jorbjorb
hello.
- Dec 28, 2010
- 1,056
- 191
Fuelled by diminishing passion? What softer demand for Winnipeg Jets tickets means for True North
- Thread starter jorbjorb
- Start date
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Metro Winnipeg has 800,000 people. It's by far the smallest market in the league. That same market also hosts an AHL team and a WHL team. That's too much hockey for such a small city, no matter how passionate the fans. The city is at its hockey-saturation point. There's a reason they were desperate to try and move their AHL affiliate to Thunder Bay. There's a reason there were doubts about their ability to even host a WHL team.
tony d
Registered User
Interesting for sure. What are ticket prices like there? Could it be that tickets are to expensive for people in Winnipeg to buy especially with a team that is currently out of the playoffs?
powerstuck
Nordiques Hopes Lies
Well tickets are definitely above the league average. I mean you can sell only 10k tickets in Winnipeg but at the prices you can sell them, you would need to sell 25-30k tickets elsewhere to match the revenue.
GuelphStormer
Registered User
meh, any "analysis" that uses data from these secondary market sites should not be taken too seriously. understanding that the tickets offered up for resale on these sites were already sold by the team, and many are multiple listed on more than one site, including ticketmaster, there's nothing remarkable here.
jorbjorb
hello.
- Dec 28, 2010
- 1,056
- 191
I think the ticket prices are average when compared to other teams in the league. I can't speak for everyone but I personally would rather spend $20 to watch our WHL team then spend $100 to sit in the nose bleeds and watch the Jets. Plus the $20 dollar parking and $12 dollar beers aren't great either. After being to a few games it just isn't worth it to me. I'm sure in the end it will probably be fine with league revenue sharing and broadcast revenue but it's definitely interesting to say the least.
There is basically no advantage to being a Jets sth anymore. It is usually difficult to sell unused tickets for face value. Cheaper tickets freely available on the secondary market. Only real frill is getting 10% off merchandise.
Ticket prices increase every year and team has been floundering since Dec 2018. Patrons no longer allowed to head to the bars next door for a cheap beer between periods.
This year no Buff aka the most popular man in Winnipeg. Lots of uncertainty surrounding the team and frankly they are boring to watch most games. Laine having a good year but not the exhilarating sniper he was. Scheif floating a lot. Wheeler slowing down. Honeymoon period = over. But Jets will be fine, True North has their fingers in a few pies down here.
Ticket prices increase every year and team has been floundering since Dec 2018. Patrons no longer allowed to head to the bars next door for a cheap beer between periods.
This year no Buff aka the most popular man in Winnipeg. Lots of uncertainty surrounding the team and frankly they are boring to watch most games. Laine having a good year but not the exhilarating sniper he was. Scheif floating a lot. Wheeler slowing down. Honeymoon period = over. But Jets will be fine, True North has their fingers in a few pies down here.
DarthProbert
Registered User
- Feb 3, 2015
- 1,912
- 1,499
Add in the hassle and disrespect of emptying your pockets, going through metal detectors, creating an account and installing an app because paper tickets just never worked apparently...screw it, I'll stay home.
I remember when I could walk in on game day, pay $8 cash for an alright seat, get a paper ticket, and walk right in. And I didn't have to look at at ads literally every single second no matter where I point my head.
The experience is not better than it was in the past, but it costs vastly more money, more hassle, and I feel disrespected the entire time. At this point I turn down free tickets.
Rob
Registered User
Off topic but I feel like that regarding all NHL games. Especially the regular season. I would rather spend money to watch Junior or even University hockey than overpay to watch an NHL game.
hui43210
Registered User
I will never understand why people are upset by the team going with paperless tickets. And I'm pretty sure every arena has metal detectors now, just a by product of the times.
sawchuk1971
Registered User
- Jun 16, 2011
- 1,493
- 508
the nhl made a mistake in bringing hockey back to winnipeg....
they'll be relocated in 5 years if things don't improve...
they'll be relocated in 5 years if things don't improve...
Because not everyone has (or wants) a smartphone.
You remind me of my friend who laughed in my face when I said the Jets would be back within 10 years, saying I had no concept of how much money it would cost and that Winnipeg would never ever get a team again.
The year was 2010...
While you can't draw firm conclusions from the secondary market, if a team has a large number of seats for sale on the secondary market for below face-value on a significant amount of games, that means the people buying the tickets are unlikely to return as customers because you are unlikely to profit off the tickets. Now, they likely can recoup losses on premium (especially playoff games) but those aren't guaranteed. Certain occurrences in the secondary market can be reflective of alarming trends.
