Canes sold 3.6m in new business for next season

[Unsustainable]

Winning helps a lot.

Click to read more...

 

[LadyStanley]

Indeed

 

[CraigBillington]

Frontrunning

 

[tarheelhockey]

Frontrunning

Jerks

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

It wasn't long ago people on this website had them pegged as a prime candidate for relocating to Québec. And everyone is still saying that Arizona and Florida should be put out of their misery. This is North American sports, winning is the best way to make money.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Someone on twitter (barrel of salt) estimated that this means about 1500 new tickets per game for next season.

It'll keep going up if they keep advancing. I've seen several people mention that they bought STH packages purely for the sake of getting a discount on their tickets for this playoff (which are running around $150 on the exteme low-end).

 

[TheLegend]

Frontrunning

Jerks

Waiting for someone to demand that Don Cherry get a cut of it.

 

[HisIceness]

It wasn't long ago people on this website had them pegged as a prime candidate for relocating to Québec. And everyone is still saying that Arizona and Florida should be put out of their misery. This is North American sports, winning is the best way to make money.

Oh there are still plenty who still hold on to this thinking, maybe not so much here anymore but other websites and outlets like Twitter. Whatever helps them sleep at night I guess.

The Triangle has always been a good market for the NHL to invest in. There's plenty of Hockey fans and there's more in nearby places like Charlotte, Greensboro, Charleston, Wilmington, etc. Players like it here and many of them still live here in retirement. Having a franchise that not only fails to qualify for the playoffs for 10 years but also constantly finishes just out but not bad enough for a top pick is death to any franchise in any sport.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

Oh there are still plenty who still hold on to this thinking, maybe not so much here anymore but other websites and outlets like Twitter. Whatever helps them sleep at night I guess.

The Triangle has always been a good market for the NHL to invest in. There's plenty of Hockey fans and there's more in nearby places like Charlotte, Greensboro, Charleston, Wilmington, etc. Players like it here and many of them still live here in retirement. Having a franchise that not only fails to qualify for the playoffs for 10 years but also constantly finishes just out but not bad enough for a top pick is death to any franchise in any sport.

Maybe if they started speaking French and had two failed independence referendums some people wouldn't feel so sour about things? Doesn't help when you have a prick like Karmanos in charge. Guy couldn't find his way out of a paper bag.

 

[Roboturner913]

Last I knew the season ticket base was around 7,500 to 8,000. If they've already sold another ~1,500, then that's getting close to 10K.

They should easily be at 11K-12K after a summer sales push. At this point even if they get swept in the ECF there's more than enough excitement building around the team to do those kinds of numbers. Trick is remaining competitive enough in the following seasons.

The season after the Cup win average attendance went up by about 1800 a night, but if these estimates are correct they will probably beat that next season, which puts them in the 16s and maybe 17s.

 

[Jets4Life]

It wasn't long ago people on this website had them pegged as a prime candidate for relocating to Québec. And everyone is still saying that Arizona and Florida should be put out of their misery. This is North American sports, winning is the best way to make money.

Well that is usually correct. However, it has never worked in Phoenix. From 2009-12, the Coyotes were one of the better NHL teams. It never translated into increased ticket sales. With Miami and Phoenix, I think a big problem is the location of the arena. They have arenas far away from the core of the city, in the outlying suburbs. Even when Ottawa was good, they had many problems selling out games, since they build their arena in a bizarre location.

 

[DanM]

Someone on twitter (barrel of salt) estimated that this means about 1500 new tickets per game for next season.

It'll keep going up if they keep advancing. I've seen several people mention that they bought STH packages purely for the sake of getting a discount on their tickets for this playoff (which are running around $150 on the exteme low-end).

The only problem is when they are not making the playoffs, or have a bad season, the fanbase dies.

They need to keep consistent success.

But this is a nice win, and I am super happy they are making new business.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The only problem is when they are not making the playoffs, or have a bad season, the fanbase dies.

That’s not true at all, but carry on.

 

[alko]

Winning helps a lot.

That is a big difference. Should that means, there are much more season tickets sold, or not so much boots in numbers but in value (expensive season tickets).

 

[kabidjan18]

This is good news for Carolina, and I think, good news for hockey generally.

 

[Fenway]

The only problem is when they are not making the playoffs, or have a bad season, the fanbase dies.

They need to keep consistent success.

