Devils Attendance - Are ticket prices too high?

I know in the case of the Fire & Ice lounges that a chunk of the people stay inside the lounge the whole game. Unfortunately nothing you can do about that, they are really nice places and although I personally don’t hang out in there all night, it’s great to be in during intermissions. But for the rest of the lower bowl, if they won’t lower prices they need a lot more promotions, seat upgrades, etc. Move all the College Nights and such downstairs, because that’s what you see on TV. Maybe if people watching at home see full sections they might want to come a little more. The uppers are always full and that’s great, but if you’re not there you’d never know it.

The irony is that the Devils actually didcut prices in the lower bowl (and most of the Rock) for this season.

Maybe they need to be cut down further, but I’d point to the Devils’ historical lack of marketing. I’m not sure exactly what they could do to promote themselves further right now, but ultimately, cheaper prices and all the success in the world means nothing if you don’t triumph it.

The team is finally engaging in marketing themselves more than ever, I will concede this because they actually recognize the Internet and sites like Gulitti’s, Chere’s, this one, Twitter, etc. This is a good effort; but it’ll take a continued effort.

That reminds me, one thing I want to look at is attendance both before and after New Year’s Day. There’s a theory it gets better in the New Year that I’d like to see if it’s true or not. Perhaps that plays some role?

Gentlemen,

Puck Daddy talked about this today and the Devils are 20 – 21st in league attendance. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Has-technology-made-attending-early-season-games?urn=nhl,208846

I’ll say what I’ve said before, this team does not sell itself well. I have written to Vanderbeek about this and gotten nowhere (Doc Emrick DID write me back).

It’s really a grassroots thing at this point I believe – meaning I trust us more than I do the people getting paid to get people in the seats. What if I said a couple motivated, tech savvy Devils fans could increase attendance just by exchanging ideas? You simply get a couple colorful fans, put them in a cooperating Newark area bar – film it and make it a podcast & webcast to be archived on itunes and youtube. Add a couple attractive season ticket holding female fans to spice it up. Do it not for every game (too time consuming for me) but maybe once a week. Putting it on the web, so it doesn’t compete with MSG TV is important. Make it seem like coming down to the bars around Newark is the place to be. Then make promo commercials geared to the college kids in the area.
Philly broadcasters accomplish this with Chickie n’ Pete’s broadcasts.

If you would at all be interested in this, let me know . . . email me via our website:

www.newjerseythemovie.com

Again, I’m confident a couple motivated fans could easily do something about this. We’ve got them on this blog.

While I wouldn’t want to discount the concern with the fact that the team didn’t sell out for a game against the Flyers, I think a small part of the blame is that the Flyers have been awful for a minute now and well maybe people just didn’t want to dish out cash to see them live.

As a Devils fan there’s nothing I’d love to see more than to have the Rock filled to capacity each and every night. But I’m realistic at the prospects and now that no matter how well the team plays it’ll still be an uphill battle for another decade and here is why:

• The team is ridiculously slow in recognizing new opportunities and forms of media. I recently tried to do something with the team online and got this response “As policy, we do not recognize blogs.” Really? It’s almost 2010 and the NJ Devils still don’t fully grasp the power of a blog and the internet? I understand screening everyone who approaches you, but a blanket policy? Seriously ILWT probably does more for the team than the Hockey News yet were John to ask for an interview with a apleyr he’d probably be denied for no real reason. This sort of thinking is just just sad.

I will give the organization credit for really using Twitter to it’s full capabilities, but I also know that they hired outside help for their social networking needs (a firm a friend of mine works for the firm that handles it). And the Twitter account success is entirely their doing and not the devils organization. I’m sure left in the teams hands the Twitter account would probably only get updated once a week.

• Lou is stubborn. While i have nothing but respect for him, his reasoning as to why the team doesn’t have a 3rd Jersey is absolutely silly. You don’t believe in it ? Fine! Have the team only where it once or twice a year. But it’s still something new to sell to your devoted customer base to generate money for the team.

• The team still has to compete against longtime Rangers, Flyers and probably even some Islander fans within their own market. That’s really going to be an uphill battle for a while and the only way it changes in my opinion is 1) keep winning and 2) focus on the future, when the kids who’s parents took them to games, mature, take their kids, and so on and so on… establishing the Devils as their team ans tradition instead of non market teams that dominated in NJ for decades.

