Again, we turn to Yahoo! Sports for an update.
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WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP)—Fans in Winnipeg are showing just how excited they are to have NHL hockey back, helping the club hit its goal of 13,000 season tickets sold in a matter of minutes.
In announcing its purchase and relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers this week, True North Sports and Entertainment said it hoped to sell 13,000 season tickets before the NHL Board of Governors votes to approve the transaction on June 21.
The tickets sold out Saturday in just 17 minutes, but the company said the online queue was full in two minutes. The remaining 15 minutes were required to process the sales.
“While I had no doubt the ‘Drive to 13,000’ would reach its destination, the remarkable speed at which it got there certifies the fans’ hunger for NHL hockey and their commitment to True North’s initiatives,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.
For the previous three days, only the 2,000 or so fans who had season tickets to the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose could buy seats for the NHL team. As of Friday, those fans bought more than 7,100 season tickets.
All sales were conducted online.
“We would like to take a special moment to thank all of our fans in Winnipeg and Canada for their support over the past week, in particular, the overwhelming response of our fans which has resulted in a successful ‘Drive to 13,000’ campaign,” True North’s president and CEO, Jim Ludlow, said in a statement.
The ticket packages available were for three, four and five seasons. Ludlow said the ticket campaign was a key ingredient to ensuring the viability to NHL hockey in Manitoba. The unnamed club was bought by True North from owners in Atlanta earlier this week.
With all 13,000 season tickets sold, there will be just over 2,000 tickets remaining for each home game. MTS Centre is the NHL’s smallest arena, holding just over 15,000 people.
But unlike the old Winnipeg Arena, where the Winnipeg Jets used to play before they for left Phoenix in 1996, MTS Centre has corporate suites, ranging in price from $105,000 to $197,000 a season.
True North also started an official membership-only-based waiting list for any season tickets that become available, which will require a fee to join. That waiting list filled its 8,000 spots in a few hours on Saturday.
“We look forward to seeing everyone this fall at MTS Centre for opening night of regular-season NHL hockey in Winnipeg.”
Ludlow didn’t provide any hints about what the new team will be called nor exactly when the name will be announced, but he said it won’t be long.
Many fans would like to see the return of the Jets name.
Scott Brown, a spokesman for True North, said the company will try to make it up to fans who couldn’t purchase season tickets.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to satisfy those people through some events that we’ll hold and notifications that we’ll have for them in terms of when tickets that become available, in terms of individual games and season tickets,” he said.
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Loosetoon brought up an excellent point in a previous post's comments. The Thrashers had similar early success by selling out of the season ticket allotment early. So by no means do this guarantee success in Winnipeg. There are many more factors than just ticket sales. Still, I hope the franchise is success in a new city. At minimum, the season tickets being sold out drives another nail in the coffin of the Atlanta Thrashers. That much is clear.
We shall see if Winnipeg listened to my suggestions for names or if my prediction of a return of the Jets name is correct.
If they do go Jets, PLEASE change the logo. I'm not against the original at all, it was a great logo. I like the one they used at the time of their retirement best pictured below.
I just want to restate my concern with using the same name for two different franchises. If this new team is a disaster, stays at the bottom of the conference for years or something, that would sting and damage the image and memories of the old Jets. Create a new persona to build to the legacy, but also protect the past.
Again, please change the logo if the Jets name comes back. Don't do what the AHL then ECHL Utah Grizzlies did. Two different franchises completely. Two different leagues. Two different owners. But you would never know it by looking at the names OR THE F-ING LOGOS.
You know who else did that? The Charlotte Checkers. Similar deal, but far more complicated. One franchise from the ECHL was replaced the next year by a AHL team of the same name. See, the ECHL Checkers bought the River Rats of the AHL, relocated them to Charlotte, and dissolved the ECHL team, but kept the name. So, it's the same owners of a new team in a different minor league. What the hell is going on here? Let's look at the logos.
Doesn't exactly scream new start, new horizons, different things going on here. It hurts to think about, doesn't it? It's a new team, but it looks the same. But it's new. No, it's not.
Change the damn name. Find a new logo. Draw the line in the sand and feel free to straddle that line with your love for both teams. You can have your cake and eat it too! Don't just take the old logo, pull it up in Microsoft Paint, and use the paint can to change the colors around. It irritates and confuses me while blending two franchises that are not the same thing. And don't do what the New York Islanders did. Don't promise change and underdeliver. They "updated" their logo to show their movement forward. Let's look at the before and after.
That's not a revamp. That's a tweek. You added a stripe on the stick (I get it, to symbolize the four Stanley Cup Championships) and changed the colors to reflect more of the old color scheme while removing the outer blue perimeter. I guess you are little shy about trying to find a new primary logo after Gordon's fishman from 1995-1997.
At least Winnipeg has a history of creating new logos that are both new but hold true to the originals. See?
I have faith that Winnipeg will make the right decision and either A) Not go with the Jets name or, more likely B) use the name but change the logo so it is immediately discerable from previous Jets logos. I will not be a happy camper if one of those designs turns up with a brighter paint job. It was excuseable for the Islanders to do it because it's the same team so it's okay to identify them under either logo. I just use them as an example because they really did hype up a new logo for a long time and gave us that. Really? Lame.
For the record, I am also against minor league teams using the same names as their parent organizations, and I am especially against minor league teams having the exact same logo as their major counterpart. Devils, Flames, Senators, Sharks, Rangers, MLB Braves. I'm immediately thinking of your children scattered across the minors. There are others, but those I can immediately picture without having having to do any more research tonight.
What was this post suppose to be about? Oh yeah. Season ticket sales in Manitoba.
Congratulations Winnipeg. That is an amazing feat to reach 13,000 season tickets so quickly in a city significantly smaller than most others, including Atlanta. Really, quite impressive given the fact that it looks like those were 3-5 year contracts for tickets too, not just year one. If the team must move, I hope it is successful. I do not agree with the new idea that the Phoenix Coyotes will fold in a year or two and then a group in Atlanta will buy the group and Atlanta will have NHL hockey in 2012 or 2013.
Give me a break. Really? Do you really think, first of all, a buyer will step forward after all of this? And if so, do you think the NHL will give Atlanta a franchise back that quickly? No chance.
There's a petition going around and one of the claims is "expansion and not relocation is the answer". I disagree. I think that the league has to prove it can maintain the success of 30 teams before thinking of expansion (I would assume to 36 teams in cities like Quebec, Portland, Seattle, New Orleans, Baltimore, or Salt Lake City, maybe MAYBE in an expansion, back to Atlanta).
Relocation is the answer for now. I hate that it had to happen to Atlanta, but maybe it will be for the best for the league. Phoenix, Florida, the Islanders and other weaker markets may think the bull'seye is on them next and the owners and fans will prove their worth so as to not lose their team. No one thought it could happen to them, but remember the Thrashers? They weren't even last in attendance and they moved. The rally begins, sales go up, fans grow the support, and the teams (and by default, the NHL) grow and become stronger. Can you imagine how great NHL hockey would be if ever city had a pumped up fan base that sold out almost every night?
Until next time.
-TTFN
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