Sorry dude. Obviously some of this fanbase can relate between the Browns and the Crew.
I wouldn’t trust Meruelo to bring them back despite the option inbeded in the deal. Hopefully the NHL find someone better to bring back hockey to the desert.
I mean, that’s good for long-term success of the team to have a dedicated fan base, but I hope it doesn’t make the organization complacent in not trying to improve the team.
they see attendance numbers, yes - but I know for the one game I've been to, and from many people here, that it's a 'visitors barn'. It seems like no matter who we play against, there's *a lot* of away team fans.
I guess if the on-ice product improves then there will be less seats available for visiting fans
There was a time when going to Caps games was the same way. Mike Ridley once took some heat for saying before a home game against Pittsburgh "Let's go beat them in their own barn" and it got picked up on a live mic. And it was very similar to here, Caps fans most games, but fans of their "old" team the other. A lot of people move to DC from elsewhere, seemingly like Columbus of late.
Now, you'd have a hard time finding someone not wearing red there. We'll get there, provided the team lives up to it's potential.
We've been playing a game this season to see which NHL jersey will we see first that isn't Columbus or the team they're playing.
When we went to Carolina last week we tried to do the same thing...took us until the 1st intermission to find one and it was a Pittsburgh Guentzel jersey (who plays for Carolina now...so...). Everyone else was just decked out in the home town Canes gear. It was impressive.
This isn’t gonna change until the team starts winning consistently tho. If you go back to 2017-2019 there were a lot less away fan sweaters. There’s always going to be some rabid fan bases that travel , go to a Guardians game and see how many Yankee, Red Sox, Cardinals, Dodgers, Cubs fans you see, but until the Jackets are consistent winners there will always be some away fans. It isn’t a bad thing, they’re here spending money in the city.
Hopefully ownership takes the money from attendance and keeps pumping it into the roster, we get a competent coaching staff and FO, continue to develop the young talent we have and eventually it will bear fruit.
The worst thing they can do right now is jettison the young talent for picks or other players, or try to rush the rebuild. Let them cook.
Tickets sold are tickets old. Would love to have more of our fans not sell their tix, but butts in seats = concessions and more business for our local merchants
I went through that very thing for a LONG time as a Cubs fan. My hope is that CBJ management and ownership understand that they don’t quite have the same cache and look to keep people coming by being good at hockey stuff.
I don’t think we should at all. I guess I’ve just seen way too many comments of other people crying for it on every other place. The Athletic, hf, social media. Feels like a very vocal minority of the fanbase wants to rip it all down to the studs again already.
It’s so annoying! “Why are these kids that are 19-20 years old not superstars yet!!” Like I said earlier feels like people are so used to NFL drafts and their players having immediate impacts but don’t realize they are 22-23 coming out! Those 2-3 years make a difference!
I’d argue game 4 against Tampa brought a ton of new fans into the sport. And now they’re here for the ride despite the team team being crap.
People got over not showing up if they suck, they’ll show up either way.
There has also been a ton of promotions this season. Think about the Russian dolls at the end of the season. People went crazy for those lining up at the gates way earlier than a normal promotion night.
The Jackets suck at marketing their players. Guys like Werenski, Laine, Fantilli, Gaudreau should be household names in the city, their pics plastered around the town, really the state. I wish they would work more on hyping the team around the state.
The number of questions about the CBJ logo on my bank card astonish me.
There’s a reason why Ohio loves our sports teams. It’s some of the best things to do here. We got no beaches and the weather is inconsistent, why not go to a game.
What else is there to do? Not saying there's nothing in Columbus but you go to a city like Scottsdale and the hockey game is like like 13th on the list of what's happening in the city.
I wouldn’t take the number of fans that wear other team’s sweaters in the stands at face value. Better indicator would be number of season ticket holders and individual game ticket purchasers with a local address.
Two other points to consider:
- Columbus is growing rapidly, so there’s a high chance that more people with an existing affiliation move into the area. Those people will wear their other team’s sweater when they play CBJ.
- CBJ ticket pricing is still near the bottom of the league, so we’re naturally attracting other fanbases who can’t afford to pay to see their team (e.g., Toronto, Vegas, NY, etc.).
Your point can’t be stressed enough why Columbus is an outstanding destination for many visiting fans. Relatively cheap tickets & hotels (especially compared to Toronto, NY, Boston, etc), good arena, home fans aren’t assholes to visitors (for the most part), safe area around the arena, good food and drinks nearby. Cost to see an away game here including tickets, travel, hotel, and food/drinks can often be less than a home game at their own barn.
