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imisssergei

Where are the fans?

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I just finished watching the game tonight. I forget how it came up, but Ken said something, and then Mikey replied something like 'when are $1 dog nights coming back to the Joe?'

That made me wonder. With all the 'attendance problems' the Wings are having, why aren't there more giveaways?

I mean, they usually do one or two things every season, but nothing too exciting. The Yzerman banner, and possibly this ring they are about to giveaway are really the only things I can think of in recent history that I'd want.

Beyond that, I couldn't think of any team that was having attendance problems that wasn't doing a lot to get fans in the building. Check out the Florida Panther and Tampa Bay Lightning websites to see ticket prices and giveways, then look at Toronto and Detroit's sites.

See the stark differences?

I'm not saying people in Detroit aren't going to games because there are no freebies. Rather, I don't think that management is one bit concerned with the dip in attendance.

But why? That's something I don't understand. It's simple sales, Salesmenship 101. When times are tough, you have to take care of the customers you have. Remind them what it is that made them decide to spend their money with you in the first place. You don't survive in business with one time customers, it's your repeat customers that really make you successful.

So why aren't the Wings trying to get their share of the pie back? If nothing else offer some ticket deals; buy one get x% off the second, and make it worthwhile nothing shallow like 10% feels. Maybe take it a step further. Save 20% on the second ticket, 30% off the third, ect. In St. Louis, not only do they have a free food and beverage night, but the owner and his family serve.

I understand that maybe you don't want to give everything away for free. So how about a smart giveaway? Offer a free hot dog or pretzel with every ticket, maybe even two. Why? So people will buy a drink.

Anything would be nice. But it feels to me as if, being a fan, I'm getting spit on by the management. I usually go to 10 or so games a year. But with things getting tighter every single day, I have to really look at every dollar I spend. I need to get the most out of every penny. So I'm going to skip a few games this year, and do something else. I'll still watch, just wonder why the Wings are doing more to get people in the building. Maybe the cap is to blame. Afterall, the Wings used to spend $70+ million on payroll. Now they aren't much over $50. So I guess that means they can afford to loose a few ticket sales.

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There's been give aways at almost every home game this year. Tonight it was a Poster. Last game it was scrubs.

THere's

This season, come "Homer for the Holidays!" Give the Red

Wings fan in your life the perfect gift!

Your package includes:

One (1) ticket to three (3) Red Wings Games of your choice*

3 Food Vouchers (good for a slice of pizza and a pop or a hot dog and a pop)

A Red Wings knit winter hat

All for only $96 per person!

I'm not sure what more you may want. If people have no money they have no money.

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Guest DetroitBoy313

I was at the game tonight and had great seats! It was pretty much full to me.The economy is playing a HUGE role in ticket sales,even the Pistons are struggling in attendance this year.

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I'm no salesman, but with so many empty seats, you would think they would make more by lowering prices a bit. You don't lose anything by having more people in the building. In fact, the chance of food sales goes up.

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The fans are trying to afford a roof over their head andfood in their stomachs. The fact that Michigan is about to lose 90,000 more jobs in 2009 isn't going to make it any better.

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There are many factors that come into play here:

The first is complacency: The Wings have been winning for so long that it is just expected and no longer fresh and new like it was in the 90s after they had been mediocre at best for so long.

They also play in a more crowded market than they did ten years ago what with the Pistons and Tigers expected to contend every year. Before, they were the only thing to root for besides Barry Sanders and the still-lowly Lions.

People do not have the disposable income they had a decade ago either, but that will turn around eventually.

It is also the opponent. No one in Detroit is dying to see the Vancouver Canucks, or a handful of other teams for that matter. If they were playing Toronto, Montreal, or Chicago, something tells me there would not be an empty seat in the house.

You also have to consider the fact that they play so many games that are next to meaningless, especially this early in the season. Why go watch someone you don't care about now when you can wait for the end of the season or playoffs when the games mean something?

