This weekend the Monsters host the Rivermen on Friday and Saturday nights. I have tickets to both games. I know that Friday night's game should draw a boat load of fans because of the T-Shirt giveaway and the fact that is Dollar Dog Night. I am, however, conserned about Saturday. I don't think that very many fans will want to show up at 1:00 pm in the afternoon. i don't think that taking this many day games was a very good idea on the scheduling part.

i couldn't agree more . i sorta talked about this is the attendance post . i really think alot of these day games will hurt the crowds this year . the few saturday afternoon games last year didn't nearly draw the crowd like saturday night games . so many afternoon games this year . i agree with you that this is going to have a big impact on the attendance average this season . i don't think we will do better than last year's 9th in the leagues overall attendance . got to say i was disappointed when i saw that many saturday afternoon games on the schedule this year . i was hoping to grow this year in bringing more people out .

Yeah, since this is our third season you would think we would continue to try to bring people to the games but that doesn't seem to be the case. I think we have like 4 Saturday day games this year. The only good thing is that we have alot of Friday night games and the Sunday games were moved forward from 5:00 pm. Those 5:00 pm games on Sundays didn't bring anybody out.

I will say that back in the days of the Lumberjacks, they used to play quite a few Saturday afternoon games (12:30 p.m. starts, I think?) And on at least one occasion where the Cavs played that same night, the Jacks outdrew them! So people WILL come to Saturday afternoon hockey games if conditions are right (good prices, good value, etc.)

Right now the biggest problem attendance-wise is that it's October and not, say, February. For whatever reason, the track record in this town over the past 15 years has been that hockey attendance doesn't pick up until after the holidays. I don't know why that is, but it seems to have been the case.

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i don't think that taking this many day games was a very good idea on the scheduling part.

They didn't exactly have a choice....
The NBA schedule comes out first, and since the Cavs are the PRIMARY tennant in the building, the NBA picks dates/times first, then leaves the AHL with the leftovers.

As a franchise, I believe the Monsters only get to SUGGEST 10 dates and/or times that they would like to have a home game, and the AHL takes a look and either approves or denies those dates and then creates the schedule. Blame this one on the NBA and the AHL, not the team.

That's just how it goes in a multi-use arena. As DblMinor was saying, it's mostly thanks to the sharing of the arena.

Plus, with the Cavs doing so well, and the Monsters being a so-so minor-league team, a lot of people are going to go with the Cavs. And no one's got the money to go to multiple games

We need to step it up and prove that we can win games. That's one way to bring people out to these day games over the weekends. If we win, the fans will come. If we lose, like we have in the past, well, the fans DO NOT come. It's simple, YOU HAVE TO WIN GAMES!

Mitch Love is on the Peoria Rivermen.I am going to be at these games this weekend.

Matinee games would be fine if they were matinee priced. If lower tickets were $5, they'd fill that place. Instead, they'll be $25 and not sell 80% of the seats.

I have tickets to both games, like I said. However, I have like Pink Eye right now so I don't know if I can go. I really want to! I love the games, plus they're giving out Glow in the dark T-Shirts. Hopefully I'm better by Friday Night.

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Originally posted by #7:
Matinee games would be fine if they were matinee priced. If lower tickets were $5, they'd fill that place. Instead, they'll be $25 and not sell 80% of the seats.

That is an outstanding suggestion, #7. Day games and weeknight games should be priced lower than Friday and Saturday night games.
NHL teams do it based on the opponent. The Monsters should do it based on what day and time the game is played.

what nhl team does that ? i surely never seen that. maybe the people that complain about the prices and the product on the ice shouldn't go to the games . it's your choice - not like they are holding a gun to your head . go to a high school game instead . it's cheaper . and then when cleveland doesn't have a hockey team anymore , don't complain about that . it cost the same to put on a game no matter what time of day or what team they are playing . then again maybe their electric bill , water bill , gas bill , etc. etc. are lower because it's during the day and the q is just scamming us hahaha .

make that 3 people that have never seen that in the NHL....Pens tickets are the same price whether they are playing CBJ, Detroit, Toronto, or Washington...expensive, but the same price. Same in C-bus....

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maybe the people that complain about the prices and the product on the ice shouldn't go to the games . it's your choice - not like they are holding a gun to your head .

Gotta say I agree with this....

The Buffalo Sabres do it, for one.

Good luck to the Monsters this weekend. I wish I could go to one of the games, but I'm having a decayed coconut palm removed in the backyard.

Last season, CBJ did have "premium games". Red Wings. San Jose and some others were like $10 more. Baseball does it all the time. Indians - Yankees comes to mind. Maybe even versus the Red Sox. Being a minor league team, it may make good PR to have matinee pricing for games like this. I dont think I would go as low as $5, but some cheaper rate. Not that it would affect me , I am a STH..

The ticket prices are fine! Ok? You won't make any money if are selling tickets for $5. You have to have ticket prices that will give the team some profit. If the team doesn't make profit, it will move to another city, just like every other Cleveland hockey team. If you are a true hockey fan, you will look at it this way, and go along with it. True hockey fans will say that this is fine because they WANT a team in Cleveland.

