Ticket/Attendance Discussion

[Weezeric]

Probably your minor league baseball team is dedicated to the community and do great things.

I just hate to see it unfold how I think it will unfold. Winnipeg is a real sports town and the owners need to bend over backwards for the fans. They didn't from day 1. I have heard horrible things from TNSE staff. Is your Chipman partner guy who is a Winnipeger hands on? nope. he should be in many areas.

When I went to a jets home game i was shocked how bad the atmosphere was. It felt like i was at a portland winterhawks game or a AHL game. Organ was awful. They entertain the fans? no powerful rituals or traditions inside the arena like other venues. Yes, I hate the current logo/jersey and wish they went back to the original but I can let it slide. However the reason for them not using the good old Jets logos first is a bit dumb.

I've been to games in carolina, nashville, chicago, los angeles, montreal, new york islanders/rangers, boston bruins.... WOW that is a nhl atmosphere. I honestly wouldn't waste my time making the trip to Winnipeg for a game except for a playoff game.

Member since… today. Seems right

 

[ryerockarola]

Requiring fully vaccinated fans in arenas would never happen in the USA. Its not allowed by law. However it seems not such in Canada.

If people are still afraid to get covid without taking certain precaution then those people will be forever lost in society. COVID is never going away. We already learned in the USA that large gatherings have zero threat in truly spreading covid. It all comes down to personal health, ventilation, ventilation, ventilation. Airplanes suggested they had the correct equipment for years but people have failed to understand that now in the USA Delta and Allegiant are all making changes to their air control systems in time for fall 2022. Air fair prices will be adjusted in the next coming weeks due to this.

I am not vaccinated but I know many people who are vaccinated. We all handle covid the same way. However we handle it like any other virus from colds/flus/aids/heps,etc. Be careful. Germs on hands NOT covid is more of a threat to your health than the risk of getting covid.

I still see people opening doors with their shirts or wipes. Guess what? I also know people that do it now that have done it pre-covid. INCLUDING ME!

No reason to be afraid. Sadly CDC was incorrect in their orders and the science has truly failed to reach the general population for education.

You can pack the arena w/ zero true risk. Just take precaution that you feel comfortable with and enjoy the games

Bombers are the only CFL team to have a vaccination restriction for fans as far as I'm aware. Manitoba's also the only province to have a vaccine passport as far as I know.

Barring forgery I guess you wouldn't get into a Bomber game though judging from your eagerness to come to the city for a Jets game it's probably not a worry for you. At least you keep your hands clean of germs!

 

[mondo3]

I'd be curious if anyone in a season ticket group has a member who has no plans on getting vaccinated, and how the group plans on dealing with that

 

[KingBogo]

The Jets Chipman got a great deal in 2011 and though he isn't the sole owner of the team and likely owns less than 10% of the actual team - Thomson is the real owner. Lets look at it this..... There isn't 1 actual market these owners could move the Jets and have it better.

In fact I agree with many Jets fans who are upset with how things are going. I do not understand how majority of fans just sit back and take it as it comes from ownership and the team just because... The most successful franchises in sports have media and fans that push them hard every single day. Doesn't seem this is happening in Winnipeg.

I have followed Winnipeg closely and have attended games. You have a serious ownership problem how they operate the team. How they treat the fans. And how they manage the team as the WINNIPEG JETS. They gouge you fans and literally get nothing in return. The arena atmosphere is quite dull. The people that work at TNSE are quite dull. Lets be honest. All the great treats Jets fans have as fans come from the original Jets. An outstanding logo (original Jets) The name (original) The chant (original) The white out (original)

WHAT HAS TNSE done really for you?

And now you lack sports media to really push them. Not a good time to be a sports fan in Winnipeg. At least you have the Blue Bombers.

First off do you have any proof that Chipman owns less than 10%, because if you did it is even more likely the Jets are a risk to relocate. But most things I've read has Chipman as the majority owner and Thomson as an investor.

You seriously don't think there isn't market that could support an NHL team? My guess is Houston would be 1st up. 5th largest city in the USA with a population 10X's Winnipeg's with tons of local money and a 18,000+ arena that is NHL ready. The owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets is actually on record saying he would put an NHL team in Houston tomorrow if he could get his hands on one. San Francisco is also a possibility with a brand new 18,000 seat arena and a population of 5 million on the heals of all the success of the other southern California teams.

And seriously you think TNSE is the only franchise that gouges its fans? Maximizing profit is how you stay in business? Ever attend a game in Toronto? You need connections and a bank loan just to walk in the door.

