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Post by jackakamrmeoff on Feb 9, 2015 9:47:48 GMT -4
The atmosphere in the Centre200 Saturday was great, (excluding the games against Halifax) I thought the energy in the rink was the most electric it’s been all season, to the point it carried over to the intermission games by booing that Shamus guy. Entertaining from a fans perspective. I know there were other sporting events going on in the area, but I expected to see more butts in the seats on Saturday compared to Friday’s game. The team is 8-2-0-0 in the last 10. You’ve got to figure in a market with no Jr.A, Men’s University, 1 Jr.B, and 1 Major Midget -the nest would be at least ¾ on Friday or Saturday night regardless of their record/opponent.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 9, 2015 17:10:00 GMT -4
Amazing what some change and stability at a key position can do to change the fortunes of a hockey team.
Early in the season we probably lose that Rimouski game before OT and are wondering how we lose 7-4.
Just hoping for a healthy team come round 1 at this point.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 9, 2015 17:16:30 GMT -4
The atmosphere in the Centre200 Saturday was great, (excluding the games against Halifax) I thought the energy in the rink was the most electric it’s been all season, to the point it carried over to the intermission games by booing that Shamus guy. Entertaining from a fans perspective. I know there were other sporting events going on in the area, but I expected to see more butts in the seats on Saturday compared to Friday’s game. The team is 8-2-0-0 in the last 10. You’ve got to figure in a market with no Jr.A, Men’s University, 1 Jr.B, and 1 Major Midget -the nest would be at least ¾ on Friday or Saturday night regardless of their record/opponent. Being 8-2 in the last 10 is something only hardcore fans would know about. Sports fans I know have essentially turned off the Eagles after 5 years of mediocrity. You can win back some of those fans, but you need more then an 8 of 10 stretch from the basement to impress casual fans. On a weekend with Coal Bowl and Red Cup dominating the local sports scene it's no shock to me people weren't running to C200. It takes years to win back that crowd, not 8 out of 10 games being wins. And you do realize we have none of those other levels for a reason, right? There's no economy here which means there's not a lot of extra money to be spent on those levels of hockey. People will support the Eagles when they're successful, but it would be unfair after so many years of neglecting the fans through piss poor management decisions to blame the fans for not showing up when the team to them is still in the basement or close to it. This was a risk people brought up during the 40 win seasons. When the team didn't win a championship and went into the gutter the fans went elsewhere because strong regular seasons mean nothing at the end without playoff runs to make it worth while. Give the people and hockey fans here a reason to support the team and they will. Winning a playoff round this year would be a great start. Without that, I would expect more of the same into next year.
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Post by CrazyJoeDavola on Feb 9, 2015 19:15:34 GMT -4
The atmosphere in the Centre200 Saturday was great, (excluding the games against Halifax) I thought the energy in the rink was the most electric it’s been all season, to the point it carried over to the intermission games by booing that Shamus guy. Entertaining from a fans perspective. I know there were other sporting events going on in the area, but I expected to see more butts in the seats on Saturday compared to Friday’s game. The team is 8-2-0-0 in the last 10. You’ve got to figure in a market with no Jr.A, Men’s University, 1 Jr.B, and 1 Major Midget -the nest would be at least ¾ on Friday or Saturday night regardless of their record/opponent. Being 8-2 in the last 10 is something only hardcore fans would know about. Sports fans I know have essentially turned off the Eagles after 5 years of mediocrity. You can win back some of those fans, but you need more then an 8 of 10 stretch from the basement to impress casual fans. On a weekend with Coal Bowl and Red Cup dominating the local sports scene it's no shock to me people weren't running to C200. It takes years to win back that crowd, not 8 out of 10 games being wins. And you do realize we have none of those other levels for a reason, right? There's no economy here which means there's not a lot of extra money to be spent on those levels of hockey. People will support the Eagles when they're successful, but it would be unfair after so many years of neglecting the fans through piss poor management decisions to blame the fans for not showing up when the team to them is still in the basement or close to it. This was a risk people brought up during the 40 win seasons. When the team didn't win a championship and went into the gutter the fans went elsewhere because strong regular seasons mean nothing at the end without playoff runs to make it worth while. Give the people and hockey fans here a reason to support the team and they will. Winning a playoff round this year would be a great start. Without that, I would expect more of the same into next year. Nothing will bring in new fans and more season ticket holders than a good, exciting and deep playoff run. Regular season wins are fun, but when you bow out in round 1 or 2 unceremoniously, people lose interest for sure in the following years. I hope for the franchise's sake they can have an exciting playoff run - the best kind are often the ones without big expectations that end up successful. It will drive the excitement going into next year. Without seeing good teams win a round or two now and then, the fans will always have a ho-hum outlook about the team in general until it shows it is doing the right things to maybe win a title one day.
