firecenter Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 perhaps the game day walkup just sucked because the devils seem content with there sth numbers. From the fire and ice blog a little over a week ago: I also asked Vanderbeek about season ticket sales as the start of training camp approaches -- the first practice for the veterans is on Saturday. "Sales are at or slightly above our budget," Vanderbeek said. "We expected two things: a bit of a drop-off from people who were just looking to see what the arena was for the first time (last season), but we also expected to at least fill that gap in with people who were late to the game last year and now moved into season tickets and that's just about happening. We're just about at budget of what we thought would be the renewals and we have a healthy increase in the amount of new season ticket holders coming on board and new partial (season ticket plan) people coming on board. The encouraging sign is the new stuff and how the new fans are coming from different areas because of the mass transportation aspect of the new building." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpower Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 (edited) perhaps the game day walkup just sucked because the devils seem content with there sth numbers.From the fire and ice blog a little over a week ago: I also asked Vanderbeek about season ticket sales as the start of training camp approaches -- the first practice for the veterans is on Saturday. "Sales are at or slightly above our budget," Vanderbeek said. "We expected two things: a bit of a drop-off from people who were just looking to see what the arena was for the first time (last season), but we also expected to at least fill that gap in with people who were late to the game last year and now moved into season tickets and that's just about happening. We're just about at budget of what we thought would be the renewals and we have a healthy increase in the amount of new season ticket holders coming on board and new partial (season ticket plan) people coming on board. The encouraging sign is the new stuff and how the new fans are coming from different areas because of the mass transportation aspect of the new building." He was BS'ing. STH's have to attend preseason games, they have been given tickets, that in the NHL = attendance. If you have 10,000 STH, your preseason game can have no less than 10,000 people attending even if only 5 people show up. That's what confused some people about Dolan announcing a sellout. He might have bought a couple of seats to do that, but it probably was damn close to a sellout, it doesn't matter if people show up or not. This game makes it look like that STH's are down somewhere in the 2,000-2,500 range. (maybe even significantly more, it's hard to tell because of the freebie slips, Monday's game will be pretty much an accurate count of full STH's, since next to no one will purchase tickets, and there are no freebie slips.) They are going to have to have a big pickup in partials to make up for this, 2,000 less STH's means lop 2,000 off every attendance figure from last season. Some games, like Ranger games and the game after Christmas, they would have no problem finding people to buy the tickets. Other games, like the usual Ottawa midweek winter game, no one was buying tickets to anyway, so 2,000 less STH's means 2,000 less people show up. 2,000 off last season's Ottawa game would be 10,339. If this is the case, there's very little chance of them matching last year's average attendance. There is no such thing as walkup in a preseason game and there isn't as much (for us, at least) as you would think even for regular season games. The Hawks made a stink about selling 57,000 individual tickets in a short period after their onsale. Average that boon out and it's still only 1,400-1,500 a game. I don't think we sold 57,000 individual tickets right after our onsale. EDIT: Just to add, no one who has had a home preseason game at their usual venue has come within 2,000 of our attandance last night. Even down teams like the Blues. There are a couple of teams that will probably touch our number or go lower, but do you want to be competing with the likes of the Isles, Thrashers and Coyotes? This was the mess we were SUPPOSED to be out of. Edited September 25, 2008 by maxpower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowutopia Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I wish I could afford season tickets. I go to every game I can as it is. If/When I have that kind of income, I'm all over it. It really upsets me when more people with the means don't go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpower Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Double Edit: The Kings drew 8,200 or so at Staples for their first preseason game. I got confused because they did a split-squad with half the team being in Kansas City, I just thought it was a screwup on the site. So, what that means is that the Kings likely have more STH's than us. Um, that's.... yeah. I wish I could afford season tickets. I go to every game I can as it is. If/When I have that kind of income, I'm all over it.It really upsets me when more people with the means don't go. I don't really fault the individuals here at all. If you've done business with the Devils for a long time, you know what the deal is. They do this to themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowutopia Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I know it just drives me crazy that I can't do more...which is itself crazy since pretty much everything I have has a Devils logo on it somewhere. I have nightmares that we lose the Devils to a different market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpower Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I know it just drives me crazy that I can't do more...which is itself crazy since pretty much everything I have has a Devils logo on it somewhere. I have nightmares that we lose the Devils to a different market. I wouldn't be worried about that, the building needs them as a tenant and Atlantic Yards is going to break ground (ending the only whacky possibility of the Devils moving I could see) But I wonder what Jeff's breaking point is. It amazes me how weak he is on this, at least in public, if it was me, I would be flying off the handle, but I guess that's why I don't own a hockey team.... I would do rash things. The layoffs in the *Devils* office, would be massive and swift. Since the employees accomplish nothing, what do you need to pay them for? I just pray Sutter keeps his job and doesn't go back to Red Deer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaira_Devil_#9 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 The new season must have started because we have our first attendance worries thread of the year!!!! Seriousley though, this issue is just going to plague this team untill someone at the top does something. If they arnt botherd, then what can we do. If i lived over there i would buy a season ticket, as it stands its nearly impossible to get even authencitc merchandise with customisation to the UK, so i cant really contribute anything to the Devils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devils744 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 maybe if they didn't charge regular season prices for pre season games more people would show up. i doubt there is a rule from the nhl saying you have to charge regular prices. i think it's pretty obvious to everyone that they don't really care about the fans. they do as little as possible and in this day and age if you want people to spend there hard earned money you have to do more then the bare minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devils744 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 The new season must have started because we have our first attendance worries thread of the year!!!! Seriousley though, this issue is just going to plague this team untill someone at the top does something. If they arnt botherd, then what can we do. If i lived over there i would buy a season ticket, as it stands its nearly impossible to get even authencitc merchandise with customisation to the UK, so i cant really contribute anything to the Devils. lou either will not or can't embrace technology, that's a