4 out of 5 Canadian teams did not sell out last night

[FrankMTL]

The Habs averaged 21,046 last season, and so far this season they've averaged 21,003....

Nothing to be alarmed about. Don't forget the Habs have missed the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years, and have a very mediocre team. Can't expect people to shell out the $$$ it costs to see them continuously, especially on a week night.

Oh, and Geoff Molson has saved a nice 6-7 million under the cap, so his wallet is just fine.

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

Went to last night's Habs game with a friend who is a STH. According to him, the Habs were advertising available tickets up to the last minute, which is very unusual for this market. The Habs' season-ticket-holder retention remains very strong at approx. 99%, however there is a dip in single-game tickets and 10-game ticket packages. Apathy is my guess. When the team misses the playoffs for two years in a row and hasn't made any impactful upgrades, there's less urgency among the fans to follow them and the games become less of an event.

Same in Vancouver. I went to last night's game VS Detroit, which is a team that often will sell out Rogers Arena just on the history. We were in club and there are lots of corporate season ticket folks down there and from eavesdropping around it sounded like many people around us had been gifted tickets or others who were usually here were away.

With that it's so crazy expensive to go now it's not too surprising the sellouts stalled but I but if the Nucks were playoff locks again it would go right back to sellout madness.

 

[tardigrade81]

They have been known to have poor ticket sales during the playoffs, which is odd, a weekday game shouldn't be expected to be a sellout.

If the arena was moved downtown they would sell a ridiculous amount of tickets. They look at short term though and see that as a lot of money even if they sell double the tickets in the future.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

This entire thread is tone-deaf and misses the reasons why everyone in Canada was upset over the sunbelt teams.

Canada was going through a pretty rough economic recession in the mid 90's just as the game began to really boom and salaries really skyrocketed.

We lost Quebec, and we Lost Winnipeg.

We were on the verge of losing both Edmonton and Calgary because 'small markets could not sustain themselves', and the league basically let Canada lose their smaller market teams.

We had to fend for ourselves completely.

We had local ownership groups buy the team. Groups of 20+ people to keep the team afloat running it on a shoe-string budget, in hopes we could negotiate both a cap, and some revenue sharing for some parity. There was even a point when we were lobbying the government for help.

We had virtually NO help from the league, who were active in facilitating sales of our teams to billionaires in Houston.

Anyways, 20 years later, the economy corrects itself, Canada is doing quite well, and now these Sunbelt teams are suffering?

The NHL steps in and does absolutely EVERYTHING they can in their power, including FLOAT them financially for several years to prevent them moving. Teams hemorrhaging money with no grassroots support are being kept afloat by these same small market teams that nearly lost their teams two decades ago.

Do you guys really not understand where the resentment from Canadians comes from?

I 100% agree!!! It sucks to spend my $$ on the Leafs and have some go to teams that get dumb tax breaks and 5$ tickets.

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

I went to a 3 games last season? Two in Calgary and I went to check out Edmonton's new rink to... Just for those 3 nights out I think it was around $1000 or a bit more (tickets, beer and food), which is just nuts when you think about it.

 

[ricky0034]

funny how attendance is so important to people on this forum for southern teams but when we're talking about Canada all of a sudden "sellouts don't matter"

 

[Deadly Dogma]

funny how attendance is so important to people on this forum for southern teams but when we're talking about Canada all of a sudden "sellouts don't matter"

5$x10000 vs 120$x20000
see the issue?

 

[njdevil26]

I 100% agree!!! It sucks to spend my $$ on the Leafs and have some go to teams that get dumb tax breaks and 5$ tickets.

Sometimes help from the league is for the greater good though.

In 2012 when the Devils were in the finals, our owner was broke. Players were getting their checks several weeks late. Sponsors pulled out because Vanderbeek wasn't fulfilling his end of the deal. The NHL stepped in, helped straighten things out, and got the team in a position to be sold. Now our new owners are great. Revenue and attendance is up. The team makes money and the arena is one of the most active arenas in the world.

I do really think Quebec City needs their team back though.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

I went to a 3 games last season? Two in Calgary and I went to check out Edmonton's new rink to... Just for those 3 nights out I think it was around $1000 or a bit more (tickets, beer and food), which is just nuts when you think about it.

