Agree removing seats is monumentally stupid. Plus one has to think about the other events that the building might be hosting other than hockey. Lots of intangibles.

Bottom line is once the economy picks up even more people will have more money and time to go to games and they will wish they had those extra seats back.
- LordHumungous

Back? They aren't going anywhere. They're just going to sit under a tarp....

don maloney was a pupput for bettman.

with the new (again) ownership, i think they may have cut the strings.
- Tumbleweed

I'm excited for Chuck Greenberg to take over for Karmanos in Raleigh... Team needs somebody who's actually interested in promoting the team in charge.

Back? They aren't going anywhere. They're just going to sit under a tarp....
- Charliebox

Ah

Agree removing seats is monumentally stupid. Plus one has to think about the other events that the building might be hosting other than hockey. Lots of intangibles.

Bottom line is once the economy picks up even more people will have more money and time to go to games and they will wish they had those extra seats back.
- LordHumungous

All about making sure demand is strong. Tighter market means prices remain higher. Being unable to sell out starts a spiral effect on pricing overall. Plus then if youre running promos all year with some deep discounts season ticket holders get pissed. When demand picks up they can open them back up.

Oh the Sens

Just remove all the seats and send them to Quebec

All about making sure demand is strong. Tighter market means prices remain higher. Being unable to sell out starts a spiral effect on pricing overall. Plus then if your running promos all year with some deep discounts season ticket holders get pissed. When demand picks up they can open them back up.
- Gerk

It doesn't change demand. They are the cheap seats.

They are seats in the 'family fun zone' which are discounted for people with kids. Or seats in other areas that have promotions. They are the highest seats in the building. Season's ticket holders in better seats would never be pissed that some family got a promo to bring their young kids in the freaking nosebleeds.

As I said before, the Sens still had the highest attendance of all conference finalists. As soon as the playoffs start, that thing is coming right back off.

Ottawa could also hire a coach that's not so boring to watch.

Ottawa's recent attendance problems has nothing to do with the coach and everything to do with ownership.

Most of the Sens fanbase are either indifferent towards him, or flat-out detest him.

The problem the organization has is the owner's image as a cheep skate who is robbing fans while crying poor.

Taking away a huge chunk of the cheapest seats, even if many of them are unsold for 80% of regular season home games, isn't going to help his image.

like Ek said, less seats is less seats.

I understand their reasoning for doing it, but it's not going to increase revenue.

This is what happens in Ottawa:

Tickets for games Mon-Thurs are ridiculously cheap on 3rd party 'scalper sites'. You can get about 20-50% off the listed price. Season's ticket holders buy the full package, and sell all the games they don't want to go to on these sites. Generally, those games are weekdays against small market teams.

These are the games I almost exclusively go to.

Anselmi is hoping that by taking away seats, it will curb this market. Thing is, he isn't thinking properly. Seasons ticket holders are still going to sell their tickets on the 3rd party sites and they will still be cheaper than the box office. Taking away the cheap seats is actually only going to drive more people to these 3rd party sites to buy them from season ticket holders.

And the dumbest part of all is that attendance will almost certainly be up this year, simply because of that pay fiasco that happened last year with the federal government, along with the fact that the team came one goal away from the finals.

And Melnyk/Anselmi will pat themselves on the back, thinking their genius plan of taking away seats is the reason.

IF they are physically removing all those seats let the hurricane victims have them to sit on

IF they are physically removing all those seats let the hurricane victims have them to sit on
- Landsbergfan

i wouldn't call all Canes fans victims

like Ek said, less seats is less seats.
- Fountain-San

big if true

Why remove the seats ? kinda stupid, it will not increase the demand
- Xizord

They are trying to create a retroactive playoff sell-out.