 

[drumzan]

First off do you have any proof that Chipman owns less than 10%, because if you did it is even more likely the Jets are a risk to relocate. But most things I've read has Chipman as the majority owner and Thomson as an investor.

You seriously don't think there isn't market that could support an NHL team? My guess is Houston would be 1st up. 5th largest city in the USA with a population 10X's Winnipeg's with tons of local money and a 18,000+ arena that is NHL ready. The owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets is actually on record saying he would put an NHL team in Houston tomorrow if he could get his hands on one. San Francisco is also a possibility with a brand new 18,000 seat arena and a population of 5 million on the heals of all the success of the other southern California teams.

And seriously you think TNSE is the only franchise that gouges its fans? Maximizing profit is how you stay in business? Ever attend a game in Toronto? You need connections and a bank loan just to walk in the door.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Houston is 4th in near future. Fastest growing city in USA.

San Jose wouldn’t be keen on San Francisco getting a team. They benefit from TV market of Oak/SF/SJ. I can’t see the NHL pulling trigger on that one.

Houston or Kansas City are most likely to get next USA team, IMO.

 

[KCjetsfan]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Houston is 4th in near future. Fastest growing city in USA.

San Jose wouldn’t be keen on San Francisco getting a team. They benefit from TV market of Oak/SF/SJ. I can’t see the NHL pulling trigger on that one.

Houston or Kansas City are most likely to get next USA team, IMO.

I don't see KC as an attractive or successful location frankly. There is little to no grassroots hockey, and while the metro area has a decent (2M or so) population it's so spread out that just getting to the arena is not an attractive prospect. It'd be cool to see, but I don't know that there's an ownership group that would take that on either. I think NBA is probably more likely than NHL here.

 

[jetsmooseice]

With the Bomber attendance announcement I think it is pretty clear that the mandate will be the same for Jets home games.
We can expect full stands of fully vaccinated crazy people that have been cooped up for 1.5 years.

I agree. Mandatory vaccination for attendance is probably the compromise between the province and the clubs to allow games at full capacity. I guess the other realistic option would have been to reduce capacity by something like 50% and allow anyone to attend (isn't that what they're doing for football in Ontario?), but that probably wouldn't have been idea for the Bombers since that would have limited attendance to 17,000 a game. I mean, I guess they could have done the Sask/Alberta thing and thrown the doors wide open but Manitoba is naturally going to be a little gun shy after how we got burned in the third wave.

And seriously you think TNSE is the only franchise that gouges its fans? Maximizing profit is how you stay in business? Ever attend a game in Toronto? You need connections and a bank loan just to walk in the door.

I suppose that's the difference between Winnipeg and larger markets. In the larger markets it's probably mostly corporate accounts where no one is really all that sensitive to marginal price increases or whatever other minor considerations there are. They pony up, the accountant writes it off, everyone is happy. Meanwhile in Winnipeg where we don't have that kind of corporate depth, probably a huge portion of the fanbase is paying for tickets using after tax household income. Even if you make a decent amount of money, season tickets are still a considerable expense for many if not most. I guess that's why so many of us do the season ticket share thing as opposed to just buying the entire season and giving away tickets we can't use. Now the vaccination edict is probably going to cut some people out of the ticket buying fanbase and that's going to make things even more complicated.

 

[Gnova]

We are going to be living in a world where people will need to be fully vaccinated and then likely get yearly booster shots if the want to go into crowded indoor venues. The risk of super spreader events and the potential loss of life is too great not to do so. We are living in a different world and people will have to adapt. I do see your point being the manager of a group and having to deal with this, but I'm guessing TNSE has language around preventing entrance if it presents a health and safety risk to yourself or others. Every organization does, so it would be super shocking if they didn't.

I think once tge vaccines have been cleared for those under twelve things will open up regardless.
If people that choose to not be vaccinated get infected that is their choice. As it sits rights now children don't have the choice.

 

[drumzan]

I don't see KC as an attractive or successful location frankly. There is little to no grassroots hockey, and while the metro area has a decent (2M or so) population it's so spread out that just getting to the arena is not an attractive prospect. It'd be cool to see, but I don't know that there's an ownership group that would take that on either. I think NBA is probably more likely than NHL here.

KC has been talked about a lot in past, even leading up to when Winnipeg got Jets 2.0. I think if KC gets an NBA team, it would make it more likely to get an NHL team too.

 

[surixon]

First off do you have any proof that Chipman owns less than 10%, because if you did it is even more likely the Jets are a risk to relocate. But most things I've read has Chipman as the majority owner and Thomson as an investor.

