NJDevs26 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 (edited) Speaking of the Isles, they had 11,008 last night. Against Tampa. And it wasn't Halloween. Edited November 3, 2007 by NJDevs26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 Hamilton Devils!! Woot!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteyNice Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 I don't know why people care. It would be one thing if it was Nashville and if the team didn't hit certain attendance levels they were as good as gone. However, it isn't. The Devils have a basically ironclad lease. They aren't going anywhere. So why does anyone here care if one person goes or if it is a sellout? We don't get extra standings points based on attendance. You don't get a cut of the money if there is a large crowd. Is it all just "Oh noes! Other fans make fun of the attendance!"? To me I want them to make fun of the attendance. That means they have nothing to say about the product on the ice which is what matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjm1 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 (edited) .. Edited November 3, 2007 by mjm1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sickman Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 (edited) I don't know why people care. It would be one thing if it was Nashville and if the team didn't hit certain attendance levels they were as good as gone. However, it isn't. The Devils have a basically ironclad lease. They aren't going anywhere. So why does anyone here care if one person goes or if it is a sellout? We don't get extra standings points based on attendance. You don't get a cut of the money if there is a large crowd. Is it all just "Oh noes! Other fans make fun of the attendance!"? To me I want them to make fun of the attendance. That means they have nothing to say about the product on the ice which is what matters. Edited November 3, 2007 by SickMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjm1 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 (edited) I, myself, did not expect attendance to improve immediately. With time, fans will begin to come in as they except the area and prices for tickets become reasonable. However, I do expect sellouts for games against Philadelphia, New York, and even Pittsburgh because they are talented teams with marquee players and, by far, the devils biggest rivals. If there aren't, AT LEAST, 17000 people at these games, there is a serious problem. Edited November 3, 2007 by mjm1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjm1 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 Very well said. This attendance sh*t is seriously getting out of control. I understand that they have a new arena and only having one sellout is a little disappointing but it's just the way it is. And the excuse that the Devils have have no fan base is just silly. I have been following the team since 1993 and although the team never sold out every game over the last 15 years, I remember the mid to late 90's being pretty decent attendance wise, especially around 1997/1998 when Gilmour arrived from Toronto. Did all these people say f*ck it, we don't like hockey any more? And don't forget, this was at a time when the Devils were ruining hockey I still think cost of the games is the main culprit. Some of the prices in the new barn are out of control and when you consider all the extra money that is spent at the games, it can be very expensive. I agree that the Devils marketing does need to step it up as well but it's not just that. Those of you who have center ice have had to seen the ridiculous deals that other teams have at their arenas. Someone please tell me the last time that the Devils offered 4 seats, 4 hot dogs and 4 hats for like $100? I'm not sure if that was the exact package, but I remember some team last year pushing some crazy combo much like this one. In fact it might have even been cheaper. Whatever I guess. If they fill the place at 80-90% capacity most nights and throw in 10-15 sellouts, the team should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devil Dan 56 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 That's nice but there are a ton of differences between us and the Isles:-We have one of the best if not the best new buildings in the league, they have ostensibly the absoulte worst dump in hockey (or at least from what I've been told, never actually been to Nassau myself). -No real public transportation to that arena, well you can take the subway and then take the bus from several miles away I guess and traffic's terrible on the LIE. -Much more of a recent tradition of success than the Isles. People said last night was going to be a sellout or close to it, it wasn't. It's either time to admit that we just don't have a big fanbase or Lou and Vanderbeek are complete morons when it comes to bringing in fans. And I've heard that rationale for years, that hey we have bad marketing but a new arena will fix it. Well it hasn't, at least so far. It's improved the atmosphere at a game, but not the actual attendance at least by all that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteau#32 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 The Devils aren't moving anytime soon, if ever. Where could they possibly go where they would draw better? Canada? Ask Basile if he thinks a team is going to be allowed to move from the US to Canada in this lifetime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestevens Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 Was it half full with barely any noise at all? Game 2 in your brand new state of the art arena and you can't do better? I was told there weren't more than 8,000. That's embarrassing. You got your arena which looks very nice. There are no more excuses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njdevils_info Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 Just because we have a new building isn't going to make new fans come out of thin air and magically arive at the games. Will we be doing better this year in attendance numbers than last year? Yes. But a new building doesn't make new fans immediately! I think the fan base is growing, honestly. But this isn't going to be a change overnight. As mentioned before, most people over the age of 40 in northern new jersey are Rangers fans and people in Central/Southern jersey are