Re: Bettman: "Salary Cap will NOT go down next year"; and GMHockey investigates NHL attendance

by **wprager** on Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:34 pm

Trouble in Columbus?

Columbus may have trouble holding
on to the NHL's Blue Jackets because the club has been losing US$12
million a year in central Ohio, according to a report released Thursday
by a business group.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Columbus/2009/11/05/11648101-ap.html

Report lists various options for improving the situation, from new taxes/fees, renegotiating the arena lease, trying to attract a second major tenant like a basketball team.

by davetherave on Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:23 pm

wprager wrote:Trouble in Columbus?

Columbus may have trouble holding
on to the NHL's Blue Jackets because the club has been losing US$12
million a year in central Ohio, according to a report released Thursday
by a business group.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Columbus/2009/11/05/11648101-ap.html

Report lists various options for improving the situation, from new taxes/fees, renegotiating the arena lease, trying to attract a second major tenant like a basketball team.

Sounds like you need to start a new thread to cover your "Attendance Exposé", Brother Prag.

Maybe you can call it, "The NHL in Pragertory".

by **wprager** on Fri Nov 06, 2009 8:52 am

Someone mentioned (in another thread) that either Tampa or Florida was selling $1.50 tickets and managed to get 12,000. Yikes!

Very encouraging about the TV numbers, but those would have to go through the roof a few times before they could make enough money from an NBC or ESPN contract to cover up for losses in attendance revenues. And would NBC or ESPN be tempted when they can't fill arenas with tickets that cost less than a bus ride?

by shabbs on Fri Nov 06, 2009 9:33 am

$1.50 tickets? Man... that's sad.

EDIT: This was my 8,000th post.
Ole!

by davetherave on Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:36 am

shabbs wrote:$1.50 tickets? Man... that's sad.

EDIT: This was my 8,000th post.

Wow, you and The Pragernator get the GMHockey MISTER MontaFLUFF Award.

Don't fight over it, boys.

by shabbs on Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:39 am

davetherave wrote:
shabbs wrote:$1.50 tickets? Man... that's sad.

EDIT: This was my 8,000th post.

Wow, you and The Pragernator get the GMHockey MISTER MontaFLUFF Award.

Don't fight over it, boys.

Damn straight.

by **wprager** on Fri Nov 06, 2009 11:47 am

I start a new job Monday, so Shabbs will have no-one to fluff him on to further greatness unless, Dave, you step up.

by davetherave on Fri Nov 06, 2009 1:29 pm

wprager wrote:I start a new job Monday, so Shabbs will have no-one to fluff him on to further greatness unless, Dave, you step up.

Prags, you and Shabbalicious have set the fluff bar so high, none of us can ever hope to match the two of you.

by **wprager** on Fri Nov 06, 2009 2:58 pm

Dare to dream, Dave. Dare to dream.

by **SeawaySensFan** on Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:04 pm

wprager wrote:Dare to dream, Dave. Dare to dream.

by davetherave on Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:05 pm

wprager wrote:Dare to dream, Dave. Dare to dream.

Prags, when one sees excellence--especially in Fluffing--one must give it, its proper due.

You have established yourself as The King of The Fluffers.

Or should we call you, Tsar Fluffovsky?

Cheers>...and good luck with your new job.

by **wprager** on Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:50 pm

Well, another week, another drop in the attendance. I'll keep saying "Still early" until it's not anymore.

by davetherave on Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:20 pm

wprager wrote:Well, another week, another drop in the attendance. I'll keep saying "Still early" until it's not anymore.

by shabbs on Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:26 pm

wprager wrote:Well, another week, another drop in the attendance. I'll keep saying "Still early" until it's not anymore.

HA HA! Love the scale...

Wink

by **wprager** on Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:15 am

Don't give me grief about the scale. Originally I had the min set to 16,800. I expected the average to waver a bit around last year's average or slightly below -- it *did* start above the 2009 line.

You want to see a trend, you have to zoom in. Fact remains, it has been steadily dropping. The only good thing is that I'm pretty sure the average is dragged down by the likes of Florida and Phoenix -- those places give tickets away, so if the average is down by 1,000 (which looks like a very achievable number at this point) then it's not a shortfall of $150 x1,000, but more like $15 x 1,000. Still, even at such a low average ticket price, $15K multiplied by 6,632 games is still close to $100M.

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