Season tickets + TV viewership down considerably...due to no real direction from management?

[TheRussianRocket.]

http://canucksarmy.com/2016/12/2/forbes-ranks-canucks-as-7th-most-valueable-nhl-team-why-it-s-concerning

 

 

Well this is what happens when ownership/management aren't on the same page, give out mixed signals, and don't do what fans have been wanting for the better part of 4+ years now.

 

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...can say this much: I - along with many others - didn't renew season tickets last season because of this. And it just seems to be getting worse and worse as the years go by. The numbers definitely don't lie either. 

 

Just wish there was some consistency organizationally for fans to buy into, that's all really. As of now, we can't see it and it's hurting the owners which I don't mind one bit.

[HerrDrFunk]

It's really not that hard to figure out, we're a bandwagon market. If we're not winning here and now, people don't care.

[CanuckGAME]

The real fans still support the team.  The Fairweather fans are brutal in this market.  They can **** right off if they think we will make room for them when we start winning again.  The bandwagon is full.

[brownky]

5 minutes ago, HerrDrFunk said:

It's really not that hard to figure out, we're a bandwagon market. If we're not winning here and now, people don't care.

And that's on ownership/management.

 

Excitement comes from going to the game and being...well... excited. The Sedin game while effective is not usually exciting. Especially recently, when the most excitement comes as they give up the puck to a two on one with a lazy backcheck.

 

But that belies the bigger problem... when the team was successful, the 'fans' were completely priced out of the games. People with kids? Forget about it. When a family of four could have a 'drive vacation' down the Oregon coast for the price of attending one hockey game live... you have a problem. It was priced for businesses and suits. Suits who were busy wining and dining clients, rather than being fans; Canucks were hot, it was a good place to be seen. Now they suck, so the suits are elsewhere. Probably Whitecaps games. Meanwhile the family that drove to the edge of California instead is now doing something else, having never had any real attachment to the team. So they aren't watching, they aren't going, because why would they? The product on the ice effectively sucks, and there's no real drive to watch or even care.

 

So of course everything is down. The bandwagon will empty; it's not the market's fault, it's the marketer's fault. The Canucks brand is $&!#ty... anyone who has been to The Morgue^tm where they play knows the atmosphere is awful.

 

And that's on ownership. Maybe the profits need to take a real hit for real long-term success. Lower the prices, get people filling the place win or lose. Get *fans* coming. Fans stick with a team. Suits stick with whatever is hot. The suits pay more when you're hot, but they pay nothing when you're not.

 

We're not, and probably will be for some time.

 

[TU90]

I still watch every game, but it hasn't been an overly entertaining season, that's for sure.

[Art Vandelay]

Bandwagon market. TV, and attendance would be down even if they publically said they are rebuilding/tanking. 

 

Im happy with what Benning/Linden have done so far. Maybe they could have done a few things here or there, but they have been super active in many other ways that make up for it. Seems no media out there recognizes those moves or is willing to even bring them up. And in my opinion, that's because everyone wants to see the Canucks suck. If anything, I'd say Canucks have Been hurt from awful PR, in the on ice product. But I expected that from a rookie GM/President. 

 

I'd be a season ticket holder. If I lived in Vancouver. 

[HerrDrFunk]

3 minutes ago, brownky said:

And that's on ownership/management.

 

Excitement comes from going to the game and being...well... excited. The Sedin game while effective is not usually exciting. Especially recently, when the most excitement comes as they give up the puck to a two on one with a lazy backcheck.

 

But that belies the bigger problem... when the team was successful, the 'fans' were completely priced out of the games. People with kids? Forget about it. When a family of four could have a 'drive vacation' down the Oregon coast for the price of attending one hockey game live... you have a problem. It was priced for businesses and suits. Suits who were busy wining and dining clients, rather than being fans; Canucks were hot, it was a good place to be seen. Now they suck, so the suits are elsewhere. Probably Whitecaps games. Meanwhile the family that drove to the edge of California instead is now doing something else, having never had any real attachment to the team. So they aren't watching, they aren't going, because why would they? The product on the ice effectively sucks, and there's no real drive to watch or even care.

 

So of course everything is down. The bandwagon will empty; it's not the market's fault, it's the marketer's fault. The Canucks brand is $&!#ty... anyone who has been to The Morgue^tm where they play knows the atmosphere is awful.

 

And that's on ownership. Maybe the profits need to take a real hit for real long-term success. Lower the prices, get people filling the place win or lose. Get *fans* coming. Fans stick with a team. Suits stick with whatever is hot. The suits pay more when you're hot, but they pay nothing when you're not.

 

We're not, and probably will be for some time.

 

I know being in the middle of a rebuild sucks, but you have to look to the end of the tunnel.

[-SN-]

Can we dispense with the bandwagon rhetoric once in a while? It's just low hanging fruit and adds nothing to the discussion. It's so easy to say "Yeah the fans who aren't me suck!", rather than actually thinking. 

 

If these numbers are true, I think there are a few factors.

 

1) This isn't a big market. Bigger markets have the critical mass to keep putting people in the seats despite issues with the team.

2) The on-ice product is, arguably, not as entertaining as it once was.

3) Nobody knows if the team is rebuilding or going for the cup. This creates a feeling of stagnation that turns a few people away. I can understand that and I wish the team was a bit more focused, consistent, and even aggressive on this issue. It's really disarming when there's mixed signals from multiple people in management. We're developing talent, but refusing to to maximize our older assets. They're looking to trade for a defender, or is it a scorer, or is it nobody at all? From the outside looking in, nothing makes sense and there's no direction. 

