Upset fans weigh in on Jets attendance woes

When Winnipeg Jets coowner Mark Chipman said the team isn’t sustainable with the fan support it’s getting, he obviously touched a nerve.

A subsequent column in this space sparked a flood of emails over the weekend in a reaction not seen in years.

Chipman and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will hold a “fireside chat” and take pre-screened questions from fans before Tuesday’s game against St. Louis.

For a primer, here’s a sampling of what fans are telling us.

Let’s start with Dan, whose job takes him across North America, giving him the chance to take in games in other NHL cities.

“There is no way easy way to describe the vast difference in experience from Winnipeg compared to other markets,” Dan wrote. “But it is large.”

Dan pointed to a downtown “unfit for a social night out” and arena staff that “make you feel as if you are entering a prison rather an event you are spending months worth of grocery money and a car payment on.”

One example he gave: In New York, fans are encouraged to go down to the glass for a photo or to catch a puck. Not in Winnipeg.

Dan concluded with this: “It’s our entertainment dollar that they are fighting for. Otherwise it’s going to go towards a ski vacation or Cancun and we’ll watch on TSN.”

Next up, Shelli, a seasonticket holder until recently who says she loves the team but not the organization.

“It was a horrible experience,” she wrote. “They did everything for everybody but their loyal fan base. Thousands upon thousands of dollars and I have 20 Scotia bank scarfs to show for it. Took away points cards, parking, and jacked concession prices… Now they wonder why the base is leaving them.”

Shelli says when she cancelled her tickets, nobody even asked her why.

“Pathetic,” she called it. “This is ALL on the ownership if they leave AGAIN.”

We got a similar story from Ernie, who says he was a season-ticket holder going back decades.

“When I cancelled my tickets they didn’t even care, didn’t ask why or nothing,” Ernie wrote. “Not even how they could help to keep me on, not even a thank you.”

Customer service is an area Chipman acknowledged has been an issue.

On-ice mediocrity and service that’s “poor to terrible” is how Darryl described it.

“I want so bad for this team to stay in place, but I have to decide where my hard earned dollars will go,” he wrote.

Darryl took the veiled threat from last spring’s advertising campaign as a “gut punch,” compounded by the recent threat.