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Originally posted by MonstersHockeyFan20:
The ticket prices are fine! Ok? You won't make any money if are selling tickets for $5. You have to have ticket prices that will give the team some profit. If the team doesn't make profit, it will move to another city, just like every other Cleveland hockey team. If you are a true hockey fan, you will look at it this way, and go along with it. True hockey fans will say that this is fine because they WANT a team in Cleveland.

Very well said and if you look at the post histories of #7 and Tony O you will CLEARLY see that all they post is negative b.s. They probably kick their dog at home also.

A lot of NHL teams price the opponents. Buffalo, CBJ, Toronto all have multi-tiered pricing. Pittsburgh and Detroit do not (they don't need to).

Alright math majors, let's crunch numbers.

let's say there are 2000 seats at $26 and 4000 at $10. I know those numbers aren't accurate, but I'm not going to count seats at the Q right now.

$26 x 2000 = $52000
@ 20% capacity = $10,400

$10 x 4000 = $40000
@ 20% capacity = $8,000

Total sales = $18,400

Now let's slash prices and assume people will come out.

$5 x 2000 = $10000
$3 x 4000 = $12000

Total Sales $22,000

Even assuming it's not packed, if they sell even 85% of the bargain basement seats, they're still at $18,700 (or +$300 over what they're doing with every fifth seat sold).

If anyone wants to bother with the actual math, be my guest. It would be more interesting IF they would release how many free tickets they give out for any given game.

The Q has a capacity of 20,500. Saturday's attendance was 3120. That's about 15% filled. I had been assuming 20% when I suggested deep discounts.

Welcome to Saturday afternoon hockey. And, this is the AHL, not the NHL. Ok? Completely different. I think that the Monsters prices are fine if you WANT to have a hockey team in Cleveland, like most people on this site do. Unfortunately, there are those who only want to spend a few bucks for a hockey game, and then will complein when the team moves away in a few years. (#7...cough, cough!) If you WANT a hockey team, you will spend the money to come to a game Some tickets are only $10, which is NOT outrageous by any means. Got it?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MonstersHockeyFan20,

exactly ! hey you can watch high school games for that low price . plus every weekend theres a bunch of pee wee and midget tournaments going on for a low price for multiple games . so you dont have to go to the monsters games at all .then you don't have to post how the monsters aren't worth seeing one minute and then say they are playoff bound then next minute . so what are your numbers when you factor in the cost of running the q and the cost of paying the employees etc. plain and simple don't go . you can listen to it on the radio for free . why have $5 tickets ? why not ask them to be free - why not ask them to pay you to come to the game ? why not ask them to pay for your parking , better yet why not ask them to come pick you up and take you home from the game . why not ask them to pay you to eat their food . why not ask for santa claus for la-la land to be real this year for christmas . but then again if they did give you all that and la-la land became real you probablu complain that you have to breathe in to breathe out .

what nhl teams charge less against certain opponents ? how much less do they charge than the advertised ticket chart because i dont see any astricks on the ticket pricing against certain teams at all . they may charge more but not less . and all the teams have certain prices for certain seats .

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Originally posted by MonstersHockeyFan20:
The ticket prices are fine! Ok? You won't make any money if are selling tickets for $5. You have to have ticket prices that will give the team some profit. If the team doesn't make profit, it will move to another city, just like every other Cleveland hockey team. If you are a true hockey fan, you will look at it this way, and go along with it. True hockey fans will say that this is fine because they WANT a team in Cleveland.

Are you kidding me? The ticket prices are ridiculous, especially with this economy! Have you been to any games? The place is almost completely empty at half the games. We're not saying they have to lower prices so much that they make no profit, but surely they can drop prices to SOME extent. I guarantee you that they don't need to charge as much as $26 to be able to come out even.

It doesn't even matter when they get no one coming. Yeah, you can charge $60 for glass seats, $41 for first-row club seats, or $26 for sideline/club seats... But with such high prices, no one's going to come, which will limit profit just as much.
If they were to drop prices, they'd get more people coming to games, but be able to at least make as much (if not more). Then you've got a bigger crowd, hopefully more energy, and perhaps more wins. A better team would attract even more fans, increasing profit even more.

Besides, with the Cavs probably selling close to 20,000 tickets to each game, I'm sure a slight drop in Monsters ticket pricing wouldn't leave Gilbert or The Q in the hole.... Especially if he's got so much money to blow on 'yes on 3' advertising.

you don't have to get $26 seats . theres cheaper ones . or you just dont have to go - problem solved .

you reactionaries should do yourselves a favor and look at what other AHL teams charge. Grand Rapids does 2 "club" seats and 2 t-shirts for $25. They also have free tickets for people who are unemployed (with proof). Their attendance is better than ours, their tickets are cheaper and their arena is half the size. They also have dollar beers on dollar dog night. Hershey also has cheaper tickets and a better turn-out. Do yourselves a favor and leave Cleveland once in a while to watch hockey. Many towns do it better. I keep hearing "Cleveland isn't a hockey town", but with Gilbert and the Gunds using hockey as a stopgap between basketball games, I'm not surprised.

The NHL teams don't "discount" based on opponents, they charge more for when good teams come to town. If you're too lazy to google the pricing structures for Buffalo, Toronto, Columbus, Atlanta or about 10 other teams, I can't help you. Just look at the sabres splash page (http://sabres.nhl.com/) and you can see RANKING which is a pricing scheme.

Continue attacking me, I really don't care. It says more about you than it does about me.