High ticket prices ground Jets’ sellout streak

What’s this? The Winnipeg Jets bandwagon isn’t quite as overcrowded as it used to be?

It seems some of the flag-waving and jersey-wearing leather lungs have stopped chanting True North long enough to see the downtown rink isn’t necessarily the place to be to cheer on their favourite shinny club.

The Jets have acknowledged that their 312-game regular-season sellout streak came to an end in Tuesday’s loss to Arizona.

The biggest surprise wasn’t that some 561 seats remained unsold on a Tuesday in October, but that True North Sports actually acknowledged it.

A few seasons ago, hundreds of tickets were available on the Ticket Monster website just before game time.

The Jets, rather sensitive about this subject, always downplayed it. This time, it was different. So what does it mean? It appears “Fueled by Passion” doesn’t mean “Fooled by Prices.”

Fans who took the time to fire an email in my direction on Thursday mostly pointed to one problem: the ballooning cost.

Take Stephen, a season-ticket holder from the beginning who was at the Coyotes game.

“It cost me about $300+ Tuesday for me and my 8 year old son to attend,” Stephen wrote. “For a Tuesday game vs. Arizona. It’s all a bit much and it obviously hurts more when they lose.”

That opinion echoes throughout the arena.

“The product hasn’t changed, why are we paying increases every single year? I think the fans are speaking loud and clear on this,” wrote Jeff, a diehard in the 300 level since the beginning.

“Over the last couple seasons it’s been very hard to sell our tickets at cost. Our market is clearly saying that the tickets are priced too high.”

Jeff and others told me prices increased five per cent this year. That’s the maximum allowable increase in the ticket contracts, and it seems the Jets are going the max every time.

For a team that appears to be in decline, the price tag isn’t reflecting that.