Only about 4000 more seat removals to go

I don't care if they take out 3000 seats, as long as the team is playing deep into the playoffs and fingers crossed for Matt Duchene - altho Joe needs to lowering his expectations and realize he's not dealing with a Stamkos or Tavares. Duchene will get you max 25-30g, 65-70 point player. Still solid but from an Ottawa perspective, a package of Colin White, Cody Ceci, and a 1st round pick would be enough

big if true
- eichiefs9

i don't think he's ever said anything as solid as that.

I don't care if they take out 3000 seats, as long as the team is playing deep into the playoffs and fingers crossed for Matt Duchene - altho Joe needs to lowering his expectations and realize he's not dealing with a Stamkos or Tavares. Duchene will get you max 25-30g, 65-70 point player. Still solid but from an Ottawa perspective, a package of Colin White, Cody Ceci, and a 1st round pick would be enough
- AlfieisKing

Delete your account

Don't want to hear a word about Canadian teams/fans superiority to nontraditional markets when the Sens are removing seats to try to up demand for tickets.

I don't care if they take out 3000 seats, as long as the team is playing deep into the playoffs and fingers crossed for Matt Duchene - altho Joe needs to lowering his expectations and realize he's not dealing with a Stamkos or Tavares. Duchene will get you max 25-30g, 65-70 point player. Still solid but from an Ottawa perspective, a package of Colin White, Cody Ceci, and a 1st round pick would be enough
- AlfieisKing

Ceci sucks you knob goblin

(frank) the Sens and your busted over hyped prospects. Lehner will be like Tukka Rask, Cowen will be like Chara, Lazar will be like Taylor Hall, Ceci is a 1st pairing Dman and I wouldnt trade Turris unless it was for Crosby or Malkin

Don't want to hear a word about Canadian teams/fans superiority to nontraditional markets when the Sens are removing seats to try to up demand for tickets.
- Stignikov

Ottawa doesnt count as a canadian city...no one likes Ottawa, not even Canada

Ceci sucks you knob goblin

(frank) the Sens and your busted over hyped prospects. Lehner will be like Tukka Rask, Cowen will be like Chara, Lazar will be like Taylor Hall, Ceci is a 1st pairing Dman and I wouldnt trade Turris unless it was for Crosby or Malkin
- DDM-Coga

pageau = giroux!

chabot has the grit of doughty and the skill of karlsson!

but to be fair, Zibanejad has turned into a pretty good player.

Fewer seats means fewer seats. But who cares about grammar?

i wouldn't call all Canes fans victims
- Fountain-San

Fewer seats means fewer seats. But who cares about grammar?
- JoeProJr

stannis baratheon

You guys aren't understanding how supply and demand works.

Here, let's illustrate it with an example...

- You own a team that has 10,000 seats.
- You can draw 9,000 fans each game (when you charge your $10 per ticket).
- So...
- You have 9,000 people fighting over 10,000 seats, can you raise ticket-prices?
- No. Anyone who wants a seat can easily get one. The scalpers are going to be out there selling your tickets for $1 each, just to get rid of them. You actually have to lower ticket prices (enough so that you start averaging 10,000 fans).
- Now... You can lower your ticket price to like $8 - or, you do have another option, you can take out 2,000 seats.
- Taking out seats doesn't change demand, it only reduces supply (it shifts the supply curve inward).
- So...
- You now have 9,000 people fighting over 8,000 seats, what do you think this is going to do to the price?
- Right, you can now charge a much higher price than you could before. 1,000 people are going to want tickets, but be completely unable to buy them.
- So, even though you lost 20% of your seating, you might be able to charge $12 or 13 each now.
- 8,000 x $12 is $96,000 per game.
- 9,000 x $10 is only $90,000. And 10,000 x $8 is only $80,000. You actually increased your revenue by removing seats and lowering the supply (and moving to a better equilibrium point of your supply and demand curves).

EDIT: Actually, I shouldn't say equilibrium-point there, as neither point is actually in equilibrium. The best economic result would involve finding the price at which you average exactly 10,000 fans per game (the actual equilibrium point). Although, depending on the shape of the curves involved, it might still be better to remove seats. Especially if demand is inelastic.