Do the Recent Signings get Butts in the Seats this Year?

[JayUp88 1]

I'm trying my best to go to home opener but my work schedule might say otherwise.

Good luck, if they are playing the Leafs I don't think there will be any chance of getting a ticket.

[Guest mindfly]

No offence but I think people in detroit would have loved to see someone rolston or any other american and canadians... don't think the average american like the europeans in their team as much as north american players.. Just my 2.

[Opie 308]

No offence but I think people in detroit would have loved to see someone rolston or any other american and canadians... don't think the average american like the europeans in their team as much as north american players.. Just my 2.

I disagree only to this extend, people don't give a s*** what nationality you are if you are a winner, things like nationality, style of play, height, all of that s*** goes out the window if you find a way to win.

Winning supersedes everything else, I think Lids is more revered in Detroit than Shanny.

It is all about what have you done for me (general statement not me specifically), if you win for me, I love you, you lose and you are a soft Euro!

[Hank 0]

Ok,

I have to say, I'm absolutely amazed we got Hossa coming in next year. I am so excited. I was about to leave from work and a guy at his cubicle says, "Hey Dave, check this out..." and he has the article with a headline "Hossa signs with Detroit for 7.4 million". At first I was like, "What did you do, alter it in word or something?" I totally didn't believe it.

Then I saw it on freep.com and was like "wow, if we don't cause some serious damage in the playoffs next year, there's something wrong.

Anyways, do you think that these recent signings will bring some butts back to the seats in the regular season games, or do you think with the economy the way it is and hockey not being a big deal until the 4th round of the playoffs around here, it won't matter?

I definitely think Hossa is a big enough name around these parts that it will help sell tickets.

But I will go to the grave saying that if Illitch wants to make sure the Joe is sold out every night he absolutely must bring in a North American offensive star. A guy like Nash, Staal or even a younger budding forward like Jeff Carter.

I work in Detroit with several Wings fans in my building and I can't tell you how many of them have said they want more North American stars on the team.

Opie, normally I agree with you, but not in this instance. We went to the Conference Finals last year and we still couldn't sell out. And this year, tickets were available up till the SC finals.

It's not a coincidence that tickets became available once Stevie retired and Shanny went to NY.

Up until then, the Wings had failed to get past the 2nd round in 4 straight seasons and the Joe was still full.

And nobody can tell me it's a financial thing. The Tigers broke records for ticket sales while the Pistons, Lions and Wolverines all didn't have the same issues the Wings did.

Edited July 3, 2008 by Hank

[ManLuv4Clears 7]

There are a number of reasons for the empty seats, that said you can't attribute just one and say "This is the reason people aren't going." There are a lot of good posts in this thread identifying reasons for the lack of sell outs. There are some people that aren't going to go because they're being more money conscious with this rough economy, there are people that aren't going to go because they can't relate to Europeans, there are people that won't go because they're fair weather fans, and there are people that won't go because the Wings aren't as physical a team as they've been in the past. All of these factors will make a difference in ticket sales. With the high prices of tickets, one has to justify the dollar for dollar entertainment value for going to a game. I went to 8 games this year and will probably do the same next season, but I like many of you consider myself a diehard fan. The LGW board members don't populate all of metro Detroit, if we did, hypothetically speaking, more games would sell out.

[Hank 0]

Nope, Crosby wouldn't fill the seats in Detroit. Unless companies move back to Michigan, and gas drops 2 dollars.

I'm trying my best to go to home opener but my work schedule might say otherwise.

I'm sorry, but I really have to disagree with this. If we had Crosby there wouldn't be an empty seat at the Joe for as long as he played with us.

Everyone is pointing out various reasons but none of them fly. The ticket prices have been basically the same over the past 10 years.

A great majority of ticket owners have always been corporately owned or bought up by brokers and yet we had 450 consecutive sellouts.

Again, I will point out the fact that it's no coincidence that the streak ended after Stevie retired and Shanny moved on.

We've never won more in the regular season or playoffs in the past two seasons and yet there have never been more empty seats.

People forget that the community here is a vast, vast minority of the fans the Wings draw. People on this site would watch the Wings every game if it had the Leafs roster.

But I would guess that 90% of the fans that do show up at the Joe aren't of the LGW variety. I can't tell you how many times I've heard questions like "Is Dallas a good team?", "Who's #93 on our team?", "Are we going to make the playoffs this year?". And this is in the nose-bleed where the 'real' fans are supposed to sit.

People relate to athletes that are comparable to them.

Stop making up excuses that don't fly. Every sports team in this town hasn't had an issue getting people out to games - only the Wings.

And you could make an easy argument that the Wings have been a lot more successful in the past 2 years than any of those teams. And yet, the Wings are the ones with the ticket woes.

Don't you think that the Wolverines, Tigers, Pistons or Lions have a great majority of their tickets owned by corporations or brokers? That doesn't seem to bother them.

The Wings need a North American star. Plain and simple. And if we were ever lucky enough to get a Crosby or Lecavailer you would instantly see a sea of Red-and-White jerseys with the #87 or #4 on their backs at the Joe.

[Opie 308]

I definitely think Hossa is a big enough name around these parts that it will help sell tickets.

But I will go to the grave saying that if Illitch wants to make sure the Joe is sold out every night he absolutely must bring in a North American offensive star. A guy like Nash, Staal or even a younger budding forward like Jeff Carter.