Did you read the back of the ticket that says due to you purchasing this item, Gary Bettman personally comes to see you and kick you in the balls and laugh while you fall to the ground.

 

[Riddum]

It’s the way the wind is blowing in all of Canada. There’s a shift in demographics and I see soccer and basketball rising as years go by. I could probably write a newspaper article on what I think about this subject, but I’ll spare everyone tonight.

But HF told me that soccer is a niche sport in the U.S and Canada and that the growth is a joke. The NHL will always be superior. That's what HF said.

 

[ricky0034]

5$x10000 vs 120$x20000
see the issue?

yeah I guess only selling 10k is something of an issue

Ottawa should probably move to a bigger market like Atlanta maybe

 

[beowulf]

This. Imagine trying to bring a family of four.

Also the Canadian economy is failing right now, and Canadians already have record levels of debt.

Non-sellouts have everything to do with economic conditions and not the popularity of the sport.

Don't know where you are getting your data but the economy is not failing at all at the moment. The fact is, the prices are way too high and more and more people would rather spend that money on other things.

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

Did you read the back of the ticket that says due to you purchasing this item, Gary Bettman personally comes to see you and kick you in the balls and laugh while you fall to the ground.

The 13$ beer is there to help mask the pain in your gut after said kick in the balls.

 

[zetajerk]

Angry Canadian fans: Your tickets don't cost what they do because people you don't like get to have teams too.

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

Don't know where you are getting your data but the economy is not failing at all at the moment. The fact is, the prices are way too high and more and more people would rather spend that money on other things.

The average Canadian is indeed carrying a lot of debt, but has never stopped us from indulging.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

Sometimes help from the league is for the greater good though.

In 2012 when the Devils were in the finals, our owner was broke. Players were getting their checks several weeks late. Sponsors pulled out because Vanderbeek wasn't fulfilling his end of the deal. The NHL stepped in, helped straighten things out, and got the team in a position to be sold. Now our new owners are great. Revenue and attendance is up. The team makes money and the arena is one of the most active arenas in the world.

I do really think Quebec City needs their team back though.

I do remember that, there were honest questions regarding that area supporting 3 clubs. I am happy the Devils are still around but a lil chapped at how they had help when the old Jets and Quebec were thrown to the Wolves.

yeah I guess only selling 10k is something of an issue

Ottawa should probably move to a bigger market like Atlanta maybe

I think we all know the issue with Ottawa. Their sales #'s are down to boycotts and general fan anger towards Eugene.
When Ottawa has a downtown arena and a new owner I would expect them to be very profitable .

 

[blankall]

Don't know where you are getting your data but the economy is not failing at all at the moment. The fact is, the prices are way too high and more and more people would rather spend that money on other things.

Prices for a lot of things are "way too high". Canadians have been amounting record amounts debt at record low interest rates to pay for these things. It's a major problem. It's not just hockey tickets.

I don't know how you can simultaneously acknowledge that prices are getting too high, but also state that everything is just fine economically. Unless you are stating that it's only hockey tickets that are expensive, in which case I think you need to try renting/buying an apartment. filling up your car with gas, or going to the grocery store.

 

[blankall]

It’s the way the wind is blowing in all of Canada. There’s a shift in demographics and I see soccer and basketball rising as years go by. I could probably write a newspaper article on what I think about this subject, but I’ll spare everyone tonight.

Soccer is on the rise, because you can still buy a ticket at a reasonable rate. You can buy a descent Whitecaps ticket for under $30. I have friends who have season tickets, who have trouble giving them away sometimes though. The MLS is a long way from overtaking the NHL.

As for basketball, the Raptors just won a championship....No other city in Canada could even support an NBA team right now.

 

[NoName]

Having lived in Toronto and Vancouver, I can say that even when the teams are terrible the people in the city follow them relentlessly. Make no mistake, there is a ton of interest in the hockey teams in these cities, even when they are losing. Look at ticket prices though: You are having to fork out $100+ just for a nose-bleed seat deep in the upper-bowl. Anything in the lower-bowl is twice that.

It is simply impossible for regular fans to go to more then a very occasional game because they simply don't have the disposable income to be able to afford the monster ticket prices (especially with the insane cost of living in those cities).

