The following editorial comes from my blog and is my own opinion, it does not reflect the opinion of Golden West Radio.


Bad news on the season ticket sale front. There is no way to sugar coat it. As of yesterday the Broncos had only sold 1232 season tickets for this season. That's a drop of over 200 from this point last year. They sold 1707 season tickets last year and that wasn't good enough either. Ticket revenue was down significantly last year and the team is likely going to announce a huge loss when they have their annual general meeting in early October. The headline here could be from bad to worse.

I spoke to Director of Business Operations Jordan Wall on the subject...

Jordan Wall (Click here to download)


I think Jordan was careful to not sound the alarm bell too loudly. I'm sure management doesn't want to turn into the boy who cried wolf whenever ticket sales are down or they post a loss. Maybe the reality of the smallest market in the Canadian Hockey League is that you are always on the brink of a financial crises.

I have no such fear about sounding the alarm bell. It's time to sound it loudly and aggressively. This is a wake up call. This is a pale of cold water being tossed on your head.

The blunt reality of those numbers is that they are great SJHL season ticket numbers and awful WHL season ticket numbers. Nobody likes to hear that I'm sure. I don't want to throw the supporters of this team under the bus because the Broncos have some of the most loyal and passionate supporters in the league. The corporate support from what Jordan tells me is consistently terrific. Why is the team losing money? Ticket sales are not good enough for the modern WHL.

A laundry list of excuses why someone doesn't buy tickets isn't going to help the immediate future. Do you have some complaints for Mark Lamb, Jordan Wall or the board? I'm sure if you wrote them a nice e-mail or had a phone conversation with them they would be glad to hear you. Anonymously ripping people on my blog isn't going to solve anything. All the excuses for not buying tickets in the world is for sure not going to sell tickets.

You know what would help with ticket sales? Buying some tickets.

That's what needs to happen right now. Please write a list of suggestions and complaints down and bring them to the annual meeting in October. They are not so stubborn they won't hear someone out of they are fair and thoughtful. The AGM is the time and place for it.

The truth is that fewer people are supporting this team than they ever have from what I can tell. Ticket sales are down. The Hockey Hounds are down to a handful or so of people. From what I understand there used to be like 30 or 40 people involved. Volunteers in general are down from where they used to be. A community this size needs more buy in than that to keep a community owned team alive.

The Broncos are a business I understand that. They are also a business that belongs to the community. They aren't trying to stuff some rich guy's pockets. Everyone involved is just doing everything they can to make sure this team survives to provide the best level of hockey this area is ever going to see.

For now you need to just get out and buy tickets. Encourage your family to buy tickets, encourage your friends to buy tickets, encourage your enemy to buy tickets.

Cities with better season ticket bases don't have teams anymore. Budgets are only going up. No one has told me "we're going to leave if we don't sell tickets" but they ARE going to leave if this is the level of support the city can muster.

I'm sorry I know I'm a newcomer and you don't want me to lecture you. I'm not interested in lecturing anyone. I don't spend money on the Broncos outside of buying merchandise and I understand having a tight budget. If Swift Current as a larger community decides not to support the Broncos at the level it takes to sustain the team that's your decision. If you can live with that it would be a very sad day for the people who have worked for years and decades to make sure the southwest has a WHL team. But if you are one of the people giving up your tickets now or have never been a ticket holder, please don't complain when the WHL announces the move to Grand Prairie or Chilliwack or wherever else.

WHY NOT?


Let me deal with some of the typical reasons for not buying season tickets here for a moment.

"The team wasn't good last year."


It is true that almost any sports franchise is going to suffer a financial hit when the team struggles on the ice/field/etc. Fans love a winner. A loser? Even worse than hating a loser... they just stop paying attention. Swift Current wouldn't be the first community to react to a bad season by turning away from the team at the box office. However, when you are already buying only 1707 season tickets you can't be like every other community. When you are the smallest market in the Canadian Hockey League you don't have the luxury of walking away in down years.

Teams are going to be bad sometimes! That's sports. The Calgary Hitmen have been perhaps the gold standard for all WHL franchises. They were the worst team in the league last year.

The Swift Current Broncos have missed the playoffs twice in 25 seasons.

They have made the playoffs 92% of the time.

How many teams can say that? They have a record of 935-860-113 over 25 seasons. That is an average of 37 wins. That includes two WHL Championships and a Memorial Cup. No other Saskatchewan based team has even won a WHL Championship in the years since the Broncos did in 1993.

Everyone wants to see a good team. Everyone wants a champion. Only one teams wins it every year. 5 teams in the Eastern Conference miss the playoffs every year. The fact that the Broncos only have twice before is an indication of how lucky Bronco fans have been to have a team that successful over this long.

Complain about it if you want I get that. No one enjoys losing especially the players and coaches. But giving up on the team financially isn't going to make them better. It's just going to make them disappear. It's not a reason to stop coming to the rink. Not in this market. They can't afford it.

"They aren't tough enough!"


They fought more last year than any recent Bronco team has. They are going to be even tougher this year. There were a couple of serious bangers in camp and the team is developing some guys who can more than hold their own. Tell Richard Nedomlel the Broncos aren't tough... to his face... I dare you.

