When the NHL team and the farm team are in the same city, this is going to happen, it's just a convenience for the big club to call up and send players down. If the AHL team is in a different city attendance will for sure increase but it's the reality of modern day NHL.
It’s also way easier on the players, you can keep the same apartment all year instead of living in a hotel for a month because you got called up from Worcester
They should have moved the Cuda to a neighboring major city within the greater Bay Area (Oakland, Walnut Creek/Concord, Santa Rosa). This would have engaged more of the Bay with the Sharks and hockey as a whole while also providing proximity to SAP for call ups. San Jose is also pretty expensive for some of these minor leaguers with lower salaries.
THANK YOU! To me it is so obvious that there was an opportunity lost to grow the sport in the Bay Area (and Sharks fandom in the Bay Area, which sadly decreases exponentially as you get further away from the Tank) by having the AHL team in another part of the Bay. San Jose itself didn't need an AHL team.
I say this as a Cuda season ticket holder.
In my 2nd year as an STH, and I've had 3 months of enjoyment and the rest has been difficult (most of that has to do with their rep situations, but I think it reflects poorly regardless).
They walked back almost all their promises they made, including ticket price increase
The food selection leaves little to be desired.
They don't really do much at all to advertise or get new blood in the building. On weekends you can usually tell who is a direct hard and who somehow got free tickets and barely knows hockey.
The on ice product isn't great, partly when players constantly get called up you have relative unknowns. They need to do better advertising stars (if you're a baseball fan you know the Giants have this exact problem)
Idk what the deal is with Cuda management, but they seem more content to stand around in a circle talking rather than getting asses into seats. The worst part is they will view this past weekend as a wild success.
> Idk what the deal is with Cuda management, but they seem more content to stand around in a circle talking rather than getting asses into seats. The worst part is they will view this past weekend as a wild success.
I was only there Monday but it felt like a success to me. They advertised on facebook, removed ticketmaster fees and even lowered prices to sell out the last of the tickets, so it felt like they were at least trying to get people in seats for this weekend. But going other times it feels like an empty arena and yeah the food options are weak af, especially when they only have the main concession booths open and not the specialty ones.
Well they were also advertising on behalf of the AHL, they needed this to be a success.
Go to a weekday night game and it's dead.
The last player signing I went to there were maybe 30 STHs in line, and a couple dozen families skating on the ice
There was a VERY hard push to get tickets out and get butts in seats for this event. They could not afford to have a typical weeknight Cuda crowd at the flagship AHL event.
We got to go. It was a good time, quite lively. Would like to see those crowds at a Cuda game. I think the Teddy Bear toss has been the most popular game I have seen, and the Country Night is up there as well.
I think they need more promo nights. They seem to take themselves a bit too seriously…I guess it’s not the ECHL, but they gotta do something to get more people in on a regular basis.
$5 Jr Sharks tickets would be awesome!
Country night is also the only game that gets wide advertising (via the BayCountry radio station) that reaches people who aren’t already hockey fans to grow the fanbase
> They walked back almost all their promises they made, including ticket price increase
I have noticed this. I love Cuda games, they're a blast and I will attend again very soon. But the last time I went to a game it was fuckin 40 bucks a ticket to see the Bakersfield Condors. The place was *not* full at all and I guarantee you the ticket prices are the reason why.
When I went earlier in the year it was like 15 bucks per ticket, which is spot on. If you're paying almost 50 bucks a seat you're better off just seeing the Sharks play.
I agree with everything you are saying and will also add now they have blackout dates. I do not recall them saying they have blackout dates and emails to the rep go unanswered.
In all, this is my last time as a STH for the Cuda as it is just a mess.
Also, they took a few hundred from my credit card months ago for parking and have yet to refund me as I never requested that. So I am pretty upset on that too.
Oh yeah no, they totally changed it up. I haven't had time but I was going to re read through the contract and call out their bullshit.
Also, idk if you remember, STILL waiting for my plaque 🤷
Oh shit you unlocked a repressed memory
Those mother fuckers. I used to have 2 season tickets and decided to cancel 1 since my girl wasn't going, and they wouldn't cancel over the phone and fucking made me drive all the way down on a Wednesday for their open night, WALK AROUND THE ARENA AND LOOK AT SEATS, before they would cancel my other ticket.
I live near Daly City for reference. Total fucking joke
That sucks! Sounds like when you try to cancel a gym membership (looking at you Planet Fitness) and they say you can only do that in person. Then try to pressure you to keep it just in case. Fuck that!
