The Official Prudential Center, Surrounding Area & Season Ticket Thread

[Devils Dominion]

You guys are really overreacting.

Btw, it was a Sunday night preseason game...who is going to a Sunday night preseason game? Come on.

Things take time, logistics take time, you can't just flip a switch. So hold your stuff. Changes are coming. The Legends boxes were there in August too, and who knows - what kind of infrastructure that's needed for the menu and so on and so forth.

It's a process. So chill out. They took a season and took stock of what was needed to be done, and they need and want to get it done. So give them a break. If by November things aren't different with no updates from the team, than start *****ing but until then, get a life and enjoy a hockey game.

I won't be at the next 2 preseason games, so my next experience will be opening night in October.

They have a lot of work to do between now and then.

And that includes their mindset on what constitutes the typical game night atmosphere us fans want to experience.
To start, it certainly is not cheesy top-40 music from the 90s.
Or that lame song the team skated out to in the 3rd period.

Sales 101, know your customers/audience/market Josh Harris/David Blitzer/Hugh Weber/Scott O'Neil!

 

[HellOnIce]

I won't be at the next 2 preseason games, so my next experience will be opening night in October.

They have a lot of work to do between now and then.

And that includes their mindset on what constitutes the typical game night atmosphere us fans want to experience.
To start, it certainly is not cheesy top-40 music from the 90s.
Or that lame song the team skated out to in the 3rd period.

Sales 101, know your customers/audience/market Josh Harris/David Blitzer/Hugh Weber/Scott O'Neil!

Oh god. Are we really complaining about the 3rd period entrance music...

 

[Devils Dominion]

Oh god. Are we really complaining about the 3rd period entrance music...

Yeah, did you hear it?

It's down there on the complaint list for sure, but, whoever is making the music decisions can be replaced by a monkey.

Oh, did some research, the in arena hostess on the microphone last night, is currently a Rutgers student.
Her name is Taryn Hatcher and she is a diehard Flyers fan from the Philly area!
***She is nice to look at, I'll admit.

You would think that they would hire someone with experience, a professional, if they want to "liven up" the crowds with such a position.

 

[Unknown Caller]

You're wrong on that. The food came in Legends packaging. The chicken tenders were different and came with plain non-nathans fries. The arena brass promised people would see changes starting in July and everything would be different when hockey started. I was there in July and it was still the same old crap and last night was downright embarrassing. I get that it's the preseason but when the upper concourse looks like Market St. in 2007 with everything boarded up, closed, and dirty it leaves a bad impression. These new areas and stands should have been open and running so that they could get the bugs out. The home opener is gonna be a cluster****. I just don't get why they waited all summer to start working on this.

Also no score-o. It was replaced by some awful shoot into the empty net game that was run poorly. The music was never louder and my wife had to yell in my ear while it was playing so I could hear her. The in game hostess could shatter glass with her voice.

Also just to show nothing's changed on the administrative side of things despite having twice as many people working there, the fan club is supposed to have a discount offer for opening night. They were told the link would be up and running to buy tickets on September 1st. As of now it's still not up and there's no way to buy tickets whatsoever. The proceeds of their discount offers go to charity. The whole thing is a giant clown show.

I'm sorry, but this was the smallest pre-season crowd I've ever seen there. There may have been 150 people in the 200s combined. It was a good indicator of the season ticket holder base. If there are several whole sections up there empty, you know there aren't many season ticket holders there.

It's not Legends food. I already spoke with one of the people in charge of concessions, etc (not sure of his exact title) and he specifically said that it does not turn over for 2 weeks. All of the concessions still have the old offerings from last season. None of the new offerings and concessions are available until the start of the season. So maybe they're using the Legends packaging, but it hasn't turned over yet. For example, whatever the Goal Bar concession stand offered last night will be completely changed over for opening night.

Sorry, I'm just not making evaluations off of a preseason game and looking for things to complain about, especially when it's obvious that they haven't implemented any changes yet.

