business reasons.

Too many tickets end up sitting on someones desks unused as business bribes instead of in fans hands. The NHL needs to get rid of that problem.

Fantastic start for the new fiscally "healthy" NHL, give away its product. While I wouldn't balk at lowered ticket prices, the object should be to make the product enticing enough that the price is jusitfiable to most fans. Unless you own your own rink, own 100% of your concessions, there is no way that giving away tickets will lead to long-term viability. Giving away tickets is rarely an effective marketing ploy. Just think about how much money they would be throwing away? Does that sound like the way to begin a financially healthy era of the NHL?

As for the tickets ending up as "business bribes", thats hardly what I would call them. Corporate sponsorship has become a MASSIVE source of economic viability in all professional sports. Its simply impossible to operate without them. The tickets aren't "bribes", they are part of the return to the sponsoring company which is paying tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars to the teams. Yeah, it'd be nice if hardcore fans were in those seats, but make the game good enough, market it well, and get the ticket to games "hot" enough, and that problem will take care of itself.

I'm looking forward to the new era, and am fairly optimistic about the league's chances of gaining in all the areas of the business that they need to gian in. However, hopefully this "poor us, you owe us free stuff" attitude some fans seem to have hasn't spread too deeply, because it certainly doesn't help.

 

[futurcorerock]

Dear god, there'd be a stampede in Montreal and Toronto.

Meanwhile, Carolina would casually seat the first 16,000 who walked by the door and stopped to see what was going on inside

 

[Hockeyfan02]

I just hope people in TB will still go to the games and that they wont have to give away free tickets like they did last year for the cup finals

Please stick to commenting about the Oilers attendance because it's clear you have no idea what you're talking about in regards to what the Lightning do with their tickets.