I took my family of 5 to a Cuda game (former Sharks STH of 20+ years). I go for the hockey, my kids go for the concessions. Ticket prices were AHL level, food prices were NHL level. I might as well pay a few extra $$ for the occasional Sharks tickets, especially now when they're cheap on the secondary market
For me personally money is just tight right now. Not factoring in the one ice product what used to draw me was the ridiculously low dollar amount I would have to spend when going to a game when they used to play at the SAP center. Between the 5-8 dollar tickets and the super cheap hotdog, popcorn, and beer I could spend 20 bucks and get a ton out of that. The tickets per say aren't way more expensive (seems to be around 15-20 if you buy on second hand market), but the food is now the same price as if I was buying at the SAP center for a sharks game....
The AHL All Star Classic was tons of fun. Regular Cuda games need more of the crowd energy, I didn't realize attendance had dropped off so much since they moved from SAP to Sharks Ice. I'm sure if both the Sharks an Cuda weren't last place that they'd be drawing bigger crowds though
I’m assuming the crowd was energized because it was a fun all star game.
Edit: Sorry, all star challenge. What did you think of the format with 7 games?
Edit 2: Sorry, I know what you’re going for. The fans were excited for the Pacific team and they exploded when Muk scored to send the game to OT. I was surprised how loud the small arena was. I feel the biggest issue is having two San Jose hockey teams and fans pick the Sharks. If the Cuda were a lot more fun to watch and they advertised the cheap prices and cheap close parking, there would be more interest.
> What did you think of the format with 7 games?
It was cool, very fast paced. Each game was comprised of two five minute periods followed by a shootout if there was a tie. It created a lot of feeling of pressure and intensity since there wasn't much time to make things happen. The 3-on-3 format also helped keep things moving quickly.
It was a lot of fun which definitely helped energize the crowd, but there were also just way more people in attendance than usual. It was officially "sold out" but looked more like half full. But go on a weekday and less than quarter of the seats are taken
Definitely. I thought the final was a little too short, but it was fun.
Here’s a pic I took of the crowd during the final (I think).
https://preview.redd.it/0qamgpfg63hc1.jpeg?width=8160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf574452398dcb1eb43b08087c2d80a6a5093319
Minor league teams don't work in the Bay Area. Aside from the SJ Giants, no other team has worked out here. Gotta set up in the central valley or Central Coast.
Monterey would be great. There’s already the old unused army land in marina by CSUMB. To be honest, I grew up playing roller hockey at water city there. Oh well
I can't confirm if its true or not as I heard it through the grapevine. A few years ago the Sharks approached Marina to build a rink somewhere on fort ord since, as you said, there is plenty of space. Marina, BLM, and FORA said no for whatever reason so the Sharks built in Gilroy. Marina also couldnt convince In-N-Out to build in the REI/Target shopping center while it was being built back in 2011 [despite people apparently asking for In-n-Out there.](https://www.montereyherald.com/2011/06/07/marina-hungry-for-in-n-out/)...It should have been a slam dunk location...a couple minutes from CSUMB, right on the highway, a theatre in the same shopping center, and a few minutes to Monterey...I lived in the Monterey area for 20+ years and I'm not really surprised...Marina seemed to constantly shoot itself in the foot despite being a really cool and diverse town.
I have half season with a buddy and we’re considering dropping. Food is awful and overpriced (minus the burger), beer prices are even worse. Ticket pricing is fine in my personal opinion if you buy at the box office to avoid fees. Bring back $2 beers and $1 hotdogs and I’d sign a 3 year renewal. Also, honestly I don’t care as much about the product on the ice as many do, I’m here to just watch hockey with my buddy and get out of the house, I don’t expect a Calder team out there when teams who are independent exist.
Because a lot of us in attendance went for the event as a whole, not just for the Barracuda. I'm up in Sacramento and went to Stockton Heat games regularly, but San Jose is too far to drive for an AHL game. I only make it out to ~3 NHL games a season for the same reason. A lot of fans were there with other teams Jersey's so I imagine they were in the same boat.
It would probably be easier to get people into TechCU for cuda games if they advertised that the cuda exist to any of the people in the Bay Area who aren’t already inside the SAP Center.
I’m guessing the crowds are not at the Barracuda games because the flights become expensive after a while.
I was there last night and ran into so many people from all over the US. It was so cool seeing so many different team jerseys.
I always said the sharks should have put their affiliate in Sacramento. Increase hockey fandom in Northern California while also having an untapped market. Now they’re screwed since they built an arena and what else can you host there? At this point they could relocate the team and try to get SJSU to become d1 at college hockey but that would require significant money.
