The decline in the number of tickets sold for Winnipeg Jets games at the Canada Life Center is troubling management at the Manitoba club.
Mark Chipman, president of True North Sports & Entertainment, spoke with The Athletic this week. The company owns the jets and their home.
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The Jets' season tickets have fallen from about 13,000 to about 9,500 over the past three seasons.
“I wouldn't be honest with you if I didn't say, 'We need to get back to 13,000.' “The situation we’re in now doesn’t work in the long term,” Chipman said.
Remember that the Canada Life Center is the smallest amphitheater in the National Hockey League (NHL) and can accommodate 15,225 spectators for hockey games.
According to trade website Hockey Reference, an average of 13,098 fans will be in attendance at Jets home games in 2023-2024. Only the Arizona Coyotes perform worse when they play in a university arena. The Jets also have the third-worst utilization average in the league, behind the Buffalo Sabers and San Jose Sharks.
According to the president, the NHL continues to closely monitor the situation.
“You see the numbers. They see where the league is and where we are,” Chipman said. We are an exception at the moment. So you rightly want to know what we do? What's up? What happened and what are we doing about it?”
Another step?
The Jets have been back in Winnipeg since 2011 after the Bettman circuit decided to move the Atlanta Thrashers there. There was also a team called the Winnipeg Jets that played in the NHL from 1979 to 1996. This then became the Arizona Coyotes.
Last October, Chipman rejected the idea of selling or moving the team.
“Because this happened once, is it a concern that it could happen again because we are the smallest market? [de la LNH]? I would say, 'Not under our supervision,'” he said in an interview with CBC.