NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman “praised the Jets’ organization and had kind words for the market” during his visit in Winnipeg, though there was also an “acknowledgement that further strides need to be taken on the attendance front,” according to Ken Wiebe of the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS. Attendance has been a “hot-button issue around these parts for quite some time” and the Jets have “seen strides taken this season, both on the corporate front for season tickets and with individual games on the rise so far.” There have been only two sellouts through 14 home games for the Jets. Bettman said, “Attendance is better, attendance is improving. I know that the Jets’ organization and Mark (Chipman) — as would I — love to see this building full every night.” He added, “But I do think the attendance is trending in the right direction. A franchise cannot be stronger than the support it gets locally, and an essential element of that is the attendance” (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 12/10).
MAKING STRIDES: In Winnipeg, Paul Friesen wrote the Jets’ attendance is an “improvement from two years ago,” when Bettman “last held court” in Manitoba during the regular season. At the time, Chipman had drawn controversy when he said that the “way things were going this franchise was ‘not going to work over the long haul.’” Back then there were “more than 2,000 empty seats, on average.” A season-ticket base of 13,000 had “eroded to less than 10,000, a waiting list 8,000-strong reduced to nothing.” The Jets “finally pivoted, improved their customer relations and have at least seen a half-comeback” (WINNIPEG SUN, 12/10).