Why did they stop?

[chocco 0]

Attendance was up last year, people were talking about hockey in Hartford again and then it all stopped. No advertising this summer, little advertising this fall puts us right back where we were last year. They had them and lost them. The Whalers are still a big deal in CT, the Whale is not. You had thousands of Whalers fans come out for the summer fest last year. You had over 10 thousand come out for the rebranding night. You had conservatively 15,000 people come to an outdoor hockey game in the worst conditions many of us will ever see. There are thousands of Whalers fans out there unmotivated to go to games. MOTIVATE THEM. Give them an excuse to go to the games and they will. If you were to bring in Geoff Sanderson or Mike Liut for 1 game and trotted them out there during then 1st intermission you would have at least 8,500 people there, probably much more. You'll start hearing that buzz again like last year. I am all for giving this team its own identity, but you're still trying to build this market. You don't have to do as much as you did last year, but do something. If you want to bring back the fans, Bring Back the WHALERS...... Simple as that.

[jerseydiehardwhaler 29]

Yesssssssssssss that is the truth

[Mikekat 0]

Chocco you really hit the biggest issue with this whole rebrand and the questions for why it hasn't been more success**l in the first **ll season. If you are going to brand the team as an AHL team with it's own identity you are going to get AHL attendance numbers. They need to tie games to the Whalers more. Go big with it...you rebranded for a reason. Go big or go home..

[Biggie1083 1]

That's the thing. They had all of those players come last year, and it was great. What about this year?

[Whalerguy 0]

The season pretty much started last night. I know we are 8 home games into the season, but the home games and primetime weekend games really start now. We need to be patient here. Baldwin can't be pissed off about the low numbers becuase he has to understand that he is building a new franchise and fan base. Not everybody is going to jump on board with a new name for the same minor league team in 1 year. Last night was awesome for the team. They had about 6,000 people there which is good, not great, but good. They also had the TV exposure which is what really sells in this day in age. Attendance will get better! Go Whale!

[UCHuskies 0]

chocco wrote :

> Attendance was up last year, people were talking about hockey in Hartford

> again and then it all stopped. No advertising this summer, little

> advertising this fall puts us right back where we were last year. They had

> them and lost them. The Whalers are still a big deal in CT, the Whale is

> not. You had thousands of Whalers fans come out for the summer fest last

> year. You had over 10 thousand come out for the rebranding night. You had

> conservatively 15,000 people come to an outdoor hockey game in the worst

> conditions many of us will ever see. There are thousands of Whalers fans

> out there unmotivated to go to games. MOTIVATE THEM. Give them an excuse to

> go to the games and they will. If you were to bring in Geoff Sanderson or

> Mike Liut for 1 game and trotted them out there during then 1st

> intermission you would have at least 8,500 people there, probably much

> more. You'll start hearing that buzz again like last year. I am all for

> giving this team its own identity, but you're still trying to build this

> market. You don't have to do as much as you did last year, but do

> something. If you want to bring back the fans, Bring Back the WHALERS......

> Simple as that.

 

 

Agree 110%.

 

Also: Because you share a name with my dog, I will have to *****ume that your a Chocolate Lab who's learned to type

[StuGrimson4Prez 0]

I thought maybe he was from Land of The Lost.....

[Biggie1083 1]

That's Chaka.

[Whalerguy 0]

I think they didn't market a lot because they figured there werent that many game in the beginning of the season and not many people go to the games then, so why spend all of the money then? I believe we will see more ads starting....Well, now. I was driving on 84 last night and saw a billboard that looked pretty cool. They need to do more "big boy" stuff like that. The problem is that stuff like that costs money and we need to show up to the games if we expect them to keep doing stuff like this. In my opinion, we are right there. WS&E is far from selling the place out, but very close to catching the eye of the casual fan.

[Monizzle145 74]

chocco wrote :

> Attendance was up last year, people were talking about hockey in Hartford

> again and then it all stopped. No advertising this summer, little

> advertising this fall puts us right back where we were last year. They had

> them and lost them. The Whalers are still a big deal in CT, the Whale is

> not. You had thousands of Whalers fans come out for the summer fest last

> year. You had over 10 thousand come out for the rebranding night. You had

> conservatively 15,000 people come to an outdoor hockey game in the worst

> conditions many of us will ever see. There are thousands of Whalers fans

> out there unmotivated to go to games. MOTIVATE THEM. Give them an excuse to

> go to the games and they will. If you were to bring in Geoff Sanderson or

> Mike Liut for 1 game and trotted them out there during then 1st

> intermission you would have at least 8,500 people there, probably much

> more. You'll start hearing that buzz again like last year. I am all for

> giving this team its own identity, but you're still trying to build this

> market. You don't have to do as much as you did last year, but do

> something. If you want to bring back the fans, Bring Back the WHALERS......

> Simple as that.

 

I agree and disasgree....yes the whalers are still relevant and talked about but all those events were 1 time things. I froze at that bowl and was amazed anyone stayed but again its a 1 time thing. I still think if a team came back in the next 3 or 4 years there would be sellouts the first few games then the honey moon would be over. People planned for the 1 time whale fest and 1 time whale bowl....most hockey fans have obligations with children playing hockey and work to go to 41 games.

[chocco 0]

I think that is part of rebuilding a pro hockey market. People have time to go to hockey games but hey are not conditioned to going to hockey games. You need to make hockey the thing they think of first when they are looking for something to do. Thats also why seasons tickets and ticket plans are important. The people who buy ticket plans are invested in going to games. They lose out if they don't. Once they sign up there is something that motivates them to go. Most people will find the time to go once there is some sort of commitment to going.

 

I agree that those events were 1 time events but those 1 time events do 3 really important things

1) Bring in money and money helps you pay for things

 

2)Puts butts in the seats- If you have a good product it helps to be able to show it off. I read multiple people on this board (including myself) that went to these events as Whalers fans and left as Whale fans too.

 

3) MOST IMPORTANT- It Makes news, Creates a buzz gets people talking about hockey. In a way it's free advertising and it the best kind: television personalities talking about it, radio personalities talking about it, newspapers talking about it. Everywhere you go people talking about it-

 

That is why they need to rebuild that connection between The Whale and Whalers Fans. How Awesome would it have been if the Whale Bowl was this year . They would have built a fan base last year could have continued it on into this year , brought up the plans for the new XL center and then Had the Whale Bowl ( the weather couldn't be any worse). To me it seems as if they rushed everything into one year and now have nothing to lure Whalers Fans this year.