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Post by Deer on Feb 9, 2015 22:13:44 GMT -4
Being 8-2 in the last 10 is something only hardcore fans would know about. Sports fans I know have essentially turned off the Eagles after 5 years of mediocrity. You can win back some of those fans, but you need more then an 8 of 10 stretch from the basement to impress casual fans. On a weekend with Coal Bowl and Red Cup dominating the local sports scene it's no shock to me people weren't running to C200. It takes years to win back that crowd, not 8 out of 10 games being wins. And you do realize we have none of those other levels for a reason, right? There's no economy here which means there's not a lot of extra money to be spent on those levels of hockey. People will support the Eagles when they're successful, but it would be unfair after so many years of neglecting the fans through piss poor management decisions to blame the fans for not showing up when the team to them is still in the basement or close to it. This was a risk people brought up during the 40 win seasons. When the team didn't win a championship and went into the gutter the fans went elsewhere because strong regular seasons mean nothing at the end without playoff runs to make it worth while. Give the people and hockey fans here a reason to support the team and they will. Winning a playoff round this year would be a great start. Without that, I would expect more of the same into next year. Nothing will bring in new fans and more season ticket holders than a good, exciting and deep playoff run. Regular season wins are fun, but when you bow out in round 1 or 2 unceremoniously, people lose interest for sure in the following years. I hope for the franchise's sake they can have an exciting playoff run - the best kind are often the ones without big expectations that end up successful. It will drive the excitement going into next year. Without seeing good teams win a round or two now and then, the fans will always have a ho-hum outlook about the team in general until it shows it is doing the right things to maybe win a title one day. Nail on head. You mentioned those playoff runs that happen unexpectedly, without big expectations. We've never had one of those. The only years the Eagles ever went as deep as round 3... were years the expectations were to contend for a title. In fact, the Eagles have never once won a playoff round against an opponent that finished with more regular season points. In an 18-year history, that's hard to believe. Hopefully this year is the year that changes.
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Post by seαωo|f on Feb 9, 2015 23:19:17 GMT -4
Being 8-2 in the last 10 is something only hardcore fans would know about. Sports fans I know have essentially turned off the Eagles after 5 years of mediocrity. You can win back some of those fans, but you need more then an 8 of 10 stretch from the basement to impress casual fans. On a weekend with Coal Bowl and Red Cup dominating the local sports scene it's no shock to me people weren't running to C200. It takes years to win back that crowd, not 8 out of 10 games being wins. And you do realize we have none of those other levels for a reason, right? There's no economy here which means there's not a lot of extra money to be spent on those levels of hockey. People will support the Eagles when they're successful, but it would be unfair after so many years of neglecting the fans through piss poor management decisions to blame the fans for not showing up when the team to them is still in the basement or close to it. This was a risk people brought up during the 40 win seasons. When the team didn't win a championship and went into the gutter the fans went elsewhere because strong regular seasons mean nothing at the end without playoff runs to make it worth while. Give the people and hockey fans here a reason to support the team and they will. Winning a playoff round this year would be a great start. Without that, I would expect more of the same into next year. Nothing will bring in new fans and more season ticket holders than a good, exciting and deep playoff run. Regular season wins are fun, but when you bow out in round 1 or 2 unceremoniously, people lose interest for sure in the following years. I hope for the franchise's sake they can have an exciting playoff run - the best kind are often the ones without big expectations that end up successful. It will drive the excitement going into next year. Without seeing good teams win a round or two now and then, the fans will always have a ho-hum outlook about the team in general until it shows it is doing the right things to maybe win a title one day. I will be a first time season ticket holder next year.