 

[Wingman77]

It's not Legends food. I already spoke with one of the people in charge of concessions, etc (not sure of his exact title) and he specifically said that it does not turn over for 2 weeks. All of the concessions still have the old offerings from last season. None of the new offerings and concessions are available until the start of the season. So maybe they're using the Legends packaging, but it hasn't turned over yet. For example, whatever the Goal Bar concession stand offered last night will be completely changed over for opening night.

Sorry, I'm just not making evaluations off of a preseason game and looking for things to complain about, especially when it's obvious that they haven't implemented any changes yet.

Exactly, the Aramark contract may not end until whatever the date in 2 weeks is and that the Legends contract is written to begin on a date in 2 weeks

Once again though the same people failing to think and look at things from different angles before speaking

 

[Colin226]

It's not Legends food. I already spoke with one of the people in charge of concessions, etc (not sure of his exact title) and he specifically said that it does not turn over for 2 weeks. All of the concessions still have the old offerings from last season. None of the new offerings and concessions are available until the start of the season. So maybe they're using the Legends packaging, but it hasn't turned over yet. For example, whatever the Goal Bar concession stand offered last night will be completely changed over for opening night.

Sorry, I'm just not making evaluations off of a preseason game and looking for things to complain about, especially when it's obvious that they haven't implemented any changes yet.

Exactly my feelings.. With all the construction clearly going on, I can't take yesterday's game experience seriously.. Let's at least wait until the conference call at noon to hear them out.. I'm sure they will address things

BTW - totally agree with Devils Dominion.. She's super hot but the voice over the PA was "sharp" on the ears to say the least.. That said, I think they might be trying out different people, as this girl covered Day 2 of Media Day while another one did Day 1

 

[tycobb]

Anyone have a link to the seating chart with the half-season ticket prices? I assume the discount isn't nearly as good as the full-season tickets.

 

[GordonGecko]

You guys are really overreacting.

Btw, it was a Sunday night preseason game...who is going to a Sunday night preseason game? Come on.

Are they charging the regular season price for pre-season? If so then there's no excuse

 

[njdevil26]

Technically yes... They have a ridiculously complex pricing tier system. The pre-season games are on a lower tier,.

 

[Colin226]

Technically yes... They have a ridiculously complex pricing tier system. The pre-season games are on a lower tier,.

Well last night's game and Thursday's upcoming game are both in their own pricing tier just for those 2 preseason games, so technically I would think that means they aren't part of regular season pricing.. Saturday's Ranger preseason game is part of the lowest regular season pricing tier though so that one counts but demand is also higher for it

 

[Scott04]

You're wrong on that. The food came in Legends packaging. The chicken tenders were different and came with plain non-nathans fries. The arena brass promised people would see changes starting in July and everything would be different when hockey started. I was there in July and it was still the same old crap and last night was downright embarrassing. I get that it's the preseason but when the upper concourse looks like Market St. in 2007 with everything boarded up, closed, and dirty it leaves a bad impression. These new areas and stands should have been open and running so that they could get the bugs out. The home opener is gonna be a cluster****. I just don't get why they waited all summer to start working on this.

Of course it would come in Legends packaging. They have a contract. Using someone else would be a breach of contract. Why was that a topic of discussion?

Everything is pre-season. That's it. Pre-season and opening night are NEVER the same. In any building. In any sport. And the home opener is almost always a cluster **** in any sport, in any building. It's just a matter of how well it's managed. And you have no idea when they started working on anything, so it's merely speculating that they waited until now.

Also no score-o. It was replaced by some awful shoot into the empty net game that was run poorly. The music was never louder and my wife had to yell in my ear while it was playing so I could hear her. The in game hostess could shatter glass with her voice.

When have they EVER done score-o during the pre-season? Much like how they don't do it during the post-season. They're not giving away cars then. They're not running the promo then. This isn't news. This is how it always goes. At least they did something because plenty of times in the past there is no real promo during the intermissions.

Can't comment on the actual music volume, but it's always going to sound louder when there are many fewer people there. It will always resonate more in an empty building.

