Canadians in Phoenix

[New User Name]

Newsflash. I would say the majority of Canadians are NOT die hard hockey fans.
I personally have lost interest in NHL hockey the last few years.
If someone gave me tickets to see my favourite team (Leafs) 100% I'd give them away.
The majority of people I know do not follow hockey. More are Blue Jay fans than hockey fans.

 

[The CyNick]

Newsflash. I would say the majority of Canadians are NOT die hard hockey fans.
I personally have lost interest in NHL hockey the last few years.
If someone gave me tickets to see my favourite team (Leafs) 100% I'd give them away.
The majority of people I know do not follow hockey. More are Blue Jay fans than hockey fans.

lol, yup the majority of canadians are blue jays fans THEN hockey fans. totally accurate market research there chief

 

[berklon]

lol, yup the majority of canadians are blue jays fans THEN hockey fans. totally accurate market research there chief

Totally accurate reading skills there chief.

Anyway, it's true - the majority of Canadians DON'T watch/follow hockey.

 

[Melrose Munch]

Newsflash. I would say the majority of Canadians are NOT die hard hockey fans.
I personally have lost interest in NHL hockey the last few years.
If someone gave me tickets to see my favourite team (Leafs) 100% I'd give them away.
The majority of people I know do not follow hockey. More are Blue Jay fans than hockey fans.

lol, yup the majority of canadians are blue jays fans THEN hockey fans. totally accurate market research there chief

Totally accurate reading skills there chief.

Anyway, it's true - the majority of Canadians DON'T watch/follow hockey.

Berklon and I discussed this before. The majority of Canadians are not even sports fans. I can't believe you cynick, would dispute this. 2 million watching the leafs on saturday is an increasing smaller part of the population. 30 million in 2000, 35 million in 2013.

 

[MarkGio]

Berklon and I discussed this before. The majority of Canadians are not even sports fans. I can't believe you cynick, would dispute this. 2 million watching the leafs on saturday is an increasing smaller part of the population. 30 million in 2000, 35 million in 2013.

Half of the country watched the Vancouver gold medal game?

 

[Melrose Munch]

Half of the country watched the Vancouver gold medal game?

That was an Olympic Event. I'm sure the series finale of the Big Bang Theory will do similar numbers. And even then, 50 percent is not a majority good sir.

 

[Roughneck]

That was an Olympic Event.

So? Generally the premier game in any sport will garner the most viewers. Regular season sporting events aren't big ratings draws and do not really reflect how a sport rates on national psyche.

I'm sure the series finale of the Big Bang Theory will do similar numbers.

Well, no. No it won't.

And even then, 50 percent is not a majority good sir.

You'd be hard pressed to find any sporting event the majority of people watched in it's entirety from any country (i.e. , the Superbowl only just inches past the mark, less than 50% of New Zealanders watched the 2011 World Cup final, less than 50% of Germans watched the 2010 semi-final, only about 33% of Australians watched the AFL Grand Final and 2003 Rugby World Cup final combined). Yet one would be ridiculous to say any of these countries don't like football, rugby, soccer or aussie rules.

2 million watching the leafs on saturday is an increasing smaller part of the population.

Which is a comparable share to Monday Night Football broadcasts in the U.S, and this is for a game in which a third of the country isn't watching.

 

[Melrose Munch]

So? Generally the premier game in any sport will garner the most viewers. Regular season sporting events aren't big ratings draws and do not really reflect how a sport rates on national psyche.
I don't get your point here. How does the regular season not count. If 18 million Canadian watch a part of of the


Well, no. No it won't.



You'd be hard pressed to find any sporting event the majority of people watched in it's entirety from any country (i.e. , the Superbowl only just inches past the mark, less than 50% of New Zealanders watched the 2011 World Cup final, less than 50% of Germans watched the 2010 semi-final, only about 33% of Australians watched the AFL Grand Final and 2003 Rugby World Cup final combined). Yet one would be ridiculous to say any of these countries don't like football, rugby, soccer or aussie rules.



Which is a comparable share to Monday Night Football broadcasts in the U.S, and this is for a game in which a third of the country isn't watching.

I don't get your point here. How does the regular season not count. If 18 million Canadian watch a part of of the Superbowl, is Canada an NFL country? No. No one said Canada didn't like hockey, it's that the majority of people are not interested in competitive TV sports, and that is true.

And just for measure, the superbowl only gets ~ 33% to ~35 percent of American viewers, last year was 109 million, the US has 300 million. 2011 was 111 million, so 66 percent was doing something else. Media hype may say otherwise.

 

[CanadienShark]

To start this off, I'm pretty optimistic about the Coyotes future, and think the new ownership group is going to do a lot of good work to raise awareness about the team.

However, one thing I really don't get is how there are so Canadians who live in Phoenix during the winter, yet they don't seem to go to that many Coyotes games.

I think the new ownership should take a look at this and market the Coyotes better to the snowbirds. I know a lot of the Canadians live in Scottsdale and Mesa, which is on the opposite side of Glendale, but I think most of them either drive down or have cars down there... So it's not like they can't get to the games Sure 40 minutes is a long drive, but to see an NHL hockey game, that's nothing!

