Quote:
Originally Posted by White Out 403
I think people are forgetting the state of hockey in Canada as a business from the late 80s to the early 00s'. People are under the impression that since hockey being very successful as a business in Canada for, I dunno, say 17 years now, it will always stay that way. This isn't the case and this is the kind of assumption to leads people making bad long term decisions. There was a time where people speculated their would only be 3 teams left in Canada due to spiraling salaries and #### attendance.
On the other page one of the posters misunderstood my point about families and kids. I don't think that kids and parents have a right above others to see the game, I think that as a business if you're serious about growing your future client base you recognize you need to earn your customers when they're young. My childhood experiences of going to Jets and Bombers games made me a full time customer of both leagues that has spent money and time supporting it. You can't earn that kind of business, at least not as easily and readily, with adults. I'm not going to become a die hard cricket or soccer fan at 42, for example. Sure I may follow team and watch the occasional game, but I'm not spending the money on the CPL or MLS or euro teams that I do on the CFL and NHL.
I just can't quite wrap my head around why regular folk here, even the double meat subway crowd, can't recognize this is a terrible long term business plan, to gouge and extort your clients for 55 dollar nacho combos and 300 dollar seats for a game in the lower bowl. Everything has an expiration date, including fans tolerance for being financially raped. Again, unless you're a very rich person with significant shares in the Flames or some other Canadian team charging people 8 dollars for a soda.
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Since you appear to be referring to me, I'll respond...
I doubt anyone (who is old enough) forgets what it was like in the 90s. I was a Jets fan and STH in Wpg, when the Jets left. It sucked. But things change. And despite how dire things got, prices have escalated more rapidly since then, than they did leading up to that situation.
As for the rest, you are arguing that they are raising prices to the detriment of their fanbase. But I would suggest that they know more about that than you do. There is more than one way to price a product - Ferrari loses a lot of potential customers by charging a huge premium. They know that, but they don't care, as they are more profitable this way. Their strategy works for them, even though they sell many fewer cars than they could if they priced differently.
The NHL is more complicated than that, in that they market and sell their product in many different ways, with in-game seating only being one of them. If you watch on TV, you still consume their product. If they can reach out to young people through various social media platforms, they can grow their product, and their fanbase, that way.
For you, going to a game appears to be an integral part of being a fan. But maybe for many younger people, that is not the case, or is less important. Maybe growing the game through various social media platforms is more effective with younger people.
The point is that, just because you don't like ticket prices going up, does not mean that they are idiots who are destroying their own fanbase.
To circle back to your original point, the NHL managed to save hockey in Canada, when it looked like it was dying, or could only survive in Toronto and Montreal, and they have grown it significantly since then. So maybe they do have some grasp on how supply and demand work.