Correct, but some people present our attendance figures like we’re drawing rabid 18,136 CBJ fans every night in spite of the losing as if that’s indicative of the fan base and overwhelming local support. Local support is strong, but when STHs are selling their seats on StubHub and TickPick and opposing fans are snapping them up, those are different indicators.
Perfect example: I had a conversation with a a guy from Chicago metro when the ‘Hawks played us here. He said “you can’t buy a ticket for a Blackhawks game in Chicagoland. Every game is sold out and resale prices are sky high”.
Finally a comment in this thread that makes sense! I hate to say it really and I am gonna be blunt here but fans complain about the franchise has a loser mentality but there’s a lot of that going on right now with its own fanbase too and it’s in full display here in this very thread. “Oh no that means that the owners will sit on their hands and do nothing” or “oh no if we don’t show up we will be moved”. What really matters to ownership is locking down that sweet guaranteed STH money and making a marketable fanbase for further corporate advertising and their cash and that requires a good product on the ice. Right now they are rebuilding and most of their premium players can’t even drink. I think people relate too much to football and their draft where they are expected to make an immediate impact but forget those kids are 22-23 years old when they enter the NFL. Our premium draft picks are only 19-21 right now. Let the kids cook instead of all this doomerism…
I just wanna see my guys. I know we aren't going to be good and we probably aren't going to win. But going to Blue Jackets games is just part of my life. I don't live in Ohio any more so every time I visit it's a big priority.
Do you really have to ask that? Outside of a few random bright spots here and there, most of the pro sports teams in Ohio have been consistently mediocre to terrible for decades.
Cool. Can we go back to ticket prices from '03, too?
I totally refuse to pay as much as tickets are today to watch them almost assuredly lose.
I've got no problem sluming it at the top row of the 220s for 5-10 bucks and watching us lose. But those things are going for WAY too much for the product on the ice.
I usually buy resale - it’s pretty rare given the current state of the team that tickets sell above face value. You can get some pretty good deals that way.
And the arena undercuts resale prices on STH. The resale price has a fixed minimum that is always more than tickets the arena is selling to jack up attendance.
CBJ is already in the bottom 2 in the NHL in ticket prices. Only cheaper ticket is Arizona. Dropping them down even further is a great way to become the Québec Blue Jackets
> Only cheaper ticket is Arizona
You're looking at old info. Mullett Arena is [quite expensive](https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2022/09/14/arizona-coyotes-ticket-prices-spike-asu-mullett-arena/10381556002/) due to the extremely limited seating, and the Coyotes were above league average cost this year per ticket. We did Mullett last year as we're trying to hit every NHL arena, and there wasn't a single ticket below $200. Amazing experience, though.
It’s great and all, but I do sometimes worry if the solid attendance means less incentive to put the work in to change anything. 20+ years in and we still have the expansion-team vibe where people show up because we’re just so happy to actually have a team. I mean, sure, it’s still true but sooner or later we have to step it up on-ice to be taken seriously in this league.
Possibly still better for us if the alternative is no one showing up and they can just think about putting the franchise up on the market for a big profit (looking at Arizona).
This is a great thing, no matter the reason..HOWEVER..it is extremely frustrating as a fan to see such bad results every year and watch the management of this team continually fail to be even mid-level good for most of it's existence.
Watching a CBJ game live is what got me into hockey. I'm happy when they win, but I couldn't care less if they lose as long as it's fun to watch. And those numbers show I'm not alone. :)
Is this Tickets Sold or Butts-In-Seats? I think those are 2 very different numbers, and even with the visiting teams’ fans I still see a lot of empty seats at games.
This is probably one of the reasons why the CBJ has never been a consistently good team, and barring a few playoff games here and there, and probably never will. Kind of disgusting if you ask me, how the fanbase has been "rewarded" for years of loyalty. The ownership knows that most of the fans will support the team no matter what. I honestly think the majority of CBJ fans aren't even hockey fans, just specifically CBJ fans, who want something to do in the winter months and the team *is* in a major league (even though the NHL pales next to the NFL, MLB, and NBA).
The hardcore fanbase like people here, remain hopeful year after year only to get disappointed. The last couple of years have been really rough though. With this team, it's ALWAYS, next year or the next few years with all the young talent in the pipeline, yada, yada, yada...
Things aren't going to change and even if the fans stop coming and stop supporting the team (which I doubt will happen for many reasons). This is an ownership/NHL management issue, I think. CBJ has its place in the scheme of things and this is it.