We are not Canada. I know people here love hockey, but Detroit like any other American city, is a football first and baseball second kind of town. After that, the NHL and NBA team must fight for thirds.

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Correct me if I am wrong, are the lower bowl seats not season tickets and are more than likely sold out anyway? So if they are sold and people know they cannot attend why not let someone use them that can go, who would not want to go to a Wings game? I do not live in Michigan and do not pretend to understand the economic pinch you all are in, I am just asking a question.

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I'm no salesman, but with so many empty seats, you would think they would make more by lowering prices a bit. You don't lose anything by having more people in the building. In fact, the chance of food sales goes up.

Oh they probably will eventually once local businesses start looking for ways to cut costs. All of those season tickets and club seats that make up for a lot of the empty seats at the Joe will be the first things to go. At that point, it will be time to lure the real actual fans back once the yuppy suits have backed out.

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Ticket prices man, i might not even make it to a game this year. On top of the ridicules ticket prices i have to pay to travel 300 miles and get a hotel room. If you dont buy your tickets 10 months in advanced you have to pay almost 30% extra with all these stupid ticket sales websites that buy them all up. To get tickets to the Chicaco 30th game in the lower bowl im looking at 140$ each. 280$ for tickets plus 300$ in expenses to get there. I'm talking 600$ to go see a 3 hour event at minimum.

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No need to worry folks, the Devils have played in front of empty seats for years despite winning three Cups. Not only that, they have to play in a way over-crowded market where they are the little fish in the big pond. Despite all of these obstacles, they decided to build a new arena right down the street that I would bet is still empty.

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:siren: In defense of my nonattendance.....1-1 1/2 hr. drive each way, gas, parking, tickets, food/beverage, souvenir + the fact that I only make minimum wage at my new job (my unemployment ran out). So when there is a game being played and I'm not chasing shopping carts at WalMart, I watch it on t.v. Still very much a WingNut.....just a BROKE one ! :nhl2:

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There's been give aways at almost every home game this year. Tonight it was a Poster. Last game it was scrubs.

THere's

This season, come "Homer for the Holidays!" Give the Red

Wings fan in your life the perfect gift!

Your package includes:

One (1) ticket to three (3) Red Wings Games of your choice*

3 Food Vouchers (good for a slice of pizza and a pop or a hot dog and a pop)

A Red Wings knit winter hat

All for only $96 per person!

I'm not sure what more you may want. If people have no money they have no money.

I'm looking really hard at a couple sets of those as Christmas presents for my wife. Shhhh. ;)

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Guest mindfly

Who cares if it's 18.000 or 20.066 at the joe? The red wing team is still playing on the ice :D

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The fans are trying to afford a roof over their head andfood in their stomachs. The fact that Michigan is about to lose 90,000 more jobs in 2009 isn't going to make it any better.

I understand that times are tough in Michigan right now, but I really don't know how far that can argument go anymore when the Pistons/Lions/Tigers still consistently sell out almost every game.

Are Michiganers just giving less and less a s*** about a hockey? Specifically the Wings? In all honestly, this lack of fan dilemma we have at the Joe started almost immediately after Stevie Y retired. Seems like hockey left Detroit with Steve stepped off the ice.

On a plus side, I do notice that Friday and especially Saturday games still get many fans at the Joe.

Edited by ShanahanMan

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There's been give aways at almost every home game this year. Tonight it was a Poster. Last game it was scrubs.

THere's

This season, come "Homer for the Holidays!" Give the Red

Wings fan in your life the perfect gift!

Your package includes:

One (1) ticket to three (3) Red Wings Games of your choice*

3 Food Vouchers (good for a slice of pizza and a pop or a hot dog and a pop)

A Red Wings knit winter hat

All for only $96 per person!

I'm not sure what more you may want. If people have no money they have no money.

