Blue Jacket Blues

I received an interesting email today from the Columbus Blue Jackets. I’ve been on their mailing list for a couple of years after buying tickets from their website, but haven’t unsubscribed as I enjoy getting some of their offers. For example, last month, I received an offer of a lower bowl ticket, a pre-game buffet in the club section and a beer in their in-arena pub after the game. All of this could be had for the low price of $50. I don’t think you could have the buffet for $50 in Calgary.

Today, however, I received a different type of email from the Blue Jackets, and one I’m glad we won’t be receiving in Calgary anytime soon. The email, with a subject line of “Important Question,” talked about how the Blue Jackets and Nationwide are working with local officials for a solution to their economic problems. It then asks you to complete a survey, which is being conducted on their behalf by Business First of Columbus. The survey consists of a single question: “How Important Is It That Columbus Retains the Blue Jackets Hockey Franchise?” I can’t imagine what it would be like to get an email from the Flames asking how important it was to me that they stay in town.

The email speaks volumes about what is happening in the NHL right now. Most of the talk recently has been around the Phoenix Coyotes and their financial troubles and the discussion of the viability of hockey franchises is usually confined to the Sunbelt locations. It is usually assumed that the teams in the North are safe and can survive without any problems. When one of these so-called “northern” teams is sending their fans an email asking if the franchise is important, you know something is rotten in the City of Columbus.

I attended a Blue Jackets game in 2008 against the Flames. The game was fairly late in the season, and the Blue Jackets were already effectively eliminated from the playoffs, but the arena was about three-quarters full. The problem for the Blue Jackets isn’t getting fans into the building; it’s getting them to pay more to do so. We sat in the lower bowl, three rows behind the Flames bench with tickets that cost less than $50. The same tickets in the Saddledome would cost at least three times that much.

Here in lies what I believe to be the problem with many of the teams in the NHL. The attendance problems in Phoenix are well documented, but people often point to some successful franchises were attendance is ‘good,’ like Carolina or Tampa. Yes, there may be a lot of fans in the building, but their ticket prices are so low, they are at a serious disadvantage economically compared to teams in Vancouver, Philadelphia or New York, and this doesn’t take into account the fact that their TV audiences are almost non-existent. While the Phoenix situation seems to have been resolved temporarily with a sale to the NHL, it hasn’t. Attendance in Phoenix has plummeted to even lower levels, and those fans in attendance are hardly paying anything to be there. Their problems will come to the surface again, and the next time the Coyotes are the top story, I would expect a few other franchises to be right there with them.


-TheRev