Quote:
Originally Posted by macrov
...Winnipeg purposely wanted a small stadium to increase scarcity value because it lowers the likelihood people will give up their season seats b/c when their is a wait list there is a lower probability of getting the seats back when the team so good: aka contributes to a stronger primary market and gives more stability when the team sucks. The largest value of having season tickets is the playoff rights, and the value increases with the length of the wait list.
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I think that the MTS Centre is probably correctly sized for the Winnipeg market, but this goes back to the issue of the suitability of Winnipeg as a NHL market in the first place. I'm still on the side that it is too small to sustain a NHL team long-term. On the macro level, things look average for the Jets right now, because they are hovering close to the middle-of-the-pack in terms of League revenue. On a micro-level, thing are not likely to ever be better for the Jets than they are now. In fact, factoring in the inevitable sag that WILL accompany the diminishing novelty, and factoring in the Jets' payroll limitations which WILL dramatically affect their ability to build a team, things look to get substantially worse in the course of the next several years.
As season ticket holders, Jets fans must be wondering about the "value" of their tickets for a team whose payroll is presently in the middle-of-the-pack, and realistically with two more years to make substantial strides on the ice before the cold hard reality of unrestricted free agency begins to hit them. Two years in which the cap is expected to surpass $70.0 m. Based on what you see today, does this look like a team that will be ready to compete for the playoffs in two year's time? With high-water contracts needed for Ladd and Byfuglien? With big raises coming at that time for Scheifele and Trouba, and then Enstrom and Little, and then Wheeler and likely Josh Morrisey? In a market that has already maximised its gate revenues, it is difficult to imagine how a bubble-team will manage to find the money to cover some truly frightening escalating expenses over the course of the next few years. The Jets will be entering a period in that time in which they will need a premium level payroll to ice their current team, but must attempt to do so from lower-half League revenue levels.
Again, the talk of high value for STH in terms of playoff first-refusal rights is premature at best, and disingenuous at worst. Project forward four years, and how tough a sell is a price increase in a market that currently ranks #3 in avg. ticket costs?