Little Caesar’s Arena Changes Seat Colors,Due to Empty Seats

[Honour Over Glory]

Sadly, when Mr. I passed, he took any sense on how to properly run an organization with him. His son who took over, is nothing more than a bean counter more worried about numbers than results. You'd think as long as the family had the example of their father before them, they would have learned a thing or two, guess not.

Isn't the same gm the guy he hired? I mean.......

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Isn't the same gm the guy he hired? I mean.......

Before this season started, the Wings announced that Ken Holland would be returning as GM “with or without a contract”. Yes, literally those words.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Before this season started, the Wings announced that Ken Holland would be returning as GM “with or without a contract”. Yes, literally those words.

Yikes. He's one of the biggest issues with the down fall. Well, main contributor I guess.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Yikes. He's one of the biggest issues with the down fall. Well, main contributor I guess.

The organization has gone completely tone deaf in recent years.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

I agree, black seats will look worse.

EDITORIAL: Black seats at Little Caesars Arena will be far more of an eyesore | Detroit Sports Nation

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

I never got over their arrogance calling themselves Hockeytown. Totally ridiculous.

As a Wings fan, I always hated when that they called it Hockeytown™.

Probably because I started watching them during the Dead Wings era when the arena was mostly empty. Ilitch was giving away cars between periods to try and get people to show up. Detroit has been FootballTown for a long time now. When the Wings are bad like they are now the fans go away. But the Lions keep on sucking year after year and we keep watching.

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

As a Wings fan, I always hated when that they called it Hockeytown™.

Probably because I started watching them during the Dead Wings era when the arena was mostly empty. Ilitch was giving away cars between periods to try and get people to show up. Detroit has been FootballTown for a long time now. When the Wings are bad like they are now the fans go away. But the Lions keep on sucking year after year and we keep watching.

Ironically in the early days of Joe Louis Arena, nobody ever suggested covering up the red seats because attendance was bad.

 

[Ratsreign]

I've never understood why NHL teams don't just give away all remaining tickets. An empty seat can't spend anything at team stores or at the concession.

Because then everyone stops buying tix and waits for the free/almost free ones.

 

[Gainesvillain]

Probably not going to be many empty seats Thursday...

 

[GoJackets1]

I thought LCA was designed so that if people didn’t want to sit in their seats to watch the game, they didn’t have to. There’s plenty of room around the concourse and arena where people are able to stand at tables, drink beer, and watch the game.

Not saying that accounts for every empty seat, but at opening night there were a noticeable amount of people standing in these areas.

Lastly, the arena is beautiful as currently constructed. I love all the red, this will be an unthinkable downgrade. It’s pretty unfortunate.

 

[Coily]

Hockey Town.

 

[mcleex]

They don't give you a lid for the cup at the arena unless you specifically ask for it...Talk about bean counters

 

[haulinbass]

Absolute disgrace. Nicest venue in the entire league right now and they want to put black seats in it. Hundreds of millions of dollars to build this state of the art facility just to make it look like shit. Hell, I went there just to see the arena.

 

[OVO16]

Its not the just the red wings, the Pistons have are having attendance issues as well

Didnt they move their arena downtown, so that they can increase attendance? What happened

 

[Gnashville]

Are the seats normally empty or has attendance dropped significantly since moving arenas?

They have been playing to a lot of empty seats since moving to the Eastern Conference for some reason. Plus the recent losing hasn’t helped.

 

[pvr]

Worth noting that those seats they are talking about are the club seats with access that come with unlimited food and drinks. Honestly, they may have just made the club to nice where people are just hanging around there on sofas watching the game on flatscreens. The club is its own experience.

I share season tickets in the club section. Absolutely this is a problem. Why, I don’t know. It’s very easy to hit up the club to get a drink/snack and make it back to your seat very quickly. No need to linger unless just socializing during the game.

Also, I’ve generally seen people hanging out in the concourse bars instead of at their seats. I just don’t understand it. I’m there to see the game live. I can go to any bar and see the game, or better at home.

Btw, same problem with the Pistons games last year. At the Palace there was the VIP lounge, more difficult to access so perhaps less likely to keep people there. (Aside: The Palace had much better food than we had last year at LC for either Wings or Pistons games. Hopefully this year the food improves.)

