Vancouver; First non-sellout of an "outdoor" game?

[jayswin]

For some reason I can't find the article from the Sun, online, but's called "Where's the buzz?". And while it initially points to a source saying that only 90% of tickets are sold, it later suggests that people closer to the ticket sales know that it's much worse than that.

Livich says the higher rows in the lower level and centre ice tickets are moving really slow

They over-estimated the demand for this game, and had tickets been priced more reasonably, they would have been a much better sell.

"I know the 90% that they are saying is sold out, is not true", said Bailey

I don't think after this situation, we'll ever see another one in Vancouver again

Haha.

[btimbit]

Well like someone said in the other thread, Canucks have no heritage and they're certainly not classic

[Locke]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Well like someone said in the other thread, Canucks have no heritage and they're certainly not classic

Except at failure. Thats classic Canucks!

[codynw]

Vancouver is no good?

[Cheese]

quite frankly the outdoor games are becoming a bit of a bore, so I'm not surprised, it is simply nothing new any longer. It went from one game to 3 or 4 a year and marketing this as something special doesn't cut it anymore. In the end they will sell it out, but the NHL needs to look at how it is managing these moving forward.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Cheese

quite frankly the outdoor games are becoming a bit of a bore, so I'm not surprised, it is simply nothing new any longer. It went from one game to 3 or 4 a year and marketing this as something special doesn't cut it anymore. In the end they will sell it out, but the NHL needs to look at how it is managing these moving forward.

They're for local crowds anyways. They're special for the people who attend them. I doubt anyone outside of Calgary remembers the Calgary game but for those that attended it was a cool special experience.

The fact Vancouver couldn't sell this on their local fans is pretty crazy.

[Erick Estrada]

I wouldn't be surprised if they give away tickets leading up to the game to avoid embarrassment. What's funny is the Flames sold out well after their window closed and even today there's still lots of interest in the team. The Canucks are still a better than .500 team about where the Flames were in 2009 but the city has already lost interest. It's going to be ugly when they join the Flames and Oilers in the basement. Back to 1/3 empty buildings I would expect as the 7th man has left the building.

[Daradon]

So what's this story about then? Saw it on CBC last night, here's the irreverent Puck Daddy version.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...8925--nhl.html

If they got tickets left, surely these kids can go now right?

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

They're for local crowds anyways. They're special for the people who attend them. I doubt anyone outside of Calgary remembers the Calgary game but for those that attended it was a cool special experience.

The fact Vancouver couldn't sell this on their local fans is pretty crazy.

Well 'Nucks fans are the ultimate bandwagoners, trying to sell an outdoor game after the coach losing the locker room and the team going on a big losing streak sure doesn't help.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Cheese

quite frankly the outdoor games are becoming a bit of a bore, so I'm not surprised, it is simply nothing new any longer. It went from one game to 3 or 4 a year and marketing this as something special doesn't cut it anymore. In the end they will sell it out, but the NHL needs to look at how it is managing these moving forward.

As MMF said this is for local market. I went to the game in Calgary and it was effing great. I think part of the problem is Ottawa. They don't have a broad fan base like the Leafs or Habs. I can't see too many flying out for the game, but as we all know there are Leafs & Habs fans everywhere.


Oh, and Vancouver is no good.

[Red John]

Blocks of tickets available together still. Rows of 6 side by side available in multiple sections.

This is karma for trying to sell this as a 1915 a Stanley cup rematch. Losers.

[Drury18]

It sounds like ticketing in general is a joke for this game.

They also mistakenly sent out an email to all the minor hockey teams that entered a contest for tickets saying they won tickets and then later sent out an email going "Ooops" and retracting it. About 3,000 kids went from thinking they were going to a game to not and getting a makeup game "at some point next season": http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...ters-1.2553175

[nfotiu]

Why are they playing this now? And why Ottawa? They'd probably sell out if it was any other Canadian team. Also the ticket prices are pretty ridiculous. I like to pile on Vancouver, but I am not going to blame them too much for not wanting to spend that kind of coin to sit up in the nose bleeds watching an uninspiring Van/Ott matchup. This is more on the nhl for letting their greed ruin what was once a good thing.

