NHL should offer free tickets for first 3 games

[Crows*]

Free pre season games is where it's at.

All practices should be open as well, with mics.

 

[Resolute]

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

You know, I was just thinking about how badly this lockout hit the scalpers. I think your idea would do wonders to help their buisness.

 

[Resolute]

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

I would love it if you could post a link showing that Tampa gave away tickets to the Finals.

I tried to get tickets for games 1 and 2 of the finals literally 5 minutes after Tampa eliminated Philly, and failed. Literally 25 minutes after they eliminated Philly, the best seats I could get for game 7 was the back of their 300 section.

I have absolutely no doubt that Tampa gave away a pile of tickets during the regular season, but trust me, they sold out for the finals.

 

[Master Shake*]

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

I would suggest free tickets to anyone who has season tickets or multi game ticket packages and award the same amount of seats. Then give away remaining tickets through promotions up until the season starts.

Free pre-season and practices as someone above said would also be a great idea.

Each team should create a Fan Day. Once a year before the season starts, they have a big FREE event where all the players come out for 8 hours to meet greet talk to and sign for the fans. Live bands, food, pony rides, the works. Baseball teams do it. This is the type of stuff the NHL needs to be doing. They need to be marketing themselves.


One alternative would be to give fans 50% off tickets, free parking and half priced concessions for first ten games.

These are all very small prices to pay for rewarding fans loyalty for the loss of an entire ****ing season.

 

[kenabnrmal]

I would suggest free tickets to anyone who has season tickets or multi game ticket packages and award the same amount of seats. Then give away remaining tickets through promotions up until the season starts.

Free pre-season and practices as someone above said would also be a great idea.

Each team should create a Fan Day. Once a year before the season starts, they have a big FREE event where all the players come out for 8 hours to meet greet talk to and sign for the fans. Live bands, food, pony rides, the works. Baseball teams do it. This is the type of stuff the NHL needs to be doing.


One alternative would be to give fans 50% off tickets, free parking and half priced concessions for first ten games.

These are all very small prices to pay for rewarding fans loyalty for the loss of an entire ****ing season.

The fan day is the only thing that makes sense, along with the other guy's idea of open practices. No mics though.

The others are very far from "small prices to pay". I'd invite you to write an email to the assistant gm of your favorite team, or anyone in the front office of a pro hockey team for that matter, to discuss the affects of giving away tickets or half offs to this extent. The reality of how big a price it is will soon set in.

 

[Resolute]

The fan day is the only thing that makes sense, along with the other guy's idea of open practices. No mics though.

The others are very far from "small prices to pay". I'd invite you to write an email to the assistant gm of your favorite team, or anyone in the front office of a pro hockey team for that matter, to discuss the affects of giving away tickets or half offs to this extent. The reality of how big a price it is will soon set in.

Out of curiosity of just how big the price would be:

Very simple calculation. I took the "average" ticket price according to TMI from 03-04 and multiplied by arena capacity. Putting aside all of the obvious flaws with this meathod...

Detroit would stand to lose as much as $5.1 million in ticket sales giving tickets away for free for three games. Philly $5.0 million. Toronto $4.8 million. Calgary would lose as much as $3 million. Edmonton $2.75 million.

Combined, the league would probably be looking at a $90 million loss. Or, 5.0% of revenues if the $1.8 billion estimate is accurate.

edit: forgot about the "50% off the next three games" in my estimates.

 

[blitzkriegs]

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.

.

Yeah. One that will make the NHL an absolute laughingstock in the sports world.

Did MLB do that after they cancelled the WS?

The NHL will see a reduced attendance in some markets, but I think that since the NHL, in the US, mainly taps into the die hard market, you will not see THAT dramatic of difference. This is not the MLB that relies on the casual fan for attendance. Another major reason the owners felt they could cancel the season.

 

[nyrmessier011]

ok, thanks for your opinion. I thought threads are supposed to be useful.