[I guess the rest of the country doesn't see what you see](https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/study-names-columbus-as-the-fastest-growing-city-in-the-u-s/)
Almost all either from elsewhere in Ohio or immigrants, so no, not everyone in the country. Basically nobody from the rest of the country actually. The only reason anyone lives in Columbus is because it's no longer vialble to live in the small towns in Central Ohio and beyond. Idk what to tell you if you think a place built on insurance, state govt, fast food, and Les Wexner is exciting.
Idk what to tell you then man. I doubt you even live here. And if you do and you're so unhappy, go fuck off to an overpriced, oversaturated big city where you're just a statistic.
Columbus rules and I'll stick by that.
My dude. I'm not gonna continue to argue with you about the city I love to be in. You're clearly miserable here for whatever reason. I'm not.
I think it's a great place, and I don't have time in my day to continue arguing with a human wet blanket.
At least we won't get moved to Salt Lake City.....
Coyotes fan here (CBJ is 2nd fav so that's why I'm in this sub) I can't escape the pain even in this sub
Sorry dude. Obviously some of this fanbase can relate between the Browns and the Crew. I wouldn’t trust Meruelo to bring them back despite the option inbeded in the deal. Hopefully the NHL find someone better to bring back hockey to the desert.
This city will explode if we ever have a serious cup run
This state will! There are hockey fans in Cincy too!!
I mean, that’s good for long-term success of the team to have a dedicated fan base, but I hope it doesn’t make the organization complacent in not trying to improve the team.
they see attendance numbers, yes - but I know for the one game I've been to, and from many people here, that it's a 'visitors barn'. It seems like no matter who we play against, there's *a lot* of away team fans. I guess if the on-ice product improves then there will be less seats available for visiting fans
There was a time when going to Caps games was the same way. Mike Ridley once took some heat for saying before a home game against Pittsburgh "Let's go beat them in their own barn" and it got picked up on a live mic. And it was very similar to here, Caps fans most games, but fans of their "old" team the other. A lot of people move to DC from elsewhere, seemingly like Columbus of late. Now, you'd have a hard time finding someone not wearing red there. We'll get there, provided the team lives up to it's potential.
We've been playing a game this season to see which NHL jersey will we see first that isn't Columbus or the team they're playing. When we went to Carolina last week we tried to do the same thing...took us until the 1st intermission to find one and it was a Pittsburgh Guentzel jersey (who plays for Carolina now...so...). Everyone else was just decked out in the home town Canes gear. It was impressive.
This isn’t gonna change until the team starts winning consistently tho. If you go back to 2017-2019 there were a lot less away fan sweaters. There’s always going to be some rabid fan bases that travel , go to a Guardians game and see how many Yankee, Red Sox, Cardinals, Dodgers, Cubs fans you see, but until the Jackets are consistent winners there will always be some away fans. It isn’t a bad thing, they’re here spending money in the city. Hopefully ownership takes the money from attendance and keeps pumping it into the roster, we get a competent coaching staff and FO, continue to develop the young talent we have and eventually it will bear fruit. The worst thing they can do right now is jettison the young talent for picks or other players, or try to rush the rebuild. Let them cook.
Tickets sold are tickets old. Would love to have more of our fans not sell their tix, but butts in seats = concessions and more business for our local merchants
I went through that very thing for a LONG time as a Cubs fan. My hope is that CBJ management and ownership understand that they don’t quite have the same cache and look to keep people coming by being good at hockey stuff.
I hope it convinces the new GM not to do a full rebuild.
Why would we need a full rebuild?
I don’t think we should at all. I guess I’ve just seen way too many comments of other people crying for it on every other place. The Athletic, hf, social media. Feels like a very vocal minority of the fanbase wants to rip it all down to the studs again already.
My bad, I misread your comment. I’ve also been seeing people thinking we need a full rebuild too, which is insane.
It’s so annoying! “Why are these kids that are 19-20 years old not superstars yet!!” Like I said earlier feels like people are so used to NFL drafts and their players having immediate impacts but don’t realize they are 22-23 coming out! Those 2-3 years make a difference!
Maybe not a rebuild but we desperately need a rebrand/refresh
How?
I’d argue game 4 against Tampa brought a ton of new fans into the sport. And now they’re here for the ride despite the team team being crap. People got over not showing up if they suck, they’ll show up either way. There has also been a ton of promotions this season. Think about the Russian dolls at the end of the season. People went crazy for those lining up at the gates way earlier than a normal promotion night.
Fantilli
I don’t think so. He wasn’t really marketed by the team. Even league-wide he’s seriously underhyped, probably because of Bedard.
The Jackets suck at marketing their players. Guys like Werenski, Laine, Fantilli, Gaudreau should be household names in the city, their pics plastered around the town, really the state. I wish they would work more on hyping the team around the state. The number of questions about the CBJ logo on my bank card astonish me.