$96 per person for a crappy seat, a 2oz soda, and a hot dog or slice of pizza? That's no deal. You can buy an individual ticket in a similar location, a large soda and 2 hot dogs or sodas, and not spend that. It's no deal.

And like I said before, give something away that people want!

Here is a example of a ticket deal. The Florida Panthers will give you a free ticket to a home game if you have never been to a game before. FREE.

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Correct me if I am wrong, are the lower bowl seats not season tickets and are more than likely sold out anyway? So if they are sold and people know they cannot attend why not let someone use them that can go, who would not want to go to a Wings game? I do not live in Michigan and do not pretend to understand the economic pinch you all are in, I am just asking a question.

I couldn't say for sure if lower bowl are all season tickets, but you can get lower bowl tickets you just have to pony up. I paid $80 each for the highest lower bowl seats against Tampa Bay last year.

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I understand that times are tough in Michigan right now, but I really don't know how far that can argument go anymore when the Pistons/Lions/Tigers still consistently sell out almost every game.

Are Michiganers just giving less and less a s*** about a hockey? Specifically the Wings? In all honestly, this lack of fan dilemma we have at the Joe started almost immediately after Stevie Y retired. Seems like hockey left Detroit with Steve stepped off the ice.

On a plus side, I do notice that Friday and especially Saturday games still get many fans at the Joe.

That's just plain wrong. The Lions last couple home games have been blacked out due to lack of ticket sales. Thanksgiving was almost blacked out too. They are projecting the rest of the home games to be blacked out as well.

The Pistons are also seeing a lull in attendance, and I'd like to see the numbers on the Tigers.

Yeah teh economy sucks. I'm just saying, everyone knows times are tough. When times are tough, you have to give your customers a break if you want to keep them.

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$96 per person for a crappy seat, a 2oz soda, and a hot dog or slice of pizza? That's no deal. You can buy an individual ticket in a similar location, a large soda and 2 hot dogs or sodas, and not spend that. It's no deal.

And like I said before, give something away that people want!

Here is a example of a ticket deal. The Florida Panthers will give you a free ticket to a home game if you have never been to a game before. FREE.

You get tickets to 3 games, not just 1.

I'm thinking I might do this for Christmas presents, but I haven't decided...

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That's just plain wrong. The Lions last couple home games have been blacked out due to lack of ticket sales. Thanksgiving was almost blacked out too. They are projecting the rest of the home games to be blacked out as well.

The Pistons are also seeing a lull in attendance, and I'd like to see the numbers on the Tigers.

Yeah teh economy sucks. I'm just saying, everyone knows times are tough. When times are tough, you have to give your customers a break if you want to keep them.

The Lions lack of attendance has only been of recent. I mean, when you haven't won a single game all season, eventually, people are gonna stop showing up. I can almost guarantee you this would be the case whether the team was situated in a struggling city or not. There wasn't a lack of attendance problem at the beginning of the season.

As for the Pistons, they sold out every game from 2004-2008. Don't believe me? http://www.nba.com/pistons/history/attendance_records.html Oh and and as for this year, they only rank as NUMBER ONE IN ATTENDANCE IN THE NBA. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance. Lull in attendance huh?

Last season, the Tigers set a single-season attendance record with 3 million. They finished 8th in the league and ended with an average of 98.6% of full capacity attendance rate per game.

Still care to argue with me? I agree that times are tough but for the most part, it seems to only be reflecting upon the Wings....hmmmm <_<

Edited by ShanahanMan

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Sometimes I think Detroit fans are just crap. I've been to two games this year and made myself hoarse from yelling. I was the only one in my party to do so until late in the game after they drank enough liquid courage.

During the televised broadcasts, many fans show more interest in jumping up to turn away from the play toward the camera than actually jumping up for the play itself. During the commercial breaks everyone gets out of the seats for a chance to get on the Jumbotron.

The last and worst incident occurred at the Ducks game: some ****** in a suite actually had the Monday night football game on. That still irks me.

