Fans crying foul over seat selection

Bombers seem to be pooping the bed big time. Click here for full story.

The season tickets we share are held by an east side 35+ year ticket holder, four tickets; 50 yard line, row 8.

New seats? 35 yard line, row 19. Take it or leave it. Oh, and $200 more per seat.

No discussion. No options.

The Bombers continue to be run poorly. They could learn an awful lot from how the Jets handled seat distribution and customer satisfaction.

Morons

You should be thankful that you even get a chance at season tickets first. The bombers don't have to give you seat preference or anything else.

Lord knows that someone else will gladly relieve you of your seat.

Huh? What in the world do you mean when you say "be thankful" and "they don't have to give you seat preference or anything else"?

There is a contractual agreement. We buy the tickets we get to renew in the same seats. We sign an agreement that is renewed annually when we pay for our tickets.

Our group has. For more than thirty-five consecutive years. That is no way to treat a long term - loyal customer.

Thankful indeed!

With the New Stadium I believe that contract would be null as that particular seat no longer exists therefore they can do whatever they want. I could be wrong but I would assume that is the case.

Ahh. You assume such a contract would be null and void.

Let's say that is so. Let's say you ran a business and opened a new store location across town from the closing old store location. Would you discourage loyal 35 year customers from using the new store? Or would you go out of your way to invite them in and thank them for coming back.

Should I be thankful to you for simply letting me in your door?

From the recent drafting to the lastest in ticket sales, this organization is a mess. What I would like to see is a group such as TNSE run this show and turn it around. I honestly don't see the bombers doing very well this coming season, but I hope I'm proven wrong.

According to the article you have been invited in, you may not like the new digs, and nothing is forcing you to buy from the new location. Must feel good with that sense of entitlement...

EdWin I would love to see TNSE take over running the bombers, rumor has it that the Jets are clearing 1.5 Million a home game. 60+ Million in profits for the season. That doesn't even include merchandising or anything else. How many hockey teams can claim that?

"rumor has it that the Jets are clearing 1.5 Million a home game. 60+ Million in profits for the season."

I find that difficult to believe. Not impossible.. just very difficult.

This would mean each seat is worth about $1K per game. I doubt even including advertising and television royalties thats possible.

Stonekiller wrote:...rumor has it that the Jets are clearing 1.5 Million a home game. 60+ Million in profits for the season. That doesn't even include merchandising or anything else. How many hockey teams can claim that?

I think the source of your rumour is a little off...

The Jets are not clearing $1.5 million per game. Their average ticket price is $81. That translates into $1.2 million GROSS per game. What their profit is on that is anyone's guess, but the total ticket revenue is about $51 million. Their player salaries are in that neighborhood.

My GUESS is the Jets are going to break even this year (and likely most years) as long as player salaries and the Canadian dollar don't get out of hand.

IMHO, where the Jets will likely make a profit is during the playoffs...

Stonekiller wrote:According to the article you have been invited in, you may not like the new digs, and nothing is forcing you to buy from the new location. Must feel good with that sense of entitlement...

Invited in? Where?

You think I have a sense of entitlement in this matter? Really? Can I guess what you do for employment? I'll bet you don't run a business.

I'll do some math for the sake of illustrating the problem.

There are 21,000 season ticket holders. The new stadium will hold 33.5k.

It is true that there are not the same number of seats on the 55 yard line in the new stadium.

It is also true that not all 21,000 season ticket holders are sitting on or near the 55 yard line.

Why is it so difficult to place STH's in seats relatively close to their existing seats given these logistics?

More importantly, why is it so difficult for the Bombers to invite people in to discuss placement rather than arbitrarily assign seats?

welll.. quite frankly a long time season ticket holder should feel entitled and what the heck is this "stadium club" seating?

is that even going to sell?

The club seating is a "premium" seat location on one side of the stadium (east side I believe) that are the choice, plum seats.

My old seats would fall into that category. Smart marketing IMO. They'll likely sell out big time.

However, I think the number of club seats is quite small. Perhaps 1,500.

We were not given that option. We probably would not have purchased them if we had been offered them.

I disagree, given the number of season ticket holders the logistical nightmare of trying to accommodate everyone would be ridiculous. No matter what, there are going to be people who aren't happy.

Considering people put their season tickets in their wills. There are more than a few people who have had season tickets longer than your 35+ years. I wonder what kind of seating preferences they get?

they have 6 extra months to get it all worked out. Should not be that hard

Logistical nightmare? Simple software could handle any number of variations in seconds. The software exists. They are using it.