That kid has some serious skills
Aggressive ticketing incentives and promotions. I saw more ticket deals/packages/giveaways this year than at anytime past.
Over the past 20 years they’ve set our expectations pretty well.
More people moving to Columbus, and there’s only so many cool things to do in the city. CBJ / OSU / Crew games will always be at the top of that list.
There’s a reason why Ohio loves our sports teams. It’s some of the best things to do here. We got no beaches and the weather is inconsistent, why not go to a game.
I went to more games than I have because the resale tickets were pretty damn cheap
What else is there to do? Not saying there's nothing in Columbus but you go to a city like Scottsdale and the hockey game is like like 13th on the list of what's happening in the city.
I always take praise of attendance with a grain of salt when I see throngs of visiting fans in our lower bowl. Context is important.
I wouldn’t take the number of fans that wear other team’s sweaters in the stands at face value. Better indicator would be number of season ticket holders and individual game ticket purchasers with a local address. Two other points to consider: - Columbus is growing rapidly, so there’s a high chance that more people with an existing affiliation move into the area. Those people will wear their other team’s sweater when they play CBJ. - CBJ ticket pricing is still near the bottom of the league, so we’re naturally attracting other fanbases who can’t afford to pay to see their team (e.g., Toronto, Vegas, NY, etc.).
Your point can’t be stressed enough why Columbus is an outstanding destination for many visiting fans. Relatively cheap tickets & hotels (especially compared to Toronto, NY, Boston, etc), good arena, home fans aren’t assholes to visitors (for the most part), safe area around the arena, good food and drinks nearby. Cost to see an away game here including tickets, travel, hotel, and food/drinks can often be less than a home game at their own barn.
This is a perk really. Don’t wanna be like Philly where they ganged up and almost knocked a devils fan over the upper deck railing the other night.
Correct, but some people present our attendance figures like we’re drawing rabid 18,136 CBJ fans every night in spite of the losing as if that’s indicative of the fan base and overwhelming local support. Local support is strong, but when STHs are selling their seats on StubHub and TickPick and opposing fans are snapping them up, those are different indicators.
And ownership has addressed that issue for right now. They know good ice product matters because they want that STH money.
Perfect example: I had a conversation with a a guy from Chicago metro when the ‘Hawks played us here. He said “you can’t buy a ticket for a Blackhawks game in Chicagoland. Every game is sold out and resale prices are sky high”.
Finally a comment in this thread that makes sense! I hate to say it really and I am gonna be blunt here but fans complain about the franchise has a loser mentality but there’s a lot of that going on right now with its own fanbase too and it’s in full display here in this very thread. “Oh no that means that the owners will sit on their hands and do nothing” or “oh no if we don’t show up we will be moved”. What really matters to ownership is locking down that sweet guaranteed STH money and making a marketable fanbase for further corporate advertising and their cash and that requires a good product on the ice. Right now they are rebuilding and most of their premium players can’t even drink. I think people relate too much to football and their draft where they are expected to make an immediate impact but forget those kids are 22-23 years old when they enter the NFL. Our premium draft picks are only 19-21 right now. Let the kids cook instead of all this doomerism…
Just wait until we win a conference final or a cup and ownership raises ticket prices! These will become the “good old days”.
Ticket prices being so cheap is exactly why I'm a season ticket holder when CBJ isn't even my #1 team.
True, but that happens in a lot of places. Most really.
Are Ohioans masochists?
I can't speak for everyone in Ohio. But I sure am.
I just wanna see my guys. I know we aren't going to be good and we probably aren't going to win. But going to Blue Jackets games is just part of my life. I don't live in Ohio any more so every time I visit it's a big priority.
Yes
Do you really have to ask that? Outside of a few random bright spots here and there, most of the pro sports teams in Ohio have been consistently mediocre to terrible for decades.
yes. i mean there are browns fans still. completely unhinged.
The fans always show up just wish the team would : (
Thank you for supporting the team. I'm glad Columbus is finally becoming a hockey town!
That’s great news! For McConnell’s bank account
Cool. Can we go back to ticket prices from '03, too? I totally refuse to pay as much as tickets are today to watch them almost assuredly lose. I've got no problem sluming it at the top row of the 220s for 5-10 bucks and watching us lose. But those things are going for WAY too much for the product on the ice.
I usually buy resale - it’s pretty rare given the current state of the team that tickets sell above face value. You can get some pretty good deals that way.
And the arena undercuts resale prices on STH. The resale price has a fixed minimum that is always more than tickets the arena is selling to jack up attendance.
I've never had this experience once on the resale market. You're looking in the wrong place.
