The attendance woes that have plagued the Prince Albert Raiders for the past two seasons are bordering on a make-or-break point.
That's the word from the man in the top seat, Raiders president Dale McFee.
"We're optimistic that it'll climb, but I think there's got to be a sense of urgency communicated to our fans," McFee said before Friday night's home game against the Brandon Wheat Kings.
"As a board and as a hockey club, we've taken many, many steps to try to become a more competitive team that is sustainable and competitive each night.
"For those fans that are coming out, a big thank you, and I think they're seeing the results of that (commitment). But, at the end of the day, to remain a viable operation in the Western Hockey League, you need a fan base, and you need attendance to show up each and every night, because that pays your bills."
The Raiders sport one of the best home records - 12-4-1 after a loss to the Wheat Kings - in the 22-team league and they're clearly in the competitive mix in the Eastern Conference.
The team's attendance numbers, however, are a glaring black mark on an otherwise promising season. In their first 13 home dates, the Raiders attracted a league-low average of 2,028 fans, or 78.6 per cent of capacity. That represented a 2.7 per cent drop from the same period last season.
Step right up
It's an ominous sign when, half an hour before the game, there's not only no lineup at the box office, there's literally no one at the Art Hauser Centre ticket windows. That was the case Wednesday night, when just 1,759 fans showed up to watch the Raiders defeat the Swift Current Broncos.
That followed a turnout of 1,898 fans last Saturday for a 6-1 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Although attendance is down across the league, the shortfall is especially alarming for the Raiders because they've suffered significant financial losses in each of the past two years. The community-owned team has lost more than $200,000 during that period.
"You're talking a couple of years," McFee replied when asked how long the Raiders can continue to operate under such circumstances.
"You can't continue to sustain losses. The beauty of being a community-owned team is we don't have to make a lot of money, but we have to pay our bills. That's the reality of it.
"All of our bills are being paid right now. But, at the end of the year, if we don't increase attendance, we run the risk of running deficits."
McFee and the Raiders are hopeful that the team's historic past, which included a Memorial Cup championship in 1985, can trigger fan resurgence in what they like to call Hockey Town North.
"The reality is that a lot of those (supporters) have moved on - or passed on, some of them," he said. "Our fan base is obviously seniors, and we still have a large portion of seniors, but we need to attract the younger markets."
Younger demographic sought
Coming off a couple of non-playoff years, the team has 1,477 season-ticket holders. The Raiders say they need more than 2,200 fans nightly to break even in one of the league's smallest markets.
With about 800 kids playing minor hockey in Prince Albert, that's a potential fan base that coach and general manager Bruno Campese believes can be tapped further.
"We have tried some different things, to be a little bit more family friendly, changing our start time (to 7 p.m., half an hour earlier)," Campese said.
"We're trying to play a little more of an up-tempo type game to create more energy. So, I don't think it has anything to do with our play, and yet our crowds are significantly the same (as last season) It's somewhat disappointing."
The reasons for the fans staying away have run the gamut - from harvest time to Christmas parties, and from fine fall weather to cold winter nights, but the reality is that enough fans haven't showed up at the rink.
"The one thing I do want to mention is that we have a real loyal fan base," Campese said. "The 1,800 that we see here consistently every night - it's loyal, it's smart (and) it's passionate.
"And we're not that far off - we're 300 or 400 fans a night from actually being in a very good position. That's one thing we need to recognize.
"This is a community-owned team. It's not a privately owned team, so as far as revenue and showing a profit, no one is trying to pad their back pockets here."
Attendance figures generally increase after Christmas, but the unfortunate part of that equation is that the Raiders play just 14 regular-season home games in the new year.
Drama sells tickets. Where's the drama and the character??? It's run too much like a business, and some of the heart and soul are gone. And slow down on the in-game announcing, etc. Sometimes annoying.