As to satisfying everyone? They have not even attempted to. That is the biggest problem with the entire matter. It does not seem that they have made the extra effort.

For what it's worth, TNSE did a fantastic job of bridging the moose season ticket holders over to Jets season tickets.

They hired extra staff to make contact with ticket holders, arrange seat selection meetings and propose alternatives (when needed) that made sense.

My ticket group had seats in the "100 level" for the Moose for over 7 years. We were not able to accommodate the pricing for those same seats going forward, however TNSE was able to kindly propose moving us up one level in the same section. (Basically 6 rows higher than previous) at a price point we could stomach.

Why can't the Bumblers figure this out? Is it because they can't afford to provide the same level of service, or because they are lazy?

I get the impression it's the latter based on comments from my friends and others wishing to renew at the new stadium.

The Bombers are very poorly managed. I've had dealings with them professionally and personally and they are consistently bad.

However apparently we should be grateful they even speak with us. We should not let our sense of entitlement drive our expectations... ;>)

If you have not noticed.. the bomber board does not exactly give two licks what the fans think.

1) banning tailgate parties (instead of making them work)
2) banning re-entry (instead of making security do a better job)
3) banning the beersnake (okay..maybe that one was called for)
4) banning balloons and pretty much trying to stomp FUN out
5) appointing Asper to the board after he fricked everything up
6) .. I am sure I could go on, but I just dont feel like making the effort.

Points well made Dean. They seemingly tried everything in their power to take the fun out of the day. This because of a few bad apples. They lost a glorious opportunity to tune into the people that buy tickets and make a Bomber game truly a place to be.

It will be interesting to see if the maroons on Maroon Road will recognize the error of their ways and make some corrections as they move into a new facility.

The Bomber management group has received some bad press in the last couple day. Will it get their attention?

"The Bomber management group has received some bad press in the last couple day. Will it get their attention?"

They still appointed Asper after the public outcry didn't they?

Deank wrote:"rumor has it that the Jets are clearing 1.5 Million a home game. 60+ Million in profits for the season."

I find that difficult to believe. Not impossible.. just very difficult.

This would mean each seat is worth about $1K per game. I doubt even including advertising and television royalties thats possible.

$1.5M per game is definitely too high.

I have heard that beer sales are through the roof at the MTS Centre. $7.50/beer and they are going through 125-150 kegs per game.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they are grossing $250-300k in concessions alone.

grumpy old man wrote:

Stonekiller wrote:...rumor has it that the Jets are clearing 1.5 Million a home game. 60+ Million in profits for the season. That doesn't even include merchandising or anything else. How many hockey teams can claim that?

I think the source of your rumour is a little off...

The Jets are not clearing $1.5 million per game. Their average ticket price is $81. That translates into $1.2 million GROSS per game. What their profit is on that is anyone's guess, but the total ticket revenue is about $51 million. Their player salaries are in that neighborhood.

My GUESS is the Jets are going to break even this year (and likely most years) as long as player salaries and the Canadian dollar don't get out of hand.

IMHO, where the Jets will likely make a profit is during the playoffs...

They will do better than break even.

Television royalities are in the ballpark of about $20 million, the private boxes are another $10 million and NHL revenue sharing is anywhere between $10-15 million.

Then add on concessions, advertising, merchandise etc.

Start to add that up and you are looking at a $100 million in revenue per year.

Considering we only have a $51 million payroll, I have a feeling the Jets will do much better than break even this year.

sputnik wrote:

grumpy old man wrote:

Stonekiller wrote:...rumor has it that the Jets are clearing 1.5 Million a home game. 60+ Million in profits for the season. That doesn't even include merchandising or anything else. How many hockey teams can claim that?

I think the source of your rumour is a little off...

The Jets are not clearing $1.5 million per game. Their average ticket price is $81. That translates into $1.2 million GROSS per game. What their profit is on that is anyone's guess, but the total ticket revenue is about $51 million. Their player salaries are in that neighborhood.

My GUESS is the Jets are going to break even this year (and likely most years) as long as player salaries and the Canadian dollar don't get out of hand.

IMHO, where the Jets will likely make a profit is during the playoffs...

They will do better than break even.

Television royalities are in the ballpark of about $20 million, the private boxes are another $10 million and NHL revenue sharing is anywhere between $10-15 million.

Then add on concessions, advertising, merchandise etc.

Start to add that up and you are looking at a $100 million in revenue per year.

Considering we only have a $51 million payroll, I have a feeling the Jets will do much better than break even this year.

maybe if they do so well they will be nice enough to allow us to put a full dome on the stadium