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Devils Membership Program?


ghdi

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Just got an email from the team about it. This is what the email read:

 

"The New Jersey Devils invite you to experience the best in live-action sports, NHL hockey at Prudential Center. At intermission of the game, we will walk you through the benefits of the newly-created Devils Membership Program which is uniquely designed to cater to your needs as a fan, family and/or business professional.

You’ll also get to try out our new Farm-to-Fan cuisine from award-winning New Jersey chefs.

CLICK HERE to register and select the game you want to attend from the following dates: March 29 (Anaheim) or April 3 (Montreal). This offer ends March 16 at 12pm"

 

The subject was "Exclusive Invite. Enjoy a Game on Us"

Edited by ghdi
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this, i believe, is a branding and  marketing plan to get more true STH. I'm a season ticket holder for many years and the new devils STH portal is devilsmembership.com (as opposed to just going to newjerseydevils.com and clicking on my account.

 

they are really doing all they can to cater to STH - especially long term and high paying ones and are also looking to make add as much value to businesses that buy ST.

 

from a business angle, i think they are doing a lot right.

 

we can bitch and moan about the on ice product and lou's decisions and the team play. we can talk about you suck chants and goal songs and ticket prices and the like. I can tell you, this ownership group is handling this like a proper business and making good business decisions. and they are listening to fan concerns.

 

btw - there are people that report to scott and hugh that look at all of these fan forum sites. they know and read HF. they know and read this site. do they do everything that fans want? of course not. but they pay attention and know which way fans feel.

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I'm a season ticket holder and I got this email as well.

I generally think the Devils do a good job for the most part. My biggest complaint is their ridiculous stance on season ticket holders reselling tickets and a price increase on seats when this team has sucked for 4 of the past 5 seasons.

Edited by Satans Hockey
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I think this is a pretty cool alternative to a full STH plan. This is great for those folks who buy season tickets but wind up selling a ton of their games. Now, they'll only have tickets to the games they actually want to attend and don't have to take losses on sales. Plus, you're not locked into one seating location, so you can try out a couple different areas around the arena. It also helps the Devils and other STH by cutting down on resales (which typically drive down the overall prices on the secondary market).

 

From what I heard, this also allows current STH to keep their tenure. I think in a few years when I have kids but don't want to give up my tenure, I may switch to this plan. For now though I want to attend 30+ games anyway and keep my same seats in 226, so I wouldn't make the switch.

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I was told by my ticket rep., this is a way to phase out partial plans.  With this membership you put a certain amount of money into an account then divide any way you want. One game at the top of the rock, one game at the glass, one game with 2 tickets, one game with 10 tickets etc.  By being a member this will allow you attend the team functions.  As a half season ticket holder, I currently get NO team activities.  I decided to stay with the half season plan as I am grandfathered in for next season.  After next season who knows?

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If I was a STH today, I was for 10 years lower level, I would care less about this marketing approach. For me it is the ICE PRODUCT. I haven't been a STH since 2005.

 

 I was also a STH for many years and enjoyed dollar dogs and winning cups, far more then 5 star food and missing the playoffs. Build a winning team not a high end restaurant. I hope they do read this maybe they (the powers that be) start to build winning teams again.

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Building a good off-ice experience and building a good on ice product are not mutually exclusive, either/or goals. Everybody wants and expects a focus on icing a better team. But offering improved STH perks and serving sushi on the arena concourse is not going to prevent the team from improving, any more than serving dollar dogs is going to make the team better.

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The membership is basically replacing the partial and half-season and flex plans.  Next year there will only be two ticket options (outside of individual game tickets of course): the full season or this membership program (though I do hear they will call all STH's membership programs just full and partial).

 

The new membership program has a minimum "buy-in" of $2500 per seat.  What that means is that you basically give them $2500 and that is your "bank" to draw from for whatever games and seats you choose.  You can choose the seats to whatever game you want, whenever you want.  This way you do not have to choose all the games you want to go for up front.  As the season goes on you can ask them to use your bank on an upcoming game and you can choose where you want to sit.  Depending on the opponent, what day of the week and where you sit, the Devils will withdraw from the bank to cover your ticket.  You are done once you have no money in the bank.  You can also replenish your bank at any time as well.

 

The two biggest advantages are that you can choose different seats for each game and you can choose which games you want to go to as the season is going on.  This is meant to cut down on people getting seats months in advance as part of their partial, flex or full plans only then having to dump them on the secondary market because they cannot make it.

