Kraken CEO, Tod Leiweke, said something interesting at the end of the 2024-2025 season: “We’ve built up a great listening muscle…”
Kraken owner, Samantha Holloway, said that fans were talking about prices being too expensive. She said that the team would do a “reset.”
This all happened while the Seattle Kraken were selling out Climate Pledge Arena nightly.
A full building.
A price change.
Lower the price?
The logic of the market is that the prices must always go up.
I call that “Number Go Up Thinking.”
No one ever says it.
It is what it is.
Prices have gone up because they can.
The National Hockey League, especially. The league’s economics demand it: a rising cap, ticket revenue as a singular economic driver.
The easiest way to offset costs and maintain growth: raise the price.
Just up I-5, the Canucks show us what happens when this logic fails. Face value of upper bowl seats: $150. Tickets on the resale market for a third of that…or less.
A team in a rebuild, raising prices…dealing with empty seats.
Lifelong Canucks fan Ben Ludwig said, “…Now we only go to see other players from different teams. Two beers is $30. Taking my kids isn’t enjoyable.”
The Kraken’s example isn’t: “bad team, cut prices.”
It was a correction, built on having “a great listening muscle.”
Leiweke and the Kraken are taking advantage of the three levels of the product:
- The ticket
- The value
- The experience
The ticket is what you buy. The value is what you get from attending a game. The experience is everything that’s involved in being a fan.
The team is reweighting everything. With the understanding that building lifelong fans requires getting fans to games. At the same time, recognizing that you must reward the fans who have been with you for years.
Shorter commitments for package holders. No more 3 or 5 year commitments for fans.
“Family friendly” prices. A $150 package to bring a family of four to a game with hot dogs, popcorn, and soda included.
A $10 item of the game.
And, in a world full of $18 Bud Lights, a $9.99 craft beer of the game.
Taking actions like this is what I call “The Standard.”
“The Standard” is when a business decides to become THE business that others follow.
Chosen on purpose.
Offered at your price.
Hard, maybe impossible, to replace.
Even when that means lowering the price.
Most teams follow the logic of the market, “Number Go Up Thinking.”
The Kraken aren’t doing that.
They are rebuilding the offer. They are looking at the relationship before the revenue.
This is a long-term bet.
Seattle is a sports town.
The Seahawks own the fall. The Mariners own the summer.
The Kraken own the winter and spring…for now.
Leiweke understands the importance of building a habit before competition arrives.
It is a bet.
The Sonics return is expected, not confirmed. The Kraken don’t have a winter competitor…for now.
So, they make a bet.
But these bets don’t always pay off.
The Canucks bet on “Number Go Up Thinking,” and Ben Ludwig said bringing his family is no longer fun.
Attendance is countable.
The relationship that makes someone renew…even in a bad season is not.
Teams see what they can count. They don’t see what they can’t.
Until it’s gone.
Numbers matter. Every team needs numbers to measure their progress.
But the numbers can have a problem.
A Jets’ employee captured scanning preseason tickets to boost the announced attendance number.
UCLA’s reported attendance vs. the actual attendance.
The reported number can be made to say anything.
If the bet fails, the Kraken could report 100% attendance.
But the empty seats would tell the real story.
This is a long term bet, but here’s what we’ve seen so far.
The Kraken say that they now have 2,000 new fans entering the arena each game. The team has expanded the family value pack. And the team’s attendance continues to hold.
These are signals. Not proof.
One season is a start, not a habit.
It is a bet.
Two competing philosophies:
The Canucks raised prices. Fans stopped showing up.
The Kraken looked at their full building and saw a relationship that could be lost.
When you look at your building, are you seeing relationships to be nurtured or revenue to be captured?
What did you do the last time your building was full? Check yourself against this strategy diagnostic.