Jets back to filling the barn Success on the ice leads to success in the stands By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 5:58 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 8, 2025

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This article was published 08/04/2025 (560 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets have once again become the hottest ticket in town.

Monday’s game against the St. Louis Blues was played in front of 15,225 fans, marking the sixth consecutive sellout at Canada Life Centre and the 14th this season.

That’s a notable development considering previous angst over attendance issues, which was exacerbated last season following an emergency visit from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to join team co-owner Mark Chipman in publicly sounding the alarm that more support is needed if this is going to work for the long haul.

“It’s unbelievable,” Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey told the Free Press this week regarding the response he’s seeing and hearing.

“I’ve been fortunate to call this my home arena my entire NHL career. You talk to guys that have been visitors into this arena, and it’s never an easy place to play. And, that’s something as players and as a team, we try to take pride in our game at home, and definitely the fans do their part. So it’s been great to have the sellouts.”

To be clear, no one in the organization is doing a full-blown victory lap. There is still plenty of work to be done when it comes to re-building a depleted season-ticket base in addition to some goodwill in the community which may have been lost over the years.

The foundation still needs to be shored up, especially for when the on-ice product might not be as solid as it currently is.

Progress is being made in a significant way. The Jets are averaging 14,322 fans through 39 games this year — a big jump from 13,490 last year. That has them at 94.1 per cent capacity, which ranks 23rd out of 32 teams and fifth out of seven Canadian clubs, with the Ottawa Senators (93.4 per cent) and Calgary Flames (91.3 per cent) behind them.

If the final two regular-season games are sold out, which is expected to be the case, the 2024-25 average will end up at 14,366. That would represent the largest average crowd size for the Jets since before the pandemic hit.

“It means so much to us to have the building full and obviously to have that support,” said Morrissey.

”And I think the way our team has played this year, just being around the community, a lot of people, I think we’ve earned some respect from the fan base in terms of the way we play. The commitment to hard work and trying to be a team that plays the right way. So, it’s special.”

 

Indeed, the Jets have certainly given fans their money’s worth this year with 29 wins on home ice, to go with six regulation losses and four overtime defeats. Only the Los Angeles Kings are better, with a 29-4-4 home record. It’s a huge reason the Jets are currently No. 1 in the standings with a 53-21-4 record.

“You obviously want that every night. I know that sometimes you have to earn it as well,” Jets coach Scott Arniel said of seeing a spike in crowd sizes.

“One thing about the building, whether it’s at capacity or not, we’ve been doing a good job of entertaining them and it’s been reciprocated back the other way. It’s loud. It is really loud when you get to ice level. They’ve been great for us all year long. Obviously, winning certainly helps that, but it’s a loud building and we’d like that to continue.”

Earlier this year, the Jets launched an aggressive new approach through a beefed-up sales and marketing team and the implementation of a new game plan aimed specifically at Winnipeg’s corporate community.

The hope is to eventually restore a season-ticket base that was at 13,000 following the NHL’s return in 2011 but plunged to 9,500 coming out of COVID. They got that up to 10,000 for this season while also boosting their corporate members from approximately 15 per cent up to 20 per cent, with private citizens accounting for the other 80 per cent.

That’s still the lowest in the league, with some Canadian markets well over 50 per cent corporate.

The Jets have also brought in more flexible ticket options for all fans, recognizing the current economic climate and the collapse of large groups which might have shared a full package.

Last summer, the Jets reported 95 per cent renewals of what was then 9,500 season ticket holders plus an additional 1,000 new customers with a heavy emphasis on businesses. They now hope to keep that momentum going into this coming off-season — which they obviously would like delayed as long as possible.

In the meantime, the Jets will try to use what has clearly become a true home-ice advantage to go on a lengthy playoff run.

Single-game playoff tickets go on sale Friday, and fewer than 1,000 are expected to be available. That’s another good sign, as it means existing season-ticket holders and fans who have put deposits down for either half or full packages next year have scooped up the rest as part of their benefits.

“I think the fans are getting pretty riled up here for what’s to come in the next number of weeks,” said Morrissey.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg