[News] Ottawa Senators to remove 1,500 Seats to increase Sellouts

[Locke]

The Ottawa Senators seem to have figured out how to rectify their low attendance issue.

According to team president Tom Anselmi, Canadian Tire Centre will have 1,500 less seats than it did for the 2016-17 regular season and playoffs. The reduction in seating capacity will attempt to make the arena easier for fans to fill, Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun reports.

Ottawa struggled to put people in the seats, averaging just under 17,000 fans a game - the ninth-worst attendance in the NHL.

https://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/13...ost-attendance

Haha! I just find this hilarious.

"How many seats didnt we sell?"

- About 1500...

"Alright then, take them out. Then its a sellout!"

[Cecil Terwilliger]

That's so bizarre. Is it just for optics? Will removing the seats make way for other amenities or boxes or something? Whatever makes them feel good about their crappy out of the way arena and fairweather fans I guess.

I can't imagine there are any cost savings here.

EDIT: ok I actually read it and it is purely for optics and an attempt to create demand for tickets. Wow. Poor Ottawa.

[Lanny_McDonald]

That's going to go over well with the NHLPA. I would think them and the league would be choked about the impact this would have on hockey related revenues. Unless they jack the prices to make up for the loss, that would probably be in the neighborhood of $2M lost revenue for the season.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by New Era

That's going to go over well with the NHLPA. I would think them and the league would be choked about the impact this would have on hockey related revenues. Unless they jack the prices to make up for the loss, that would probably be in the neighborhood of $2M lost revenue for the season.

If they're empty seats what revenue is being lost?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

If they're empty seats what revenue is being lost?

The opportunity for last season's Eastern Conference Finalists to fill them?

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by Locke

The opportunity for last season's Eastern Conference Finalists to fill them?

Well if they hope to sell them in one seat and crap in the others I think I know how they can fill them up.

[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

That's so bizarre. Is it just for optics?

Its the micro-economics of events. Scarcity helps drives demand for season tickets, which ensures higher revenues because STH's offload a lot risk for the organization and take both good games and bad games. Its a weird phenomenon on the surface, but its true. The corollary is thatwhen a team is no longer selling out games, a vicious cycle of declining attendance and season ticket holders can take hold - and its hard to stop it.

If the stadium is near full or better (a waiting list, or hot house for example), a person with season tickets is less likely to get rid of season tickets for multiple reasons. First, he can get a fair price if he needs to resell tickets. Second, if he gives up his rights, he might not be able to get back in line when he wants to or get as good of seats.

In contrast, if the Stadium is not full...there is a huge incentive to just cherry pick the best games, only support teams during successful seasons, and buy single game tickets at the walk-up window.


Walk up buyers
Too cold outside? Walk-up buyers stay at home, and attendance suffers
Phoenix in town? Walk-up buyers stay at home, and attendance suffers
Team off to poor start? Walk-up buyers stay at home, and attendance suffers
Team out of the playoffs? Walk-up buyers stay at home, and attendance suffers

Season ticket holders
Too cold outside? Tickets are a sunk cost; Senators get paid either way
Phoenix in town? Tickets are a sunk cost; Senators get paid either way
Team off to poor start? Tickets are a sunk cost; Senators get paid either way
Team out of the playoffs? Tickets are a sunk cost; Senators get paid either way

So yes...decreasing available season tickets increases the demand for season tickets. If the flames only had 5000 seats in the dome, there would be a lot more people who would want season tickets...

[PepsiFree]

This brings their capacity down to an attendance level they've averaged above for the last 12/13 years and pretty much locks them into the lower half of the league (that's if they sellout every game). If they don't (which they won't), they'll likely be a bottom 10 team in the league.

What a joke that franchise is. Who loses revenue on purpose?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

If they're empty seats what revenue is being lost?

Same reason why the Flames tarped the east 300s before the 2004 playoffs: Fewer $20 seats being available means the fans being moved down have to buy the $50 seats instead.