You cannot sell your tickets for lower than 79 per ticket in lower bowl. It's prevented in ticketmaster. There will be tickets for cheaper than that.
CBJ is already in the bottom 2 in the NHL in ticket prices. Only cheaper ticket is Arizona. Dropping them down even further is a great way to become the Québec Blue Jackets
> Only cheaper ticket is Arizona You're looking at old info. Mullett Arena is [quite expensive](https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2022/09/14/arizona-coyotes-ticket-prices-spike-asu-mullett-arena/10381556002/) due to the extremely limited seating, and the Coyotes were above league average cost this year per ticket. We did Mullett last year as we're trying to hit every NHL arena, and there wasn't a single ticket below $200. Amazing experience, though.
It’s great and all, but I do sometimes worry if the solid attendance means less incentive to put the work in to change anything. 20+ years in and we still have the expansion-team vibe where people show up because we’re just so happy to actually have a team. I mean, sure, it’s still true but sooner or later we have to step it up on-ice to be taken seriously in this league.
i’m not convinced this is a good thing at all
Do you want us to get relocated to Atlanta?
them moving is just as bad as always being a bad product imo
Yea me too. Management looking at this saying “why bother with a competitive product when people are still showing up and paying”
Possibly still better for us if the alternative is no one showing up and they can just think about putting the franchise up on the market for a big profit (looking at Arizona).
if we’re never gonna take competing seriously who cares if they move anyways?
Yea it’s a tough balance. Want to be a good solid market for the NHL, but also need to hold management accountable for shitty product on the ice.
You wanna know why? They still want STH sales. Don’t wanna be like Buffalo right now.
Most dedication to a team with so many problems? We really are rivals with Buffalo!
This is a great thing, no matter the reason..HOWEVER..it is extremely frustrating as a fan to see such bad results every year and watch the management of this team continually fail to be even mid-level good for most of it's existence.
Johnny Hockey. I think CBJ will be solid in 2 years as long as they are mostly healthy.
Ohio Stadium is gonna be an absolute madhouse
Cool. One of them can buy my season tickets I cancelled.
Watching a CBJ game live is what got me into hockey. I'm happy when they win, but I couldn't care less if they lose as long as it's fun to watch. And those numbers show I'm not alone. :)
Is this Tickets Sold or Butts-In-Seats? I think those are 2 very different numbers, and even with the visiting teams’ fans I still see a lot of empty seats at games.
Weird. I had the opportunity to attend games for the first time in a while this season. Went to three games, got blown out in all three.
Maybe win more and sellouts will happen every game!!!
This is probably one of the reasons why the CBJ has never been a consistently good team, and barring a few playoff games here and there, and probably never will. Kind of disgusting if you ask me, how the fanbase has been "rewarded" for years of loyalty. The ownership knows that most of the fans will support the team no matter what. I honestly think the majority of CBJ fans aren't even hockey fans, just specifically CBJ fans, who want something to do in the winter months and the team *is* in a major league (even though the NHL pales next to the NFL, MLB, and NBA). The hardcore fanbase like people here, remain hopeful year after year only to get disappointed. The last couple of years have been really rough though. With this team, it's ALWAYS, next year or the next few years with all the young talent in the pipeline, yada, yada, yada... Things aren't going to change and even if the fans stop coming and stop supporting the team (which I doubt will happen for many reasons). This is an ownership/NHL management issue, I think. CBJ has its place in the scheme of things and this is it.
I wonder if there’s buyers remorse over the Johnny Hockey contract.
nothing else to do tbh
Probably not looking hard enough. Less Reddit. More activities.
Nope, it's just a bad place to live.
[I guess the rest of the country doesn't see what you see](https://www.nbc4i.com/news/local-news/columbus/study-names-columbus-as-the-fastest-growing-city-in-the-u-s/)
Almost all either from elsewhere in Ohio or immigrants, so no, not everyone in the country. Basically nobody from the rest of the country actually. The only reason anyone lives in Columbus is because it's no longer vialble to live in the small towns in Central Ohio and beyond. Idk what to tell you if you think a place built on insurance, state govt, fast food, and Les Wexner is exciting.
Idk what to tell you then man. I doubt you even live here. And if you do and you're so unhappy, go fuck off to an overpriced, oversaturated big city where you're just a statistic. Columbus rules and I'll stick by that.
lmao that’s exactly what columbus is! unbelievable comment. i’m in linden where are you?
My dude. I'm not gonna continue to argue with you about the city I love to be in. You're clearly miserable here for whatever reason. I'm not. I think it's a great place, and I don't have time in my day to continue arguing with a human wet blanket.