Winnipeg WCF games aren't selling out

[Fandlauer]

So what's the deal? Just insane ticket prices or what?

Edit: another link since people don't believe Simmons. Stolen from @Micklebot


Jets lose home-ice advantage but that’s not likely to faze them

NOT A SELLOUT?
Perhaps the Jets are cutting into their own sales market with the whiteout street parties. There were unsold tickets for Game 2 last night and there were empty seats, with towels draped over them, for the whole game at the arena. There were still about 125 tickets available on Ticketmaster midway through the first period. It’s shocking but those tickets are expensive and clearly some people prefer to join the party outside and watch on big-screen TVs for free …

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[EternalOptimist]

Thats surprising cuz that place consistently looks packed and is rocking every game

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Thats pathetic.

 

[Plural]

Weird, they seem to sell out RS games. Too high prices?

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

lol Steve Simmons

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Technically it was a sellout. The empty seats are probably the result of blocks of tickets being held for sponsors/vendors/etc. and third-party websites buying large amounts of tickets and marking the prices up to crazy levels. That happens everywhere come playoff time.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I don’t understand, isn’t there a permanent-sellout with a long wait list in Winnipeg? Are we talking about the tiny number of tickets the team releases on game day?

 

[Plural]

Technically it was a sellout. The empty seats are probably the result of third-party websites buying large amounts of tickets and marking the prices up to crazy levels. That happens everywhere come playoff time.

Ahh, that makes sense. Too bad the arena was not packed to the fullest but I heavily despise parties that hamster tickets just to sell them at a f***ing high price. Awesome if that kind of f***ers lost money.

 

[DRW204]

Technically it was a sellout. The empty seats are probably the result of blocks of tickets being held for sponsors/vendors/etc. and third-party websites buying large amounts of tickets and marking the prices up to crazy levels. That happens everywhere come playoff time.

I don’t understand, isn’t there a permanent-sellout with a long wait list in Winnipeg? Are we talking about the tiny number of tickets the team releases on game day?

most likely scenarios

 

[Fandlauer]

Thats surprising cuz that place consistently looks packed and is rocking every game

Absolutely a great atmosphere, but the team has been advertising tickets for sale just days before the games, and there are still unsold tickets on Ticketmaster after puck drop.

 

[Fandlauer]

Technically it was a sellout. The empty seats are probably the result of blocks of tickets being held for sponsors/vendors/etc. and third-party websites buying large amounts of tickets and marking the prices up to crazy levels. That happens everywhere come playoff time.

There were face value tickets still available on TM at puck drop.

 

[pbgoalie]

Looking for things to bash

 

[Drytoast]

Would need to see some actual numbers before I take Simmon's word for it. But if Winnipeg isn't selling out now, Winnipeg is in for tough times ahead, as with success...ticket prices are going to need to increase well past cost of living increases.

Winnipeg better support that team financially

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

There were face value tickets still available on TM at puck drop.

How many? And I'm guessing those were released game day or close to it.

 

[tarheelhockey]

There were face value tickets still available on TM at puck drop.

Are we sure that they weren’t resale seats? Those show up on TM too.

 

[Fandlauer]

How many? And I'm guessing those were released game day or close to it.

Looks like a couple hundred.

A lot of people outside though. I'm guessing it's just because they are super expensive.

 

[Gotaf7]

I bought tickets yesterday off ticket master, there were about 20 singles and a few pairs available about 2 hours before puck drop. The sky is not falling in Winnipeg!
There were also some tix on Stub Hub.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Same case-scenario for Toronto or most playoff teams. People jack up the prices and it isn't just the NHL. The other kicker is, Winnipeg might have cheap houses, but it's a fairly corrupt city and has high taxes - 13% GST+PST. I go because that's pretty much all I spend my money on if not coffee, bills or gas. If you look at the street party you gotta think more people would love to fill that arena up, but I do think they need to tone the prices down a bunch for other people in Winnipeg to enjoy the game. I talk to people all the time who truly want to go, but the tickets are too expensive and they only see one game a year.

 

[Drytoast]

Same case-scenario for Toronto or most playoff teams. People jack up the prices and it isn't just the NHL. The other kicker is, Winnipeg might have cheap houses, but it's a fairly corrupt city and has high taxes - 13% GST+PST. I go because that's pretty much all I spend my money on if not coffee, bills or gas. If you look at the street party you gotta think more people would love to fill that arena up, but I do think they need to tone the prices down a bunch for other people in Winnipeg to enjoy the game. I talk to people all the time who truly want to go, but the tickets are too expensive and they only see one game a year.

That ain't happening.

If you want a serious NHL team, ya gotta pay for it.

Expect a few steady years of ticket price increases if you keep the success going. That's just part of the business of hockey. And those prices don't drop if your team suddenly has a down turn of misfortune. So you better be prepared to spend even when the going gets rough.

 

[Mikeshane]

Attendance is listed as 15,321 for the first game of the year against Toronto and the last 3 playoff games. Seems like they are selling out.

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

That ain't happening.

If you want a serious NHL team, ya gotta pay for it.

Expect a few steady years of ticket price increases if you keep the success going. That's just part of the business of hockey. And those prices don't drop if your team suddenly has a down turn of misfortune. So you better be prepared to spend even when the going gets rough.

Give it a rest. Let's not pretend every team's ticket prices are as high as the Jets.

I was at the game, max 100 empty seats. This is a non-issue tweeted by a piece of shit reporter out of Toronto looking to stir the pot.

 

[Daximus]

That ain't happening.

If you want a serious NHL team, ya gotta pay for it.

Expect a few steady years of ticket price increases if you keep the success going. That's just part of the business of hockey. And those prices don't drop if your team suddenly has a down turn of misfortune. So you better be prepared to spend even when the going gets rough.

Jets have some of the highest priced tickets in this years playoffs if memory serves correct. They don't NEED to charge that much and I think they are really just testing the market to see what the max people will pay is. Seriously doubt this price gouge remains any longer than this year.

 

[PaperRockChamp]

I find that if you're not on the Jets mailing list , you have no way of knowing that tickets are even available..
There were 125 unsold tickets. Was told by ticket rep that there were 111 single seats.
If someone f***ing told me that any pairs were available I would have went in a heartbeat. It took this tweet by Simmonds trying to S**t on Wpg to raise awareness so... thanks.

 

[AssaultPK]

Would have bought tickets if I knew they were unsold, lots of tickets being bought on vivid and stubhub.

The problem is they keep releasing tickets on ticketmaster a couple hours before the game, hard to know or change plans.

 

[cbcwpg]

The day of the game tickets on TM are released. Some are unused from the league, and a lot are singles. People make plans and how many want to go by themselves? We are not talking thousands of seats, but maybe a 100.

There are threads in the Winnipeg Jets forum discussing this.

JMO, but a lot of this is the Jets are new to this whole playoff thing and they are trying to figure out the market and what it can afford. The non ST prices are approx. 225% more than the ST price.

IE: as a STH I am paying $126.50 for my seat this round. On Seat Exchange /TM that same priced seat is listing for $300 PLUS insane fees.

Interesting enough about 10% of the Jets STHs didn't opt in for their playoff packages. So that is ~1,500 seats per game avail to the public. After seeing the markup that the public has to pay and what a STH can legally sell their seat for... I would imagine all STHs will be keeping their playoff tickets in the future even if the intent is to sell. So all games will end up being sold out.