Students, young adults starting their careers and the working class, are all effectively shut out of going to these games with any sort of regularity because of the cost. There are plenty of people who would love to go to those games and fill those empty seats, they just can't.

 

[qwerty]

But HF told me that soccer is a niche sport in the U.S and Canada and that the growth is a joke. The NHL will always be superior. That's what HF said.

Well I don't think the MLS will necessarily be bigger than the NHL, so there's that. But I think soccer for sure will be the more popular sport down the road. Just look at the immigration rates of those entering Canada from countries who wouldn't give a hoot about hockey, it's just inevitable at this point.

I suspect that after the World Cup in North America or even a miraculous World Cup win by the U.S. mens team could rapidly change things. Hope I'm wrong about that, but it just seems like the type of large scale event that soccer needs to blow up here. I think the barrier to entry in hockey just makes it next to impossible for the NHL to explode internationally.

 

[KlefDown]

games are fun to go to and all but personally don't think it's worth it. I'd rather watch from the comfort of my own home
only time I go to games is when work gives me tickets. which is still 2/3 games a season

 

[I am Canadian]

It's great going to games but the experience is not worth the huge costs.

Leaf Game

This is with my dad's friend as season tickets holder:

$85 for a ticket (nose bleeds, weekday game)
$20-30 parking, depending on how far you want to walk
$14 for a small beer
$6 dollars for popcorn, $15-20 if you want something like chicken fingers + fries

I can't imagine what people are paying that are buying them from re-sale. I imagine it's something similar across the country but they don't have the same population that are willing to shell out like this.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

The biggest reason is season tickets here are ridiculously, absurdly expensive. We’re talking 2-3 times as expensive compared to some American counterparts. When your teams by and large suck, your season ticket base erodes and it becomes easier to pick up games here and there through secondary markets. Economy is definitely a factor as well.

In Edmonton specifically the downtown arena hasn’t had the effect they were hoping for. When you take ticket pricing with outright gouging for food and beverages (a burger, fries, and two beers will cost you $50) and parking ($20-$30 event parking) you’re looking at in the neighborhood of $600 for a night out for a family of four when it’s all said and done. That’s simply unsustainable. Also factor in that Edmonton is a hugely far flung city; it has a massive footprint compared to its size, meaning that huge chunks of the population live farther from the downtown core than in most cities of ~1,000,000 population and our transit system is one of the worst in North America. For me, and many like me, there are virtually no transit options, meaning I’m driving 35-40 minutes to and from every game I go to.

They tried to bridge that gap by marketing the junior team as family entertainment but the problem there is hardly anyone cares about the junior team. It’s Oilers or nothing here, no one is missing an Oiler game on TV to attend an Oil King game, so if you’re a hockey fan you have to pick and almost everyone picks Oilers.

 

[qwerty]

Soccer is on the rise, because you can still buy a ticket at a reasonable rate. You can buy a descent Whitecaps ticket for under $30. I have friends who have season tickets, who have trouble giving them away sometimes though. The MLS is a long way from overtaking the NHL.

As for basketball, the Raptors just won a championship....No other city in Canada could even support an NBA team right now.

Check my latest post because by soccer, I don't mean MLS. The MLS will likely never overtake the NHL until they obtain the best players in the league like Messi and Renaldo and etc.

In terms of basketball, yes, obviously only 1 city could support a basketball team right now. More likely because the franchise fee would be so ridiculously absurd that a Vancouver or Montreal market just wouldn't be viable.

But that doesn't mean the NBA isn't on the rise in Canada. I actually have a lot of friends who have been paying attention to basketball lately especially regarding the Lakers, Clippers and Warriors. I don't think the NBA will ever surpass the NHL in market share/revenue, but it seems likely that the NHL will take a hit with any increase in basketball interest down the road.

 

[kris]

Everyone complaining about prices in this thread has mentioned $15+ dollar beers and $25+ dollar parking. Those two items should be mutually exclusive..

I was at the Flames game last night. It wasn't a full building but most of the 100/200 level seats were taken. I found seats in the top of the 200's, $70 for the pair.

The press level was pretty empty but you couldn't pay me to sit up there for a game. Not worth going in those seats