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Post by bois on Feb 10, 2015 11:04:45 GMT -4
Nothing will bring in new fans and more season ticket holders than a good, exciting and deep playoff run. Regular season wins are fun, but when you bow out in round 1 or 2 unceremoniously, people lose interest for sure in the following years. I hope for the franchise's sake they can have an exciting playoff run - the best kind are often the ones without big expectations that end up successful. It will drive the excitement going into next year. Without seeing good teams win a round or two now and then, the fans will always have a ho-hum outlook about the team in general until it shows it is doing the right things to maybe win a title one day. Nail on head. You mentioned those playoff runs that happen unexpectedly, without big expectations. We've never had one of those. The only years the Eagles ever went as deep as round 3... were years the expectations were to contend for a title. In fact, the Eagles have never once won a playoff round against an opponent that finished with more regular season points. In an 18-year history, that's hard to believe. Hopefully this year is the year that changes. those things happen? we never knew... for us an unexpected playoff run has been winning two games
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Post by jackakamrmeoff on Feb 10, 2015 12:21:57 GMT -4
The atmosphere in the Centre200 Saturday was great, (excluding the games against Halifax) I thought the energy in the rink was the most electric it’s been all season, to the point it carried over to the intermission games by booing that Shamus guy. Entertaining from a fans perspective. I know there were other sporting events going on in the area, but I expected to see more butts in the seats on Saturday compared to Friday’s game. The team is 8-2-0-0 in the last 10. You’ve got to figure in a market with no Jr.A, Men’s University, 1 Jr.B, and 1 Major Midget -the nest would be at least ¾ on Friday or Saturday night regardless of their record/opponent. Being 8-2 in the last 10 is something only hardcore fans would know about. Sports fans I know have essentially turned off the Eagles after 5 years of mediocrity. You can win back some of those fans, but you need more then an 8 of 10 stretch from the basement to impress casual fans. On a weekend with Coal Bowl and Red Cup dominating the local sports scene it's no shock to me people weren't running to C200. It takes years to win back that crowd, not 8 out of 10 games being wins. And you do realize we have none of those other levels for a reason, right? There's no economy here which means there's not a lot of extra money to be spent on those levels of hockey. People will support the Eagles when they're successful, but it would be unfair after so many years of neglecting the fans through piss poor management decisions to blame the fans for not showing up when the team to them is still in the basement or close to it. This was a risk people brought up during the 40 win seasons. When the team didn't win a championship and went into the gutter the fans went elsewhere because strong regular seasons mean nothing at the end without playoff runs to make it worth while. Give the people and hockey fans here a reason to support the team and they will. Winning a playoff round this year would be a great start. Without that, I would expect more of the same into next year. Fair enough. But what about smaller Maritime markets? Compare areas like pei. (I’m sure I’ll get corrected on this by one of our islander friends), they support men’s university, major Jr, Jr.A, 2 major midgets, Jr.B league, Jr.C league, and a senior league(could have folded) with roughly the same population per island. I know that there are logistical differences that effect teams operational costs, which doesn’t make it fair to compare it to other markets. But you’d think that a place that is over 4 hours away from the closest team, fans would get behind the product. Look at a place like Yarmouth, the Jr.A team a few years ago, people lining up 4am box office to get playoff tickets, then people buying/selling them on Kijiji for hundreds of dollars. They could have sold out that rink 5 times for 1 game I’m sure. Management must have made lots of folks really sour around here.
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Post by jamesnorris on Feb 10, 2015 12:35:53 GMT -4
Easy to talk about the attendance trends but it's another thing to prove them with data. Who the hell has time for that?
Looking at the numbers, it seems like regular season performance is a direct influence on attendance, not playoff let downs. The numbers went to shit in 2010-11 when the team was bad.
After a 37 win season, this is the first year attendance is up since 2008-09. Not much of a brag because attendance was 800 seats higher back then but still, it's the first time CB hasn't been a laughing stock since 2009.
