Still recovering from losing fans after the National Hockey League strike and coping with an abysmal season, the Boston Bruins have been struggling to fill the 17,000 seats at TD Banknorth Garden this season, but they have been slowly drawing back old fans and winning new ones by catering to Boston’s college crowd.
By offering half-price tickets for Thursday home games — which usually cost between $40 and $50 — to students, as well as staging free post-game concerts by popular bands like State Radio, the Bruins hope younger fans can afford to see games and will hopefully keep coming back for more.
Amy Latimer, senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Bruins, said although attendance was sparse early this season when the Bruins struggled on the ice, student-section sellouts are improving sales. Average attendance has been between 13,000 and 14,000 per game, she said.
“It’s an investment in our fan base,” Latimer said of the promotions.
Although the Bruins’ promotions have managed to attracted younger fans, advertising strategist Todd Copilevitz said unless the Bruins’ promotions cater to long-term fans, running too many promotions might make the team look desperate.
“Their logic is that college kids are an easily isolated audience, so offering that won’t lead to regular fans demanding a similar offer,” he said. “As for revenue impact, I am sure the tickets you get would otherwise not sell, so it is cutting losses.”
Copilevitz added that hockey has not achieved the same status as other sports because it does not translate well to television.
Northeastern University junior Ricky Popolizio, who created the fan blog “Believing the Bruins,” said he is optimistic the Garden will fill more seats as the season progresses and said sales may be boosted by more casual fans.
“I have gotten three of my friends really into the team over the last year or two, and now we go every Thursday we can,” he said.
With the Patriots out of the playoffs, the Red Sox season two months away and the struggling Celtics “non-existent,” Popolizio said there is no better time to watch the Bruins.
“Why trek out to Boston College or even to BU to pay $25 when I can go down to a [Bruins] game for $20 and make a night out of it?” he said.
College of Arts and Sciences freshman Edgar Alger said not many fans attend Bruins games against the “original six” — the first NHL teams — and fans of the opposing team provide the most cheering during the games.
Many fans were turned off by the 2004 NHL strike, which wiped out the entire 2005 season, and the rule changes following the strike, including sudden-death shootouts to break tie games and stricter penalty codes to curb fighting, said Joe Eckstrom, a School of Education freshman.
“Many fans like the college game better due to the physical play and classic hockey that you see there, especially here in the northeast, where we have a tradition of college hockey,” he said.
Eckstrom said when students go to games, “the place is much louder and the Bruins play better.”
“The fans will come back if they win,” he said.