Former Jets captain amongst Winnipeg season ticket holders
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Jun 4, 2011 3:54 PM EDT
in Habs News
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PrintIt had to be painful enough for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to say he was happy to be back in Winnipeg on Tuesday. But now that the city of Winnipeg met his ""This thing isn't going to work very well if this building isn't sold out every night," ultimatum, do you think we'll get an "I was wrong" statement out of him? No, me neither.
True North Sports and Entertainment was well on their way to the target mark of 13,000 seats by Friday night (7,100 tickets in three days), after Manitoba Moose season ticket holders got first crack. Seventeen minutes into the public sale on Saturday, the target number was reached.
Just curious, but does anyone off hand know how many season ticket holders the Phoenix Coyotes or New York Islanders have?
With the MTS arena holding just 15,000 seats and ticket sales still under way, it appears safe to say that attendance in the Peg for the 2011-12 season will not be a problem.
True North has also capped the waiting list on season tickets for the 2012-13 season, at 8,000.
The franchise and league can then fill their pockets with revenues from all the new merchandising they will sell, once a new name is established.
Given that True North was seeking a three to five year commitment from season ticket holders, and will certainly have above average revenues, it won't take long for the franchise to get their fingers on a full share of the league's revenue sharing plan. That of course is based on the current Collective Barganing Agreement (CBA), that expires at the end of the 2011-12 season.
Whatever the new franchise name is, Keith Tkachuk, who played for the Winnipeg Jets for five seasons before their move to Phoenix, will be one of the new season ticket holders. "My wife was ordering tickets today," Tkachuk said during a public autograph signing in Toronto on Saturday. "I think it's great. I'm really excited that hockey will be back in Winnipeg."
Oddly enough, Tkachuk briefly played for the Atlanta Thrashers, the franchise relocating to Winnipeg, after being traded from the St. Louis Blues in February 2007.
Although it's doubtful that the name "Jets" will be made available to the new franchise, there's no argument that they will call on former greats Winnipeg such as Tkachuk, Bobby Hull, Dale Hawerchuk, etc. in some form over the seasons ahead to promote the team, much like the Baltimore Ravens have done with former Baltimore Colts greats.
In the meantime, it looks like the MTS's former tenants will now be relocate to St. John's, Newfoundland, once the NHL Board of Governor's approves the Atlanta-Winnipeg move later this month.
The AHL's Manitoba Moose would move and play at Mile One Stadium. In a CBC report, the City of St. John's, who owns the building, will merely be a landlord, while former Premier Dany Williams will operate the club.
This will be the second AHL team to attempt set up shop in Newfoundland. Despite satisfactory attendance, the St. John's Maple Leafs moved to Toronto in 2006, as a logistic operating tactic, once the Ricoh Coliseum was available.
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Divided Loyalties
When the Jets were in the WHA, they were my WHA team; the Habs were my NHL team. When the Jets entered the NHL, it was 90% Jets, 10% Habs. Jets take off for the desert city I can’t bring myself to name- 100% Habs. 15 years later… I am a man torn in two. Gotta support the “Whatevers”, but It’ll take some effort to break off the Habs connection.
I cheer for two teams myself, the Habs in the East and the Oilers in the West. The way the schedule is set up, they’re like separate leagues for the most part anyway. When Winnipeg’s team moves over to the Western Conference after this season, you only have to pick a side twice a year, and possibly in the incredibly rare chance that the two teams face each other in the final.
by despisethesun on Jun 5, 2011 4:11 AM EDT up reply actions
I kind of do the same, although the Habs are definitively my #1 team. A bit of my heart went to Colorado with Patrick Roy though, I couldn’t help it.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 5, 2011 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions
As somebody who has worked in marketing for 15 years, not choosing Jets would be a stupid decision. There is an emotional attachment Canada wide to that name and brand and all the arguments used are absurd.
To say that the name is associated with losing ignores the fact that they dominated the WHA. What did the name that was associated with domination get them in the NHL? Nothing. Should we say the Maple Leaf brand is associated with losing and ignore everything pre-1968?
They invested a lot in the Moose name, therefore they want to keep it? They have a brand name that is selling strong Canada wide even though they haven’t had a franchise in 15 years, how much more “investment” would it take before all of Canada gave a shit about the Moose brand?
They want to change the name to create new jersey sales? Once again, ridiculous. All the Jets would need to do is tweak the logo and create a new jersey with the same colours and the fans would buy it. Cough Cough Montreal 100th anniversary anyone?
The fact is, people like me have an emotional attachment to “Jets” and zero emotional attachment to “insert name here”. I WOULD buy a Jets jersey, I am as likely to buy a Nashville Predators jersey as I would whatever new brand they come up with.
Short term thinking if they don’t choose Jets.
Extremely short sighted to not name them the Jets. I wonder however if there would be a backlash if they named them the Manitoba Jets though?
The real question is what will the SB Nation Jets blog be?
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 7:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Once the Winnipeg name is officially made, SBNation will come up with a blog name.
On that note, I’m wondering how long it will be until the Canadiens ask us to drop “Habs” from EOTP?
Kevin van Steendelaar
http://www.twitter.com/kvansteendelaar
but don't forget...
http://www.twitter.com/HabsEOTP
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Jun 4, 2011 7:59 PM EDT up reply actions
Well damn, the Jets get a pretty damn awesome blog.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions
There is no Habs in EOTP, it’s only in the URL. Pisses me off when folks call the site Habs Eyes On The Prize. When I was setting up with Mirtle two years back, the “habs” was added because there was another site called Eyes On The Prize. That’s the story. There is no Habs in the logo.
