An Open Letter to the Atlanta Thrashers

this is the 11th season of atlanta thrashers hockey and attendance is down. way down. in fact, last thursday set a new low of only 8,420 fans. i was there. it was pathetic.

this year the team is pretty good. craig ramsay is doing a good job as the new head coach. but still, very few people are coming to the games. average attendance is 10,437.

that sucks.

phillips arena is an amazing place to see a game. there really isn't a bad seat in the house. however, it seems that at every game more seats are empty than are filled.

last night the chicago blackhawks were in town. it was a phenomenal game and there were tons and tons of empty seats.

i know the answer and it sounds very simple.

lower the ticket prices.

last night my dad and i sat in section 307 and the face value of the tickets was $57 each. last thursday, at the game with the lowest attendance in the history of the thrashers, my wife and i sat in section 115 and the face value was $81 each.

this is ridiculous.

first of all, this is a recession. in case you didn't know, the economy sucks right now. 1 out of every 10 people in atlanta are without a job. $162 for a husband and wife to sit in the lower bowl for a hockey game on a thursday night is ludicrous (i got the tickets for free, that is not the point).

a father and son shouldn't have to pay $114 to sit in the upper section (again, free tickets and not the point).

the atlanta thrashers have been to the playoffs once in 11 seasons. atlanta is a fair-weather town. if you aren't winning, people are not going to pay outrageous prices to come to the games.

so, the answer is simple. lower the prices.

you don't have a die hard fan base. you have to make the games affordable. and honestly, $57 a piece for upper level seats is not anywhere close to affordable.

here is my idea. $10 for 400 section. yes, ten dollars. advertise the hell out of it. 10 bucks for a hockey game, it would be cheaper than going to a movie.

$25 for 300 section. sitting upper level should never cost more than 50 bucks, i know that there is ticketmaster fees and whatnot, but face value of two upper level seats doesn't need to be more than $50. this is where your middle class, working families are going to sit and they don't have $228 to spend on 4 tickets.

now, lower bowl............i understand glass seats being really expensive. however $250 a seat really isn't working out for you is it? why don't you try $175? then, your mid-range lower bowl should be more around $65, not $81. this is where your real fans want to sit. stop raping your fans.

this isn't coming from someone who has never been to a game. this isn't coming from someone who doesn't like the team.

here is my collection of ticket stubs:














one of my favorite things in the world is my autograph from garnet exelby that says "to fat kid, all the best. we miss ya"





by the way, X is a free agent right now. can you imagine him and big buff on defense?????







i am not a fair-weather fan. i am genuinely concerned that with attendance numbers as low as they have been that we will lose the atlanta thrashers.

please do something to fix this.

sincerely,

fat kid