Also just to show nothing's changed on the administrative side of things despite having twice as many people working there, the fan club is supposed to have a discount offer for opening night. They were told the link would be up and running to buy tickets on September 1st. As of now it's still not up and there's no way to buy tickets whatsoever. The proceeds of their discount offers go to charity. The whole thing is a giant clown show.

That's an issue related to the fan club, not just the team.

I'm sorry, but this was the smallest pre-season crowd I've ever seen there. There may have been 150 people in the 200s combined. It was a good indicator of the season ticket holder base. If there are several whole sections up there empty, you know there aren't many season ticket holders there.

Sure.

Are they charging the regular season price for pre-season? If so then there's no excuse

Every team charges full ticket prices because no one just throws in pre-season games for STHs. Extras maybe, but not their original tickets. That's why a season ticket package is 44 games. For everyone. And every team has a series of hiccups, often some major ones, during their pre-season. This isn't unique.

 

[BigBlueAndRed]

Anyone else doing the STH conference call?

 

[HobokenIrish]

Do we know what the new food options will consist of in the concourses? Or is that under wraps until the opening?

 

[Devils Dominion]

Anyone else doing the STH conference call?

Please ask about the horrid music played at the game last night-and give us feedback here on this thread?

 

[CKPLAYA]

You guys are really overreacting.

Btw, it was a Sunday night preseason game...who is going to a Sunday night preseason game? Come on.

Things take time, logistics take time, you can't just flip a switch. So hold your stuff. Changes are coming. The Legends boxes were there in August too, and who knows - what kind of infrastructure that's needed for the menu and so on and so forth.

It's a process. So chill out. They took a season and took stock of what was needed to be done, and they need and want to get it done. So give them a break. If by November things aren't different with no updates from the team, than start *****ing but until then, get a life and enjoy a hockey game.

When people are spending their hard earned money they always have the right to complain about anything they want. They have paid for that right. Hopefully changes are in place for the start of the season.

 

[BigBlueAndRed]

Here are my notes to any questions that were worth knowing. They didn't get to me unfortunately.

* New devils team will line Penn Station and the Gateway walkway to help people get to the Rock
* Tenure jerseys will be available at the 10/5 preview for those attending
* The club experience is still in progress for opening day. New stands Celebrity Chef David Burke, Crazy Mike's Italian. Sushi will be back as well. There will be some free snacks and drinks still. Wanted to lower the price point of club seats to get more bodies in seats. Restaurant seats are the offering for people who still want buffet style, which is going to a "Ryland Inn" format.
* The goal song came up. They mentioned Gary Glitter's conviction is part of the reason. "You Suck" is considered "off-brand". The song by that man, and the crowd reaction are not "representative of the Devils brand". No going back. Wants the arena to be conducive to families and businesses. Tradition is important, but principles are also important.
* Promotions are still being worked on for the season
* They wanted more Saturday afternoon games, but the league mandates the schedule
* Printed ticket prices were lowered because of the State of Newark tax that was also printed on, tax needed to reflect the amount paid. You can call your rep to get reprinted tickets if you need that for business purposes.
* Attempting to get open practices monthly for STH
* Official STH numbers are around 9,000

 

[Devils Dominion]

Here are my notes to any questions that were worth knowing. They didn't get to me unfortunately.

* New devils team will line Penn Station and the Gateway walkway to help people get to the Rock
* Tenure jerseys will be available at the 10/5 preview for those attending
* The club experience is still in progress for opening day. New stands Celebrity Chef David Burke, Crazy Mike's Italian. Sushi will be back as well. There will be some free snacks and drinks still. Wanted to lower the price point of club seats to get more bodies in seats. Restaurant seats are the offering for people who still want buffet style, which is going to a "Ryland Inn" format.
* The goal song came up. They mentioned Gary Glitter's conviction is part of the reason. "You Suck" is considered "off-brand". The song by that man, and the crowd reaction are not "representative of the Devils brand". No going back. Wants the arena to be conducive to families and businesses. Tradition is important, but principles are also important.
* Promotions are still being worked on for the season
* They wanted more Saturday afternoon games, but the league mandates the schedule
* Printed ticket prices were lowered because of the State of Newark tax that was also printed on, tax needed to reflect the amount paid. You can call your rep to get reprinted tickets if you need that for business purposes.
* Attempting to get open practices monthly for STH
* Official STH numbers are around 9,000

They won't play Gary Glitter but they do play Michael Jackson songs.

