Empty Seats at Blue Jacket Games « Columbus Underground Messageboard

Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Sports

Empty Seats at Blue Jacket Games

[161 posts] [44 contributors]

Topic Rating:

(Total Ratings: )
Rate this topic:

Started 1 year ago by pilsner
Latest reply from Static-X

Tags:

12…9 Next »

pilsner

Login to Send PM

The Blue Jackets average home attendance is 15,273 through 34 games this season. That ranks 21st in the NHL. Last season, the CBJ drew 15,543 fans and ranked 25th.

The last three home games have drawn 13,603 (Oilers) and 16,453 (Blues) and 13,459 (Thrashers).

So there have been a lot of empty seats despite the excitement generated for hockey from the Olympics.

The Forward Together Columbus group formed a few months ago to lobby for a hockey/arena bailout.

Maybe Columbus just can't support an NHL team for the long haul. Some pro sports teams are losers for decades (ask a Cleveland fan about that). There must be sufficient fan support during struggling years.

But maybe NHL owners need to stop paying average players $4 million a year rather than asking for a taxpayer funded bailout.

Shouldn't Nationwide and the CBJ's business plans be allowed to sink or swim? And the whole 'economic generation' arguement is a red herring....people have a limited amount of money to spend on leisure activities. If hockey fails, they'll spend it instead to go bowling or go to the movies.

Many neighborhoods in Columbus need help. Why should the Arena District get special treatment? Maybe Nationwide/Dispatch should reconsider and ask Penn National to build the casino in the Arena District since it seems that there's just not enough fan support for the Blue Jackets for the long haul without a bailout.

Posted 1 year ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
Login to Send PM

More here:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/petition-for-cbj-and-arena-district

And here:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/blue-jackets-we-need-to-keep-them-here-in-cbus

And here:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/forums/topic/how-important-is-it-that-columbus-retains-the-blue-jackets

Posted 1 year ago #
pilsner

Login to Send PM

Attenance is a much more important revenue generator for the NHL than the other professional sports. The NFL, NBA and MLB have much more lucrative TV contracts than the NHL.

Posted 1 year ago #
catnfiddle
Giant Corncob District
Login to Send PM

If they lowered the prices a little, they'd make up the difference in increased sales.

Posted 1 year ago #
chaptal
West Side
Login to Send PM

Blue Jackets make bid for 2013 All Star Game

Very interesting. Is someone in the front office optomistic about the lease agreement? I realize the bids have to be placed a few years in advance.

Posted 1 year ago #
lifeliberty
Here
Login to Send PM

tickets are not expensive. they are only $10 right before the game and $25 on family nights(like tomorrow nights game, you have to buy at least 4 and that also buys you food.
-DISPATCH FAMILY VALUE PACK

Bring your family to a Blue Jackets game this season and save over $100! The Dispatch Family Value Pack includes a game ticket, hot dog, popcorn, Pepsi, a voucher for UDF ice cream and Dispatch Ice Haus skate pass for just $25 per person.)

I'm thinking about going to tomorrow nights game, starts at 7

Posted 1 year ago #
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
Login to Send PM

lifeliberty is right... there are cheap seats available.

What I've noticed when I'm at the games (in our inexpensive but still awesome seats!) is that the EXPENSIVE seats are the ones that are empty and the cheaper seats are filled with screaming fans. That should tell the management something about the way they price their tickets. Having a bunch of empty seats right up against the ice looks bad on TV too.

Posted 1 year ago #
lifeliberty
Here
Login to Send PM

Maybe I'm delusional(quite possibly!) but I think I remember reading an article about a startup company(I think from Columbus) starting something like Priceline or travelocity but for venue tickets. i never heard anything past that though. like a way to sell out unsold seats for cheap.

Posted 1 year ago #
pilsner

Login to Send PM

1.With many of the "inexpensive" tickets you end up in the nose bleed section.

2. The CBJ would really be debt-ridden if every ticket sold was the $10 variety. That's was the ticket price for Columbus Chill games. What's the per game ticket price for season ticket holders?

Posted 1 year ago #
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
Login to Send PM

pilsner wrote >>

2. The CBJ would really be debt-ridden if every ticket sold was the $10 variety. That's was the ticket price for Columbus Chill games. What's the per game ticket price for season ticket holders?