I've read online around 50-90 thousand Canadians live in Arizona during the winter or year round, and assume a big chunk of them end up in Phoenix.

Jobing.com is nicer than most of if not all of the arenas in Canada... And tickets are far easier to obtain and far cheaper than tickets to NHL games in Canada.

Basically, what is holding the Canadians living in and around the Valley from going to see Coyotes hockey games... are they just too busy playing golf or what?

What should the new ownership group do to get more snowbirds out to games? Open a Tim Hortons next to the arena?

Should do the trick. Make sure you post lots of signs saying "sorry" all around and you're sure to attract us like vultures.

 

[CanadienShark]

2 things here, mainly (although admittedly I'm just guessing):

1) The average age of those Canadians living in Phoenix is a lot higher than the average age of the person who goes to a hockey game.

2) Those people, if they are hockey fans, therefore have lifelong affiliations to whatever NHL team they cheered before Phoenix and aren't going to make a point to go to an out of the way rink for a game they have no rooting interest in.

I'm sure as a small tertiary factor there's also the fact that those who move are probably less likely to be hockey fans as well. The grandmother that loves watching her grandson play minor hockey probably isn't going to be moving to Phoenix if that's a big part of her life, and that person is more likely to go to a live NHL game as well methinks.

#2 I wholeheartedly disagree with. I LOVE the Canadiens and Sharks and HATE the Sens after last years playoffs. That doesn't stop me from going to Sens games, since the tickets are so cheap. I'm ecstatic just to see a game. I won't pick and choose what games I see, unless they're all about the same priced tickets - if I want to pick and choose, I'll stream the game, as I'm too poor for cable, being a starving student and all.

 

[Roughneck]

I don't get your point here. How does the regular season not count. If 18 million Canadian watch a part of of the Superbowl, is Canada an NFL country? No. No one said Canada didn't like hockey, it's that the majority of people are not interested in competitive TV sports, and that is true.

My point was that you seemed to paint Canadians as uniquely uninterested in sports when we are just as average at liking them as everybody else.

 

[Melrose Munch]

My point was that you seemed to paint Canadians as uniquely uninterested in sports when we are just as average at liking them as everybody else.

Never did I mention or imply in that post that Canadians disliked sports more then anyone else. I said most don't. Just like most don't in any country. I don't see the issue or problem in that statement.

 

[Doan Jidion*]

Well, in the context that you present it over and over and over and over and over, it's more than a bit intellectually dishonest. I mean, statistically speaking, when you count every man, woman, and child in the country, no, you will not find a majority that watches sports on TV. However, you certainly will find more people watching hockey in Canada per capita than you will in the States.

 

[Melrose Munch]

Well, in the context that you present it over and over and over and over and over, it's more than a bit intellectually dishonest. I mean, statistically speaking, when you count every man, woman, and child in the country, no, you will not find a majority that watches sports on TV. However, you certainly will find more people watching hockey in Canada per capita than you will in the States.

2525 made the first comment on this not me.

 

[aqib]

lol, yup the majority of canadians are blue jays fans THEN hockey fans. totally accurate market research there chief

It depends on the age bracket. If you were a kid in the 80s and early 90s, the Blue Jays were a model organization and the Leafs sucked. In fact as a kid in the 80s I learned what suck meant because of the Leafs. True story. So it makes sense to latch onto the Jays. That being said here is a study on fandom:

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/why-cant-canada-win-the-stanley-cup/?_r=0

 

[Hoser]

To quote former Kings' owner Jack Kent Cooke:

“When I started the Kings, I was told there were a quarter-million ex-Canadians in L.A. Now I know why they left Canada. They hate hockey.â€

Expecting Snowbirds to fill the seats has never been a sound strategy.

I came here to post Cooke's quip about Canadians in Los Angeles. I'd be tempted to go as far as to say "expecting snowbirds to fill seats has always been a stupid strategy" though. It was stupid in 1967 and it's still stupid today.

 

[Brodie]

Half of the country watched the Vancouver gold medal game?

which means half the country didn't watch Canada's national team face the nation's archrival in the gold medal game in the national sport in a home Olympics on a weekend afternoon in February. So take away all the bar stool patriots and event viewers, that's a majority who don't really care that much for hockey on a day to day basis

 

[MarkGio]

which means half the country didn't watch Canada's national team face the nation's archrival in the gold medal game in the national sport in a home Olympics on a weekend afternoon in February. So take away all the bar stool patriots and event viewers, that's a majority who don't really care that much for hockey on a day to day basis

Well, to be fair, only half watched the game in its entirety. 80% of all Canadians tuned in at some point.

 

[OthmarAmmann]

I came here to post Cooke's quip about Canadians in Los Angeles. I'd be tempted to go as far as to say "expecting snowbirds to fill seats has always been a stupid strategy" though. It was stupid in 1967 and it's still stupid today.

