What the hell are we gonna do about the attendance drop

Attendance is down from 7th last year to 19th this year. We're in a position right now that everyone but the Phoenix's of the NHL are outdrawing us.

What the hell is happening here? This is more than a passing thing, I've noticed this for a while, but just brushed it aside as bad circumstance.

Is this because of our almost exclusive home schedule to start the year, or does Ottawa have a really serious issue on their hands?

- Too many home games at the beginning of the season
- Team downgrade the last 2 years
- Dany Heatley fans
- Stuntman Stu still sucks balls
- Spartacat lost his mojo
...

marakh wrote:- Too many home games at the beginning of the season
- Team downgrade the last 2 years
- Dany Heatley fans
- Stuntman Stu still sucks balls
- Spartacat lost his mojo
...

That along with....

Non-updated price-points for games.

Poor marketing. (The Sens don't start their push for season-ticket packages till mid-august at the earliest. The do a terrible job of marketing the 3-5 game packages, and basically an all-around poor job marketing to the 'average' and 'passive' fan. There is no incentive to buy tickets in advance because most games they drop the price a wekk or two before the game.)

Lack of 'innovation' every game your fed the exact same 'commercial break games' (upgrade your life, subway challenge, sparty shuffle etc....) and the intermissions are just bad. (The intermission games are rotated every 3-4 games roughly, so you see the same game 10-15 times a season if you go everygame.) Ottawa and Canadian teams in general can take lesson's from some of the american teams, who hold 'shootout tournaments' with each of the minor leagues. The events are still sponsored, so you still get the cash grab for the team, and it provides something way more substantial then flinging rubber chickens 5 feet or 40 timbits crashing into each other. (I like the fact the timbits are involved but there has to be a better way to incorporate them into the intermission besides the current sideshow.

In all honesty, to me, it comes down to the lack of innovation and creativity in the marketing department. It's not that hard to sell hockey games in canada, and it's not like Ottawa is an abismal team, they are by all accounts among the average teams in the NHL.

But hey with the rate the marketing department is going, maybe the PR degree I'm about to graduate with will get me in there for next season .

Ottawa has always had this problem. They rely on walk-up sales quite a bit, and when the team is not doing well those suffer more than the season ticket sales Let's face it, the commit level -- to borrow a "Pierre" -- is just not the same in the casual fan, versus the season ticket holder. And that applies as much to renewing as it does to just single-game tickets.

Ottawa is also still suffering from a major economic downturn. High-tech companies are not only no-longer buying suites or season tickets, but in many places salaries have been frozen for several years (mine was frozen for six years before I got laid off) while taxes have kept going up (my property value was assessed to have gone up 11% in three years, while the mill rate has also gone up).

Things are getting a little better, but it's one of those cases where it'll get worse before it gets better. After people finally find work or get a raise, it'll be a year or two before they pay off the accumulated debt and feel cofortable enough again to start spending discretionary income. In many cases people will be seriously considering to do as their grandparents had always done, and to keep 1-2 years' salary in savings (not RRSPs or stocks, but something more liquid) for the rainy day.

It's not going to get better just because the team starts winning, I'm afraid.

wprager wrote:Ottawa has always had this problem. They rely on walk-up sales quite a bit, and when the team is not doing well those suffer more than the season ticket sales Let's face it, the commit level -- to borrow a "Pierre" -- is just not the same in the casual fan, versus the season ticket holder. And that applies as much to renewing as it does to just single-game tickets.

Ottawa is also still suffering from a major economic downturn. High-tech companies are not only no-longer buying suites or season tickets, but in many places salaries have been frozen for several years (mine was frozen for six years before I got laid off) while taxes have kept going up (my property value was assessed to have gone up 11% in three years, while the mill rate has also gone up).

Things are getting a little better, but it's one of those cases where it'll get worse before it gets better. After people finally find work or get a raise, it'll be a year or two before they pay off the accumulated debt and feel cofortable enough again to start spending discretionary income. In many cases people will be seriously considering to do as their grandparents had always done, and to keep 1-2 years' salary in savings (not RRSPs or stocks, but something more liquid) for the rainy day.

It's not going to get better just because the team starts winning, I'm afraid.