You seriously don't think there isn't market that could support an NHL team? My guess is Houston would be 1st up. 5th largest city in the USA with a population 10X's Winnipeg's with tons of local money and a 18,000+ arena that is NHL ready. The owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets is actually on record saying he would put an NHL team in Houston tomorrow if he could get his hands on one. San Francisco is also a possibility with a brand new 18,000 seat arena and a population of 5 million on the heals of all the success of the other southern California teams.

And seriously you think TNSE is the only franchise that gouges its fans? Maximizing profit is how you stay in business? Ever attend a game in Toronto? You need connections and a bank loan just to walk in the door.

I really don't think TNSE has really been that bad to fans all things considered.

For the most part they have put a competive product on the table, provided good amenities in the areana and have built up the surrounding area into a fun arena district.

They definitely have put in all the things to make going to a Jets game a fun evening out.

TNSE long term goal is clearly to establish ancillary real-estate and leasing revenue streams as their major source of revenue with TNS and have the Jets and concerts as the draw that gets the people downtown to use the surrounding amenities.

They are a very smart business and have built in place the mechanisms around the team to ensure its long term viability even when the Jets experience some lean years.

 

[surixon]

I wouldn’t be surprised if Houston is 4th in near future. Fastest growing city in USA.

San Jose wouldn’t be keen on San Francisco getting a team. They benefit from TV market of Oak/SF/SJ. I can’t see the NHL pulling trigger on that one.

Houston or Kansas City are most likely to get next USA team, IMO.

I'm quite sure Huston is the likely landing spot for Arizona. They will eventually pull the plug and move that team.

 

[jetsmooseice]

KC has been talked about a lot in past, even leading up to when Winnipeg got Jets 2.0. I think if KC gets an NBA team, it would make it more likely to get an NHL team too.

Why would one necessarily lead to the other? KC is big but not necessarily a huge market, a NBA or NHL team would take a lot of sports dollars off the table which wouldn't leave much for the other. Remember, they have had a spectacular arena sitting without a tenant for nearly 15 years now.

 

[robertocarlos]

And that would work out pretty well for Chipman. He has to be the only owner in the world that would choose to have his professional team in Winnipeg. If he was forced to move to someplace like Houston the value of the franchise probably doubles over night. It also be able to attract top end UFAs and have a much better shot at the cup.

He should try to suck about a 100 million dollars from the city to support the Jets staying in Winnipeg before he sells the team to Houston. It's only the right thing to do.

 

[drumzan]

Why would one necessarily lead to the other? KC is big but not necessarily a huge market, a NBA or NHL team would take a lot of sports dollars off the table which wouldn't leave much for the other. Remember, they have had a spectacular arena sitting without a tenant for nearly 15 years now.

Save on costs. Two teams, one arena.

 

[Gm0ney]

I don't know if I'd call him a saint, but I'm sure many other owners wonder why he would want to operate a professional sports team in Winnipeg when there are better and more profitable markets where he could relocate the team. I don't imagine the NHL would mind moving the franchise from a small Canadian city to a large American market if Chipman asked to do so. I'm also curious why random angry fans believe they have the power in this situation? There have been 61 franchise moves of teams among the 4 major sports leagues in NA since 1902. A little more than once ever 2 years. Almost all moves were over money in some way, shape or form.

There are currently 124 professional sports teams in NA. Where do you think the Jets will sit on the next most likely to relocate list if fans stop going to games?

This franchise is an absolute gravy train for Chipman. Full house, high ticket prices, $12M in government subsidies to cover the mortgage and initial purchase cost of the Thrashers. The team and concurrent goodwill was leverage to build Chipman's downtown real estate empire with TNS, Centrepoint and the arena all falling conveniently into the SHED tax break zone.

If TNSE thinks selling tickets in Winnipeg to a huge base of hockey-crazed fans is getting too tough, I'd hate to see how they'd fare in Houston.

Also, how many NHL franchises have relocated since the cap? One - Atlanta to Winnipeg. And the terms of the cap deal have become even more favorable to the owners since then. I really wouldn't worry about it. The economics make a ton of sense here. If Arizona, Florida, Ottawa and Carolina haven't relocated, no one will.

 

[Gnova]

Who let the troll into this thread to completely derail it?
Went from season tickets, to relocation and TNSE gouging fans.
Also, taking advice from Americans on how to deal with covid restrictions is like having an anorexic supermodel tell you where the best all you can eat buffet in in the city is.

