The Senators this season are introducing a new ticket policy intended to "provide more flexibility" for fans, according to Mark Sutcliffe of the OTTAWA CITIZEN. The Senators "used to exercise tight control over single-ticket sales, releasing them a few months at a time as part of their strategy to push season tickets and multi-game packages." Now, if you "want to purchase seats for a game in March, you don’t have to wait until January for the tickets to go on sale." Senators CEO Cyril Leeder said, “You get to a point where you really have to make really tough decisions on the business side and put a real focus on the fans. We decided to go above and beyond from the perspective of ticket packages and benefits.” The Senators worked with a company called Hidden Truths to “learn more about their fans” and “gain a better understanding of the mindset of their customers.” The team learned its fans were "more compelled to buy tickets based on the experience in the arena than the game itself." Leeder: “It’s not about the wins and losses. They weren’t telling us, ‘I go to a game to watch hockey,’ because they can do that at home.” The Senators “learned crucial information that helped them plan everything from entertainment to ticket packages for the new season.” Leeder said that the team “will now focus on making each of its 41 home games a different entertainment experience.” Season-ticket holders will receive "unique personal experiences as an incentive to renew." Longtime customers "will get to choose from a list of more than 60 benefits, including sitting in the penalty box during warm-ups or attending a dinner with team captain Daniel Alfredsson.” In the past, “if you wanted to buy a ticket package for five or 10 games, you had to choose from defined combinations of marquee matchups and less-popular games.” The new policy allows fans to “pick the games you want and pay on a monthly basis.” The Senators finished last season with the "equivalent of about 10,200 season tickets." Leeder predicts that the team “will exceed that number by the time the first home game is played on October 11” (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 9/11).