And the marketing/team not really taking steps to combat this, isn't helping.

Free parking for full season ticket holders and trading tickets? Seriously thats the best they've come up with?

Yeah, they need to fire the entire marketing team and come up with new and innovative ways of attracting fans. Especially in this age of huge, amazing TVs with HD feeds of virtually every game. Make it so that we need to be a part of the Sens experience. And make it an experience, figure out a way to make it 'the' place to be.

How about starting with a brand new 10000000 inches screen?

How quick is Melnyk gonna want to spend more money on the Sens and the SBP when people can't be bothering to show up?

marakh wrote:How about starting with a brand new 10000000 inches screen?

Exactly. Upgrade that ancient Jumbotron with something bigger and newer so you can actually see what's happening on the replays and you'll actually want to look at that thing once in a while.

1. The box office is reflecting poor past play. The team was well supported last year, because fans thought the previous year's meltdown was a blip. I don't mind watching a bad team that is progressing (i.e. 2010 Blue Jays), but the Sens from Dec 2007 to April 2009 were underachievers and did not give the impression of caring in some cases. Why would anyone pay to watch that?
2. Heatley fiasco. When Heatley did not waive, it looked like he would be a part of the Sens this year. I wouldn't pay my money to watch that prick.
3. Terrible schedule with too many home games too early.
4. The economy hasn't been too bad in Ottawa, but people are more guarded with their money. Cost of living goes up, salary stays the same -> less money for tickets.
5. The team isn't as exciting as it was a few years ago.
6. Overpriced tickets in some sections (as was mentioned above), as well as for some opponents.
7. Parking fiasco. If I couldn't park at the Sensplex and walk over to the arena, I doubt I would ever go to a game.
8. Ottawa has never supported pro sports very well. AAA baseball - gone. CFL - gone (twice). While there were extenuating circumstances in both cases, the Renegades NEVER sold out a single game. In short, this is a bad sports town.
9. Ottawa doesn't have the industry to have a 14-15,000 season ticket base.
10. Terrible in house entertainment.

The worst of all is their marketing staff. I was in a group that had a half season package. We got dicked around by the Sens giving us the wrong seats and then not doing much about it. This year, I got a desperation call from one of their sales people, who had somewhat talked me into a 5-game pack. He said he would send me the information, and I never received anything.

The attendance will bounce back if the team continues to play well. The games around Christmas will sell out, as will games down the stretch. I have some measure of sympathy for an owner like Eugene Melnyk, but a lot of the attendance issues are self-inflicted wounds.

Everything you guys are saying is valid, but the heart of it is that they missed the playoffs last year. Thats it. If people in this city believed this team could contend, none of the above reasoning would make any difference.

Its the same thing in Phoenix, Florida, and all "those" teams...winning cures everything.

It really does come down to performance on the ice and it lags behind by a year. Perform well one year the next year you see results at the box office. That is a poor business plan. They need to do a better job marketing the team and getting the arena filled regardless of success on the ice because if not it will be more of the same next season with perhaps a slight improvement due to slashing of ticket prices in some areas up to 33%, free parking, and possibly playoffs.

If the team (well, Melnyk) puts money into making the experience better for fans in attendance it should help. I mean, it's not a huge thing, but at least it shows he wants to improve the team regardless of attendance.

If they lowered prices slightly, you could see an increase in attendance. I mean, you'd think selling more tickets at a discounted price is better than selling fewer tickets at a higher price?

Anyways, I'm doing my part. I've been to 3 games I think so far, and I live in Brampton. I usually try to take in a game whenever I am in town. Will be going to the Colorado game next week.

Dash wrote:If the team (well, Melnyk) puts money into making the experience better for fans in attendance it should help. I mean, it's not a huge thing, but at least it shows he wants to improve the team regardless of attendance.

If they lowered prices slightly, you could see an increase in attendance. I mean, you'd think selling more tickets at a discounted price is better than selling fewer tickets at a higher price?

Anyways, I'm doing my part. I've been to 3 games I think so far, and I live in Brampton. I usually try to take in a game whenever I am in town. Will be going to the Colorado game next week.

Melnyk spends to the cap though and he spent 5 million on Kovalev to try to make the team even more exciting and offset the Heatley loss.