It’s mentioned in the title below the first bar ad though. But we can probably take that out ourselves.
Kevin van Steendelaar
http://www.twitter.com/kvansteendelaar
but don't forget...
http://www.twitter.com/HabsEOTP
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Jun 5, 2011 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think anybody would have a problem with Manitoba Jets because they would retain the same branding. It’s like when the Phoenix Cardinals switched to Arizona. Same logo, same colours, etc.
I think the Jets name is the key. They have been longing for the Jets in Winnipeg for 15 years. Bring back the JETS. Save the JETS. JETS forever.
To bring them back the cycle is not complete if they call it something else.
They should petition the NHL to do what the NFL did with Cleveland. Their history stays with the city. It is absurd that their team history start now or with Atlanta and the Coyotes franchise holds Hawerchuk, Selanne, Steen etc. as alumni.
I agree 100%
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions
People here (even people I who I don’t consider hockey fans) are very excited about “the Jets” coming back to town. I think Chris is right on the value of the Jets brand, if the league is going to make it available the team would be stupid not to use it. A new logo would be a shrewd move.
Selling out the building was the easy part, now they need to get a new management team in place so they can start building rather than repeat the mistakes of Waddell in Atlanta or Maclean in Columbus. We’ll see how Edmonton turns out but I don’t believe any non-Toronto market can continue to have high demand with a team perpetually (5+ years) at the bottom of the standings.
There are some quality players there but previous management has made some… interesting decisions. Three years for Chris Thorburn at $870,000 is wasteful, same with the one-year left on the Slater contract, burning the first-year on Burmistrov’s ELC without getting much in return, and Ron Hainsey. I can understand the need to get a defenseman when they sigend Hainsey, but that Thorburn extension doesn’t make any sense to me.
The team has a fair ways to go to be competitive. Management would do well to take advantage of the quality 3rd/4th liners available and load up on them for this season, maybe try to bring in a guy like Hamrlik to make Bogosian’s job a little bit easier next year, and pray that some top-quality forwards and a tough-minutes defenseman becomes available to help up the overall quality of the team. Of course, the player payroll budget will play a big role in the shape of the team.
I’m not sure about the goaltending either, but I don’t know anything about goaltenders and my rule of thumb is predict they’ll play at a league-average level in the future and if they don’t you find some cheap guy off the scrap heap to platoon. Odds are at least one of Mason or Pavelec are going to be league-average anyway, just has to hope you guess right.
I’ve watched Pavelec a lot in the last couple of years, and he definitely has it in him to be a solid NHL starter. As it stands right now though, Pavelec is extremely inconsistent. He’s either brilliant or terrible and rarely anything in between. I’m guessing that next year he’ll be about the same as this year, maybe a slight variation. He has what it takes though, the size, the talent, question is if he has the determination.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 7:34 PM EDT up reply actions
I agree. I think he is an NHL starter. At 24 he is allowed to be inconsistent.
.914 is solid on that team.
He’s had a steady progression the last 3 years too. A good place to start to have a 24 year old goaltender capable of putting up those numbers on a crap team like Atlanta was.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions
I always look for flashes from young guys. He has had some 50 save games and then crashed back to earth. The Thrasher team has more potential than the Coyotes would have, as much as that symmetry would have been preferred.
Everyone is talking about the need to sign Andrew Ladd to make the team have some confidence or whatever in it’s viability among free agents, but I think the more pressing signing is Bogosian. Losing him at this point in his career when he’s underrated would be a disaster.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions
They have a good core for sure, especially if Burmistrov takes some steps forward in the next few years. And I’m guessing he will because his talent is off the charts.
Although Hainsey at $4.5M and Blake Wheeler in the top 6 are soft spots.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Since the NHL owns the Coyotes, it would be their call. It just makes sense for all reasons to name them the Jets. I think they will do that with a slightly modified jersey. I hope they do that.
As far as jerseys go, I think they should have complete freedom in a jersey redesign, but keep a retro 3rd jersey. i think that’s the best way to go.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:18 PM EDT up reply actions
Even something like this would sell like crazy.
A retro compliment like Vancouver and Buffalo would complete the set and they would not lose a cent on jersey sales.
Maybe this is just me, but how cool would it be for the jet in that jersey to be an Avro Arrow?
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:29 PM EDT up reply actions
That would be epic, imo, although I’d keep the Jets original colours. Also always loved Essensa’s mask. I’m still shocked this finally happened. And Winnipeg selling all 13,000 season ticket packages really shoved Bettman’s threats back in his face.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Winnipeg was hungry for hockey. When people were crunching the numbers and how much a 5 year commitment for season tickets in the lower bowl would be, I was skeptical that they could sell 13,000, but Winnipeg has impressed. I’m almost as excited to see the Jets take the ice as I am for the Canadiens next year.
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewberkshire
by Andrew Berkshire on Jun 4, 2011 11:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Team will be called Jets...
“Although it’s doubtful that the name “Jets” will be made available to the new franchise"
I don’t know where you got that… the NHL owns the rights to the name Winnipeg Jets and is allowing TNSE to use it for free. There is almost no chance left that they will be called anything else, the only possible exception still on the table is Manitoba Jets.
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