The Business of the Playoffs
Winning the President’s Cup wasn’t only good for the Saint John Sea Dogs as a team, it was also good for the Sea Dogs as a business.
On Wednesday night, the team won the cup for the third time in their relatively short history. The playoffs leading up to the win gave them an additional 18 games, nine of which were home games.
Sea Dogs president Trevor Georgie says the playoff games that lead up to the win generated some extra revenue for the team, but also brought on extra expenses.
“With additional games comes additional revenue because of more ticket sales,” says Georgie. “But it also comes with additional expenses in terms of a lot of the big items you come across such as flights for travel and just putting on the show adds costs to it.”
But investing in putting on a good home game was worth it. Last weekend, the playoff games in Saint John were broadcast live across the country. Georgie says the team has been getting compliments from people across the league and across Canada about the show Saint John puts on.
“They said the show that we put on in Saint John is the best show in the QMJHL,” he says. “And some people who are here nationally had said it was the best opening that they’ve seen in all of the CHL and all of Canada.”
Georgie has made it one of his goals as president to make Sea Dogs games a place not only for hardcore hockey fans but also for the casual fan looking for a fun and entertaining evening with friends and family. So getting such compliments from others in the industry is significant.
“The fact that the league is recognizing that Saint John has the best show in all of the Q[MJHL] and the fact people who are visiting us nationally, national media, said it’s the best opening in all of the CHL, it’s obviously flattering,” says Georgie. “Our vision the whole time has been ‘win on and off the ice.’ Winning on the ice, we’ve seen that with very clear results and we’re winning off the ice too. This season you’re seeing that vision and the efforts we’ve been making towards that really come together.”
Though the cup is won, things are not slowing down for the Sea Dogs. The team will be hosting the QMJHL Entry Draft early next month. This will be another chance for the team to show off what they and the city can do.
“When other people who don’t see Saint John, who don’t see the show we put on at Harbour Station every week, come and see it, it really puts it all into perspective and it’s something we’re really proud of,” says Georgie.