Phlyer fans. Last I checked, the Rangers have been around since 1926 and the Flyers since 1967. At this point, my thought is to just drop the whole attendance thing because quite frankly there's nothing we can do about it but bitch and moan. And that isn't going to fix anything! Personally, I don't think there's anything to fix. Let it go, take two breaths, count to 10, and lets get excited about the fact that Olli Malamar (or whatever his name is) is going to smear Gomez at center ice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek21 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 Dont make shots that arent close to correct. There was 14,523 people for attendance. Who/what was your source for this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestevens Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 Well youre sources were not reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeter Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 All this going back and forth and the ONLY, ONLY reason this team doesn't draw is that it's TOO FVCKING EXPENSIVE FOR THE AVERAGE FAN TO GO TO A GAME! What seats are empty on a nightly basis? The behind the goal, way too rediculously priced $115, $95, and $65 seats. Last night they had a special deal for the $65 seats for $32, and guess what? They were full and the five rows of $100 seats below them were completely empty!! The upper level was packed, except for the tickets they didn't release till the last minute that they were holding for season ticket holders. This team averaged over 17,000 in the mid-late 90s because tickets weren't out of control yet. The comparable $65 seats were still just $35 at the Meadowlands and seats downstairs were $50!! The entire lower level, all 9,000 seats in the Meadowlands were full every game. Now in Newark they have 6,000 seats downstairs and half of them aren't sold. I know a team cannot survive on those ticket prices any more but that's what 2500 club seats and 75 luxury suites are for, as well as owning the damn arena you play in and making money every time a Bon Jovi fan buys a Blue Moon. Hire me (or a number of fans who think like me) for one day to correct attendance and I will. Those seats downstairs behind the goals go to $65 immediately. The $65 seats become $35 because that's all people are willing to pay for them. The $100 and $75 seats in the balcony become $65 and $45. All seats in the upper level remain the same. I'd put full page ads in all local papers for several days as well as advertise our new price structure locally on TV for a few weeks. I'd also increase mid-week promotional games, and have much better giveaways. Playoff tickets for the first two rounds go up a maximum of 10 bucks a ticket, that's it. No more of the 250% increase for the die-hards. Buffalo slashed ticket prices and you coluldn't get a ticket. They make the conference finals two years straight, jack up the tickets again, and on opening night this year against Toronto they have hundreds of empty seats. It's a problem league-wide that seems to be ignored by the greedy owners and commissioner. Bring tickets back to mid-90s levels and you'll see full houses almost everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devilish34 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 Next week "HOW THE RANGERS ARE RUINING HOCKEY" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteau#32 Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 All this going back and forth and the ONLY, ONLY reason this team doesn't draw is that it's TOO FVCKING EXPENSIVE FOR THE AVERAGE FAN TO GO TO A GAME! What seats are empty on a nightly basis? The behind the goal, way too rediculously priced $115, $95, and $65 seats. Last night they had a special deal for the $65 seats for $32, and guess what? They were full and the five rows of $100 seats below them were completely empty!! The upper level was packed, except for the tickets they didn't release till the last minute that they were holding for season ticket holders. This team averaged over 17,000 in the mid-late 90s because tickets weren't out of control yet. The comparable $65 seats were still just $35 at the Meadowlands and seats downstairs were $50!! The entire lower level, all 9,000 seats in the Meadowlands were full every game. Now in Newark they have 6,000 seats downstairs and half of them aren't sold. I know a team cannot survive on those ticket prices any more but that's what 2500 club seats and 75 luxury suites are for, as well as owning the damn arena you play in and making money every time a Bon Jovi fan buys a Blue Moon. Hire me (or a number of fans who think like me) for one day to correct attendance and I will. Those seats downstairs behind the goals go to $65 immediately. The $65 seats become $35 because that's all people are willing to pay for them. The $100 and $75 seats in the balcony become $65 and $45. All seats in the upper level remain the same. I'd put full page ads in all local papers for several days as well as advertise our new price structure locally on TV for a few weeks. I'd also increase mid-week promotional games, and have much better giveaways. Playoff tickets for the first two rounds go up a maximum of 10 bucks a ticket, that's it. No more of the 250% increase for the die-hards. Buffalo slashed ticket prices and you coluldn't get a ticket. They make the conference finals two years straight, jack up the tickets again, and on opening night this year against Toronto they have hundreds of empty seats. It's a problem league-wide that seems to be ignored by the greedy owners and commissioner. Bring tickets back to mid-90s levels and you'll see full houses almost everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devlman Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 Btw, ticketmaster will say they only have this amount of tickets left a few days from gametime, but will release a seemingly large amount right before the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJD Jester Posted November 4, 2007 Share Posted November 4, 2007 Was it half full with barely any noise at all? Game 2 in your brand new state of the art arena and you can't do better? I was told there weren't more than 8,000. That's embarrassing. You got your arena which looks very nice. There are no more excuses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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