Hamilton Bulldogs 2015-2016 season tickets
- Thread starter Stanley Foobrick
- Start date
I honestly don't have a problem with those Season ticket prices for an adult, other then they should be giving maybe a 25-50% discount for children....
a family of 4 in centre ice is going to be $2400+.... a little rich i would say for your first year in the league... I think Hamilton could easily average 6000 a game if you make it more affordable for kids based on what they averaged for an AHL franchise at just over 4000 a game. Add 2000 mouths to feed at a game and concessions go up, and merchandise sales go up etc etc...
I look At Guelph who has similar regular walkup ticket prices, but much deeper discounts on Season tickets and as an early bird a kids season ticket is only $210.... and an adult $495
So at your top end a family of 4 is paying $1400....
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It's prices like these that make me glad I live in SSM; almost a 2 for 1 deal when you compare the regular season (non STH) prices
Hammer9001
Registered User
The Bulldogs have always done a lot of Flex Pack tickets and they usually have an Xmas deal for $10 tickets then. I'm not sure how strong the season ticket base is to be honest, but I would guess around 1,000 to 2,000 strong strong. The Habs affiliation and lack of roster stability has long sabotaged the team's efforts.
They also usually have a lot of concession sales. Friday for example is $3 beer before puck drop, Saturday they usually have a family food pack deal. That said, those walk in prices need to come down, especially when you have a lot more potential for people from out of town coming to games.
They also usually have a lot of concession sales. Friday for example is $3 beer before puck drop, Saturday they usually have a family food pack deal. That said, those walk in prices need to come down, especially when you have a lot more potential for people from out of town coming to games.
krazy kanuck
Registered User
I paid more than that for Barrie Colts season tickets in my last season before moving west after the 2012 season - I assumed that was pretty well the going rate for OHL season tickets. The Colts also didn't offer a discount for kids at the time. I always thought they should, but wasn't sure how that administration would have worked. The single game seats are a little pricey in my view though - but on par with Oil Kings tickets.
Stanley Foobrick
Clockwork Blue
You probably don't need to offer cheaper kids prices if your arena has 4,200 seats. If you average a 3,500 you're near capacity every night. If Hamilton averages 3,500 the building is just over 1/3 rd full.
I was a Hamilton Bulldogs season ticket holder for year, there's a huge difference in watching a hockey game in that building with even 6,000 people compared to 3,000. IMO you do whatever you can to get that number as high as possible.
Empty seats look bad on TV, and empty seats don't buy concessions or souvenirs.
Stanley Foobrick
Clockwork Blue
Yeah they do give some decent deals, but those deals are aimed at the casual fan. I think you need to start with the largest season ticket base possible. Those are the people who give you the most free word of mouth advertising.
As a season ticket holder for the AHL club I put up schedule posters at work and even arranged tickets for people a number of times. Season ticket holders are the people that really invest of themselves into the team. Start with the broadest ticket base possible, make that game atmosphere look attractive on the local cable broadcasts, make people want to come out and be part of it.
Remember Hamilton is a special case, they have 9,000 seats. This is just an estimate but I would guess the average numbers across the CHL is a 5,000 seat arena with about 2,500 season ticket holders. Meaning they have room for another 2,500 single ticket purchases. If you Hamilton you could have 7,000 season ticket holders and still have the numbers left for a typical CHL single ticket market.
I don't find the season ticket pricing to overly expensive but the walk up pricing is ridiculous. At the top of pricing it should be $21/$22 for walk up and $18 for seasons per game.
Stanley Foobrick
Clockwork Blue
Problem with such a small price difference is seasons become less attractive to fans.
$18 x 34games =$612
$22 x 28games =$616
.... so, how many games will you miss?
Also flex packs would need to be priced accordingly.
At my work today i was talking to someone who is a Ticat fan and he said he pays more then 612 and he gets 1 pre-season game 8-9 regular season games and playoffs depending on how far they go maybe 1-2 more games so to see that we get 34 games for 612 bucks when the CFL STH pay more then that for even less games is a steal
OHLTG
Registered User
Seasons prices are reasonable, but try to convince someone to spend nearly $25-30 for a walk-up ticket. Some teams don't charge that in the playoffs, let alone regular season.
Adult pricing for the top team in Canada the Soo Greyhounds, doesn't break $27 until the OHL Championship series to put it in perspective ($28.25 in rd 4) and in the regular season they are $19.
Is that really why people by seasons though? I had season tickets for 20 years for an OHL team and considered it a bonus to save a bit of money but the reason I bought them was to have the same seats where I liked, convenience of not having to buy each game individually and having guaranteed playoff tickets. Maybe others look at it differently but even if you didn't save on seasons id still buy them for those reasons.
Stanley Foobrick
Clockwork Blue
It's a 9,000 seat arena..... you don't have to worry that you won't get a seat if you don't have season tickets. Maybe not the exact seat but certainly close by.
Also, you say "I had", I'm guessing you only paid for yours, your friends paid for theirs. If you're only purchasing one, price probably does play less of a factor. But when you're talking about purchasing for a family of 4, yeah price is an issue.
I also remember at one of those season ticket holder fan board meeting the question was brought up why flex packs were not closer to season in cost. Several people spoke up and admitted if they could get flex packs at the same as seasons that the way they would go because of the number of games they missed. Not sure how many tickets these people purchased but by their response price was a factor.
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