Ottawa Attendance Woes

[Jimmy Pop]

Location of the arena?  Middling team on the ice?  Blue Jays fever?

Whatever it is, they aren't buying tickets in Ottawa. 17,600 and 18,200 announced for their first 2 home games this year.  Apparently those are generous figures, and came with the Habs and Leafs in town, which used to be guaranteed sell-outs.  Currently the CTC seats 18,700 without standing room.  

Them comes yesterday's game vs AZ. Announced crowd of 11,061.  That's ugly.

Clearly there's many other US markets not doing so well, and far worse off than Ott....but I wonder if long-term there's any worry about Ottawa's future?

http://www.ottawasun.com/2016/10/18/attendance-a-growing-concern-for-senators

Edited October 19, 2016 by Jimmy Pop
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[FrostyWinnipeg]

17,6 18,2 fine but 11?

If it people who show up thats fine but what are the actual tickets sold. Thats all that matters to me.

Edited October 19, 2016 by FrostyWinnipeg

[Noeller]

Unable to sell out their home opener vs the Leafs has to be troubling....

[Atomic]

I don't know if any of you are from Ottawa or if you've ever been there but it's a city full of total DUDS.  I don't know if it's all the politicians or what, but it is the least fun city with the least fun people.  I've been tempted to revise that opinion since the revival of the REDBLACKS but this just reinforces it for me.  I spent a significant amount of time in Ottawa and it was just.... boring.

[JCon]

11 minutes ago, Atomic said:

I don't know if any of you are from Ottawa or if you've ever been there but it's a city full of total DUDS.  I don't know if it's all the politicians or what, but it is the least fun city with the least fun people.  I've been tempted to revise that opinion since the revival of the REDBLACKS but this just reinforces it for me.  I spent a significant amount of time in Ottawa and it was just.... boring.

The temporary revival of the REDBLACKS. With Ottawa, I cannot believe this will be long term.

That arena is in a terrible spot, which doesn't help, and the city has done nothing to help the process to get there.

 

[bustamente]

So its taken 20 years to figure out that they built the arena where people kept telling them not to build, so whose going to pay for a new arena that will cost upwards of 600m by the time they actual get it going in our nation's capitol?

[JCon]

1 hour ago, bustamente said:

So its taken 20 years to figure out that they built the arena where people kept telling them not to build, so whose going to pay for a new arena that will cost upwards of 600m by the time they actual get it going in our nation's capitol?

No, everyone knew it was a terrible place to build. This is not new.

Tickets sales and attendance have been an issue in Ottawa for ages. Now, they're competing with the RBs.

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, Atomic said:

I don't know if any of you are from Ottawa or if you've ever been there but it's a city full of total DUDS.  I don't know if it's all the politicians or what, but it is the least fun city with the least fun people.  I've been tempted to revise that opinion since the revival of the REDBLACKS but this just reinforces it for me.  I spent a significant amount of time in Ottawa and it was just.... boring.

I lived 2 - 3 years in Ottawa...   what I found is that a lot of the city has people who are purely workaholics/business oriented and they tend to focus on work and keep to themselves.  A lot of people I worked with had no kids and really were not really into going out and having fun. 

I remember how one radio station was trying to get a petition going to get concerts to stop by to Ottawa since they never get any of the big acts.  It's amazing how much more concerts and other arts come to Winnipeg compared to Ottawa.

When I lived there during the Sens cup run the town was really big into the team.... up until they lost.   I went to the airport to see the team when they came back expecting that their would be festivities and a big group of fans gathering....  their was maybe 100 people if that.

For hockey ,  it was mostly Leafs fans,  followed by Habs fans from Gatineau and a small minority actually cared about the Sens.

The arena is good and it's not that hard to access it,   my guess is that people just don't give a crap because the city is full of fair weather fans and the older more rich folks are stuck up and just don't leave the house.     

Their only hope would be to be like the Redblacks and move somewhere centralized and where they can attract the younger university/college kids (the only people in town who like to have fun). 

 

[Ducky]

Well, they've put 5000 more in their seats than we have so what is the worry.....the no sell out on the opener with TO in town has to concern them though.

[bustamente]

There problem seems to mirror the Coyotes in the sense where they think the fix to attendance woes would be a new arena downtown, but exactly who is going to put up the money to build an arena to replace a practical 20 year old building.

[Goalie]

1 hour ago, Ducky said:

Well, they've put 5000 more in their seats than we have so what is the worry.....the no sell out on the opener with TO in town has to concern them though.

Because 11000 in a 18000 seat arena is bad. 15000 plus here is more than they drew last night. 

[Jimmy Pop]

Even 5+ years later the Jets are still a relatively tough ticket to get.  Yes, yes I know they are resales on stubhub.  And I'm sure the tickets released on gameday aren't gobbled up quite as quickly, but by in large we still pack 99% of that place - not in tickets sold, but butts in the seats.  Long term, Jets are in fine shape - at least until 2030 or something when MTSC needs an upgrade. 

I think Wade and the Bombers are sweating a tad when it comes to their ticket sales.  You just can't create demand when you play in a 33,500 seat stadium and only have 25,000 diehard football fans willing to shell out $$$.  Even the Kanata location of Ott's arena is a good comparable to the Bombers.  Anyone from the west side of Wpg will tell you the U of M might as well be in a different city.  I know too many west siders who haven't gotten seasons at IGF because of the commute. 

[Ducky]

Oh wow, I didn't see that...11,000 is VERY poor from a Canadian city of that size...of any size really.