Q: which makes more money:

a) having 100 unsold $73 dollar tickets in a section

b) having 60 unsold tickets in that same section after they've been marked down from $73 to perhaps $65

(look up the seating/pricing chart on their website... that's the price in the sections where I've seen the most empty seats when I'm there)

( q :Ã‰Â¹Ã‡ÂÃŠÂsuÃ‰Â )

Posted 1 year ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
Login to Send PM

I bet a lot of the empty seats in the expensive areas are paid for, just not used. I can't tell you how many times I've bought expensive tickets for customers only to find out that "something came up" and they didn't go. Talk about angry!!

Posted 1 year ago #
pilsner

Login to Send PM

Rockmastermike wrote >>

Q: which makes more money:
a) having 100 unsold $73 dollar tickets in a section
b) having 60 unsold tickets in that same section after they've been marked down from $73 to perhaps $65
(look up the seating/pricing chart on their website... that's the price in the sections where I've seen the most empty seats when I'm there)
( q :Ã‰Â¹Ã‡ÂÃŠÂsuÃ‰Â )

I think your point of lowering the price of expensive seats makes sense.

But the fact that we're having this conversation indicates that Columbus doesn't have the fan support for an NHL over the long haul. These conversations don't take place in Detroit, Toronto and Boston.

Posted 1 year ago #
pilsner

Login to Send PM

The attendance of Friday night's game against Minnesota was 16,419.

The average attendence for the five home games since the Olympic break was 14,889.

And, this is at a time when there's a lot of pressure to fill the arena to show politicians that there's merit for a hockey bailout.

Again, I just don't think the CBJ has the fan support to sustain an NHL team with average player salaries of $2 million per year.

Posted 1 year ago #
sixby9is42

Login to Send PM

pilsner wrote >>
The attendance of Friday night's game against Minnesota was 16,419.
The average attendence for the five home games since the Olympic break was 14,889.
And, this is at a time when there's a lot of pressure to fill the arena to show politicians that there's merit for a hockey bailout.
Again, I just don't think the CBJ has the fan support to sustain an NHL team with average player salaries of $2 million per year.

It doesn't help that there are no playoff hopes.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mercurius
First Avenue
Login to Send PM

Blue Jacket tickets are on Groupon today.

Posted 1 year ago #
pilsner

Login to Send PM

@sixby9is42

What you say is true but it's common for sports franchises to go 25 years without making the playoffs.

Mediocre performance shouldn't be an excuse.

Posted 1 year ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
Login to Send PM

Since you can get them for $10 an hour before the game, and they never sell out......

Posted 1 year ago #
kit444
Elsewhere
Login to Send PM

pilsner wrote >>
The attendance of Friday night's game against Minnesota was 16,419.
The average attendence for the five home games since the Olympic break was 14,889.
And, this is at a time when there's a lot of pressure to fill the arena to show politicians that there's merit for a hockey bailout.
Again, I just don't think the CBJ has the fan support to sustain an NHL team with average player salaries of $2 million per year.

So you're talking an attendance to capacity percentage of what, 75% to 80% during a recession? For a perennial loser? This is your evidence the team should pack up and leave? Premature schadenfreude?

Posted 1 year ago #
kit444
Elsewhere
Login to Send PM

pilsner wrote >>
@sixby9is42
What you say is true but it's common for sports franchises to go 25 years without making the playoffs.
Mediocre performance shouldn't be an excuse.

No, it isn't common. Especially in hockey when more than half the teams make the postseason.

Posted 1 year ago #
pilsner

Login to Send PM

@kit444

Yeah actually you're technically right in that the Blue Jackets did make the playoffs last year and 16 of the 30 teams in the NHL make it every year.

But on the whole, the CBJ have been a bottom-feeder team since entering the league. The Cleveland sports franchises have all had 25 year stretches of mediocrity.

Do I want the CBJ to leave? No way.

But I don't think subsidizing them should be a priority of local government. In my opinion, the NHL owners need to get player salaries in alignment with the markets the NHL has teams. Paying average player salaries of $2 million is out of whack.

The Blue Jacket owners are supposedly losing $12 million per year. Cutting player salaries in half would more than make up for the red ink. It's not just Columbus, half the NHL teams are in deep financial trouble.

Posted 1 year ago #