Winnipeg Announces New GM / 13k Pre Season Tickets Sold Out In Minutes

Added on Jun 05, 2011 by J Merrill in

NHL

It was a huge day for the almost certain new owners of the Winnipeg franchise. Today, True North announced they will not be bringing current General Manager Rick Dudley with the team to Winnipeg, and they announced they have offered the job to Kevin Cheveldayoff, who is currently the senior director of hockey operations for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The 41 year old Cheveldayoff had a short career in hockey after he was drafted first round by the New York Rangers, but injuries kept him on the bench. He had to walk away from the game in 1994 after only 4 seasons in the minors.

Also, When The NHL and True North announced that they were trying to buy the team pending the GM approval, Commissioner Gary Bettman said to drive the point home about the city being popular, they should set a goal of selling 13,000 season tickets. True North was set to launch a “Drive For 13,000” when in it was announced that 4 minutes into the sale of the tickets to the general public they had hit the goal.

Days before the official sell date, the Manitoba Moose ticket plan holders and corporate clients were offered a crack at the seats and they soaked up over 7k, and after 17 minutes of processing the remaining six were taken. All of the Suites were also sold as well. According to True North CEO Jim Ludlow the waiting list is already stacking up. He said “Within minutes of hitting our ‘Drive to 13,000’ goal, our staff informed me we already had 6,000 people on the waiting list. The buzz in the community and level of support for NHL hockey in central Canada is something our business has never experienced this week. It’s been quite a week.” (He is now stating the list is near 8,000.)

Before game 2 Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement that he knew True North would be coming to vote day with a lot of ammunition to sway the NHL to approve there bid for the team. He said “While I had no doubt the ‘Drive to 13,000′ would reach its destination, the remarkable speed at which it got there certifies the fans’ hunger for NHL hockey and their commitment to True North’s initiatives.”

Ludlow went on to say what these numbers represent. All said and done, these numbers represent solid business in Winnipeg for at least the next few years. “That represents basically a sold-out building in Winnipeg for the next three to five years,” said Ludlow. He also noted that the pre season sales packages were contracts for 3 seasons, and the option to exchange them for 5 seasons.