[News] Canucks' sellout streak to come to an end

[jar_e]

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/10...-end-saturday/

The Vancouver Canucks are on the brink of ending a historic 474-game run of sellouts at Rogers Arena/GM Place.

The team sent a note from COO Victor de Bonis Friday to season-ticket holders announcing that the team has failed to sell out Saturday’s second home game of the season against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

For reference, they were the longest NHL sell-out streak active, starting on November 14, 2002. All time, it appears that it would be only second to the Avalanche who hit 487 in 2006.

Most bizarre part IMO is that it's only the second home game of the year AND on a Saturday.

[jar_e]

Oh, and obligatory Vancouver is no good.

[memphusk]

Excellent.

[Inferno]

And if it weren't for scalpers that streak would have ended long ago. The games I have been to were far from a sellout.

[alan21]

This is not a good thing.

Finding a place to contain as many nuckleheads at once is the best thing for the rest of the world.

[SportsJunky]

Hey! Where's everybody goin'?

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Longest active streak? I can't remember the last time the Leafs didn't sell out a game.

[Dagger]

I'm more surprised that they can't sellout a Saturday night game showcasing a premiere player that only comes once a year.

[Galakanokis]

The "streak" has been propped up by the Aquilini's for years with them buying hundreds of tickets. Sellouts only account for certain seats and then only a percentage of those seats anyways. It's a BS stat from the get go.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Longest active streak? I can't remember the last time the Leafs didn't sell out a game.

Or the Habs.

And Rangers.

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

Longest active streak? I can't remember the last time the Leafs didn't sell out a game.

Yes, according to this website (albeit it being two years old) http://www.thesportmarket.biz/charts...s/ranktop.html

Were ahead of Toronto by 34 games back in 2012.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Dagger

I'm more surprised that they can't sellout a Saturday night game showcasing a premiere player that only comes once a year.

If you're a player and you only come once a year, you're doing it wrong.



I'll see myself out now.

[jar_e]

Furthermore, Globe and Mail comments on the Canucks having the longest (and second most active in North American pro sports) from March.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...ticle17630666/

The streak stretches back more than a decade, to Nov. 14, 2002, when the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on a Thursday evening. The arena was full, a sellout, as it would be every single game thereafter, a run now at nearly 470 games, the longest in hockey and the second-longest in North American pro sports.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by jar_e

Yes, according to this website (albeit it being two years old) http://www.thesportmarket.biz/charts...s/ranktop.html

Were ahead of Toronto by 34 games back in 2012.

If so, that's only a technicality.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL...59541-sun.html

"But since we opened the ACC, there was two or three games that might have been glitches. One, I think, was a game on Halloween and the others in the early days of the building when we didn't have an accurate method of counting the crowd."

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by jar_e

Furthermore, Globe and Mail comments on the Canucks having the longest (and second most active in North American pro sports) from March.

Who has the longest in all pro sports? Packers? (Does that go by number of seasons or number of games.) IIRC the Packers have sold out since the 70s, but with only 8 games per year that might only be 300 ish games.

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

If so, that's only a technicality.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL...59541-sun.html

Well, a technicality that seems to be recognized by the media (ie. Globe and Mail, etc.). Regardless, it's a ridiculous stat, Canucks suck, and glad to see the bandwagon fans jumping ship two home games into the season.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Here's the Leafs game in question: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreport...2/GS020032.HTM

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Who has the longest in all pro sports? Packers? (Does that go by number of seasons or number of games.) IIRC the Packers have sold out since the 70s, but with only 8 games per year that might only be 300 ish games.

That previous website had the Red Sox with 712 sellouts in March, 2012. It seems, atleast according to Deadspin, it ended in March of 2013.

http://deadspin.com/red-soxs-sellout...ends-472510787

[jlh2640]

Are Flames games not sell outs ?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Galakanokis

The "streak" has been propped up by the Aquilini's for years with them buying hundreds of tickets. Sellouts only account for certain seats and then only a percentage of those seats anyways. It's a BS stat from the get go.

Yup. Colorado did the same for their streak referenced in the article.

As do the Flames. That's the beauty of the Sportchek zone. The Flames report those tickets as sold. They don't care if nobody buys them from Sportchek.

But what makes a streak like this ending notable is that it means interest will have declined beyond what the corporate sponsors soak up, and that means Joe fan is less likely to come to the rink.

But, there is a reason why the Canucks are sending the letter now, and I have little doubt the game will report as being a sell-out. Even if a sponsor ends up buying a block of tickets that go completely unused.