Seriously though, the likes of Nedomlel, Blanke, Derko, Daniel Dale if he makes the team, Howorko, Peddle, Wagner, Craig, Muth, etc. They can all hold their own. This is going to be a team that has toughness by committee and a team with a couple of guys who are going to be in the 20+ fight range. I am almost positive they will be tougher than you have been used to seeing recently.

"I can't come to every game"


Season tickets are affordable enough that you can buy 36 games at the price of many fewer. As Jordan said you can get them for as little as $35 a month. That is basically the price of going to two games a month and you get many more.

Say you're the type of person who only goes to about 15-20 games a year. That is basically what you would pay to have season tickets anyway. The difference is you give the Broncos that stable locked in support that they can count on.

What is the difference to you? You can go to more games if you want to. You can give the tickets away to friends. You also qualify for all the benefits season ticket holders get. Off the top of my head I know ticket holders got first crack at PBR and Joe Sakic Hall of Fame tickets. For the Sakic banquet it sold out almost exclusively to season ticket holders. The Bronco website has a look at the other benefits. You can even be a VIP and find out about Bronco news before I even do sometimes!

The prices here are cheaper than most AND the team doesn't charge for parking. That said, I understand the need to pinch pennies. Why not get together with another friend, couple or family and split the tickets? There are ways to make it work. When you think about how much it would cost to take yourselves or the kids out to any event like a movie or concert or to dinner... the Broncos are just as affordable as any of those things.

"The Broncos aren't involved enough in the community"


I'm not on the Broncos staff but I know them well enough to know they are at community events quite often including weekends. I know them well enough to know that during the winter days off for them are as rare as leaves on trees. They do get involved in the community.

Can they do it more, can they do it better, can they promote it more? Of course they can. I only say that because ANYTHING can be done better. That doesn't mean they are doing a bad job. That said, if there is an event the Broncos aren't involved in that you think they should be involved in... why not tell them? Again this is your team. They can't think of everything. If you have a suggestion for an event they can be a part of I'm sure they would love to hear from you and see if they can make it work.

It's easy to say afterwords that they should have been there than it is to think of suggesting to them ahead of time. They don't have the staff or time to get to everything, but I am sure they would do their best.

Let me digress for a second and speak about the comment here the other day and the comment on Ernie's blog that people have been saying "the office staff is rude" and that is why people aren't buying tickets. Give me a break.

First of all I deal with the office staff more than most and as many opportunities as they have had to be rude with me... they haven't been. I get greeted in a friendly way by everyone whenever I go into the office. They do their best to accommodate whatever random request I have. They have all been genuinely nice in every dealing I've had with them.

I don't care who you are there are going to be some people who think you are or were rude to them at one point. I try my very best to be a genuinely kind person, but I guarantee you there are people here and in Trail and in Ottawa who think I'm rude. I guarantee you that I have probably been rude a time or two even when I don't mean to. Thank god for the internet so that every Tom, Dick and Harry with an axe to grind can go online anonymously and call people out for being rude.

If you think someone treated you poorly how about you call their boss and talk to that person about it instead of throwing them under the bus on a blog.

That kind of talk is merely a distraction from the bigger issue. The team needs your support right now and sniping about how polite someone was to you is ridiculous. Are any of you really trying to suggest that the Broncos are down hundreds of ticket holders because of the attitudes of the office staff or the board of directors? I don't buy that for a second.

These people are working their butts off and are one of the smallest staffs in the league given all the work they have to do. They deserve kudos and respect for how much time and heart they put into the team. This kind of talk is a bad joke as far as I'm concerned.

"There is too much focus on the Broncos"


There is sometimes a feeling of resentment towards the Broncos when I talk to people involved in other sports. We talk about the Broncos too much on the radio instead of such and such. The Broncos are the biggest show in town. They are a team with four NHL draft picks taking on teams with other future NHL superstars every day. You are damn right I'm going to focus a lot of coverage on the Broncos.

That doesn't mean the Broncos are trying to overshadow anyone else. They are just putting on the best product they can. Is it their fault that the radio or paper doesn't cover your kid as much as they cover the Broncos? Resenting the team for the focus that people put on them is ridiculous. It's their job to get as much coverage as possible. In return they are one of the only reasons Swift Current is more recognizable than other cities of a similar size. I guarantee you more people know Swift Current than Estevan. Why do you think that is?

If anything there should be more focus on the Broncos. I see a lot of Rider flags in windows and not enough Bronco flags and Bronco hats. The Riders represent the whole province and that's great, but who represents your city?

BOTTOM LINE


We can talk about all the reasons or excuses in the world you have for not buying tickets. I know we all have fancy new TVs we can watch movies and sports on. I know it's cold some nights and the parking lot isn't always clear the exact second we want it to be. I know the music is sometimes too loud or not loud enough. I know the team isn't big enough, it isn't skilled enough, they need a different goalie, there aren't any local kids, there are too many local kids, the coach plays the vets too much and doesn't play them enough. We all have complaints and some people's complaints contradict some other people's complaints.

We can spend all our energy complaining and then when the team is gone you can spend all your energy talking about whose fault it is. How about you instead expend that energy by showing up to the volunteer information night and giving your time to the team. How about you expend some of that energy by supporting the team and buying some season tickets or some 6 and 12 game flex packs. That way we won't have to blame someone for the team leaving. We can all enjoy being a part of them being here for years to come.

Complain about the problems or be part of the solution... your choice.