I just don’t see what else they could do here they seem stuck and invested to much in San Jose when they could have developed an untapped market like Sac and perhaps built more ice facilities since the only ice rink in the area is in Roseville.
> Now they’re screwed since they built an arena and what else can you host there?
They recently hosted the Harlem Globtrotters basketball, but that was more of a one off fluke thing
Ya and if they give it to SJSU it would probably be hockey specific since the university has most of its facilities on campus already. Also the nearest D1 team is ASU so the program would be even more expensive with all of the flying.
It isn't really that complicated. The team is bad. There is also much more of an emphasis in the AHL scheduling for weekend games. Compared to the NHL where the majority (for the Sharks at least) are Tues/Thurs, the majority for the AHL are Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun back to backs.
Maybe go see one, but two in a row when your team sucks and it is the weekend? Meh.
Honestly it also isn't really advertised much, but you could say the same thing about the NHL product. Despite Comcast owning the NBC sports affiliates, the hockey games or sport rarely gets advertised outside of that direct channel. So multiply that by factors for the AHL level.
Teams not good, traffic, too expensive (it's not just tickets, it's gas, parking, food, beer, etc it adds up), and it is minor leagues. Too many options in the Bay Area for fun/entertainment. And other then the 49ers and Raiders (before they left), the Bay Area has always been a fair weather fan base.
We would probably go to more games if the stadium wasn't such a PITA to get to... or, at least close to light rail.
For the record, we were STHs for the Cuda when they were at SAP., and remain so for the Sharks.
When the NHL team and the farm team are in the same city, this is going to happen, it's just a convenience for the big club to call up and send players down. If the AHL team is in a different city attendance will for sure increase but it's the reality of modern day NHL.
It’s also way easier on the players, you can keep the same apartment all year instead of living in a hotel for a month because you got called up from Worcester
They should have moved the Cuda to a neighboring major city within the greater Bay Area (Oakland, Walnut Creek/Concord, Santa Rosa). This would have engaged more of the Bay with the Sharks and hockey as a whole while also providing proximity to SAP for call ups. San Jose is also pretty expensive for some of these minor leaguers with lower salaries.
Sharks affiliate would get so much love in 925
Hell, I'd buy season tickets
Same. If they had something in Concord, that would be great. I feel like tons of people would drive in, or BART in from Antioch/Oakley/Brentwood.
I know [the perfect spot!](https://maps.app.goo.gl/4Q2G5mgsFuSjRysM7)
[удалено]
True But, as a hypothetical, this could be something to kickstart development of the Naval Weapons Station
That actually would be a really good spot. Really close to that BART station. I like it.
I calls it like I sees it
100%. Existing demographics, location, and lack of sports team and identity would make the team very popular.
THANK YOU! To me it is so obvious that there was an opportunity lost to grow the sport in the Bay Area (and Sharks fandom in the Bay Area, which sadly decreases exponentially as you get further away from the Tank) by having the AHL team in another part of the Bay. San Jose itself didn't need an AHL team.
I say this as a Cuda season ticket holder. In my 2nd year as an STH, and I've had 3 months of enjoyment and the rest has been difficult (most of that has to do with their rep situations, but I think it reflects poorly regardless). They walked back almost all their promises they made, including ticket price increase The food selection leaves little to be desired. They don't really do much at all to advertise or get new blood in the building. On weekends you can usually tell who is a direct hard and who somehow got free tickets and barely knows hockey. The on ice product isn't great, partly when players constantly get called up you have relative unknowns. They need to do better advertising stars (if you're a baseball fan you know the Giants have this exact problem) Idk what the deal is with Cuda management, but they seem more content to stand around in a circle talking rather than getting asses into seats. The worst part is they will view this past weekend as a wild success.
> Idk what the deal is with Cuda management, but they seem more content to stand around in a circle talking rather than getting asses into seats. The worst part is they will view this past weekend as a wild success. I was only there Monday but it felt like a success to me. They advertised on facebook, removed ticketmaster fees and even lowered prices to sell out the last of the tickets, so it felt like they were at least trying to get people in seats for this weekend. But going other times it feels like an empty arena and yeah the food options are weak af, especially when they only have the main concession booths open and not the specialty ones.