It might be worse in this case as the LA Canadians were probably working age instead of retired.

It seems that they're positioning it as a cheap alternative to Canadian NHL tickets for vacationers. The problem with that strategy is that it restricts their ability to raise ticket prices to improve the top line, which is desperately needed.

 

[Inkling]

Never did I mention or imply in that post that Canadians disliked sports more then anyone else. I said most don't. Just like most don't in any country. I don't see the issue or problem in that statement.

You should realize that there are people who actually study these things and produce statistical surveys. This kind of information is useful to a lot of people who spend money and try to sell products and services.

So that said, here is one survey:

http://www.environicsinstitute.org/...onics-institute-hockey-canada-2012-survey.pdf

In 2012, 24% describe themselves as huge hockey fans, 42% have enough interest to watch occasionally, 23% are not interested in hockey and 10% actively dislike hockey.

When asked about the statement "“Hockey is a key part of what it means to be a Canadianâ€, 46% totally agree, 38% somewhat agree, and 16% disagree either totally or somewhat.

 

[Melrose Munch]

You should realize that there are people who actually study these things and produce statistical surveys. This kind of information is useful to a lot of people who spend money and try to sell products and services.

So that said, here is one survey:

http://www.environicsinstitute.org/...onics-institute-hockey-canada-2012-survey.pdf

In 2012, 24% describe themselves as huge hockey fans, 42% have enough interest to watch occasionally, 23% are not interested in hockey and 10% actively dislike hockey.

When asked about the statement "“Hockey is a key part of what it means to be a Canadianâ€, 46% totally agree, 38% somewhat agree, and 16% disagree either totally or somewhat.

I'm not even the first person to make this statement! So based on a sample of i'm assuming 1,000 people, i'm wrong. What if the next survey turns out completely different? These thing should be left to marketing.

 

[blues10]

Gosbee was interviewed on Sportsnet West in Canada earlier in the season when the Flames played the Coyotes.

He said he was aware of transplants living in the valley for the winter. He hoped that they would come out and support their home team when they played at jobing.com but also make the Coyotes their second team and come out and cheer on the Coyotes other nights.

He went on to mention how he has switched from a Flames fan to a Coyotes fan. He mentioned that his mother was decked out in a Flames jersey cheering on the Flames vs. Coyotes. He siad that his mom would not be changing allegiances when the Flames and Coyotes play.

He also talked about members of the ownership group already owning residences in Arizona.


He also mentioned the Coyotes just needed and owner and that it would be turned around quickly. He must have drank a jug of Leblanc's special kool-aid.

As for the snowbird ticketing strategy. The thing I hear directly fom themmost often is that they say that will will go to see their team and another game or two to see Crosby, Ovechkin, Toews and others but that the 40 minute drive is too much. They watch all the games on HD at home. Many have their Canadian Satellite dishes with them.

I know of some down there have never gone to a game as they actually don't like hockey. Even turned down Jets tickets at MTSC this season before they left as they are not hockey fans.

The Coyotes need to market to the year round permanent population. Preferrably those born and raised in Arizona. Create lifelong fans of the Arizona Coyotes.

Not only do the Coyotes need butts in the seats they also need cars in the parking lot.

No stone should remain unturned in their marketing strategy. TV ads won't work for Canadians watching Canadian TV channels.

Good luck this won't be easy to turnaround but Canadians are not the solution to the Coyotes woes.

If Sidney Crosby or Jonathon Toewes played for the Coyotes I have a feeling they could market to Canadians a little better. Doan, Smith and Ribero don't really resonate with the casual Canadian hockey fan.

 

[Llama19]

To quote former Kings' owner Jack Kent Cooke:

Quote:
“When I started the Kings, I was told there were a quarter-million ex-Canadians in L.A. Now I know why they left Canada. They hate hockey.â€

Mr. LeBlanc, I served with Jack Kent Cooke, I knew Jack Kent Cooke. Jack Kent Cooke was a friend of mine. Mr. LeBlanc, you're no Jack Kent Cook.

 

[The CyNick]

Berklon and I discussed this before. The majority of Canadians are not even sports fans. I can't believe you cynick, would dispute this. 2 million watching the leafs on saturday is an increasing smaller part of the population. 30 million in 2000, 35 million in 2013.

olympics

plus I was commentating at the guy saying more people are jays fans. that is clearly bs.

 

[Bruins Uncensored]

Canadians have their favorite teams before getting to the valley of the sun. They do go to the games when their team is in town. I won't miss a game when my Bruins are here.

When Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto, and Pittsburgh I would say also are in town, it is a sell out, and a home game for the visitor, in most cases.

People who grow up here tend to leave, and Phoenix is populated mostly by folks from away, who bring their allegiances with them.

Is the team popular among the locals? Hockey really doesn't seem appeal to the Hispanic community in general, and that is a large slice of the area.

I agree though, with Westgate right there, this is one of the BEST facilities in the NHL. Being able to go and sit on the patio prior to the game and hit Yardhouse for a few after.. Phoenix is a GREAT place to see NHL games.