Hunt has to retool back to what he did in the beginning. Pull out all the stops make it a happening. Tie football and hockey together. Try to set up a foot ball game in the fall that would coincide with the 67's and have free admission if you have a ticket to the football game.
As you mention, there are a great many things that can be done. That being said, the landscape in Ottawa has dramatically changed since 1995 too.
I won't get into the socio-political changes that have and will continue to impact the Ottawa 67's. So let's put that aside.
The most compelling impact on the 67's and their profile is the fact that the 67's are a small component of the new OSEG portfolio. They are a conflict to other assets in that portfolio.
1> Upon the return to Lansdowne, the private boxes were condemned. So after a two year absence to allow for onsite construction because of "Friends of Lansdowne" legal delays, we return to an inferior rink from which we left.
2> When the 67's returned, the fans did not support the other outlets. They were simply "in and out" customers. Conversely, whenever there were other events including concerts, Soccer, and Football, the other events would generate a significant increase in business for the other outlets. IT created complaints on behalf of the other outlets as the "selling point" for that location was that it was event based. Now they have an event that gobbles up a lot of parking and has virtually no positive impact.
3> Lack of parking and lack of alternate options. While the Red Blacks had multiple shuttle locations from which to park for free and hop on a shuttle to the game, the 67's had nothing for the first two years. It was fight for parking which you couldn't get without a pass (for the most part), or find on street parking around the park, or OC transport or walk? This made it very inconvenient for most.
4> When the crowds didn't come back, they started to extend offers to family and kid based promotion. This creates a one off situation where tickets need to continue to be sold game by game which is difficult and you need to reach out to an infinitely larger pool of people to fill seats.
5> The new promotions continued to further the conflict between the other retails nd restaurant outlets and the 67's because people with kids aren't going to take them to the restaurants and bars in the Lansdowne Complex. They are going to feed them pizza and hot dogs at the game or nothing at all.
6> The resulting spiral effect of the above made the organization decide to switch their game days to lessen the negative impact on the other outlets and further make it easier for families and kids to attend games. So, the Friday nights were virtually eliminated and they went to Saturday and Sunday afternoons. There would be more parking spaces available and would create les sof a conflict for late nights.
The result of all these factors have eliminated the market for the 67's with respect to adults with disposable income. Those people, like me, do not want to hang out at Cosmic Adventures to watch a hockey game. There is no additional value for us other than the actual hockey game. They did start a shuttle from Carleton but the window for that shuttle doesnt' allow time for dinner before or after a game which furthers the divide between the 67's and the other outlets.
No one with the ability to generate a cross marketing campaign for the 67's and the other outlets and sports properties works with OSEG. Clearly they don't pay well otherwise someone with an actual experienced brain in their head would have figured out the proper product mix and would have done the requisite Environmental Scan to determine what would be that proper target market for the 67's. Unfortunately, they don't employ that type of person OR they only care about the Red Black and all efforts are geared toward that team. I'm not sure which one of those two it is but there doesnt' seem to be a third option to present so I will go with one of those two for mow until someone else presents a third deficiency.
