The NHL Jets are opting for a “random draw to sell what few tickets remain to their games” for the ’11-12 season, according to Tim Campbell of the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS. The draw will allow for a “fair and equal distribution of tickets to the 41 regular-season home games.” Those who are “successfully drawn can ‘win’ only once during the coming season.” The winner will be “sent a code to open access to either two tickets for a single game, or single tickets to two games.” The actual sale of tickets to “draw winners will take place starting the third Saturday of each month for the next month’s tickets.” The team sold 13,000 season tickets in June and “took a waiting list of 8,000 for their 15,003-seat MTS Centre.” True North Sports & Entertainment President & CEO Jim Ludlow Friday said that the Jets “anticipate an average of 600 tickets will be available through the drawing for each game.” Ludlow: “We thought the first-come, first-served method tended to favour some people who are getting to the front of the line all the time.” He added that more than 50% of the tickets that will be available “will be in the upper-deck P7 sections.” The team also "has chosen to follow the lead of numerous other NHL clubs by introducing a variable-pricing policy for its individual-game sales" (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 9/17). Ludlow said, “There’s lot of supply and demand economics at play here.” In Winnipeg, Ted Wyman reported starting today, “fans can also purchase individual tickets through the team’s ticket exchange program.” Those will be tickets “returned to the team by season ticket holders who cannot use them.” The tickets will be “re-sold at a cost no higher than the price of individual tickets through Ticketmaster” (WINNIPEG SUN, 9/17).
A WARM WELCOME: The WINNIPEG SUN's Wyman noted some 1,500 people attended the Jets’ “first practice of their first NHL training camp at MTS IcePlex” Saturday. The "parking lot was full and so were the stands." For many in attendance, “this was about making a first impression on players who are moving from a big American city in the hot south, to the smallest, coldest-weather market in the NHL.” Jets RW Chris Thorburn, who played for the Thrasher for four seasons, said, “It was nothing that I’ve ever experienced before in my pro days. To come here and get this kind of reception says a lot about the city and the organization as a whole” (WINNIPEG SUN, 9/17). Meanwhile, YAHOO SPORTS' Greg Wyshynski reported fans at Saturday night’s Pearl Jam concert at MTS Centre “broke out into a ‘Go Jets Go!’ chant during one of the encores” (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/18).
LOOKING AHEAD: In Boston, Kevin Paul Dupont writes, “I really like the new logo the Jets developed for their return to Winnipeg. … From an overall NHL business model, I don’t like the geographic/market size fit for a franchise in Manitoba. But I envy the hockey passion that fills every square inch of Canada.” Meanwhile, Dupont noted the NHL, NBC, and Comcast "all say they are committed to giving the game the best TV presence it has ever had in the US." Dupont: "Ok, so it took a mere 50 years to get that kind of traction. We’re going to be hearing a lot of Doc Emrick, and that’s always a good thing” (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/19).