 

[Honky Cat]

All it proves is that Vancouver is a bandwagon city...and that peeps are not going to pay elite team prices to see a very mediocre hockey team...Its not rocket science...It does not matter who the management is right now,...Hockey teams are cyclical,and after a good long run,we were overdue for this downturn .

 

I do agree though,that the messages have been 'mixed',and the management are not doing themselves any favours by keeping this up...

[Blue_Jays_Canucks]

Honestly and this might get a lot of hate, but might the high immigration numbers to Vancouver from places where they don't play hockey have something to do with it? 

[Wanless]

Let's do this the leaf way

 

ok, have an offensive minded player with high ceiling low floor fall into our lap, nylander

 

finish dead last in a year where there is a franchise centre first overall and win lottery, matthews

 

imagine the talk if the leafs didn't get those players and the Canucks did

 

i hate to imagine if the Canucks got those players

 

sedin-sedin-sutter

Baer-Matthews-hansen (boeser)

nylander-horvat-burrows

fourth line

 

the leafs didn't do it right, they got lucky two drafts in a row, ill give them the marner pick while remembering the Hutton and Tryamkin picks

 

 

[Honky Cat]

Just now, Blue_Jays_Canucks said:

Honestly and this might get a lot of hate, but might the high immigration numbers to Vancouver from places where they don't play hockey have something to do with it? 

I don't think that has much to do with it...The Canucks have a huge established fanbase...A lot of immigrants are big Canuck fans..

[I.Am.Ironman]

I think the whole bandwagon thing is overdone. People aren't watching or going to games because we are boring. Horvat is the man but he isn't exactly electric. As previously mentioned the Sedins are the Sedins - effective but again, boring. The problem we are faced with is here because we prolonged the rebuild and got unlucky at last years draft. If we had Patrick Laine on the ice there would be more butts in the seats.

[Lancaster]

After the riot.... being a Canucks fan is almost like a shameful thing to admit. 

[brownky]

1 minute ago, HerrDrFunk said:

I know being in the middle of a rebuild sucks, but you have to look to the end of the tunnel.

 

I have no problem with the rebuild. I understand, it's an ebb and a flow, it's the nature of the beast. I watch, win or lose as much as I can. I'm critical because I care.

 

The part that bugs me is the same part that bugs so many; if we're "rebuilding" how does adding a 30 year old swede for a ton of dough and a NMC fit into 'future plans'? It's like the drive for Lucic that people so wanted. He's awful (and proving it in Edmonton now), and worse, doesn't fit what the goal is, assuming it's actually a rebuild. This "retool" malarky is how the leafs and flames have sucked for so long. Hang onto the dream it was close once. Witless Willie back there is another component; if we're trying to rebuild, a 60 year old man clearly out of his depth isn't the right man for the job UNLESS the goal really is the tank... in which case, why sign the aforementioned swede? It's mixed signals.

 

And that still doesn't fix the apathy problem from people not watching or caring.

[HerrDrFunk]

1 minute ago, StealthNuck said:

Can we dispense with the bandwagon rhetoric once in a while? It's just low hanging fruit and adds nothing to the discussion. It's so easy to say "Yeah the fans who aren't me suck!", rather than actually thinking. 

 

If these numbers are true, I think there are a few factors.

 

1) This isn't a big market. Bigger markets have the critical mass to keep putting people in the seats despite issues with the team.

2) The on-ice product is, arguably, not as entertaining as it once was.

3) Nobody knows if the team is rebuilding or going for the cup. This creates a feeling of stagnation that turns a few people away. I can understand that and I wish the team was a bit more focused, consistent, and even aggressive on this issue. It's really disarming when there's mixed signals from multiple people in management. We're developing talent, but refusing to to maximize our older assets. They're looking to trade for a defender, or is it a scorer, or is it nobody at all? From the outside looking in, nothing makes sense and there's no direction. 

 

I'm not saying other fans who aren't me suck, I'm just saying that nothing attracts the masses like a winner. Those couple of weeks in 2011 where we were pounding the Sharks and looking like we'd make quick work of the Bruins were magical. It seemed like everyone was wearing a piece of Canucks gear that Spring. You can sell that to anyone. Selling a rebuild to a market that doesn't have the same history as the Oilers, Leafs, or Habs (or was hockey starved like Winnipeg) is hard. 

 

Vancouver doesn't support rebuilding. Make the team a winner though, and people will come out in droves. 

 

P.S. Management got a scorer and a defender.

[TheRussianRocket.]

6 minutes ago, StealthNuck said:

Can we dispense with the bandwagon rhetoric once in a while? It's just low hanging fruit and adds nothing to the discussion. It's so easy to say "Yeah the fans who aren't me suck!", rather than actually thinking. 

This lol, thank you.

[HerrDrFunk]

7 minutes ago, Blue_Jays_Canucks said:

Honestly and this might get a lot of hate, but might the high immigration numbers to Vancouver from places where they don't play hockey have something to do with it? 

I get where you're coming from, but Harnarayan Singh respectfully disagrees:

 

 

[TheRussianRocket.]

2 minutes ago, HerrDrFunk said:

Vancouver doesn't support rebuilding. Make the team a winner though, and people will come out in droves. 

The fanbase would gladly accept a rebuild if management admitted to it. Thing is hey haven't. 

 

 

...and how do you make a team a winner? By starting all over again. That's what the team has neglected to do for the better part of 4 years now and it's just getting uglier and uglier.

 

You can't patch up a sinking ship.

[Jam126]

Lack of what directions?

 

Youngest D-core in the league.

Slowly putting young pieces in place to replace the previous core.

 

It's not rocket science, takes time and for some reason this fanbase has a huge problem with that.