 

[Crede777]

Why don't they just give everyone in the lower sections cardboard cutouts of people that they can put in their seats while they go hang out in the concourse?

 

[Hockeyfan2390]

Its not the just the red wings, the Pistons have are having attendance issues as well

Didnt they move their arena downtown, so that they can increase attendance? What happened

Nobody cares about the Pistons unless they're winning.

 

[The Best Leafs Ever]

Hockey town?

More like Hockey Village at this point.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

I thought LCA was designed so that if people didn’t want to sit in their seats to watch the game, they didn’t have to. There’s plenty of room around the concourse and arena where people are able to stand at tables, drink beer, and watch the game.

Not saying that accounts for every empty seat, but at opening night there were a noticeable amount of people standing in these areas.

Lastly, the arena is beautiful as currently constructed. I love all the red, this will be an unthinkable downgrade. It’s pretty unfortunate.

The fact that they designed multiple things to lure people away from their seats makes this decision even more confusing.

The empty seats even with a full house was by design, and you are surprised that this is happening? And you chose red for your color? Did you not notice how the red showed at Joe Louis Arena? Did anyone think this entire arena thing through other than the fact it looks "super cool" and has "super cool amenities"?

 

[DowntownBooster]

A lot of miss guided or just flat out wrong info in this thread! 1st they did not remove "Hockeytown" logo. They redone it in block letters. 2nd the reason for the color change is due to keep the NBA and the Pistons happy. And I was one calling them out for the poor sales of seats.

It turns out that Master P was correct (post #10). I watched the highlights from the Leafs - Red Wings game at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thursday, October 11 and there definitely was no "Hockeytown" in block letters or otherwise within the Red Wings logo at center ice.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

It turns out that Master P was correct (post #10). I watched the highlights from the Leafs - Red Wings game at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thursday, October 11 and there definitely was no "Hockeytown" in block letters or otherwise within the Red Wings logo at center ice.

The logo is not currently at center ice, no. However they did redesign it and it is on the boards right now. From what I have heard they are debating putting it back on center ice.

Not sure whether I want it back or not. Will probably get used to just the Wings logo this season and feel weird bringing the Hockeytown logo back if they ever do.

 

[newfy]

Yeah its hard to get a gauge on how bad the attendance is. Like has been mentioned, the arena is almost designed to pull people away from their seats and I think people sitting in the lower bowl are more likely to be pulled away as well.

I was waiting for the Leafs game to really comment on this thread. Watching that game there was still roughly the same amount of empty seats as you see in most games (you have to look close because its the first game with black seats) which makes me think maybe it really is season ticket holders not showing up or people being pulled away from their seats.

I definitely think the timing of this was horrible. Its the least exciting team the wings have had in likely 30-35 years. At least 30 years ago Yzerman was becoming one of the most exciting players in the league and you could go watch Kocur and Probert dummy anyone they felt like dummying. They literally opened the arena in the teams lowest point possible. Still all old players but not winning. If they did it 5 years earlier the team was still a contender, if they waited an extra 5 or so, good young players from the rebuild would have people excited again (Zadina, their first pick this year etc).

At the end of the day theyre claiming sell outs and if this wasnt somewhat true I think the Leafs game would've been more packed. The attendance likely isnt great, but likely isnt as bad as it looks based on how many tickets are bought and how many people areent in their seats

 

[Butch 19]

The full name, Hockeytown USA, makes it a little easier to swallow.

What? No it doesn't.

Adding the "USA" makes the arrogant claim even more annoying.

 

[DowntownBooster]

The logo is not currently at center ice, no. However they did redesign it and it is on the boards right now. From what I have heard they are debating putting it back on center ice.

Not sure whether I want it back or not. Will probably get used to just the Wings logo this season and feel weird bringing the Hockeytown logo back if they ever do.

I've always thought the Red Wings logo was iconic and they shouldn't spoil it with "Hockeytown" written across it. If the need is there to have Hockeytown emblazoned somewhere, they should either just leave it on the boards (where it currently is as you stated) or place it at a separate spot on the ice. However, just leave the winged wheel logo free of any unnecessary clutter as it looks so much better on it's own.