 

[buggs]

I'd be curious if anyone in a season ticket group has a member who has no plans on getting vaccinated, and how the group plans on dealing with that

I've sent a couple of emails to my group over the past couple of days. Both times I've asked if anyone has any issues with a theoretical requirement of double vaccination prior to access to the arena. Thus far I've heard nothing. That said, I've got three retired guys in my group, three of us probably within five years and one guy in his forties. So we're probably not ideally suited to be in the group to object to vaccines given the relative risk factor. The guy in his forties might be cocky, the rest of us recognize we are no longer indestructible. Age has a powerful ability to humble.

Had someone not been vaccinated I do have a backup plan as I was fortunate enough to be approached by someone looking to join our group unsolicited. So if someone was really adamant I would have presented the option to back out of the group and let someone else take their spot.

FWIW I'm not especially keen on the notion of vaccine passports or otherwise. I am however pragmatic enough to realize this is the way we're moving forward.

 

[ps241]

I've sent a couple of emails to my group over the past couple of days. Both times I've asked if anyone has any issues with a theoretical requirement of double vaccination prior to access to the arena. Thus far I've heard nothing. That said, I've got three retired guys in my group, three of us probably within five years and one guy in his forties. So we're probably not ideally suited to be in the group to object to vaccines given the relative risk factor. The guy in his forties might be cocky, the rest of us recognize we are no longer indestructible. Age has a powerful ability to humble.

Had someone not been vaccinated I do have a backup plan as I was fortunate enough to be approached by someone looking to join our group unsolicited. So if someone was really adamant I would have presented the option to back out of the group and let someone else take their spot.

FWIW I'm not especially keen on the notion of vaccine passports or otherwise. I am however pragmatic enough to realize this is the way we're moving forward.

I can see vaccine passport as a transitional solution for this fall. I also think it will be an administrative challenge. Either way I think it’s the natural next step.

 

[Briscodog]

Just sent them my 10k for my two tickets and happy to do it. As much as I loathe many of the hockey decisions I'm happy to have a team to love and hate. And as someone who lived thru the heartache of Jets 1.0, I will continue to support Jets 2.0. There's nothing like going to a NHL game in my hometown.

 

[wraithsonwings]

I can see vaccine passport as a transitional solution for this fall. I also think it will be an administrative challenge. Either way I think it’s the natural next step.

Manitoba already has a covid immunization card (unless you're talking about Canada / international.)

 

[Hollywood3]

I really don't think TNSE has really been that bad to fans all things considered.

For the most part they have put a competive product on the table, provided good amenities in the areana and have built up the surrounding area into a fun arena district.

They definitely have put in all the things to make going to a Jets game a fun evening out.

TNSE long term goal is clearly to establish ancillary real-estate and leasing revenue streams as their major source of revenue with TNS and have the Jets and concerts as the draw that gets the people downtown to use the surrounding amenities.

They are a very smart business and have built in place the mechanisms around the team to ensure its long term viability even when the Jets experience some lean years.

The only thing I don't like is the ticketing, which made me bow out of season tickets. (I was a STH since around 2003 with the Moose at the Winnipeg Arena.) Running the account for the group used to be easy, now it's a pain. But this year comes the vaccination problem. I am glad I got out.

 

[buggs]

Just received a super short survey from TNSE on "safety".

Asked you to rate on four choices: mandatory proof of vaccination for entry (mandatory mask wearing for under 12); mandatory wearing of masks; increase in hand sanitization stations; cashless payment.

I think you can figure out what the requirements will be from that fairly easily.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

Just received a super short survey from TNSE on "safety".

Asked you to rate on four choices: mandatory proof of vaccination for entry (mandatory mask wearing for under 12); mandatory wearing of masks; increase in hand sanitization stations; cashless payment.

I think you can figure out what the requirements will be from that fairly easily.

I would give them my write-in choice: mandatory double vax and nobody under 12 admitted. I mean, that latter restriction is desirable even without a pandemic.

 

[blues10]

Just received a super short survey from TNSE on "safety".

Asked you to rate on four choices: mandatory proof of vaccination for entry (mandatory mask wearing for under 12); mandatory wearing of masks; increase in hand sanitization stations; cashless payment.

I think you can figure out what the requirements will be from that fairly easily.

For some reason I never got the survey. I am speaking with my rep today about adding the extra year to my seat holder agreement so I will ask if all STH got the survey.

 

[blues10]

Any other STH not get the brief survey in the last week? As par for the course my ticket rep says no survey was sent out, yet fellow season ticket holders I know all got it.