Gabe Vilardi Postgame True North Sports + Entertainment President and Alternate Governor Mark Chipman sat down with The Athletic's Chris Johnston [https://theathletic.com/5293782/2024/02/23/winnipeg-jets-attendance-issues-nhl/]for a thorough look at the Winnipeg Jets, Canada Life Centre and ticket sales. Visiting Winnipeg for a divisional showdown against the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday in hopes of taking in a retribution-fuelled brouhaha, the senior reporter and insider ultimately watched the Jets beat down the Wild 6-3 in front of 14,707 - or their fifth-largest crowd of the season. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA0NTUzNzEwOTcyNTc3NzIx/ghcpys3a4aagfxp.jpg] But his visit was two-fold. Not only to watch the Jets in-person at home, but also have a candid conversation with President and Alternate Governor Mark Chipman. Of that chat came a wide-ranging piece for The Athletic [https://theathletic.com/5293782/2024/02/23/winnipeg-jets-attendance-issues-nhl/]touching on the personal efforts that Chipman is making to help bring fans back to Canada Life Centre, while attempting to boost his season ticket holder count. Johnston reports that the Jets have lost roughly 27 percent of their season ticket holder membership over the past three years, falling to 9,500 from roughly 13,000. Chipman has had personal phone calls with former season ticket members providing new offers to help bring butts back into seats. He also looked at non-traditional markets such as Dallas and is perplexed at their ability to keep a fresh and lively feel to their sold out games. Whether or not fans believe or agree with Chipman's statement that the Jets have the second-cheapest tickets available in Canada, one thing is for certain, the COVID pandemic continues to reek havoc on the average family budget and allotted extra curricular spending patterns. Excerpts from Johnston's piece follow below: “I wouldn’t be honest with you if I didn’t say, ‘We’ve got to get back to 13,000,’” Chipman said. “This place we find ourselves in right now, it’s not going to work over the long haul. It just isn’t.” - Mark Chipman ~ It was like a bubble that burst on us,” Chipman said. “We had what I thought was this strength in numbers that didn’t turn out to be.” - Mark Chipman ~ “What we try to convey to those people is, we’re trying to win,” Chipman said. “And in order to win or be competitive, we’ve got to keep up. We will never match the Leafs’ gate. It’s really remarkable. We can’t match that. But Edmonton [https://theathletic.com/nhl/team/oilers/] really outperforms us, and that’s harder to accept, right? Because we think of ourselves as equals. - Mark Chipman “I know Edmonton is a bigger city and they have that pedigree of all those Stanley Cups, but I think most people in Winnipeg and most people in Edmonton look at one another (with) a healthy respect.” - Mark Chipman ~ “We’ve had to reinvent ourselves,” Chipman said. “For 10 years, we weren’t a sales organization; we were a service organization, and I’m not sure we were that good of a service organization, to be honest with you.” - Mark Chipman ~ “I would hope that if you walked around any one of the four floors here or over in hockey ops and said, ‘What is it? What is it you are trying to be? What is True North and the Jets?’ I would hope that without much hesitation, most people would say, ‘A source of pride,’” - Mark Chipman ~ “That’s what teams ought to be, and that’s what we’re trying to convey to people. We’re trying to be something you can be proud of.” - Mark Chipman