• The team does nothing to try and lure and entice fans in those outside markets that steal their homebase. If NJ is full of Ranger and Flyers fans, why can’t the Devils go into NYC and Philadelphia and just be “Why not root for a winner? NJ Devils”. I know loads of people who live outside of Jersey who call the Devils as their team. Some are originally from NYC and Philly, but a lot of others are actually Hockey fans who have moved to NYC from elsewhere but do not want to root for the Flyers and/or Rangers. Believe me their are a bunch of these displaced hockey fans in the greater NYC/Phila area that the Devils should go after aggressively.

• The Rock. The rock is a freakin’ great arena! One of the best I’ve ever been to. Hell even the food is way better than your usual arena fair (Those chicken tenders!!!!). When I take friends and family who have never been they’re always impressed. Imagine someone who has only ever spent their life seeing games at MSG walking into The Rock? It’s like switching from a cordless phone to an iPhone. The team needs to really start promoting how great of an Arena the place is and maybe even invest in a few of the vacant properties adjacent to it in developing a few more bars, restaurants and lounges.

• They need to do more fan centric events regularly. Meet and greets at all or most Home games an hour or so before. Fans love getting the chance to come out and shake hands with a former player they loved. Why do it only a couple times a year?

• Further capitalize on the Teams famous fans. Thankfully the team (via Twitter) has recognized the value of having Kevin Smith as such an outspoken Devils fan. Why not have him blog for the official devils site? Yes I know he was blogging for NHL.com and they deemed his content to over the top, and stopped it after one post BUT I’m certain he can tone it down and just provide another avenue for people to discover what it is to be a Devils fan. Don’t let the Oilers recognize his worth and steal him away!!! Max Weinberg, Zach Braff are others that come to mind. USE THEM!

• Shoot some viral videos! If the Penguins and Bruins do it all the time, why can’t the Devils? Fans want to see a whimsical side to the team… and even if they don’t feel it’s worth it due to small TV viewership they’re once again not seeing the big picture in then re-broadcasting these “ads” on Youtube and their website.

Finally i think the Olympics may be a big boon in raising awareness of the team and attendance at the Stadium. I truly think the US team can and will compete for gold. A US team that will have 3, maybe 4 Devils including Parise who is unquestionably the best forward on the squad. Imagine the US team lead by Zach Parise winning a medal? I promise we’ll then see a spike in attendance and even “fans”.

and people are hard to break away from the teams they grew up liking.think of how horrible the rangers have been in your life time.even if u are 80 yrs. old its been pretty terrible the whole time yet people still hang on to them,i dont know why.if the isles move some day that would really really help the devils.there are to many teams in the ny nj east pen. area.

I think I have seen more New Jersey Devils fans either at the Prudential Center or around the league (at away games) this year than any year that I can remember, to tell you the truth. I think our fanbase is growing with casual fans joining the hardcore fans that have followed this team for years. Definitely we have more fans now than we have ever had attending games just from a visual standpoint. The days at Contintental Airlines arena and the attendance at those games pales in comparison to now.

The top sections are almost always completely full, especially on weekend games. Unfortunately, you won’t even notice that when you’re watching a game; people only see the empty lower seats. i think it would help if these seats were more competitively priced. If I see that the top sections are sold out, its got to be because they are valued at a much better price. Prices were cut from this last year to this year but not by a significant margin.

Also, marketing could be much better. This fanbase is more of a hardcore group that has known the team for years. There should be more marketing on television, radio and the internet attempting to sell Jersey’s Team. Why not put up marketing advertisements during other professional sports games with offers? The casual fanbase needs to grow the most I believe.

My Parents live down in the Atlanta Area. In the Mail, they just received a $50 off coupon if you buy 2 seats in the ($62, $78, $92) price levels or $30 off for 2 seats in the ($32, $42, $49) range for any Thrasher game in December and January (They chose Devils on 12/19)… All in all, it’s a great deal. Close to 20-40% off the total price.

Devils Marketing need something like this. The Original 6 Plan is a good start. Create Plans by the Month. Do it Season after Season. And Market the Deals!!! Send deals, coupons, fliers in the mail throughout NJ. Twitter is a good start. Facebook too.