big part of the problem. devilstv would be a great thing to have but they won't do anything with it. lou is running the show for the most part, he pulls the strings and it's sad that he doesn't get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Now if I had extra money to spend, why would I walk up to pay full price for a ticket to an exhibition game with half the regulars in and Marty playing half a game!? I would rather use that money for a regular season game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 maybe if they didn't charge regular season prices for pre season games more people would show up. i doubt there is a rule from the nhl saying you have to charge regular prices. i think it's pretty obvious to everyone that they don't really care about the fans. they do as little as possible and in this day and age if you want people to spend there hard earned money you have to do more then the bare minimum. The point isn't that people won't pay full price for preseason unless they're forced to, who would? Even the $10 seats didn't really sell at all, or if they did people just stayed downstairs after warmups. What the low number represents (especially compared to other cities) is that the sth base took a huge hit between the first and second seasons at the Rock and we're going to have some embarassing regular season attendance numbers this year, especially if the team somehow starts slow again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRASHER Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Can we at LEAST get to game one of the ACTUAL season before we freak about attendance!??!!? PLEASE??? :argh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias26 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I wish I could afford season tickets. I go to every game I can as it is. If/When I have that kind of income, I'm all over it.It really upsets me when more people with the means don't go. Forget season tickets. I wish I could afford just one ticket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Can we at LEAST get to game one of the ACTUAL season before we freak about attendance!??!!?PLEASE??? :argh: yeah i agree with this but it is alarming. i really hope among the 2k that didn't come back, the devils did a comprehensive survey for WHY they didn't come back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95Crash Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I don't really fault the individuals here at all. If you've done business with the Devils for a long time, you know what the deal is. They do this to themselves. I've never had season tickets. I'm really hoping to be able to afford them in a couple of years. Has the team been screwing over its season ticket holders (STHs) in some way? ... Just wondering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC Devs Fan Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Can we at LEAST get to game one of the ACTUAL season before we freak about attendance!??!!?PLEASE??? :argh: Why bother? Every post is the same about the numbers. People either need to accept that the number we draw is what it is or get a clue. This year we will be able to blame the economy (which will be a valid point) but I'd wager we get no more sellouts this year then we did last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twillms73 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I dont know much about the whole season ticket thing. I'm not rich. But even getting to one game in tough nowadays. It's just too darn expensive for the average fan. I honestly would rather go to 5 Trenton Devils games than 1 NJ Devils game for the same price. Yeah, the quality of play aint the same but I just can't see myself spending that kind of money on just one event. When I was younger and my money went towards just me. No wife, no kids. No problem. I'd get to about 5 games a year coming from LI. I just can't do that anymore. Also, think about the number of people that the Devils are drawing from. There are 5 mil in NYC. About 1.5 on LI. and how much in North and Central Jersey? How many are Devils fans even? There just may not be enough Devils fans, with money to burn, out there. Just my thoughts. Hopefully it all works out and builds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
section 110 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I'm an original STH and I can count on a two toed sloth's foot how many pre-season games I've been to in 27 years Only us self conscious Devils fans can concern ourselves with pre-season attendance. Sheesh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowutopia Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 A fun article on how Chicago got ticket sales rolling. http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?se...&id=3581671 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRASHER Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 A fun article on how Chicago got ticket sales rolling.http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?se...&id=3581671 Kill the previous a$$hole owner??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeter Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 maybe if they didn't charge regular season prices for pre season games more people would show up. i doubt there is a rule from the nhl saying you have to charge regular prices. i think it's pretty obvious to everyone that they don't really care about the fans. they do as little as possible and in this day and age if you want people to spend there hard earned money you have to do more then the bare minimum. What? 5% off at ACE Hardware in Newark isn't good enough for you? What more could you want? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpower Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I've never had season tickets. I'm really hoping to be able to afford them in a couple of years. Has the team been screwing over its season ticket holders (STHs) in some way? ... Just wondering. It's not what they do as much as what they don't do. They're just not customer friendly, I think they're trying now. I've never even heard from whoever has my account for 12? years running, basically, from the time I plunked down the money to buy the seat, that was it. Being a Devils STH has a "do it yourself" feel to it, and I think it frustrates people. I also don't think they do a good job addressing customer concerns. (like the letter that was sent out by members of this board) Basically, every year since I dunno, '97 or so, they've been doing no better than breaking even (and mostly bleeding), in STH sales. Except one. Last year, and it looks like they lost about 25% of them immediately. That takes talent. I'm an original STH and I can count on a two toed sloth's foot how many pre-season games I've been to in 27 years Only us self conscious Devils fans can concern ourselves with pre-season attendance. Sheesh! You've attended every one of those games. Whether you were there or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRASHER Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 Hey it's something at least: The Devils Legion Card provides season ticket holders with discounts from Devils partners including several restaurants near Prudential Center. Simply show your valid Devils Legion card at any participating partner location to receive your discount. Please check back throughout the season for updated partner information. Here is a full list of the great savings you get when you present your valid Devils Legion card: Best Buy - 10% off of select items excluding Bose, Apple, Computer hardware, and Magnolia home theater products. Brick City Bar and Grill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
langs15 Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 It's a pre-season game and you're complaining about people not going? Calm down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxpower Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 It's a pre-season game and you're complaining about people not going? Calm down. I'm complaining about why there's far, far fewer STH's this year than last. I could care less how many people show up to a preseason game, about as many people showed up as I expected would. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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