Empty Seats in the O.C.
November 30, 2022
As many loyal readers may be aware, I haven’t watched an NHL game for nearly a full decade now. I could care less if the entire league were to fold tomorrow. Nonetheless, an article penned by Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press a few weeks ago caught my attention and piqued my interest. In it, he detailed possible reasons for the low attendance at games for the former Atlanta Thrashers franchise Manitoba taxpayers were forced to purchase for Mark Chipman. The article even touched a raw nerve with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Which tells me, as McIntyre suggested, storm clouds are indeed on the horizon. So much so that Chipman, one of the most customer-unfriendly owners in the league, has apparently stooped to creating an advisory council among season ticket holders.
Many of the reasons for the increasing number of empty seats cited in the article are valid. The novelty has long since worn off. The safety factor. Downtown Winnipeg after dark is a no-go zone. And there’s the high ticket and concession prices combined with the state of the economy. The NHL was too rich for Winnipeg when the Jets left back in 1996 and nothing has changed since then. The one and only reason there’s an NHL franchise in the city today is because of the massive government handouts the team receives. Winnipeg is not Toronto. It’s not even Calgary or Edmonton. There is only so much money to be had in the city.
There are other reasons, however, that will not likely ever make the pages of the Free Press.
Mobile-only Ticketing
Yes, most have smartphones. Those like me are in a distinct minority. That said, people are growing increasingly wary of Big Brother’s prying eyes. They don’t like being tracked and used as a revenue stream. And the decision to do away with paper tickets under the guise of “safety” is simply a convenient excuse to do just that. Nor do people like being told what to do, particularly when they’re being asked to shell out more per game than I paid for an entire season back in 1984. The more barriers you put in front of someone, the less likely that person is to be your customer. Fans are already asked to jump through so many hoops for the privilege of attending games, this could be a case of one hoop too many.
Virtue Signaling
These days, you can’t attend any sporting event without getting political messages shoved in your face. BLM. Land acknowledgments. Kneeling for the anthems. The list goes on. People go to games to get away from stuff like that, not pay good money to get more of it. Increasing numbers of people are sick and tired of it and are voting with their feet on what they think of it all. When I was going to games in the 1980s, I never knew or cared about Dale Hawerchuk’s or Paul MacLean’s political beliefs. I was there to watch hockey. Nothing else. Which is the way it should be.
Let me be clear. I support freedom of expression. The league is at liberty to say whatever it wishes. Fans, however, have the same right to express themselves by not attending games.
Poison Passes
Near the end of last season, the government lifted the restrictions on forcing fans to show proof of having taken poison injections to attend indoor events. But Chipman didn’t follow suit, and instead kept his poison-free customers out of the rink for the remainder of the season, making a huge political statement in the process. Like the government, he followed political science instead of medical science. Punishing customers for not following a dark order. And now, months later after he so graciously decides to accept them back, those same customers are punishing him by not renewing their ticket packages.
Don’t think this is a factor? Consider this. Say the Free Press suddenly decided to purge its customer base of anyone who voted Conservative in the last federal election (something, incidentally, they’d probably like to do). Then, six months later, they have a change of heart and decide to call their old customers back to offer them the opportunity to restart their subscriptions. I would suggest that anyone brave enough to make such a call should expect a barrage of language not suitable for a family audience.
As McIntyre suggested, if Chipman really cared about his customers, he wouldn’t be paying lip service to those who haven’t yet jumped ship.
He’d be reaching out to those who have.
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