I guess we'll find out next year when the season looks truly promising again. If attendance doesn't spike back up, I might reconsider my take on the attendance.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 10, 2015 13:27:56 GMT -4
Being 8-2 in the last 10 is something only hardcore fans would know about. Sports fans I know have essentially turned off the Eagles after 5 years of mediocrity. You can win back some of those fans, but you need more then an 8 of 10 stretch from the basement to impress casual fans. On a weekend with Coal Bowl and Red Cup dominating the local sports scene it's no shock to me people weren't running to C200. It takes years to win back that crowd, not 8 out of 10 games being wins. And you do realize we have none of those other levels for a reason, right? There's no economy here which means there's not a lot of extra money to be spent on those levels of hockey. People will support the Eagles when they're successful, but it would be unfair after so many years of neglecting the fans through piss poor management decisions to blame the fans for not showing up when the team to them is still in the basement or close to it. This was a risk people brought up during the 40 win seasons. When the team didn't win a championship and went into the gutter the fans went elsewhere because strong regular seasons mean nothing at the end without playoff runs to make it worth while. Give the people and hockey fans here a reason to support the team and they will. Winning a playoff round this year would be a great start. Without that, I would expect more of the same into next year. Fair enough. But what about smaller Maritime markets? Compare areas like pei. (I’m sure I’ll get corrected on this by one of our islander friends), they support men’s university, major Jr, Jr.A, 2 major midgets, Jr.B league, Jr.C league, and a senior league(could have folded) with roughly the same population per island. I know that there are logistical differences that effect teams operational costs, which doesn’t make it fair to compare it to other markets. But you’d think that a place that is over 4 hours away from the closest team, fans would get behind the product. Look at a place like Yarmouth, the Jr.A team a few years ago, people lining up 4am box office to get playoff tickets, then people buying/selling them on Kijiji for hundreds of dollars. They could have sold out that rink 5 times for 1 game I’m sure. Management must have made lots of folks really sour around here. Charlottetown is not a very good comparison. 4 teams almost within the same distance as 1 for us. A better economy then Sydney being a Provincial capital, and they can draw from their entire Island's population where ours is all coming from the CBRM outside of the odd exception. The difference is the University and Jr. A hockey and nobody in Cape Breton is going to support Jr A and the University here is thriving on the cheaper sports that don't involve high operating costs. Even with the advantages they have Charlottetown being run into the ground through bad management means we've never seen their full potential as a market. We know that given a good team you're going to fill C200 during a playoff run 6-8 times which at over 5000 per game is a nice return for a couple of down seasons. But I don't think you can really compare us to anyone but Bathurst in terms of a situation. They're a lot like us, small town with a bad economy and locals leaving for bigger centers for work.
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Post by EagleFan2009 on Feb 10, 2015 18:15:15 GMT -4
I looked for seats for CB's game in Halifax two weeks ago and couldn't get 2 seats lower than 7 rows from the top in the upper bowl. Yet,when watching on eastlink, I spotted lots of empty seats in the lower bowl.
Just goes to show how important season ticket sales can be. Guessing its the case of boiling over from the past few great years, but that's the perks of it.
A surprise run for us this year will increase season ticket sales a decent amount I would think.
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Post by bois on Feb 11, 2015 10:07:39 GMT -4
in the nhl thread Jack is talking about Edmonton fans not being dumb by continously supporting bad management and filling their rink
yet here in Cape Breton it's show us a playoff run and the smart fans will come out
your point that if Edmonton loses their NHL team they won't get another one... can also be applied to Cape Breton and it's major junior team
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 11, 2015 11:30:16 GMT -4
in the nhl thread Jack is talking about Edmonton fans not being dumb by continously supporting bad management and filling their rink yet here in Cape Breton it's show us a playoff run and the smart fans will come out your point that if Edmonton loses their NHL team they won't get another one... can also be applied to Cape Breton and it's major junior team Not that 'smart' fans will come out as if they're waiting for a turn around, the stigma around town about the team is that the team sucks. You remove that be being successful and generating some buzz in the community. Even a 7 game 1st round series would do a lot for that going into next year but right now there is just not a lot of people looking to spend their entertainment dollar on watching a disappointing team and the team will have to continue its hot play and get into a good playoff series to help generate some of that buzz for itself which can carry into next