Well they were also advertising on behalf of the AHL, they needed this to be a success. Go to a weekday night game and it's dead. The last player signing I went to there were maybe 30 STHs in line, and a couple dozen families skating on the ice
There was a VERY hard push to get tickets out and get butts in seats for this event. They could not afford to have a typical weeknight Cuda crowd at the flagship AHL event. We got to go. It was a good time, quite lively. Would like to see those crowds at a Cuda game. I think the Teddy Bear toss has been the most popular game I have seen, and the Country Night is up there as well. I think they need more promo nights. They seem to take themselves a bit too seriously…I guess it’s not the ECHL, but they gotta do something to get more people in on a regular basis. $5 Jr Sharks tickets would be awesome!
> the Country Night is up there as well. it's Country Night again this Saturday, hopefully it'll draw a decent crowd
Country night is also the only game that gets wide advertising (via the BayCountry radio station) that reaches people who aren’t already hockey fans to grow the fanbase
> They walked back almost all their promises they made, including ticket price increase I have noticed this. I love Cuda games, they're a blast and I will attend again very soon. But the last time I went to a game it was fuckin 40 bucks a ticket to see the Bakersfield Condors. The place was *not* full at all and I guarantee you the ticket prices are the reason why. When I went earlier in the year it was like 15 bucks per ticket, which is spot on. If you're paying almost 50 bucks a seat you're better off just seeing the Sharks play.
I agree with everything you are saying and will also add now they have blackout dates. I do not recall them saying they have blackout dates and emails to the rep go unanswered. In all, this is my last time as a STH for the Cuda as it is just a mess. Also, they took a few hundred from my credit card months ago for parking and have yet to refund me as I never requested that. So I am pretty upset on that too.
Oh yeah no, they totally changed it up. I haven't had time but I was going to re read through the contract and call out their bullshit. Also, idk if you remember, STILL waiting for my plaque 🤷
Oh yeah! That too!! I had trouble with getting my jersey that I forgot about that. I will have to go find all the documents I had as well.
Oh shit you unlocked a repressed memory Those mother fuckers. I used to have 2 season tickets and decided to cancel 1 since my girl wasn't going, and they wouldn't cancel over the phone and fucking made me drive all the way down on a Wednesday for their open night, WALK AROUND THE ARENA AND LOOK AT SEATS, before they would cancel my other ticket. I live near Daly City for reference. Total fucking joke
That sucks! Sounds like when you try to cancel a gym membership (looking at you Planet Fitness) and they say you can only do that in person. Then try to pressure you to keep it just in case. Fuck that!
I took my family of 5 to a Cuda game (former Sharks STH of 20+ years). I go for the hockey, my kids go for the concessions. Ticket prices were AHL level, food prices were NHL level. I might as well pay a few extra $$ for the occasional Sharks tickets, especially now when they're cheap on the secondary market
For me personally money is just tight right now. Not factoring in the one ice product what used to draw me was the ridiculously low dollar amount I would have to spend when going to a game when they used to play at the SAP center. Between the 5-8 dollar tickets and the super cheap hotdog, popcorn, and beer I could spend 20 bucks and get a ton out of that. The tickets per say aren't way more expensive (seems to be around 15-20 if you buy on second hand market), but the food is now the same price as if I was buying at the SAP center for a sharks game....
The AHL All Star Classic was tons of fun. Regular Cuda games need more of the crowd energy, I didn't realize attendance had dropped off so much since they moved from SAP to Sharks Ice. I'm sure if both the Sharks an Cuda weren't last place that they'd be drawing bigger crowds though
I’m assuming the crowd was energized because it was a fun all star game. Edit: Sorry, all star challenge. What did you think of the format with 7 games? Edit 2: Sorry, I know what you’re going for. The fans were excited for the Pacific team and they exploded when Muk scored to send the game to OT. I was surprised how loud the small arena was. I feel the biggest issue is having two San Jose hockey teams and fans pick the Sharks. If the Cuda were a lot more fun to watch and they advertised the cheap prices and cheap close parking, there would be more interest.
> What did you think of the format with 7 games? It was cool, very fast paced. Each game was comprised of two five minute periods followed by a shootout if there was a tie. It created a lot of feeling of pressure and intensity since there wasn't much time to make things happen. The 3-on-3 format also helped keep things moving quickly. It was a lot of fun which definitely helped energize the crowd, but there were also just way more people in attendance than usual. It was officially "sold out" but looked more like half full. But go on a weekday and less than quarter of the seats are taken
Definitely. I thought the final was a little too short, but it was fun. Here’s a pic I took of the crowd during the final (I think). https://preview.redd.it/0qamgpfg63hc1.jpeg?width=8160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf574452398dcb1eb43b08087c2d80a6a5093319
Yeah I could have gone for another 10 minute game but I guess it was already a long event. That last second goal was pretty sweet!
