Oilers Trying To Retain Frustrated Season Ticket Holders

It should go without saying that Oiler fans are some of the league’s most passionate fans. The Oilers are part of an identity to many people, not just in Northern Alberta.

The recent meetings between season ticket holders and Oilers CEO Bob Nicholson ought to have the club a bit worried, especially when some season ticket holders are quite loudly voicing their displeasure. Bob Nicholson tried to assuage the crowd during one of the events by loading up on Tobias Rieder, which is about par for the course around here.

Concerned by the lack of people not willing to drop thousands of dollars on a substandard product that has the actual greatest player in the world on its team, the club is taking action.

Sorta.

I believe that these can correctly be called ‘concessions’, and not the refreshment variety. The club is no doubt feeling the heat a little bit if they’re rolling out all of these perks.

A quick look at a few of the “perks”:

• 15% off F and B: This is a decent little perk, so long as the club doesn’t raise the price of a Bobby Nick’s combo to $45 this offseason. Wonder if the 15% is good on cold, frosty beverages as well.
• Monthly open practices: Also a nice perk. It’s nice to be noticed if you’re spending $15K on three tickets. Open practices aren’t worth a whole lot, but they’re nice especially if you’ve got people who can’t (or don’t) make it out to the games all of the time. See: Kids.
• Weekly arena tours: An unexpected perk, it could be used as a marketing tour for those yet to become season ticket holders.
• Price Freeze (unlisted): Many reports on Twitter today that their renewals didn’t show an increase in ticket price per game. That’s a big perk, considering that the team has been very difficult to watch in the last twelve of thirteen years. I don’t know that this perk was available for everyone, as I’ve seen at least one report that tickets went up slightly, and other reports that tickets went down in certain sections.

IS IT ENOUGH?

It’s better than nothing, but I’m not sure that a 15% savings on already expensive food and beverages is going to do it for the people who drive in from Canyon Creek every night to see a team headed by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl finish with less than 80 points on the season. The Oilers won’t have to worry about offering concessions if the club can figure out how to win, because the fanbase will be throwing money like the last decade never happened. Until then? The club’s going to have to get crafty at retention.

Are these concessions enough?