Who else noticed last night that they showed the Flyers starting lineup on the jumbotron, but would not let Kevin Clark announce them?
An obvious attempt to prevent fans from yelling "SUCKS!" after each player's name.
Weak sauce

What's a Ryland Inn format?

 

[Sarge18]

Ok company man, here we go.

Someone earlier stated it was still Aramark food being served. That's what I was responding to, so it was a topic of discussion.

I was there on July 28th and NOTHING was being worked on, nothing had changed yet, even though they said people would start seeing changes starting July 1st. They basically have 2 weeks to build these stands and train everyone on how to operate them and prepare the food. If, by contract, they can't do this until now, I understand. Something cool they could have done is hand out flyers with the new stands listed and what they'll offer. That would at least get people excited about returning.

The fan club offer is COMPLETELY on the team. The fan club submitted everything they had to, and had everything in order in August. The team promised to have a link up to order tickets by September 1st. How is this on the fan club again?

I've been going to games and just about every pre-season game since the early 90s, and aside from a few at the old dump, this was the smallest crowd I've ever seen for a preseason game. I guess they counted the 2,000 seats they were trying to dump on Stubhub in the attendance figure.

Of course it would come in Legends packaging. They have a contract. Using someone else would be a breach of contract. Why was that a topic of discussion?

Everything is pre-season. That's it. Pre-season and opening night are NEVER the same. In any building. In any sport. And the home opener is almost always a cluster **** in any sport, in any building. It's just a matter of how well it's managed. And you have no idea when they started working on anything, so it's merely speculating that they waited until now.



When have they EVER done score-o during the pre-season? Much like how they don't do it during the post-season. They're not giving away cars then. They're not running the promo then. This isn't news. This is how it always goes. At least they did something because plenty of times in the past there is no real promo during the intermissions.

Can't comment on the actual music volume, but it's always going to sound louder when there are many fewer people there. It will always resonate more in an empty building.



That's an issue related to the fan club, not just the team.



Sure.




Every team charges full ticket prices because no one just throws in pre-season games for STHs. Extras maybe, but not their original tickets. That's why a season ticket package is 44 games. For everyone. And every team has a series of hiccups, often some major ones, during their pre-season. This isn't unique.

 

[downtown56]

They won't play Gary Glitter but they do play Michael Jackson songs.

Who else noticed last night that they showed the Flyers starting lineup on the jumbotron, but would not let Kevin Clark announce them?
An obvious attempt to prevent fans from yelling "SUCKS!" after each player's name.
Weak sauce

What's a Ryland Inn format?

Let alone playing "get lucky" during the mites on ice.

 

[peterrod16]

http://www.newarkpulse.com/articles/Sonic-is-now-Open.html
Sonic drive in is a mile from the prudential center
Just another food option for fans.

 

[BigBlueAndRed]

They won't play Gary Glitter but they do play Michael Jackson songs.

What's a Ryland Inn format?

They did say on a follow up question after another STH asked about them using the conviction as an "excuse" (their words, not mine) to ban the song, that the "You Sucks" is a bigger deal to them because of kids and businesses.

First I'd ever heard that term too. I assume he meant the food at the Ryland Inn?

http://rylandinnnj.com/eat/

 

[Colin226]

Here are my notes to any questions that were worth knowing. They didn't get to me unfortunately.

