The Predators expect attendance to "rise over the remaining 11 home games" as interest in the postseason race "peaks and there are limited distractions -- namely football -- on the local sporting landscape," according to Josh Cooper of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. The club returns from the Olympic break with a 25-24 record, and paid attendance at Bridgestone Arena was "averaging 15,232 per game with 1,146 comps." During last year's 48-game shortened season, the Predators "averaged 15,126 paid attendance and 1,904 comps." The "high point" was '11-12, when the "paid average was 15,971 and comps averaged just 629." Predators President & COO Sean Henry said that paid attendance is "slightly ahead of expectations this season." Henry: "There aren’t too many cities where a team is going to miss the playoffs coming out of a lockout and play to that type of capacity and in a portion of the season that normally is the softer side of the schedule for us. It’s pretty positive” (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 2/26).
JUST CHILL: In Columbus, Aaron Portzline notes the Blue Jackets have "notified some season-ticket holders in sections 209, 210 and 211 in Nationwide Arena ... that their tickets will see price increases over the next two seasons." The Blue Jackets in '99 gave ticketholders for the former ECHL Columbus Chill a "chance to buy NHL seats at a discounted price" in advance of the NHL team's inaugural '00-01 season. The club said that the aim of the new price increase is to "put those fans in line with those sitting around them who didn’t sign up under the Chill benefit." Blue Jackets VP/PR Todd Sharrock said that it will affect "roughly 160 accounts and more than 330 fans." Sharrock said that the club "wanted to reach fans early so they would have time to decide in advance of the season-ticket push for next season" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 2/26).
