Now that’s how you sell a place out.
True North, the company buying the Atlanta Thrashers in an effort to move them to Winnipeg, announced earlier today that it had reached its goal of 13,000 season tickets sold. Not only that, they’ve also amassed an 8,000-person waiting list – and they had to cut it off to boot. The goal was reached only 17 minutes after general sales to the public opened this morning.
Pre-sales to existing Manitoba Moose season ticket holders occurred during a 3-day window from Wednesday to Friday, totaling 7,158 packages. That means 5,842 packages sold to the public in those 17 minutes. If there’s any doubt as to whether Winnipeg loves its hockey, those concerns have been most assuredly quelled. Only deposits were required upfront. The use of monthly payment plans will probably make things easier, and the waiting list will make up for whomever didn’t check in properly with their spouses first and eventually had to drop off.
In any case, good for you Winnipeg. You’re now the Green Bay of hockey. Enjoy those frequent trips to Tampa and Fort Lauderdale (I smell lucrative road trip packages coming). The not-Thrashers will continue to be in the Southeast Division next season. The NHL’s Board of Governors votes on the move June 21.
newballpark.org 
….but do they have 40,000 facebook friends like oakland?
LOL
@GoA’s–smart ass. BTW, it’s 46,617 friends and growing.
How many in the Baseball San Jose FB?A whopping 500, exactly, and not really growing. No one really cares about the A’s in SJ, but LW, Chuck Reed and a few dozen of you on here.
But it’s okay, no real fans needed for Cisco Field. All these rich SV corporations, with a net value of over a trillon bucks say they’ll take care of everything. Yeah, right.
Let me just address once and for all the Facebook feces: FWIW, when “Baseball San Jose” went from a group to an actual page membership dropped. I signed up for the original BBSJ Facebook group but have not ventured over to the actual page. And guess what..I have no intention of “liking” the current BBSJ Facebook Page because IT @#$%&% DOESN’T MATTER! Enought with this Facebook crap!
where is the popular support amongst regular folks for a SJ stadium for he A’s??
@David–I was wondering the same thing? Where is it?Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
@Tony–don’t underestimate the Internet and Facebook. BS is well aware of LGO and the 1000’s who have signed and sent the petition to him to keep the A’s in their rightful home in Oakland. Where’s the petition from all them SJ A’s Fans to bring them to San Jose? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
HeyTony, start your own SJ A’s Facebook page and get a petition going. You have the be the biggest, most hardcore SJ A’s booster around.
BTW, FWIW, the Winnipeg Jets FB page is at 37,945 and growing rapidly, and they’re not even renamed the Jets yet.
BTW2, Last November, over 300k fans through an online petition swamped MSNBC’s offices and brought back Keith Olbermann when he first was suspended by MSNBC. Unfortunately, a few months later, they mutually parted ways and he’s gone from the station, but he was overwhelmed by the huge support when he was first suspended for the company violation of campaign contributions he wasn’t suppose to make without their approval.
@David/jk-usa – The FB number is almost meaningless. I get more unique visitors to this site every month than the LGO Facebook page has supporters. I’m not making any claims about any city’s support based on what I’m seeing.
Also, the SJ poll from last year still has relevance. After the budget situation is resolved (it’s happening) the ballpark should continue to poll well.
Where is the popular support from regular Oakland folk to actually attend games at the Coliseum? (ouch! That hurt).
I know, I know, its all Wolff’s fault (LOL). Again, no need to get involved in anything FB because it doesn’t F___in matter!
And no, BS doesn’t care about LGO or FB numbers. All he cares about is $$$$! Follow the yellow brick road to $J/$V!
@TonyD–yeah, that’s the probelm with people like BS and LW, all they care about is the money.
I attend games, a lot of them, do you?
It’s generally poor form to attack another’s fandom.
I love this blog! The love affair is going on, what R.M., 6.5 years now? FWIW, being that I reside in Gilroy and have a vast family/4-year old to attend to, I try to make it out to the Coliseum 2-3 times per year. If, or when, the A’s relocate to San Jose I’ll become a season ticket holder with family members; we’re all just waiting for the opportunity to do so. If the A’s were to get a new yard at VC, it would still be 2-3 times per year for this South County guy (which is more than some “Oakland-only” folk will attend in SJ). OT: nice Merc article this morning by Purdy on the Rockies/Sunnyvale native Troy Tulowitzki. Believe it or not, Tulo is an A’s fan who grew up hating the Giants…and he still does! That’s awesome! You know what else would be awesome? If he somehow became the A’s everday shortstop after 2015…playing at home! ;o)
By the way, congrats Winnipeg!
@ML–just asking TonyD if he attends A’s games, and he does 2-3 times a year. Not bad. I wish more fans all over the bay area would attend 2-3 games. That can add up.I know guys who haven’t seen games since the Bash Brothers era and that’s sad. I’ve seen as littlle as 15 games a year (late 70’s) to as much as 74 games in 1990. I’ve cut down on games the last few years and was so pissed and dropped my season tix when Wolff announced Fremont in 2006. I’ve picked up the pace some this year (9 games so far) but this has to be the drabbest, most lifeless team I’ve seen in years. I’m just waitng for BS to give Oakland it’s shot and possibly LW selling, then I’m season tix again from here on out.
jk… Oakland has it’s shot right now.
@Jeffro–i hope so. I’m crossing my fingers. In the meantime, we have to get some wins before we fall too far out of this. Texas is rolling. Cooled off a hot Cleveland team.
jk- what do you mean you hope so? The town has had a two year reprieve… And they have been given the opportunity to put their best foot forward. What else is there?
