When the Atlanta Thrashers move to Winnipeg, the Bombers will face serious competition.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers had a media conference call on Tuesday to discuss the state of its business and it quickly turned to hockey talk.
As the Bombers prepare to embark on another season and are looking forward to playing in a new stadium in 2012, they have been usurped in the sports chatter by a team that hasn’t even officially arrived.
The National Hockey League team – the Jets or whatever they are called – are set to become reality any day now in Winnipeg, hence the realization by the Bombers that they are facing some serious competition for the sports entertainment dollar.
"Will there be an impact of the NHL returning to Winnipeg? There may be," Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ president Jim Bell said. "But our feeling within the management of the football club is there is room for three between the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Class AA Northern League and the Blue Bombers."
There is already talk the Moose, who play at the MTS Centre, which has a seating capacity of only 15,100, will be gone because the city simply can’t afford two professional hockey franchises. The Moose started operations in 1996, about the time the Jets, doomed by a falling Canadian dollar and insufficient operating capital, moved to Phoenix.
That is completely the opposite now: The Canadian dollar is stronger than the American buck and the backers behind the new NHL franchise have deep pockets.
"We feel with the partnership we have with our community as a whole we don’t feel threatened by the NHL," Bell added. "It will be very workable for us as a club and we look forward to that."
The Bombers had a league-worst 4-14 record last year, but Bell indicated the team is about on par with last year’s total season-ticket subscription number of 17,800 and expects to hit 18,000 by the end of the week.
The Bombers play in an ancient stadium with a maximum seating capacity of just under 30,000, but buying a season-ticket package this year gives purchasers a similar seat in the new stadium.
Bombers fans are loyal, but even the diehards aren’t shelling out expecting the team to suddenly go from last to first.
The Bombers last played in the Grey Cup in 2007 and they haven’t won the championship since 1990, which was their third since 1984. The Bombers were a force then, but in recent years they have been a farce.
But it doesn’t cost much to watch the Bombers. Season-ticket packages cost between $165.30 to $597.50, divided by 10 (nine regular-season games and one pre-season game) and that is dirt cheap.
The Atlanta Thrashers (soon to be relocated in Winnipeg) have season-ticket packages ranging from $599-$9,900 for a total of three pre-season games and 41 regular-season games.
In Atlanta, the franchise had to operate with the same mentality as the Bombers, that is charging a reasonable fee.
That won’t be the case with the new NHL team in Winnipeg. Demand will far exceed supply, so the franchise will be able to hike up rates without suffering public fallout. It wouldn’t be surprising if the team made personal-seat licenses a prerequisite of buying season-ticket packages. That is something the Bombers – or any other CFL franchise, which operate with affordable pricing – can only dream.
It is a totally different landscape for the Bombers now compared to the last time Winnipeg had an NHL team.
The Bombers can’t afford to be lousy anymore because fans will turn their attention – and their dollars – to the NHL team in the initial few years, regardless of how good or bad they are.
The Bombers, unlike the previous NHL team in Winnipeg, have survived through lean times, but now more than ever the team has to be better.
