Apathetic Is Pathetic

One step forward, two steps back. that's how the Winnipeg Jets season has gone thus far. A couple weeks back, the Jets actually strung together a three game winning streak as they are desperately trying to find a way to make it to the post season. Granted, they beat three lousy teams (Ottawa, Arizona, Buffalo) and they needed extra time in all three games, but at this time a year, a win is a win, right? They followed up this winning streak with a another setback, losses to the Leafs and Kings. They haven't played since Saturday night and since then, Vegas and the Stars have started winning again to give them some distance between themselves and the Jets. Winnipeg was within two points of the Knights, but now the Jets sit 6 points behind Vegas and 7 behind Dallas,a tough task considering the Jets only have 12 games left. You don't have to be a math wiz to figure out the Jets can ill afford to lose many more games and they have to hope both Vegas and Dallas lose more games than they win during the stretch drive.

 

 

An interesting read in today's, Winnipeg Free Press in Mike McIntyre's column titled, "Apathy becoming Jets' toughest foe". He discusses how fans are losing interest in the team thanks to their "lacklustre" performance and he raises many good and accurate points. As a season ticket since the return of the Jets, I thought I should weigh in on this topic. It is true the building hasn't been full this season in the games I've gone to, but the pandemic has definitely been a factor, but there were signs of this apathy even before the stoppage of play back in 2020. Me and my ticket partners have had a difficult time re-selling our seats if we can't go and as recently as yesterday one of the partners was offering his seats to us for no cost. He said there is no interest in the seats at the seat exchange and if he was going to give them away it may as well be to someone he knows. This has been a common comment from many season ticket holders, as well as the feeling there is no incentive anymore to be a locked in season ticket holder. Having season tickets was a guarantee you wouldn't miss a game because demand for tickets was high and first dibs on playoff seats. The team recently lifted the contract, holders have to sign to show their commitment and are locked in for multiple years. They have also offered to refund the deposit from the first season they've been collecting interest on, to put towards next year's tickets. This seems like a desperate attempt to appease fans and this is something that should have happened years ago and this was probably prompted by angry anti-vax season ticket holders that caused a stink to cancel their tickets for the season due to the COVID restrictions. The casual fan can buy a ticket on secondary markets for less than what season ticket holders are paying on their "discount" rate, so really this means the tickets are over-priced in this current market (yes, prices have skyrocketed continually). There used to be other perks or at least an acknowledgement to the season ticket base. I remember when the team would courier over (or pick up) a fancy box that contained all the physical tickets for all the games and a puck or pin or key-chain, something unique that made you feel special as a supporter. Before the season, there would be a season ticket holder appreciation event with food and drinks, something that carried over from when I was a Moose ticket pack holder, as well as draft parties with some players in attendance. Now, there is nothing that connects the community with the team, no player appearances or any special events (besides the super-overpriced "Winnipeg elite" gala) to their most dedicated fans that invest good money to support an overpriced product. Sure, you can blame the pandemic for some of this, but the perks and events disappeared before 2020 and the team has coasted on the momentum generated when the team first came back. This is no longer the "hot" ticket in town and whatever happened to the "wait list" from the first few seasons, there was over 7500 fans that paid money to be on that list...boy, times have changed, eh? 

Let's think back to the Winnipeg Jets 1.0 and how devastated fans in this city were when the team left for the hotbed of hockey, Phoenix, Arizona. What a slap in the face, moving a team from a supposed hockey city to the desert and to this day it should still haunt people that team is still playing games in front of less people than a Manitoba Moose game. Apathy is part of the reason the team left (yes, there were other factors), not enough people going to games consistently and losing interest in the team when they aren't winning, we took the team for granted. This city was given a second chance by True North by bringing an NHL team back to Winnipeg and it's quite clear the honeymoon is over. This is further proof that Winnipeg is full of far weathered fans that will only support the team in good times. This is pathetic! I love hockey and I consider it a privilege to attend games. I'm not necessarily a huge Jets fan, but I go because I enjoy watching the other teams in the league and I love watching hockey, regardless if the Jets are winning or not. That being said, if the team doesn't make the playoffs this season, the team will be forced to address some of these issues over the off-season, otherwise the team will lose a large part of their season ticket base and you'll be seeing Jets tickets in coupon books or worse yet, to another desert city!