True North enlists business leaders to help sell Winnipeg Jets season tickets

True North Sports and Entertainment has recruited Manitoba businesspeople to sell season tickets for the Winnipeg Jets.

True North invited business leaders to Canada Life Centre on Tuesday as partof an effort to expand its season-ticket base, spokesperson Krista Sinaisky said.

At the meeting, True North chief revenue officer Norva Riddellinvited businesspeople from Winnipeg and elsewhere in Manitoba "to promote season ticket memberships to their respective business and personal networks,"Sinaisky said in a statement.

This was the launch of what True North calls theWinnipeg Jets Team Builders Program, which is part of a broader strategy to fill more seats, Sinaisky said.

True North executive chair Mark Chipman and co-owner David Thomson attended the launch, shesaid. Thomson was in Winnipeg to attend a signing ceremony involving True North Real Estate Development and the Southern Chiefs' Organization, which are working on major downtown Winnipeg redevelopment projects.

Attempt to reverse trend

True North is trying to reverse an attendance trend that began five years ago.

Prior to the pandemic, Winnipeg sold out almost every home game. Average Jets attendance during the 2018-19 season, the last full season before the pandemic, was 15,276. That wasonly a fewseats shy of Canada Life Centre's 15,321-seat capacity for hockey.

Attendance dropped to 14,045 in 2022-23, the first full season unaffected by pandemic restrictions on large public gatherings. Late that season, True North launched a season ticket drive, announcing it had anticipatedanother drop in sales.

So far this season, average attendance for the Jets at Canada Life Centre is 12,120, according to Hockeydb.com. That's the second-lowest in the league, above only the Arizona Coyotes, who play in the 4,600-seat Mullet Arena.

On the ice, the Jets are playing this season at a level unseen since 2017-18, when a skilled Winnipeg team made it to the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

After 27 games, which constitutes a third of the season, Winnipeg has 16 wins against nine losses and two overtime losses and ranks10th overall in the National Hockey League.