 

Edit: Also the other big advantage is that all membership plans include full STH privileges and perks as well such as the BBQ, open practice, etc.

Edited by DevsMan84
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Who cares, for me it's, ABOUT THE ICE PRODUCT. SUCK is SUCK !!! If I want a RESTAURANT I will go to the Iron Bound. !!!!!!!

 

I admit I can be pretty negative and down about things (especially on our own fans), but you must be the most miserable person to go to a game with.

 

Again the on-ice product has nothing to do with the off-ice products.  They are separate businesses and the Devils make money off of the off-ice products to spend on the on-ice stuff.

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Who cares, for me it's, ABOUT THE ICE PRODUCT. SUCK is SUCK !!! If I want a RESTAURANT I will go to the Iron Bound, I was there on Saturday  PM, had a terrific meal, I will be back to the Iron Bound  soon.

 

Right now the team isn't very good, so I like that the franchise is trying to come up with different ways to get me to come.   

 

I have to admit, I like the $2500 "bank" concept, and I think I might do just that.  I wouldn't mind giving the lower bowl a try or two, since I've only sat down there once.  And I like the idea of being able to try different seats, and being able to pick the opponent.  Let's face it, as we've seen, there's opponents that can make the Devils look like an AHL squad right now, so if I can pick games that the Devils have a chance to win, sounds good to me. 

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I admit I can be pretty negative and down about things (especially on our own fans), but you must be the most miserable person to go to a game with.

 

Again the on-ice product has nothing to do with the off-ice products.  They are separate businesses and the Devils make money off of the off-ice products to spend on the on-ice stuff.team is a

Good luck with that thinking.  In case you forgot there are two season in the NHL, one to get into the playoffs, a no brainier and the other the playoffs, if you don't make the playoffs 50% do, your team is  a loser. You spend your money as you seem fit. I happen to be a hockey fan, not a food fan, not an experience fan, but a hockey fan, on the iced fan. Did you walk in the Saint Patrick Day Parade? Parade in the stands on on the side lines or better yet not show up? The Devils Hockey team didn't show up, not this season or last season or the season before and by a fluke they made it to the finals but didn't show up the season before. That's 4 out of 5 seasons they couldn't even make do what 50% of the teams did. How sad is that? As for going to a game I wouldn't waste my money. I spent for 10 years from 1995 through 2005 as a STH lower level, I saw the writing on the wall. But I am still a follower. I am a hockey fan first, Devils fans second and  Bruins fan third. Good luck to you. 84.

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Right now the team isn't very good, so I like that the franchise is trying to come up with different ways to get me to come.   

 

I have to admit, I like the $2500 "bank" concept, and I think I might do just that.  I wouldn't mind giving the lower bowl a try or two, since I've only sat down there once.  And I like the idea of being able to try different seats, and being able to pick the opponent.  Let's face it, as we've seen, there's opponents that can make the Devils look like an AHL squad right now, so if I can pick games that the Devils have a chance to win, sounds good to me. 

 

 

CR good for you, I am glad you can spend your money on an experience. We each have our own ideal of what we expect from the Devils. I respect your views and I hope you respect mine. I am not knocking Lou as I promised for the rest of the season. I know failure. I appreciate that the owners wanting to try to sell the fans on coming to the games regardless of the outcome. For me if they are not competitive it's a waste. I know failure with a Francaise, I was an original STH with the Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtic during their winning spree. I was an original STH with the Boston Patriots  for the very first game in 1960 I have never, repeat NEVER have  missed a game since,  I was there in person or watching on TV for 55 years and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. My last game I attended was the AFCCG. I know winning and losing, I know Billy Sullivan and Bob  Kraft, and I know the best GM in any sport Bill Bellichick, not Lou Lam but Lou was great before the NHL changed in 2005. I actually received a letter form Lou saying he would consider my qualification as a Olympic assistant coach. I love the Devils and it is painful for me to see the demise since 2005, some would the last  5 years.

 

I just read that Lou decided to not go to the GMs 3 day meeting and instead sent his son Chris. Let me tell you that is very disturbing, big time. It's a message I don't want.

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 I wouldn't care if they offered to pick me up at my home in a limo,have dinner in the best restaurant there and drive the Zamboni. I would only hand over thousands of dollars to see a winning team that can at least make the playoffs. I was a STH for 10 years (94-2004) 3 seats mind you. I'm not cheap by any means, I just want to see my team back on the winning track again. So enjoy your frills as the team blows.