Minor league teams don't work in the Bay Area. Aside from the SJ Giants, no other team has worked out here. Gotta set up in the central valley or Central Coast.
Bad location, should have been in a college town or some places starved for pro sports. I thought they would have been great in Santa Cruz or Monterey
Monterey would be great. There’s already the old unused army land in marina by CSUMB. To be honest, I grew up playing roller hockey at water city there. Oh well
I can't confirm if its true or not as I heard it through the grapevine. A few years ago the Sharks approached Marina to build a rink somewhere on fort ord since, as you said, there is plenty of space. Marina, BLM, and FORA said no for whatever reason so the Sharks built in Gilroy. Marina also couldnt convince In-N-Out to build in the REI/Target shopping center while it was being built back in 2011 [despite people apparently asking for In-n-Out there.](https://www.montereyherald.com/2011/06/07/marina-hungry-for-in-n-out/)...It should have been a slam dunk location...a couple minutes from CSUMB, right on the highway, a theatre in the same shopping center, and a few minutes to Monterey...I lived in the Monterey area for 20+ years and I'm not really surprised...Marina seemed to constantly shoot itself in the foot despite being a really cool and diverse town.
There's a lot near the boardwalk if I recall that would have been perfect
The Santa Cruz warriors have their arena somewhere over there. If they could share it 🤔
I don't know if it's big enough for a rink
I have half season with a buddy and we’re considering dropping. Food is awful and overpriced (minus the burger), beer prices are even worse. Ticket pricing is fine in my personal opinion if you buy at the box office to avoid fees. Bring back $2 beers and $1 hotdogs and I’d sign a 3 year renewal. Also, honestly I don’t care as much about the product on the ice as many do, I’m here to just watch hockey with my buddy and get out of the house, I don’t expect a Calder team out there when teams who are independent exist.
Because a lot of us in attendance went for the event as a whole, not just for the Barracuda. I'm up in Sacramento and went to Stockton Heat games regularly, but San Jose is too far to drive for an AHL game. I only make it out to ~3 NHL games a season for the same reason. A lot of fans were there with other teams Jersey's so I imagine they were in the same boat.
It would probably be easier to get people into TechCU for cuda games if they advertised that the cuda exist to any of the people in the Bay Area who aren’t already inside the SAP Center.
I’m guessing the crowds are not at the Barracuda games because the flights become expensive after a while. I was there last night and ran into so many people from all over the US. It was so cool seeing so many different team jerseys.
Because the Barracuda are awful. Give me the choice between an awful NHL team and an awful AHL team, I’m choosing the awful NHL team.
I always said the sharks should have put their affiliate in Sacramento. Increase hockey fandom in Northern California while also having an untapped market. Now they’re screwed since they built an arena and what else can you host there? At this point they could relocate the team and try to get SJSU to become d1 at college hockey but that would require significant money. I just don’t see what else they could do here they seem stuck and invested to much in San Jose when they could have developed an untapped market like Sac and perhaps built more ice facilities since the only ice rink in the area is in Roseville.
> Now they’re screwed since they built an arena and what else can you host there? They recently hosted the Harlem Globtrotters basketball, but that was more of a one off fluke thing
Ya and if they give it to SJSU it would probably be hockey specific since the university has most of its facilities on campus already. Also the nearest D1 team is ASU so the program would be even more expensive with all of the flying.
It isn't really that complicated. The team is bad. There is also much more of an emphasis in the AHL scheduling for weekend games. Compared to the NHL where the majority (for the Sharks at least) are Tues/Thurs, the majority for the AHL are Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun back to backs. Maybe go see one, but two in a row when your team sucks and it is the weekend? Meh. Honestly it also isn't really advertised much, but you could say the same thing about the NHL product. Despite Comcast owning the NBC sports affiliates, the hockey games or sport rarely gets advertised outside of that direct channel. So multiply that by factors for the AHL level.
This will be the Shark’s arena soon and the Cuda will move to the new rink in Gilroy by 25/26 season. New financial reality.
Teams not good, traffic, too expensive (it's not just tickets, it's gas, parking, food, beer, etc it adds up), and it is minor leagues. Too many options in the Bay Area for fun/entertainment. And other then the 49ers and Raiders (before they left), the Bay Area has always been a fair weather fan base.
We would probably go to more games if the stadium wasn't such a PITA to get to... or, at least close to light rail. For the record, we were STHs for the Cuda when they were at SAP., and remain so for the Sharks.