year. We seen opening night this year that after a solid summer the fans were still paying attention, but the teams 1st half turned a lot of people off. The difference with us and say an Edmonton comparison is Edmonton has teams like Winnipeg and Quebec to look at about how easy it is to lose the team and how hard it is to get one back. CB has never really been in that position attendance wise and unlike say Bathurst the ticket sales during good times can outweigh a bad year or 2 much easier when your rink holds 5000+. How many Q teams have left our region during our time here? Hard to compare the 2 for that reason. If we get into the 800 season ticket holders or so range, then we will be in trouble. And if we lose the team, it'll be tough to get another one. Those facts can't be doubted. We've never been close to that, so i'm not sure what we have to do with Edmonton or any other sports franchise other then the the fact that losing a team means you may not get another one. We're far from the Edmonton of the QMJHL other then that 1 point which applies to almost every QMJHL franchise not in a major urban center like Halifax, Quebec City, or Montreal. Not said in the Edmonton thread is also that part of the reason they sell so many tickets is they've become an economic hub with a lot of people coming and going through the city for work. That leads to a lot of casual ticket sales. Other Canadian team fans wanting to see their team. The people wanting to see the Crosby's and Ovechkin's. Even with a bad NHL team you can sell tickets depending on the opponent. There are 0 players of that calibre playing in the Q this year. 0 teams generating an 'I have to see this for myself' following. And there's no people coming to Sydney saying they just have to go see Connor Garland or Daniel Sprong or a Moncton or Rimouski. The Eagles are the selling point.
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Post by bois on Feb 11, 2015 11:38:27 GMT -4
I just think when I make an offhanded comment that it's kinda dumb for fans to continue to support terrible management by allegedly selling out the rink.... and you lecture me about how it isn't dumb because if they don't do so they will lose their team... and then on here you guys have a similar commentary going and you take the opposite approach... it's sorta hypocritical
for the record i agree with you( on here)...... but I still think it's pretty dumb for fans to sell out a rink for a team that cannot make the playoffs (in Edmonton)
p.s. plenty of teams have relocated in the Q during your time as a franchise.................. and in fact you got a franchise because of one.. so it's not hard to see at all
and to your last point..... Edmonton sees Crosby once a year..... Ovechkin once a year... etc etc... and once you've seen them once as a casual fan it's done
also not so sure the economy is still thriving anywhere... let alone in Edmonton
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Post by Jack Bauer on Feb 11, 2015 11:59:47 GMT -4
I just think when I make an offhanded comment that it's kinda dumb for fans to continue to support terrible management by allegedly selling out the rink.... and you lecture me about how it isn't dumb because if they don't do so they will lose their team... and then on here you guys have a similar commentary going and you take the opposite approach... it's sorta hypocritical for the record i agree with you( on here)...... but I still think it's pretty dumb for fans to sell out a rink for a team that cannot make the playoffs (in Edmonton) p.s. plenty of teams have relocated in the Q during your time as a franchise.................. and in fact you got a franchise because of one.. so it's not hard to see at all and to your last point..... Edmonton sees Crosby once a year..... Ovechkin once a year... etc etc... and once you've seen them once as a casual fan it's done also not so sure the economy is still thriving anywhere... let alone in Edmonton It would be hypocritical if we were the Edmonton of the Q. If that team exists in the Q it's in Northern New Brunswick right now, and how are their attendance numbers? I'd say they should follow Edmontons lead if they want to keep their team. The 2 situations are not very comparable though. I don't think there's many pro sports examples comparable to Edmonton except for maybe one of the most beloved teams in American pro sports....the Chicago Cubs. And maybe things are different in Charlottetown but I know people flying to Edmonton a couple times a month usually for work. Half the Island here is employed between there and Fort Mac is seems. Those people go see NHL games on layovers all the time. I think it definitely plays a factor in keeping ticket sales strong. It can be a laughable point I suppose, but I know i'm not the only Cape Bretoner or Newfoundlander with pictures from Rexall popping up in my news feed a few times per month. If the Canadian economy ever goes to hell I think the Edmonton Oilers are our 1st major casualty in terms of it affecting pro sports. We're still a long way from that though as by that time they're likely in their new rink with their 13th straight #1 pick finally leading the team to the post season. Right now we're like a Columbus not selling any extra tickets if there's an NHL comparison you're looking for. We could do better, and will with a good team into next year, but history of disappointment keeps some away until times are good again.
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