[Joborule]

I wonder if the venue not really being a "outdoor-sey" setting is playing a role? The Calgary Heritage classic game was cool because it featured the winter elements. Froze my ass off, but was worth it. This game is basically the same as any other being indoors; just with more seats. There's not much novelty to work with.

[TjRhythmic]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Why are they playing this now? And why Ottawa? They'd probably sell out if it was any other Canadian team. Also the ticket prices are pretty ridiculous. I like to pile on Vancouver, but I am not going to blame them too much for not wanting to spend that kind of coin to sit up in the nose bleeds watching an uninspiring Van/Ott matchup. This is more on the nhl for letting their greed ruin what was once a good thing.

The ticket prices actually aren't that bad. If I wanted to go I could get a couple good seats for just over $350. I don't think it's that much more than the Calgary game was. As a season ticket holder I think paid about $150 a ticket.

I think it's just plain and simple they are having a tough time selling the game to bandwagon fans. The amount of negativity around the Canucks right now is off the charts... Canucks fans don't want to be associated with a loser.

Hopefully now though they can give the tickets to the minor hockey teams as those are the fans that are going to enjoy the experience more then anything

[CaptainCrunch]

Way to go Vancouver

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Daradon

So what's this story about then? Saw it on CBC last night, here's the irreverent Puck Daddy version.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...8925--nhl.html

If they got tickets left, surely these kids can go now right?

That's the easy solution, but it isn't that simple. The NHL buys these games from the teams and they are league events. So even if Vancouver wants to make up for their error and give all the kids tickets to fill the seats, they can't just give them away. The Canucks have to either buy the seats themselves, or convince the league to give the tickets away.

There is a big problem here in that it is a match-up of two crappy teams with no history - no matter how hard they try to paint this as a "century-old rivalry" between cities that met in the 1915 Stanley Cup. And as much as it would be nice to argue that this could lead the NHL to scale back the number of outdoor games, the fact that the other five sold out - Tomorrow's game in less than a day - is going to argue that the problem is with Vancouver and not that the novelty has worn off.

[Daradon]

Yeah, hate how the game is being billed. Vancouver Ottawa rivalry? Cause of one game 100 years ago? Yowza. No one cares.

Agreed Ottawa was a bad idea, Vancouver probably woulda loved to see Calgary, or Chicago or Boston even more. But Ottawa? Dumb move.

And yeah, 5 in a year is too much. I think 1 or 2 is still a good idea, but they've definitely cut open the golden goose.

[Locke]

What, what the hell is this nonsense about a game against Ottawa 100 years ago? Are they freaking serious?

Thats a pretty desperate grasping at straws. If they wanted some heritage they should have just lied.

[19Yzerman19]

If it was just because everyone in Vancouver had hopped off the Canucks bandwagon, we would be seeing a lot more empty seats at regular home games, and it'd be cheaper to get ahold of tickets for those games.

I think it's a combination of the following factors:
1. Who gives a crap about the Senators? Seriously, would you be excited to see the Flames play Ottawa?
2. The venue isn't really an outdoor game, it's just the football stadium, which is mostly covered. So it's basically a more expensive version of a normal home game in the home arena, except you can't see what's going on as well?
3. The roof might even be closed because of rain. I think the scheduling - early March - would lead to a lot of people being hesitant to sign on. What if the weather sucks? Then it's REALLY not an outdoor game.

Ask yourself this: if you were in their shoes, given you don't care about the opponent, would you rather attend this game, or spend less money attending another game in the normal building? I'd rather watch a hockey game in a hockey arena.

EDIT: Also they did a really poor job at marketing the stuff people here apparently are confused about, i.e. the "game 100 years ago" which was actually the 1915 Stanley Cup finals.