The Carolina Hurricanes are getting ready to unleash a final marketing blitz in advance of their first season in Raleigh, N.C., and should find out over the next three months if hockey can sell in a community that never really asked for a team.
Playing the last two seasons at the Greensboro Coliseum — more than an hour's drive from Raleigh — the team found itself at the very bottom of NHL attendance. Despite winning a division title, the average dipped to 8,108 per game last season, nearly 1,000 fans below 1997-98's paltry totals.
Published reports estimate that the team has lost more than $50 million since moving from Hartford, Conn., in the summer of 1997.
The Hurricanes will not reveal how many season tickets they have sold for the coming season, leading to speculation that the team may face another tough time at the box office. But Dean Jordan, president of the holding company that owns the Hurricanes and several other hockey facilities and teams, said the difference between Greensboro and Raleigh will be "like night and day." The team does not expect to be anywhere near the bottom of NHL attendance rankings again, he said.
"We haven't pegged a number on attendance because we don't want to fall into that trap," Jordan said. "We're in the middle of a long-range plan here. If we sell out every game here, that's great. If we don't, we're not going to be disappointed."
Jordan even said the team has a chance of being profitable as early as this season.
The Hurricanes have already sold almost all of their 61 luxury boxes and plan to add 10 more next season. Sprint Corp., Hardee's restaurants and local Dodge dealers are among a half-dozen major sponsors signed by the club.
But the team is still dealing with the fallout of moving to North Carolina without the presence of pre-existing community support.
While many cities attract teams with huge petitions and years of legwork by local ownership groups, the Hurricanes arrived mostly on the back of a lucrative arena deal that was waved in front of Peter Karmanos, the Michigan computer magnate who bought the Hartford Whalers in 1994.
A new facility was already under construction for the North Carolina State basketball team, and the hockey team agreed to put up just $20 million more to add some amenities. The Hurricanes then signed a long-term lease that gave the team complete control of the arena and all its revenue streams for $2.7 million per year.
But the welcome wagon ended there. With no regional sports network in the Carolinas, the team struggled to find a television partner, eventually settling on one of the worst television contracts of any team in the NHL, with only 50 games being aired last season.
The team also was virtually ignored in its interim home of Greensboro. Team officials later admitted that they were not aware of the strong rivalries that existed between Raleigh and Greensboro but said the team really had no other place to go.
And then the sweet arena deal soured, with the team ultimately covering $10 million in cost overruns in order to get the arena completed by its planned Oct. 29 opening date.
Still, there have been bright spots. Local media and business leaders have shown strong support for the Hurricanes, with the area chamber of commerce reportedly steering its members to buy tickets or luxury suites.
But it may take some time for that to spill over to consumers.
"I think there is probably more media coverage than there is general interest at this point," said Ned Barrett, a sports columnist for Raleigh's daily newspaper, The News and Observer. "There's a fair number of transplants from the North who are delighted to have the team here. Whether it is connecting with people who have always lived in the area, I don't think they've bridged that gap yet."
Barrett said most people figure that plenty of single-game tickets will be available, so few see a reason to buy season tickets.
Practically acknowledging that a large season-ticket base may still be a few years away, the Hurricanes adopted the marketing slogan "You'll Know When You Go" last season, encouraging people to sample NHL hockey and then take the next step.
The slogan will return in the coming weeks when the team unleashes a massive print, radio and television advertising campaign. "We spent a lot of time trying to come up with the right way to describe [hockey]," Jordan said. "When you get right down to it, everyone says that once you go, you'll be hooked."
For a team entering a new market, the Hurricanes are taking a relatively gimmick-free approach to selling season tickets. There are no major giveaways or discount offers, and the contract of NASCAR legend Richard Petty as a team spokesman has not been renewed.
With the team counting on people's first hockey experiences to be positive ones, Jordan said a major focus will be placed on customer service within the arena. Part-time employees will receive extensive hospitality training and also be empowered to make certain spot decisions in order to satisfy patrons. If a fan complains that someone spilled a soda on his or her shirt, for instance, the usher won't need to call over a supervisor while the fan waits in frustration. Instead, the arena employee can immediately bring the fan to the team shop to select a new shirt free of charge.
"It may cost us $20 for a T-shirt, but we then have a fan for life," Jordan said.
