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“If you can’t accept losing, you can’t win.”
— football coach Vince Lombardi
After several years of success and near misses with greatness, the Winnipeg Jets have fallen on hard times. How are the fans responding?
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The Macro
As a lifelong Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I know a little something about disappointment. My frustration has been so profound, and my need for philosophical context so great, that I invented the following rationalization.
Every year, one team wins the Stanley Cup. The other 31 teams finish second.
Which brings me to the Winnipeg Jets. As some readers will know, the Jets are my 1B team. I saw them play in the 1.0 era and was a season ticket holder when they came back for 2.0. I’ve frozen my butt at a White Out party and gleefully overpaid for playoff tickets. And while the Jets haven’t won the Cup, they’ve rewarded me with fantastic memories.
But not this season. Like the Leafs, the Jets are perhaps approaching an inflection point in the evolution of their franchise. As I write this, both the Leafs (17-15-6) and Jets (15-18-4) are sitting second-last in their respective conferences. After the success that both my 1A and 1B teams have had in the past few seasons, this year has been tough.
I could tell you that it’s not over and, honestly, it’s not. Both the Leafs and Jets are realistically one significant winning streak away from the top eight teams in their respective conferences. The big question is: how will fans of both teams react to this season’s struggles, and will there be longer-term damage done to the viability of the business of presenting professional hockey in both cities?
Okay, I’ll say it: Toronto will remain viable even if fans stop going to see games in droves. That said, right now fans are not filling Scotiabank arena. The Athletic reported this season so far, the Leafs have only sold out six of their first 20 home games and tickets that were priced well out of reach for many fans have dropped in price precipitously.
Jets fan Sheila Hathaway shows hockey spirit during Game 1 between the Winnipeg Jets and the St. Louis Blue as she attends the Winnipeg Jets Whiteout party in April. (Brook Jones / Free Press files)
And what of Winnipeg? Jets principal owner Mark Chipman has made no secret of the fact that he needs fans — both individual and corporate — to make the team viable. The Jets have certainly, in recent years, upped their marketing game, offering fans opportunities for discounted tickets for certain games. Although NHL hockey is expensive, the Jets have done a remarkable job in meeting the market halfway.
But attendance is still a concern. As per hockeydb.com, Jets attendance this year has averaged 14,171, well below the Canada Life Centre’s capacity of 15,300.
For context, it should be noted that only eight teams have sold out all of their home games, and 16 of the NHL’s 32 teams have seen attendance drop so far this season. The biggest drop in fan support — much bigger than in Winnipeg, which is roughly even with last year’s attendance — has been seen in Chicago, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh.
All of which brings us to the problem of fair-weather fandom. It’s no surprise that fans turn their backs on teams that don’t win. But in Toronto, lots of fans can jump off the bandwagon and there are still enough people to sustain the team. In Winnipeg, the margin created between viable and non-viable when fans turn their backs on the team is much tighter. During a visit to Winnipeg recently, NHL President Gary Bettman said it best: “A franchise cannot be stronger than the support it gets locally, and an essential element of that is the attendance.”
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If there is any acute concern in Winnipeg, it is the fact that Jets fans have been among the NHL’s most fickle. I know lots of people like to celebrate the quality of support provided in this city, but there is no getting away from the fact that a lack of support for the Jets 1.0 played a significant role in the relocation of the team to Arizona.
How fickle are Jets fans? In 2021, an online sports betting site, wsn.com, published a “sentiment analysis” of fan comments on social media platforms to assess how fans react following wins and losses.
Fans of the Ottawa Senators are the NHL’s most cynical, with a 66 per cent surge in negative comments following losses. Jets fans are well off that pace, but we’re still tied with the Vegas Golden Knights for 10th overall with a 36 per cent increase in negative comments following losses.
Where does all this leave Jets fans this season? It’s totally OK to slag your team following a loss. Just don’t stop going to see them play live.
More importantly, if you want the Jets to win the Stanley Cup someday, you have to support them now, so they are still in Winnipeg when that someday finally arrives.
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