I work in Detroit with several Wings fans in my building and I can't tell you how many of them have said they want more North American stars on the team.

Opie, normally I agree with you, but not in this instance. We went to the Conference Finals last year and we still couldn't sell out. And this year, tickets were available up till the SC finals.

It's not a coincidence that tickets became available once Stevie retired and Shanny went to NY.

Up until then, the Wings had failed to get past the 2nd round in 4 straight seasons and the Joe was still full.

And nobody can tell me it's a financial thing. The Tigers broke records for ticket sales while the Pistons, Lions and Wolverines all didn't have the same issues the Wings did.

I would wager that it is also not a coincidence that the Sell out record fell at the same time as the economy which also happened the same time Stevie and Shanny walked away.

I think there are a lot more factors to the empty seats than just what nationality the players are. The league is almost a 50 -50 split, plus the wings still have players like Cleary, Draper, Stuart, Chelios, Maltby there are almost as many NA's as Euro's it just happens to be that Detroit has more Euro's than other teams and was really the first to bring in numerous Euro's that people focus on. It is not like the team is 100% European.

I tend to believe (thus making it my opinion not fact) that the economy, loss of jobs, and loss of companies to fill in the lower bowl has cost them more in attendance than the fact that they have a European captain or a mass of Europeans. Look at the parade, it was a free event, did they have a hard time bringing people in to cheer for those Euro's then, or were people screaming just as hard for a Euro 'C' and Euro Conn Smythe as they had when it was Yzerman.

Well Yzerman may have been a bad example because he is, for all intense and purposes, a son of Detroit, he is as big as Gordie Howe, and some day we could be saying that about Lids, Dats, Z, hell even Hossa if he stays long term on the cheap and wins in Detroit he will be a Detroit legend because he walked away from millions upon millions to be a part of what has become the best Org in pro sports! ( I love the way my Sox are being run, and the Pats, but they don't come close!)

EDIT:

Just read your second post, the only thing I can see that separates the Wings from the Pistons and other pro sports teams (you can't include college, their fans have completely different sets of loyalties and a good chunk are students) is that the NHL just had a lock out, coincidently just before the economy collapse and the departure of Yzerman and Shanny, that cost the league thousands, if not millions of fans across the country, that is a major difference.

I think you are not giving enough credit to the other factors, and it appears (no insult meant here) that you are subscribing to the out of date, Don Cherry type of thinking.

There was a point in time where people of Color were not seen as athletes that "Americans" can relate to, but what people forget is the only people who are native to this country got forced off of their lands many many years ago, we are all decedents of Europe and more and more people move to this country from Europe every year (well they were until the Dollar began to plummet).

This is not the 80's and these players are not coming from Soviet Russia. Times my friend they are a changing, I will give you that fighting would draw a crowd, it is entertainment for sure, but I don't buy that a Euro heavy team that is winning Championships isn't selling out its venue soley because there are not enough NA'S!!!

Edited July 3, 2008 by Opie

[ManLuv4Clears 7]

Good posts both Hank and Opie

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Ridiculous prices, European players, and spoiled jaded fans are the reason the Joe has so many empty seats. Add to that all the corporate seats that are sold. I don't think it's any one reason more than another, but instead it's a combination of all those reasons.

[Guest mindfly]

Hmm whats with the economy in the U.S? is it only in michigan state or nationwide? here in sweden it's the same economic state and its been like this for 15 years...

I think of a few reasons hmm:

Is it because the dollar isnt worth anything compared to years back? We pay like not even 6kronor for 1$ a few years ago it was like 11kr for 1$ so everything is ALOT cheaper and we import boats, cars to sweden like never before...

The gas price finally gets "normal" in the U.S as well? we pay almost 14kr for 1L, 1Gallon = 3.78L, 14kr = 2.33$, so we pay almost 9$ for 1Gallon here in sweden..still its alot cheaper in the U.S, be happy!

What else has happend with the economy in Michigan ??? I wonder

Edited July 3, 2008 by mindfly

[Jwo 7]

Anyways, do you think that these recent signings will bring some butts back to the seats in the regular season games, or do you think with the economy the way it is and hockey not being a big deal until the 4th round of the playoffs around here, it won't matter?

Butts will start filling into the seat when A.) The economy gets better or B.) Red Wings tickets cost $6-10 for regular season games like the Pistons and Tigers games and $10 for playoffs like the Pistons playoff games.

Hmm whats with the economy in the U.S? is it only in michigan state or nationwide? here in sweden it's the same economic state and its been like this for 15 years...

I think of a few reasons hmm:

Is it because the dollar isnt worth anything compared to years back? We pay like not even 6kronor for 1$ a few years ago it was like 11kr for 1$ so everything is ALOT cheaper and we import boats, cars to sweden like never before...

The gas price finally gets "normal" in the U.S as well? we pay almost 14kr for 1L, 1Gallon = 3.78L, 14kr = 2.33$, so we pay almost 9$ for 1Gallon here in sweden..still its alot cheaper in the U.S, be happy!

What else has happend with the economy in Michigan ??? I wonder

Michigan only has one industry that feeds the state and that is The Automotive industry (Chrysler, Ford, General Motors) and that industry has been going downhill for awhile.

Edited July 3, 2008 by Jwo