GuelphStormer
Registered User
for sure. i wonder what proportion of STHs resell a few/some/half/most of their tickets and how they price tickets to various games. a few times ive used stubhub to buy tix, and it always struck me that pricing is rather dynamic, as the game/show approaches (2 to 3 days) prices begin to change and various seats come and go (ie., $300 can often move +/- $50 to $100). prices seem to stay high until -24hrs, then start to come down, gradually or quickly. makes me think someone has just created a crafty algorithm and it's an AI bot driven market. i sense there is an awful lot of legitimate, internal data research going on there and at eBay as well. would be fun to study. they make a lot of money helping people sell tickets.
Spartachat
Registered User
Florida, Arizona, Ottawa and now Winnipeg will all move to hockey hotbed of Houston I guess.
Ted Hoffman
The other Rick Zombo
- Dec 15, 2002
- 29,206
- 8,615
I'm reminded of how when the Jets went back to Winnipeg, Canadian fans SWORE TO GOD that the exchange rate was never going above $1.15CN = $1US again (evar) and that it was incredibly likely to actually swing to $1.15US = $1CN or more because of oil sands and other mining resources that Canada had and the U.S. didn't have, and that Canada would have at least 9 and perhaps even 12 teams in the next decade as the exchange rate became increasingly unfavorable for U.S. teams and some teams (Florida, Carolina, Arizona) had to relocate to avoid going broke.
That said, concerns over Winnipeg are overblown. As alluded to above, looking at the resale site to judge ticket demand is as useful as judging how much rain fell outside by how much water is in your toilet. If it's on the resale market, it's already been sold and the team has its money; the only danger is having people not show up and missing out on ancillary revenues. When we start talking about unsold tickets numbering in the thousands for the majority of games in a season, then perhaps we've got something to talk about.
Two unknowns here are luxury suite revenue which may not be as effected by team performance relative to regular fans buying seats to the game. I am thinking though can not prove that corporations will show up and use the product to entertain clients for business reasons regardless of team performance. In new york, where i live, knicks and to a lesser extent the rangers have stunk for a while but team values keep going up. The other unknown for me is the tv contract and how far a way from winnipeg local games can be watched. If they can reach all tv sets in manitoba and possibly some in saskatchewan, we are dealing with roughly 1.75 million people (MB + regina). Those are likely longer term contracts.
The last 2 mitigating factors is that the franchise may get an equal cut of national revenues which may increase due to people like me streaming games over the web as well as them playing in a seemingly decent arena built in 2003 i believe. The nordiques (only comparable situation i can think of) only lost their team because of arena problems.
Anyway, i wish them luck. As a capitals fan, i am happy for my team not be last alphabetically..
The last 2 mitigating factors is that the franchise may get an equal cut of national revenues which may increase due to people like me streaming games over the web as well as them playing in a seemingly decent arena built in 2003 i believe. The nordiques (only comparable situation i can think of) only lost their team because of arena problems.
Anyway, i wish them luck. As a capitals fan, i am happy for my team not be last alphabetically..
Centrum Hockey
Registered User
- Aug 2, 2018
- 2,092
- 728
The mistake was bringing back the moose to Winnipeg,Calgary and Edmonton do fine as junior hockey and NHL markets like @Barclay Donaldson said three teams is to much.
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New User Name
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2008
- 12,891
- 1,735
I honestly don't think Winnipeg is anywhere close to a major problem for Gary. He has far too many other issues on his plate to worry about.
The Moose were never supposed to come back! They were supposed to be relocated to Thunder Bay but the deal for the arena fell through after the team had already left St. John. Got to think they will be heading somewhere else in the next few years.
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Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
End on a Hinote
Registered Abuser
They've been in the league for nearly a decade, so if the honeymoon is over then it lasted for a respectable length. They are underperforming and ticket prices are well above the average cost.
It's no big mystery why they havent sold out some of their games this year (yet still perform better at the gate then several other franchises who appear in no danger of relocation)
This is almost like the Calgary situation a couple years ago when many here were freaking out about how the Flames were "struggling" simply because they needed a new arena.
Just more typical HF over reaction because its happening to a Canadian team...
It's no big mystery why they havent sold out some of their games this year (yet still perform better at the gate then several other franchises who appear in no danger of relocation)
This is almost like the Calgary situation a couple years ago when many here were freaking out about how the Flames were "struggling" simply because they needed a new arena.
Just more typical HF over reaction because its happening to a Canadian team...
DarthProbert
Registered User
- Feb 3, 2015
- 1,912
- 1,499
Taxpayers solved the issue in Calgary, and if Winnipeg gets into any real difficulty, taxpayers will be there too.
End on a Hinote
Registered Abuser
I can only speak for myself, but as a British Columbian taxpayer, I'd be more than willing to cough up a few bucks if my Canucks were on thin ice.
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