* New devils team will line Penn Station and the Gateway walkway to help people get to the Rock
* Tenure jerseys will be available at the 10/5 preview for those attending
* The club experience is still in progress for opening day. New stands Celebrity Chef David Burke, Crazy Mike's Italian. Sushi will be back as well. There will be some free snacks and drinks still. Wanted to lower the price point of club seats to get more bodies in seats. Restaurant seats are the offering for people who still want buffet style, which is going to a "Ryland Inn" format.
* The goal song came up. They mentioned Gary Glitter's conviction is part of the reason. "You Suck" is considered "off-brand". The song by that man, and the crowd reaction are not "representative of the Devils brand". No going back. Wants the arena to be conducive to families and businesses. Tradition is important, but principles are also important.
* Promotions are still being worked on for the season
* They wanted more Saturday afternoon games, but the league mandates the schedule
* Printed ticket prices were lowered because of the State of Newark tax that was also printed on, tax needed to reflect the amount paid. You can call your rep to get reprinted tickets if you need that for business purposes.
* Attempting to get open practices monthly for STH
* Official STH numbers are around 9,000

Excellent notes.. A few things I'll add:

* Get to your seat by 6:45pm on Opening Night for pregame festivities. They could not stress this enough.
* Be patient! They are working tirelessly to transform concessions stands and merchandise areas but they won't be ready until 10/18.

I also liked how that one guy did not understand the variable pricing.. His concern was basically around the fact that if you take your total season cost and divide it by the number of games, you get a price per game (in my case - $30) that is higher than the actual ticket price for a majority of games (I have a lot of games that are $21-$24).. What the gentleman failed to realize is that the overall price he pays for a season also factors in the expensive rivalry games.. He could sell those back to the team for far more than his "per game" calculated price, but probably won't because those are the games most folks want to attend.. He felt the team was buying back his tickets for less than he paid, which simply isn't true

 

[Devils Dominion]

http://www.newarkpulse.com/articles/Sonic-is-now-Open.html
Sonic drive in is a mile from the prudential center
Just another food option for fans.

I had heard about that, thanks for the reminder, I will check it out.

 

[Sarge18]

Here are my notes to any questions that were worth knowing. They didn't get to me unfortunately.

* New devils team will line Penn Station and the Gateway walkway to help people get to the Rock
* Tenure jerseys will be available at the 10/5 preview for those attending
* The club experience is still in progress for opening day. New stands Celebrity Chef David Burke, Crazy Mike's Italian. Sushi will be back as well. There will be some free snacks and drinks still. Wanted to lower the price point of club seats to get more bodies in seats. Restaurant seats are the offering for people who still want buffet style, which is going to a "Ryland Inn" format.
* The goal song came up. They mentioned Gary Glitter's conviction is part of the reason. "You Suck" is considered "off-brand". The song by that man, and the crowd reaction are not "representative of the Devils brand". No going back. Wants the arena to be conducive to families and businesses. Tradition is important, but principles are also important.
* Promotions are still being worked on for the season
* They wanted more Saturday afternoon games, but the league mandates the schedule
* Printed ticket prices were lowered because of the State of Newark tax that was also printed on, tax needed to reflect the amount paid. You can call your rep to get reprinted tickets if you need that for business purposes.
* Attempting to get open practices monthly for STH
* Official STH numbers are around 9,000

EEEEUCH....when you hear people throwing the term "brand" around for a team you know they're not on your side. Mindless corporate robot-talk. Good to see a guy from MSG and a guy from New Orleans knowing what's best for the Devils "brand". I have no problem catering to families, which they haven't done since the Meadowlands days, and people with deep pockets to fill the suites, but they have no clue how to entertain them yet.

 

[Devils Dominion]

They did say on a follow up question after another STH asked about them using the conviction as an "excuse" (their words, not mine) to ban the song, that the "You Sucks" is a bigger deal to them because of kids and businesses.

First I'd ever heard that term too. I assume he meant the food at the Ryland Inn?

http://rylandinnnj.com/eat/

Fans are going to chant you suck to any goal song they choose.

Being the only team in the league without afternoon home games, we will see less kids at games this season than in any in our history.

I'm curious to see what businesses they will attract to buy ticket plans this season.
Based on the poor response time to ticket inquiries by me & others that post here, I have to be skeptical on that front.
It also doesn't help that they turned the Club Seats in both lounges from "First Class" to economy.