A short excerpt (the first few paragraphs of the article, in the spirit of the free previews you get for paid Substacks and the like – if Murat or anyone else at The Athletic objects, I can remove this post).
As an organization, the Winnipeg Jets are deliberate in their decision-making. The choices they make, whether it’s extending star players like Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele or speaking to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston for an exclusive interview that paints a stark financial outlook, are carefully considered.
It’s not good news when it’s in the best interest of a team’s ownership group to speak on declining ticket sales. It is good news that Mark Chipman spoke to those issues so well, but that’s a consolation prize. The truth is that Winnipeg is catching up to this problem because it didn’t proactively plan to avoid it.
This is characterizing: Winnipeg punches above its weight as a franchise, but not because it’s the first to adapt or best at leading the cutting edge; the Jets succeed because, when they put their heads down and get to work on something, they do it well.
Sometimes, they’re a little bit late.
“We’ve had to reinvent ourselves,” Chipman told The Athletic in this exclusive. “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.”
This declaration shows awareness and insight, offering confidence that the Jets are taking a long look in the mirror about their role in their economic reality. It also lags behind fan perception by several years; whether in the comments section of articles or our end-of-season fan surveys, the concept of ownership taking fans for granted has been yesterday’s news since before the pandemic. A vocal minority has criticized the Jets for complacency since I began covering the team.
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A short excerpt (the first few paragraphs of the article, in the spirit of the free previews you get for paid Substacks and the like – if Murat or anyone else at The Athletic objects, I can remove this post).
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As an organization, the Winnipeg Jets are deliberate in their decision-making. The choices they make, whether it’s extending star players like Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele or speaking to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston for an exclusive interview that paints a stark financial outlook, are carefully considered.
It’s not good news when it’s in the best interest of a team’s ownership group to speak on declining ticket sales. It is good news that Mark Chipman spoke to those issues so well, but that’s a consolation prize. The truth is that Winnipeg is catching up to this problem because it didn’t proactively plan to avoid it.
This is characterizing: Winnipeg punches above its weight as a franchise, but not because it’s the first to adapt or best at leading the cutting edge; the Jets succeed because, when they put their heads down and get to work on something, they do it well.
Sometimes, they’re a little bit late.
“We’ve had to reinvent ourselves,” Chipman told The Athletic in this exclusive. “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.”
This declaration shows awareness and insight, offering confidence that the Jets are taking a long look in the mirror about their role in their economic reality. It also lags behind fan perception by several years; whether in the comments section of articles or our end-of-season fan surveys, the concept of ownership taking fans for granted has been yesterday’s news since before the pandemic. A vocal minority has criticized the Jets for complacency since I began covering the team.