How bad is this years Flames? $8 tickets bad

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by klikitiklik

CPuck seems to be my only strong connection at the moment.



No one wants to go for beers anymore to watch this team. It was a tradition that at least once every two weeks without fail a big group of us would get together and watch the game at the Brewhouse.



Slowly dwindled in the last two years and have now completely stopped. It is just no fun watching this soft, unlikable team.

I wonder if going out to watch a game has just stopped being a thing people do. In the last few years when I’ve been at a pub when the Flames are playing, almost nobody watches or seems to care.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

World Series tickets are also cheap right now. This kind of thing is happening everywhere. Inflation is taking its toll on the disposable income families have.

This will likely go down as the least viewed World Series in history so it's also an interest thing going on with some of these sports.

[EM11]

Flames ownership deserves to have a half-empty buidling. It might be the only language they understand, but unfortunately they still think they know what the answers are rather than handing it off to competent hockey minds.

From my perspective, I don't want to go to games like I once did. Even with an 8 dollar ticket it's too expensive to be in the Saddledome and eat terrible overpriced food and then get home at 11:00. The product is stuck in the 80s.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

And all this is the reason why you see those teams sign the guys they can. When a Blake Coleman expresses that he would like to play in Calgary - that's the guy you sign because that's the guy you can sign.
Of course you can choose to just not play in the free agent waters at all. And in many cases would probably end up in a better place as a result.

I've been firm in my belief the first week of NHL free agency is the worst time of year where GM's go full stupid and organizations start digging their salary cap grave. After the frenzy of desperate GM's dissipates there are usually sensible deals made but the ones made early nearly always end up bad for the teams involved. The only type of players that teams should ever be trying to outbid one another are the true elite star players like when McDavid hits free agency. The path forward for teams like the Flames is to build from the draft and sign and keep their own players while using free agency as a means for filling out roster depth, not for team building.

[dino7c]

Flames performance is certainly making things worse but I think sports as we know them are changing...I see it in all league. There are just way more options these days and the leagues have treated their fans like ####.

Personally I haven't spent a cent on the NHL since the Coleman non goal. ####ing thing is rigged...they had McDavid vs. MacKinnon ads ready to roll.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I've been firm in my belief the first week of NHL free agency is the worst time of year where GM's go full stupid and organizations start digging their salary cap grave. After the frenzy of desperate GM's dissipates there are usually sensible deals made but the ones made early nearly always end up bad for the teams involved. The only type of players that teams should ever be trying to outbid one another are the true elite star players like when McDavid hits free agency. The path forward for teams like the Flames is to build from the draft and sign and keep their own players while using free agency as a means for filling out roster depth, not for team building.

Yeah, there is usually one or two guys worth bidding up for - if they are what your team needs, great - go for it.

Otherwise, spending the 1st week of free agency with your hands in your pockets is the prudent way to go.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Flames performance is certainly making things worse but I think sports as we know them are changing...I see it in all league. There are just way more options these days and the leagues have treated their fans like ####.

Personally I haven't spent a cent on the NHL since the Coleman non goal. ####ing thing is rigged...they had McDavid vs. MacKinnon ads ready to roll.

Businesses have to be prepared

They also make Stanley Cup champ hats for both teams in the finals


(But that Coleman goal was nonsense)

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Table 5

20 years ago I was a rabid, all-consuming Flames fan, and would travel to other cities to see the Flames play. 10 years ago, I was happy to split season tickets. 5-6 years ago, the value proposition erosion of a live game started to become really apparent, but I'd still go to a handful of games. 2-3 years ago, I stopped going altogether and just stuck to watching games on TV. This season, I didn't even bother re-upping Sportsnet.

I know a big part of this is me getting older and priorities changing, but it's been a slow descent into sheer apathy around this team and league. Checking in on CP seems like the last step, and that's more of a habit than anything.

You're not alone and this is not exclusionary to just the well-offs. I'm by no means rich, and neither are most of my family and friends, but we all certainly have money to go several Flames games if we wanted to. The problem is exactly as you say - the value prop erosion.

I'm going to pick and choose some events like concerts, ski passes, ski trips and other local sport (wranglers, hitmen, surge, cavalry) well ahead of blowing a huge amount to sit in poor to average seats for a single game at the dome. The Flames tumble even further down the list when you are talking about a product like the one we have over the last 90 or so games.

NHL hockey in Canada used to be pretty affordable in terms of getting a mediocre seat, beer and burger for you and your spouse without dropping $250-$300+ and that wasn't all that long ago (at least in Alberta anyway). The apathy sits squarely on the shoulder of the league and the teams that would rather rinse fans for every cent they have instead of keeping price increases in line with reality. When you have a top end team many will just deal with it, but when your product is average to garbage.....you pretty much deserve poor attendance and all the apathy you get.

[Calgary14]

Start the full rebuild now so we can have a competitive team when the new arena is done

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by Pliddy

https://gametime.co/nhl-hockey/stars...b111000144344b

Just took a quick look at gametime for some last minute tickets and I was floored at how the price has just bottomed out, I know it's a Wednesday night game but even SAIT Trojans tickets are $10

Isn't that "Gametime's" schtick though. Grabbing last minute tickets for cheap.

Obviously its still a bit early in the day to see prices that low, but i have bought cheap baseball/football/basetball/hockey tickets by waiting out it. Single digits for sure.

