NHL's Novel Concept: Preseason Game Ticket Promotional Ideas

On my way home from work a few weeks ago I heard a hockey news item about a promotional idea the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to—and did—employ for their preseason game on September 25th against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets. I decided to research the item further.

Here is the article, from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

In short, the Penguins gave away 12,000 tickets to youths who ranged between the ages of 4-24 for their preseason game against the Columbus at the Consol Energy Center—the Penguins' brand new arena.

This leads me to utter the following: "Bravo Penguins ownership and management! You guys 'get it.'"

This promotion inspired me to assess how such an idea could be applied to the Blue Jackets, a team coming off a disappointing 2009-10 season—particularly, a team already slated for a 25-percent drop in full season equivalents (FSEs) for the upcoming 2010-11 season.

Such a creative promotion—or something much like this—could have great value.

This organization must search for creative methods to draw fans, to include new fans—in this case, for their preseason games. One (such a promotion and the goodwill associated with it) might lead to the other (obtaining new fans and bringing back those fans soured on last season's results for its regular season games).

Above all, this organization must reward those faithful season-ticket, personal seat license (PSL), and partial-season ticket holders for their years of loyalty, most of which has been quite unrewarded.

Here's my insight as to the Penguins' promotion.

Free tickets? Are you kidding me? Wow, what a novel concept! This really is rocket science. This is better than splitting the atom. (Note: This is all sarcasm, pure sarcasm, but you get the idea.)

Here are some suggestions that I would like to share for the Blue Jackets brass to consider.

• Give out free tickets for preseason games to students and, in particular, to high school and junior-level hockey players. If anything, build a relationship that may result in a lifelong fan. As those of you who've attended a National Hockey League game know, once you attend a hockey game in person, you're hooked for life. You don't buy that? Then explain how Snoop Dogg goes to one Anaheim Ducks game and leaves a season-ticket holder and an NHL addict. Goodwill here, people, goodwill.
• If the organization doesn't want to ante up for such a goodwill gesture, perhaps the organization could work with the local corporations who won't use these tickets during the preseason and turn them into a charitable donation. In this instance, it results in a win-win for both the organization (goodwill) and the corporations (for tax purposes and from a public relations standpoint). For those corporations, the Blue Jackets should make every effort to publicly acknowledge this gesture in the national and local media.
• In addition to that, offer all preseason game tickets for $5 to those non-season tickets holders. Think of this as similar to those $5 seats offered for the Ohio State University (OSU) spring football games. This allows fans who normally can't afford to attend games an opportunity to be a part of the OSU stadium (The Horseshoe) experience. And you never know, if the experience is positive, you may have found a new, lifelong fan that you wouldn't have obtained otherwise.
• Above all, rather than "awarding" the season-ticket holders with 4-6 preseason games that are irrelevant (who actually goes to all of these games?) remove the overall charge to the FSEs—supposedly, a "bargain" reduced rate for the preseason games—thus making these games completely free. You'd be surprised how far such gestures will go, come renewal time.
  

(Note: Preseason NHL games are similar to MLB preseason games in that they utilize a split-squad concept. Basically, an "A" squad and a "B" squad, with the primary intent to determine who might make the NHL roster from training camp.)

On that last suggestion, from a personal standpoint, let me share what one of the few savvy Blue Jacket ticket representatives did to entice me to obtain season tickets—by the way, it worked. He provided free tickets, two rows behind the net, for a preseason game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The result? The ticket representative "got me," hook, line, and sinker. As I mentioned earlier: creativity.

This all comes down to a concept my very wise father once told me.

"Something beats the living (expletive deleted) out of nothing!"

To translate: "Wouldn't it be great to see, rather than the tens and hundreds of 'friends and family' attending the preseason games, to see thousands—actually tens of thousands—attending their preseason games? And—get this—actually drum up interest and a buzz to create a new fanbase?

As the saying goes: "A little bit goes a long way."

This is "outside the box" thinking. This is creativity. This is the way to drum up a groundswell that this team so desperately needs—this from the 22nd-ranked team in the NHL in average home attendance.

If you're reading this Columbus Blue Jackets promotions and management group, please make it happen.