Quote:
Originally Posted by jackalsfan1
http://tribune-democrat.com/localspo...ning-next-year
I don't agree with the comments by Bommer. The attendance was pretty bad on Friday Night again. What has become the point of this whole thing? The attendance hasn't been that good and we all know that Wheeling was already on shaky ground before they decided to do this. Wheeling has struggled at the gate at WesBanco for much of the season(I see recently they have had a couple 4,000+ games) The team is a first place team so you have to wonder how much of that is a factor(though they've been in first much of the year) but with Kalamazoo's win today they only have a 2 point lead. How much money have they lost this season with the experiment(doesn't it basically count for 10 more road games because of the travel expenses and maybe hotel expenses(I don't know if they have to spend any nights there) I wonder with the lack of attendance and 10 less home games at WesBanco how much money they have potentially lost this year. I would love to see what their finances for the season look like, lol.
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I think I get the point of the Nailers doing this. First, Johnstown fans will show up in spurts, and the writer is right about it being historically bad in December. Not saying it's right, but the numbers don't lie. If there is a limited season, they will show up because of the now-rarity of ECHL hockey in town because it's now looked at as an event instead of just another game in the season if that makes any sense. However, and I mentioned this in another Nailers/Johnstown post, there is little to no advertising done in this town to support this team. After nine home games and a pre-season game, nobody knows about the split season aside from the long-time, diehard fans who would show up if even if they were to put a combo of ice-skating bears, roller skating clowns, and pee-wee players on the same ice.
To cite a small sample size, I've heard people from work (I work in a building with over 500 people, 20 in my department alone) say they had no idea a team was here. Maybe not a big deal, but when our office gives away 5 pairs of tickets to each home game you'd think they'd have some idea.
I'm not saying advertising will bring 3900 through the gate each night. The thought of it happening would be nice, but I'm also a realist and know this town is much different than when this team was doing sellouts on a regular basis back in the early 90s. The Nailers "magic number" is 2500, which as small as it sounds, is an attainable number if the team was promoted more in the community. Even something as small as using the town's name in the team name goes a long way (i.e. Wheeling/Johnstown Nailers, although I'm sure there are much better examples) with some people and would make it feel like it is "their team." Me? I'm just happy there's a team that plays here ten games a season. I don't have a split-season package. My job has me running out of town sometimes, so it's easier to buy individually, not to mention the team might make more money off me this way.