Winnepeg’s ability to sell that many season tickets is a testament to their love of hockey as well as the fact Canada’s economy is in much better shape than ours.
If the A’s were to build in downtown San Jose, and Lew gets his wish of keeping the stadium as small as 32,000, I’ll bet the A’s could sell out 25K season tickets in a few weeks.
I think Edmonton is on to something here. Keep it small, make it exclusive, make it a status symbol to be there.
“make it exclusive, make it a status symbol to be there.” Hmmm . . . perhaps the word “exclusive” and the phrase “status symbol,” are a tad bit evocative of “elitism.” Exclusivity itself, very well may preclude the attendance of “families” to enjoy our “National Pastime.” Families which after all, are so integrally intertwined with the earliest memories that many of us “baseball fans” recall of our beloved sport. Many of us cherish memories of attending baseball games with our fathers for example, so let us be wary not to find it desirous to create such an environment of “exclusivity” and “status,” that we “price out” the most fundamental element of baseball fandom, the family.
@Hoyt–well said.
That’s great for Winnipeg, clearly there’s a lot of fan interest there. But it’s still not clear exactly how valuable the long-term contracts are. As I pointed out in a previous thread, the Raiders PSL contracts required PSL holders to purchase tickets to every game played at the Coliseum for a full ten year period. Yet, when push came to shove and thousands of PSL holders began turning in their PSLs, neither OFMA, the Raiders nor the City/County made any attempt to enforce this. (The Raiders were named an intended third party beneficiary, so they had the legal right to enforce the PSL contracts).
I assume the reasons for this were pragmatic: It’s bad business to start suing your fans to enforce a hideously one-sided contract while you’re still trying to sell PSLs and season ticket packages. But presumably the same would apply in Winnipeg if demand fell off in a few years.
@Hoyt Lots of families attend games at AT&T Park. Cisco Field at Diridon will be no different.
@jk-usa “yeah, that’s the probelm with people like BS and LW, all they care about is the money.”
You do understand that major constructiong projects require, um, money, right? Very few contractors will accept payment in Facebook pages, no matter how passionate their members.
@bartleby – do you have anything positive to say about the City of Oakland?
@David I have lots of positive things to say about the City of Oakland, and have said them many times on this blog over the years. I have personal ties to Oakland, am a longstanding fan of its sports teams, visit frequently, and overall think it is a vibrant community with lots of potential. I hope for great things for the City of Oakland in the future. I have said many times that support for the Warriors has been fantastic in Oakland, and support for the Raiders has been very good (under the circumstances). I believe both the Raiders and Warriors could thrive in new venues in Oakland. I’d love to see the Warriors consider the Victory Court site.
Having said all that, I’m also a realist. It’s not Oakland-bashing to point out that the East Bay in general has limited corporate base, especially in comparison to the Peninsula/South Bay, and that corporate base is the single most important factor in privately financing a ballpark. It’s also not Oakland-bashing to point out that attendance for the A’s has been consistently poor relative to the team’s performance through its entire history there, and that the presence of AT&T Park only a few miles away from downtown Oakland would put crippling competitive pressure on the A’s were they to build there. Facts are inconvenient things.
@David BTW, where, exactly, do you see me making any negative comments about Oakland? I just reread all my comments on this thread, and I’m not seeing it.
Winnipeg shows right off the bat that they are a much better “hockey market” than Atlanta ever was or ever will be despite being only a fraction of the size.
This type of frenzy as they say would occur in San Jose as well if the A’s were allowed to move there.
46k in FB supporters? Too bad the A’s need 3 home games TOTAL to get 46k usually. At least 2 decent games for sure right now and in the past for the most part.
Die Hard A’s fan need to realize that the Giants are far to close to Oakland for a new ballpark to succeed long term.
If the Giants were in San Jose rest assured the A’s would move to San Francisco in a heart beat….I ask Pro-Oak fans would you go to SF for a game only 12 miles away? Or would your pride stand in the way like it does with a San Jose ballpark?
Does your pride mean more than seeing the A’s thrive long term in the Bay Area?? It is obvious it does and it is shocking that people think San Jose is light years away from Oakland….35 miles is not that far.
The A’s need a corporate base to build privately as Bartelby points out….Without it there is no chance at a “free ballpark” for the public.
I am all for a Oakland ballpark if it was realisitic….it just is not. The partnership between Oakland/Alameda county and the A’s broke down years ago.
Forget corporations, fans,, etc….Without a good public-private partnership in pro sports there is no way a ballpark gets done. Oakland/Alameda County has shown they cannot be trusted by the A’s.
So why deal with someone you know is dishonest??
SJ has nothing to celebrate – yet. For the time being, MLB and the Giants are confining the A’s to Oakland, which can’t offer public funds and lacks the corporate base to make a privately funded ballpark possible. Some can hold out waiting for a generous philanthropist to shed his/her fortune to give Oakland a ballpark,. but I wouldn’t bet anything on that.. Asking why San Jose isn’t celebrating the A’s coming to town is like asking why San Jose isn’t celebrating the Sharks winning the Stanley Cup: It plain hasn’t happened yet.
Hoyt,
You sound passionate about Americana. You must be outraged like me then that a major American city like San Jose is currently banned from pursuing our National Pastime (MLB).
If you consider a new stadium in SJ to be for the “elite” then nothing is stopping you and your family from going to watch the SJ Giants play.