And that is the problem. Detroit only has a handful of true hockey fans, a lot of casual fans and then a few bandwagoneers, but even they are too busy on the Baseball or Basketball bandwagon.

Edited by Chunkylover

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I will tell you this. There is more people at the joe now then the beginning of the year. They are still trying to give things away each period. (As crappy as you may think they are) They gave away last night during the game two sweatshirts and hockey sticks for the shoot to score, coffee to a fan and coupons sponsered by Beaners opps sorry Bigbby, a jersey, t-shirts and hats. Eveyone got a poster. Some games the Michigan lotto gives away scratch and lose. I've missed one give away night, but so far this year I have a banner, 3 posters, scrubs, team calander, and a magnent schedule. That makes 8 of 11 games. There's book signings by Howe and Lindsey almost every game (you have to buy their book) During the game on black friday they gave away things at every TV timeout usually three per timeout and ended the night with a $500 gift card to a jewelry store. The joke about bringing $1 hot dog night up was because Ken eats a ton of them during a game. There will be more. Also $1 pretzel night and $1 ice cream sandwich night. IF YOU WENT TO A GAME you would notice they've cleaned up the concorse and moved most of the booths out of the way. Added a grill where you can get burgers, chicken tenders and frys. They've add a buffalo wild wings as well. It's easy to sit at home and say where are the fans, why won't the wings do more for the fans, well step away from happy hour for a week, spend it on some tickets and go to a game (not directed at the poster who started this but people in general) See whats up and then *****.

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There's been give aways at almost every home game this year. Tonight it was a Poster. Last game it was scrubs.

THere's

This season, come "Homer for the Holidays!" Give the Red

Wings fan in your life the perfect gift!

Your package includes:

One (1) ticket to three (3) Red Wings Games of your choice*

3 Food Vouchers (good for a slice of pizza and a pop or a hot dog and a pop)

A Red Wings knit winter hat

All for only $96 per person!

I'm not sure what more you may want. If people have no money they have no money.

Still not a deal... $32 per game... figure $22 per ticket (top half of upper bowl)... the dog or slice and pop are what, $6?... the leftover money pays for the knit hat.

The Wings' marketing and PR departments haven't had to work at all, really, since the early 90s. Tickets sold themselves. Now that it's a different story, the club doesn't know what to do to promote itself. After last year's empty-building games and all the signs saying "Economy Worsening Ahead", ticket prices should have come down... way down... for this year. Didn't happen. Maybe Mr. Ilitch should start raffling off one car per game again?

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I will tell you this. There is more people at the joe now then the beginning of the year. They are still trying to give things away each period. (As crappy as you may think they are) They gave away last night during the game two sweatshirts and hockey sticks for the shoot to score, coffee to a fan and coupons sponsered by Beaners opps sorry Bigbby, a jersey, t-shirts and hats. Eveyone got a poster. Some games the Michigan lotto gives away scratch and lose. I've missed one give away night, but so far this year I have a banner, 3 posters, scrubs, team calander, and a magnent schedule. That makes 8 of 11 games. There's book signings by Howe and Lindsey almost every game (you have to buy their book) During the game on black friday they gave away things at every TV timeout usually three per timeout and ended the night with a $500 gift card to a jewelry store. The joke about bringing $1 hot dog night up was because Ken eats a ton of them during a game. There will be more. Also $1 pretzel night and $1 ice cream sandwich night. IF YOU WENT TO A GAME you would notice they've cleaned up the concorse and moved most of the booths out of the way. Added a grill where you can get burgers, chicken tenders and frys. They've add a buffalo wild wings as well. It's easy to sit at home and say where are the fans, why won't the wings do more for the fans, well step away from happy hour for a week, spend it on some tickets and go to a game (not directed at the poster who started this but people in general) See whats up and then *****.

Nice! Agreed. And speaking of book signings by Howe:

n680046689_2043132_4099.jpg

Giggidy.

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