But this is a nice win, and I am super happy they are making new business.

That’s not true at all, but carry on.

This is good news for Carolina, and I think, good news for hockey generally.

Dundon is now getting fresh data on how viable the market can be and it looks promising.

 

[Hooby Dooby Doo]

Good for them. Always good for teams to have an increase of excitement and optimism. There are the other folks online that are bitter that people are starting to show up and how they're all bandwagoners. I could only imagine the backlash of the South Florida market and if winning will get butts in seats. You laugh when the arena is empty but complain when its full but also complain that hockey is the least watched and covered of the 4 major sports. Can't have your cake and eat it too. Take every fan you can get to help grow the game, wherever it may be.

 

[The S5]

You have to remember that hockey is relatively new to native North Carolinian's and transplants come with their own favorite team.
Youth hockey is growing in the Triangle, but was largely ignored with Karmanos at the helm. He was pumping his money into Detroit youth hockey. Now that Dundon is in charge, he sees the value in building the future fanbase through the kids.
Winning is also important to convert some of the transplants.

 

[The S5]

Dundon is now getting fresh data on how viable the market can be and it looks promising.

I would hope Dundon did that research before plunking down the $420M to buy the team.

 

[singlesliceofcheese]

I love the culture they're not only building on the ice, but off of it, too, with marketing the Storm Surge, embracing the "Jerks" image, and Hamilton the Pig is a pimp. I couldn't be happier for this team.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The only problem is when they are not making the playoffs, or have a bad season, the fanbase dies.

They need to keep consistent success.

But this is a nice win, and I am super happy they are making new business.

The problem isn't quite "not making the playoffs". It's "not making the playoffs 10 straight years and many of those years being out of it by Christmas" that's the problem. It downright sucks when year after year the team isn't playing for anything meaningful by January.

There's no doubt that this isn't a market like Montreal or Toronto where people will show up no matter what the on-ice product is. Very few markets are like that and this is a non-traditional market (with more and more traditional fans moving here, like I did, though). The team doesn't need to win every year to keep fans onboard, but they can't go through 10 years of misery combined with an owner (Karmanos) that showed no interest in the team other than trying to sell it.

Your second bold line is fair. The team needs to have some level of consistent success. Doesn't mean playoffs every year, but can't go on a prolonged drought again.

 

[joelef]

The problem isn't quiet "not making the playoffs". It's "not making the playoffs 10 straight years and many of those years being out of it by Christmas" that's the problem. It downright sucks when year after year the team isn't playing for anything meaningful by January.

There's no doubt that this isn't a market like Montreal or Toronto where people will show up no matter what the on-ice product is. Very few markets are like that and this is a non-traditional market (with more and more traditional fans moving here, like I did, though). The team doesn't need to win every year to keep fans onboard, but they can't go through 10 years of misery combined with an owner (Karmanos) that showed no interest in the team other than trying to sell it.

Your second bold line is fair. The team needs to have some level of consistent success. Doesn't mean playoffs every year, but can't go on a prolonged drought again.

the blackhawks never got this kind of scurinty

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

the blackhawks never got this kind of scurinty

I get that though. Hawks are an O6 team that has zero chance of ever being moved. Canes are a team that already moved once and are in a non-traditional market. It's probably not fair, but it's not unexpected either.

 

[Unsustainable]

You have to remember that hockey is relatively new to native North Carolinian's and transplants come with their own favorite team.
Youth hockey is growing in the Triangle, but was largely ignored with Karmanos at the helm. He was pumping his money into Detroit youth hockey. Now that Dundon is in charge, he sees the value in building the future fanbase through the kids.
Winning is also important to convert some of the transplants.

Checkers have been in Charlotte since 1955

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

Well that is usually correct. However, it has never worked in Phoenix. From 2009-12, the Coyotes were one of the better NHL teams. It never translated into increased ticket sales. With Miami and Phoenix, I think a big problem is the location of the arena. They have arenas far away from the core of the city, in the outlying suburbs. Even when Ottawa was good, they had many problems selling out games, since they build their arena in a bizarre location.

From personal experience, Florida people fight tooth and nail on their arena location. Something about how it’s closer and more easily accessible to their fan base in Broward County and Palm Beach since Miami is majority Hispanic, why make it one hour further from you fanbase.

And apparently Miami traffic is something like 10th worst in the planet and arena is so out of the way to the west, it’s easy to and from.