MESSAGE FROM DEVILS (TODD KELMAN)
Hello All,
Just an explanation of why I got rid of the student ticket and replaced it with the young adult ticket. Unfortunately, the student discount was being abused. This season, we caught out nearly 30 season ticket holders claiming to be students that are not full-time students. I took the decision to get rid of the student discount and go by age. I know this has put some legitimate mature students into an adult ticket bracket, and unfortunately this was going to be the consequence of this change. I will not be changing it back, but I felt that I owed you an explanation for the change.
As for the changes in blocks to gold or silver, I always was going to look at how our first full season went in the new arena to see if changes needed to be made. When I saw the first few games in the new arena, I personally felt that blocks 8 & 20 should have been gold then but we stuck with the blocks we put in place when we first moved across for the full 2016/17 season. This again will mean for some fans their prices go up, but this again is the consequence of wanting to sit in the blocks that I have deemed to be better seats than other areas of the arena.
Finally, the reasoning behind these changes are not so we can pay for "more beers for Todd and the boys," these are simple decisions based on our analysis of where people want to sit and what tickets sell first. We are not trying to bleed a fanbase dry, we are making solid business decisions based on information we have collated throughout the year. I understand a lot of fans will not be happy with how these decisions affect their personal circumstance but it is my job to steer your club in the right direction year on year. We are in for the long haul, we are committed to improving the fan experience every season and not every decision I make is going to be popular. I get this. This is not my first season doing this, and I can assure you, we do not think of you as only customers, we think of our season ticket holders as the lifeblood of this organisation, the people that commit up front year on year to support their team.
We need you, we think of how every decision will affect you, we analyse it and we think and re-think our plans over and over again before making decisions. It hurts when our fans actually think that I am or the owners are doing something for the money. We aren't and we never will. The owners have not taken a single penny out of this club since buying it. They have given money back to improve the facilities for the team, they have given money directly to the Junior Devils club, they have not taken money out for anything. So when I find nearly 30 fans ripping off the club that they supposedly love, then I have to change something because if there were nearly 30 we found, the unfortunate reality is there are more that we didn't find.
You will always get the honest answer from me, and I will always ALWAYS put this club's interests at the forefront of whatever decisions we make. And if you see me buying "beers for the boys" it's with my own money and it's because we just won a big game. I like a beer with the guys after we win, and I like to win. I hope every single season ticket holder renews and that we welcome another 200 or 300 more to the season ticket base for next season. With a 3,088 capacity, we are limited by capacity where other arenas are not, so if you choose not to renew, I am confident that someone will likely want your seat. We have a waiting list of over 300 people for Saturday's game against Coventry. My goal is to sell-out every game next season or get as close as we damn well can. We will continue to invest in things to improve the fan experience and hopefully you all are along for the ride with us. If you still feel that you need to voice your opinion, do it directly to me on
tk@cardiffdevils.com - I can promise you I will read every email I get.
As always, yours in hockey...
Todd Kelman