Canucks COO Victor de Bonis yesterday said that season-ticket renewal rates "are down after a disappointing season" that saw both President & GM Mike Gillis and coach John Tortorella fired, according to Brad Ziemer of the VANCOUVER SUN. But de Bonis said that the ticket renewals are "not down as dramatically as some feared they might be." de Bonis: "We are down, but it’s hard to say how much we are down because we are still in the renewal process. It is quite a complicated process because we have full season-ticket holders, half-season-ticket holders and quarter-pack members. I would say we are probably about five per cent down from where we’d like to be normally.” He added that the team is "going through its season-ticket waiting list, which numbered about 2,000, but expects ticket packages will be available to the general public." In fact, the Canucks this week are "launching an advertising campaign -- called Change is Coming -- to attract new season-ticket holders." The Canucks "ended last season with a sellout streak of 473 games, the second longest in professional sports." That streak "began way back on Nov. 14, 2002." However, late last season there were "lots of empty seats at Rogers Arena and de Bonis attributed that to ticket-holders who weren’t using their tickets." But de Bonis said that he is "confident the team can keep its sellout streak intact." Under new President of Hockey Operations Trevor Linden, the Canucks have "reached out to their season-ticket holders in a big way this off-season." The team has had "five town hall meetings with season-ticket holders" where Linden, de Bonis and new GM Jim Benning have answered questions. About 6,000 fans are "expected to attend what de Bonis called a 'season-ticket member summit' on July 9 at Rogers Arena" (VANCOUVER SUN, 6/25).
