The Winnipeg Jets need to "become a better organization, to come up with more affordable pricing models, to do whatever they can to get people back in the seats” amid declining season-ticket sales, according to Ted Wyman of the WINNIPEG SUN. The Jets “capitalized on the excitement of their return" in 2011 and "didn’t need to lift a finger to sell NHL hockey in this market for 10 years.” The hockey, the brand and the fan atmosphere in the Canada Life Centre "all sold themselves.” But the Jets now “need to change the way they do things.” They "need to win over the business community” and they “need to find a way to make their product more affordable and appealing for the average fan.” The “remnants of that stinging pain" when the Jets left Winnipeg in 1996 have "returned like a dormant virus in recent days.” Jets co-owner and Chair Mark Chipman sounded the "alarm over lagging attendance and poor season-ticket numbers," and it is “clearly a dire warning: NHL hockey in Winnipeg cannot be sustained without a stronger season ticket base.” However, no amount of "finger pointing at the business community, the individual fans, the dangerous downtown after dark, the expensive tickets and concessions or even the owners themselves is going to change that” (WINNIPEG SUN, 2/25).
LOOKING AT THE POSITIVES: THE HOCKEY NEWS' Adam Proteau wrote talks of attendance issues for the Jets “must be deeply concerning to the team’s fan base," but there is "still a lot to be hopeful about." Proteau wrote he is “not anywhere close to convinced the Jets are in imminent danger of leaving.” Playing for the Jets “gives you access to, and the support of, some of the friendliest, most passionate fans in the game.” The Jets’ "Whiteout" in the stands and their "chants of 'true north' make the Winnipeg market one of the most ferocious in all of hockey." While there are "attendance issues right now, there’s no good reason why the city can’t re-embrace the team in their hour of need." Hearing the Jets’ troubles this week "raises a red flag in many respects," but there are "too many good things about Winnipeg as an NHL city to expect a relocation anytime soon" (THE HOCKEY NEWS, 2/23).
HOUSTON HOCKEY: Proteau in a separate piece wrote bringing a team to Houston “would be a low-risk, high-reward move for the NHL.” When the AHL Aeros were in operation in Houston, they “consistently finished in the top 10 in the league in attendance," so the "potential box-office impact of an NHL team in Houston cannot be easily underestimated” (THE HOCKEY NEWS, 2/23). In Houston, Greg Rajan noted the city celebrated in inaugural “Hockey Day in Houston” on Saturday. The event was a collaboration between the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, the Houston chapter of Hockey Players in Business and other local organizations. Saturday’s festivities at Saint Arnold Brewery included NHL games being "shown on the venue’s large screens" and a "free youth street hockey clinic" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/22).