Edited by hit the post
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People, people, people. Winning and losing is not a STH perk. Everyone would rather see a winning team. Have to separate perks from winning.

 

Agreed.  There's always going to be fans who bail on spending money on games when the on-ice product isn't good.  I get that, especially with today's prices.  For many people, going to live sporting events is damned near an investment...a family of four, depending on where they sit and how much food/souvies they wind up buying, can easily spend $300-$1000 on a single game.  Not much fun to watch a team that can be flat-out non-competitive and very hard to watch, and let's face it, a lot of people on tight budgets will be thinking "I spent this amount of money to watch THIS?!". 

 

When the team isn't good and looks like it might not be for the next year or two, that's when a franchise has to be creative and needs to give its fanbase some extra incentive to keep showing up.  The Devils have tried to do that here.  For some, the only thing that will ever be enough will be winning, winning and more winning, and they'll say "fvck that other crap, who needs that sh!t, I just want to see a winner!".  To each their own, and like you say, well duh, of course we all want to see a winning team!  For me, even though the team is not a very compelling watch right now, I still want to watch Devils hockey and try to enjoy the whole arena experience.  What the "experience" entails is different for everyone.  For me, since the day my daughter was born, one of the things I've looked forward to is taking her to Devils games with me.  I've done it a few times, but she's finally getting to the age (she'll be seven in August) where she can truly start to follow what is happening on the ice.  I don't want to miss the opportunity to get her into the whole experience just because the team isn't very good right now.

 

I've never been a season ticket holder and I never will be...I simply won't ever come close to attending 41 regular season games with my current lifestyle.  But the $2500 bank idea is damned near perfect for me, in that I still can enjoy some perks that I wouldn't have gotten had I just bought tix here and there for random games, and have a lot of flexibility in picking which ones I want to go to.  So this probably means that this concept works for some other fans too, which likely means the Devils will get some more bodies in the building during leaner times...which is kind of the whole idea.  And at least that's something...an acknowledgment that the team by itself isn't enough to get some fans to show up.  Not everyone will see it this way, but I give them credit for at least trying to think outside the box. 

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To those saying you don't care about off ice product and just want a winning team, think about it for a second.

Where is the revenue going to come from to fund the team? If people aren't coming to games and the team isn't able to turn a profit or at least not put in a huge loss, how do you expect the team to survive? I don't think the NHL would prop the team up for too long before looking at other options.

There were rumblings towards the end of the JVB reign that off ice finances were effecting what they could afford on ice.

So whilst it's not your main priority it will have a big effect on the operation of the team, and the teams long term future.

I clearly can't make use of the plan, but after years of disastrous marketing and not listening to fans it seems like the new ownership is really making progress.

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Also I might add that having a Stanley-cup caliber team for years didn't exactly fill up the arena either.  I distinctly remember in the 2001 playoffs in the first round against Carolina game 2 (the one where Stevens checked Willis into the next century at the end of the game) the arena was maybe 80% full (I was there and the upper areas there were decent sized chunks of empty seats). 

 

They couldn't even sell out a playoff game the year after they won their 2nd cup (and with the Rags and Isles not even in the playoffs) so success with this team is not the be all-end all with selling seats for this team.

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Also I might add that having a Stanley-cup caliber team for years didn't exactly fill up the arena either.  I distinctly remember in the 2001 playoffs in the first round against Carolina game 2 (the one where Stevens checked Willis into the next century at the end of the game) the arena was maybe 80% full (I was there and the upper areas there were decent sized chunks of empty seats). 

 

They couldn't even sell out a playoff game the year after they won their 2nd cup (and with the Rags and Isles not even in the playoffs) so success with this team is not the be all-end all with selling seats for this team.

 

 

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Lol we have some 'fans' lemme tell ya....holy cow.

 

Yeah gotta love someone who basically said he only cares about following winning teams. Just hold up a sign that says "FAIR-WEATHER". But the more comical part is to then claim 2012 was "fluke" when we beat 2 teams heavily favored including the Rangers who almost won the Presidents Trophy, and then missed out on the Cup by 2 wins. Yup, so fluky! We must have only had like 6 or 7 shots per game in all those series, with players blindfolded of course, and somehow the pucks slipped through the goalies' pads.. So fluky!!

 

boat51403_4.jpg

Edited by Colin226
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