Empty seats around the ice

One of the hot discussion topics around Denver (and the NHL) is the drop in attendance being experienced by the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs hold the NHL record for consecutive sellouts with 487, but this year they are 25th out of 30, averaging 13,835 in the 18,007-seat Pepsi Center. That figure leaves the Avs ahead of hockey hotbeds Nashville, Atlanta and Phoenix, as well as the woeful New York Islanders. It leaves them behind places such as Dallas, Tampa  and Miami . . . Miami?

There are many theories as to why the Pepsi Center has an increasing number of empty seats:

• The economy. National unemployment is at 10 percent, foreclosures and bankruptcies are at record levels, and professional sports tickets are a luxury that many individuals and businesses are doing without.
• Ticket prices. NHL teams receive very little TV money, so their revenue is primarily ticket-based. This causes NHL teams to charge higher prices than their NBA counterparts. The same single ticket in Upper Level Section 320 of the Pepsi Center is $25 for a Nuggets game, $38 for an Avalanche game.
• (There are ways to get around high ticket prices. On Avs Family Nights, four people get tickets, food and soft drinks for just under $25 each. There are other discount plans for two to four people, as well as discounts for groups of 20 or more. And recently on the Avalanche Guild Web site, upper-level seats were available for $27 each, lower-level seats for $55 and club-level seats, normally $115, were also available for $55.)
• Poor play. Recent editions of the Avalanche have been no match for the juggernaut that spoiled fans here from 1995 to 2001, and last season was an abomination. But this season’s team plays a hard-working, exciting brand of hockey and has been at or near the top of the Northwest Division all season long.
• Lack of “Star Power.” It’s true that Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, among other stars, are gone, but virtually no one in Denver knew who Joe and Peter were when the Avs’ sellout streak began shortly after they started play in Denver in 1995. And remember John Elway’s quote when the Avs acquired Patrick Roy in December, 1995: “Why is it pronounced ‘Wah’? Why isn’t it ‘Roy’?” It took some time for the good people of Denver,  Elway included, to get to know those Avs, and it will take time to get to know these new stars.

Those are all good reasons, and they all have some validity. But the real blame for the Avs’ attendance issues must be attributed to the alarming drop in season tickets sold. The Avalanche organization has done a questionable job of retaining their season ticket holders and they are now paying the price.

When the Avalanche moved to the Pepsi Center in 1999, they had to cap season ticket sales to allow for group sales and other needs. That cap was around 14,500, leaving 3,500 seats available per game and the Avs had little trouble selling those.

How times have changed. Several sources have confirmed that the Avalanche season ticket base has dropped by more than one-third. That means that the marketers at Kroenke Sports Enterprises have to sell at least 4,500 tickets per game just to get back to where they were five years ago. The bottom line is that the KSE staff is working harder than they’ve ever had to, and they are selling more single-game tickets than they ever have, but the hole they dug themselves is proving hard to escape.

That being said, here are a few suggestions to put more “butts in the seats” (sports industry term):

• Give sports fans a new reason to check out “The Avalanche Experience.” The Avs don’t believe in promoting their own individual players, so promote the upcoming opponents and their stars.World-class players such as Alexander Ovechkin, Martin Brodeur (who is in the process of breaking Patrick Roy’s NHL career records) and  No.1 draft pick John Tavares, as well as ex-DU star Matt Carle, are just a few of the players who will visit the Pepsi Center this season, not to mention players whom people will see in the upcoming Winter Olympics. Let people know that they can ”experience” those players, too.
• For the rest of this season, cut the group discount requirement from 20 to 10 or even six. It’s a lot easier to talk five people into coming with you than it is 19. People can show their friends how much fun Avs hockey is and hopefully develop new fans.
• Show season ticket holders appreciation. This year’s season ticket holder/meet the team party was an excellent start. Now take it further. Give current season ticket holders 2 percent off of next year’s season tickets for every year they’ve kept their tickets, in addition to the usual season ticket discount. The maximum discount would be 30 percent for someone who has had their tickets for all 15 years (including the lockout year). Significant, yes, but a justifiable reward for a decade and a half of loyalty and support.

For their first 10 years in Colorado, the Avalanche set attendance records by doing little more than throwing open the arena doors. They may never again set records, but they can fill the Pepsi Center again on a regular basis with some hard work and by taking care of the season ticket holders.

Bruce Wilkie a Colorado semi-native, having moved to Denver in 1971. He has worked with pro and college hockey teams since 1975 and now covers the Avs for thehockeywriters.com.