The top tier will always sell. That’s where the real fans go and that’s what they will pay. Deals like this will create an increase in the lower tier attendance.

That may have been a little naive to say but here my reasoning:

I haven’t been to a game in the last couple of years. I did go to Opening Night. As a student I spend half the year living in Syracuse and the other in Atlanta. I was a Season Ticket Holder the year after the lockout (still have my Free Custom Jersey…haha). I haven’t been in the Rock since March 2008, but the games I attended, the majority of the attendance were in the top tier, thus the majority of real fans must be in top tier. No? Don’t get me wrong (and you’re a great example), there are real fans in the lower tier, and the fact that real fans (and not corporations) are buying lower tier, more expensive seats is awesome! I feel it needs to improve. It’s great that corporations are buying seats, but if they aren’t showing up, then it’s a waste. The Thrasher deal is just a good example of promoting lower tier seats towards fans and people who would only want to (or could afford to) pay for upper level tiers seats.

The bottom line is that while the Devils’ Marketing Department has shown more life in the past year than ever before, they are still doing a horrible job. The only commercials we ever have are never any good, it’s always a desperate plea for money—which I know is the point of a commercial, but remember when hockey teams used to make funny commercials? Yeah they were trying to sell you tickets but they did it in a way people respond to!

And it cannot be stressed enough, promotions in the LOWER BOWL!! Something I think they fail to realize is you just need to get people in the building. If people watching on TV see a full lower bowl they see the product as something people like. People are sheep, they like things that are popular. You get bodies in the arena, even if its with a promotion and they save a lot of money on lower bowl seats, because guess what? They’re going to want food, and if they have kids they’re going to want souvenirs, and before you know it you’ve made your money.

I have zero marketing training by the way…this just seems like common sense more than anything.

Just a quick comment with Fire and Ice, I realize it has nothing to do with the bar being popular or not as I’ve noticed by going to the game tonight. It’s just what is offered to those who have center ice seats in the lower sections. So it doesn’t really matter if they’re sitting in their seats or grabbing some food or drinks, like you guys have said. The seats are sold and they’re just moving around.

Anyway, it’s not that the “real fans” are only in the upper tier and the people farther down below are more casual fans. Its that the average income hardcore fan who wants to have season tickets can probably only afford these seats. The pricing for lower level seats aren’t necessarily out of range but they are expensive for season ticket holders. Perhaps the Devils need to create better incentives for fans/corporations to purchase season tickets in the lower levels.

And I agree with thejerseydevil. They need more advertising on television. Put up a ton of commercials on cable channels, especially during a thus far successful season such as this one, throughout the tri-state area. Use these commercials to promote discounted deals on seats in the lower bowl and make the commercials appeal to the casual fan. Attempt to persuade hardcore fans who normally purchase upper tier tickets because of their price by using discount promotions. Advertise games in other sports like football…it may seem strange at first advertising another sport in giants stadium but thats 70,000 more people being introduced to hockey on a weekly basis.

2nd lowest attendance (12,178) of the year against the Habs on a night where Marty breaks a record and had the potential for another…

Wake up call for the organization???

Would it be, say, wrong of me to bring them up to appropriate people should I get an appropriate chance to bring them up?

If you get the chance with someone from the organization who will listen and has the power or the ears of someone who can do something, then do it.

This group is passionate about the team. This is not typical overly excited fan nonsense about what player to trade for, etc. This is all legit stuff on how to get other fans in the seats. We are the customers, you would think the team would welcome the input, even if they end up not agreeing with much or all.

Go for it John.

Bringing it up is a great idea! If they see it as a group of concerned fans seriously trying to help them, how could they not at least consider something brought up here. Let us know how it goes though!

One other thing I have been reading about is that more and more teams are instituting dynamic ticket pricing models. I know specifically that the Stars, Sabres and Bruins are doing this – different prices for different opponents. The Bruins are even doing it where they may change prices hourly they two days before games.

If you are one of the handful of NFL or NHL teams that are guaranteed a sellout, this is probably not something you will explore. I would bet that 75% of the NHL gets to this within two to three years. I also believe a number of baseball teams are doing it, such as the Reds.

What about some kind of deal with NJT to package train tickets with seat tickets for reduced rates on both, or some kind of upgrade of seating with evidence of train stub or something along those lines? Do they already do something like that?