The North Bay Battalion players hand delivered tickets to various season ticket holders.
It was something the team has wanted to do in the past but finally executed it earlier in September.
“We finally got it off the ground this year with support from Kerri Morin in our office so once we got it going, we got the players out, spent three or four hours out there delivering tickets it was very positive and the players enjoyed doing it and hopefully we can do more next year but something like that is just another way to reach out to our season ticket holders and it is our way of saying thank you,” stated John McLellan, Senior Manager, Marketing & Business Development, with the North Bay Battalion.
McLellan was with the North Bay Centennials organization for many years and joined the Battalion front office this off season to try to and get things back on track.
In 2013-14, the Troops’ first campaign in North Bay after 15 years in Brampton, the club drew an average of 3,366 per game while last season the team only averaged 2,385 fans per home game.
With the team finishing last in league attendance last season, McLellan believes things are on an upward trend as the season ticket numbers have increased this off season - not by a large margin - but enough to make McLellan feel good about the 2018-19 Battalion season.
“I think one of the things we are really trying to do as an organization is listen to our sponsors, listen to our season ticket holders and listen to our fans, and try and see what they want to see and what we can do to make it work because we are all in this together and we want it to succeed but we need fans in the building to do it,” said McLellan.
“With fans in the building you can afford to do the things that make it more exciting but so far, so good. We are probably up in everything including season tickets which is a very good sign considering the season has not even started yet.”
However, McLellan knows there’s a long way to go to get things back to year 2013 and 2014, when season ticket sales were well over 2800.
“I think for everybody in the marketing department we are all working together to try and make the fan experience great for everybody but it is going to take some time so we are asking the fans to be patient with us but it is going to come and once it does it is going to be great for everybody but it is still going to be a great experience on every game night and we want to make it more than a hockey game and that is kind of the key,” said McLellan.
The season starts on Friday night when the fans will have an opportunity to watch the defending OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs at Memorial Gardens.