Doesn't change the number of buyers too much, but does change the average sale price for a ticket.

[Locke]

nm

[RM14]

There are quite a few Flames games where the PL could be tarped off too. I hate seeing empty sections up there.

[bcneil]

They are getting rid of cheaper seats. It would be like the Flames roping off the offensive zone greens.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

That's so bizarre. Is it just for optics? Will removing the seats make way for other amenities or boxes or something? Whatever makes them feel good about their crappy out of the way arena and fairweather fans I guess.

I can't imagine there are any cost savings here.

EDIT: ok I actually read it and it is purely for optics and an attempt to create demand for tickets. Wow. Poor Ottawa.

To be fair, the Flames did the same thing with the nosebleed sections prior to 2004 when they literally had tarps over the seats.

I still fail to see how it would not be more profitable to at least blow these seats out for pennies on the dollar than let them sit empty. A butt in a seat is going to spend money on concessions, beer, merch regardless how much the ticket costs.

[shadowlord]

This idea sounds like something that would be thought up by someone in the Edmonton Oilers organization.

"Can't win? Let's lower our standards..."

Sent from my LG-V522 using Tapatalk

[_Q_]

I went to the Panthers vs Senators game last year in Ottawa. What a horrible experience that was. The arena is in the middle of nowhere. The closest pregame stuff to do was a 5 minute drive away in a strip mall. Even though it was a Saturday night game, I would estimate there was about 2000 empty seats. Nobody made any noise, so it felt exactly like a library. And any true hockey fans couldn't stop talking about the Leafs or Canadiens, because that was their "real" team.

[yow8309]

Originally Posted by _Q_

I went to the Panthers vs Senators game last year in Ottawa. What a horrible experience that was. The arena is in the middle of nowhere. The closest pregame stuff to do was a 5 minute drive away in a strip mall. Even though it was a Saturday night game, I would estimate there was about 2000 empty seats. Nobody made any noise, so it felt exactly like a library. And any true hockey fans couldn't stop talking about the Leafs or Canadiens, because that was their "real" team.

Well... I don't agree that the rink is in the middle of nowhere and 5 minutes drive away for pregame stuff is very comparable to Calgary. Kanata is the only place that they can find legal cooperate support in the days due to conflict of interest rules in the government.

The Phoenix pay issue is very bad in the Nation's Capital... you may not hear it from the news right now, but there are still many whose pay cheques are not right. Overall, people go out less because of it. People worry their next pay cheque all the time...

Those who couldn't stop talking about the Leafs or Canadiens are the older generation. Remember the modern day Senators is only 27 years old.

[Erick Estrada]

Smaller capacity arenas make sense for markets like Winnipeg (small market) and Ottawa (poor sports market). I would hope their new arena doesn't approach 18k seats. I imagine when the Flames finally get a new arena the capacity will likely be a little lower than the Saddledome.

[yow8309]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Smaller capacity arenas make sense for markets like Winnipeg (small market) and Ottawa (poor sports market). I would hope their new arena doesn't approach 18k seats. I imagine when the Flames finally get a new arena the capacity will likely be a little lower than the Saddledome.

Melnyk told reporters it'll probably be closer to a 15k or 17k... I sense a higher ticket price to make up the different.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

I still fail to see how it would not be more profitable to at least blow these seats out for pennies on the dollar than let them sit empty. A butt in a seat is going to spend money on concessions, beer, merch regardless how much the ticket costs.

Because allowing people to buy these tickets for pennies on the dollar will virtually ensure that the more expensive seats would now go empty, as people oft for the much cheaper seats.

[Poe969]

The only problem with that is there aren't enough hockey fans that will pay more for tickets. Ottawa seems to be full of casual hockey fans, if there was a deal on tickets then I'm sure more people would show up but if their only option is to buy more expensive tickets they'd probably stay home or do something else. Ottawa just doesn't seem like a good hockey market.