[Muta]

I like that at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, they actually do have 'discount' concessions, which I just load up on. $5 hot dogs and beer, and keeps me coming back for more whenever I'm there. Unsurprised of course, that the Saddledome doesn't have this / wouldn't try this. In fact, their motto (and every other NHL arena) seems to be to #### the ever-loving #### out of customers' wallets as much as possible. The NHL really needs to reflect on its product, customers' don't have infinite rope to hang from, and we're reaching that end point.

[dirk diggler]

i was not aware of this Game time site. its certainly in the price range i would be willing to pay to watch these guys go through the motions. Have there been any issues with this site when getting tickets? I assume it is decent?

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

i was not aware of this Game time site. its certainly in the price range i would be willing to pay to watch these guys go through the motions. Have there been any issues with this site when getting tickets? I assume it is decent?

It's 100% legit with no issues.

[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by Table 5

20 years ago I was a rabid, all-consuming Flames fan, and would travel to other cities to see the Flames play. 10 years ago, I was happy to split season tickets. 5-6 years ago, the value proposition erosion of a live game started to become really apparent, but I'd still go to a handful of games. 2-3 years ago, I stopped going altogether and just stuck to watching games on TV. This season, I didn't even bother re-upping Sportsnet.

I know a big part of this is me getting older and priorities changing, but it's been a slow descent into sheer apathy around this team and league. Checking in on CP seems like the last step, and that's more of a habit than anything.

When I first got to Calgary, the Jets had just left, so me and my older brother were happy to go to the young guns games. Back with the terrible old goal horn, and even worse roster. Tickets were relatively cheap and easy to find, concessions were still over priced. It was the late 90s and hockey in Canada was dying, outside MTL and Toronto. The Flames were kind of an afterthought.

As the 03 season started the team was improving, and, the new jerseys were pretty rad. Iginla was basically a super star and the team had some juice. The 04 run didn't just revive hockey in Calgary, it created a lot of hope that the NHL in Canada wasn't dead. I will die on that hill.

From 04 to.. I dunno, 08? 09? It was actually kind of hard to get Flames tickets to premium games against the Oilers or Habs or other popular teams or Canadian clubs. I remember setting a calendar appointment in gmail to remind myself to try and get home opener tickets. I still do today for the Jets out of habit, and for this years Flames/Jets game, even tho there was lots of empty seats.

Then thing kind of sagged. It became really easy to get tickets again. The dome, which was louder and more engaged for a few years, became a library again.

Everything is cyclical. What did the NHL and the Flames do to try and insulate themselves from the inevitable downswing that almost all NHL markets are entering now? ####ing zilch. Frankly, they pissed off fans with boring in game promotions and game day experience. They spat in their fans faces charging them 5 dollars for bottled water. They whored out the entire league to gambling companies, a real vice that destroys families and lives. Don't even get me started on TNSE and how out of touch and bad their customer service is/was to season ticket holders.

Instead of making games affordable for families, and drawing in a new generation of young fans, the NHL feverishly plundered its existing and loyal fan base like the disgusting motley crew of pirates they are. Like short sighted dope addicts, they shot up on short term gains, getting high on 12 dollar ####ty burgers and 6 dollar popcorn. They charge hundreds of dollars for families with kids to go as if its 4 adults instead of 2 adults and 2 kids, like a junky injecting booze into their eye balls.

#### the greedy pricks who run this league, and their bombardment of tacky advertising on the ice, boards, and now jerseys

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

i was not aware of this Game time site. its certainly in the price range i would be willing to pay to watch these guys go through the motions. Have there been any issues with this site when getting tickets? I assume it is decent?

I had the same question

[jg13]

gametime is legit and you get your tickets fast. the problem is the prices are in USD and the service fees are heavy and also in USD.

[FireGilbert]

I’m regretting my life choices buying Flames tickets in December during the pre sale. Could have waited and saved hundreds.

[Mr.Coffee]

Lots of great points in this thread but not enough about how bad the product is.

Pretty much ever since they decided to start manufacturing outcomes and abandoning organic outcomes, the legitimacy, integrity, whatever you want to call it- was gone. This is more like the WWE than a pro sport as refs will decide the winners or losers with more input. Special teams are not that interesting to watch, no matter how much the NHL wants you to admit. And refs shouldn’t be dictating outcomes because of whatever financial incentives are in place in any given context.

The above, combined with the extreme reduction in physicality, has sucked the game of any and all emotion, which is what crowds feed off of, which is what makes going to games fun. It’s like they totally didn’t understand why people loved hockey, and were in it just for the money. Then you see things like the gambling, ads on jerseys, non-sensical decisions on things like LGBTQ initiatives or how suspensions work, leveraging cities taxpayers to build billionaires and millionaires palaces- and yeah- there’s a lot of resentment out there.

What was charming about the NHL when I grew up is pretty much all but gone. I love the Flames and probably always will, but I’ll go if the tickets are given / free and likely that’s about it. The best thing the NHL can do, is make a change of guard in Bettman et al and get a new group, fresh thinking, and try to salvage the product and fanbase that’s starting to deteriorate.

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by jg13

gametime is legit and you get your tickets fast. the problem is the prices are in USD and the service fees are heavy and also in USD.

what are the fees, roughly?

[Hack&Lube]

I drove through the area on my way to downtown Superstore and saw people leaving the dome in the 2nd intermission when it was 4-2 lol

It sucks to spend money only to buy a heaping bowl of despair.