Page 17 - BusinessWest April 1, 2024

Adam Gaudette, the AHL’s leading goal scorer, has entertained a record number of sellout crowds at Thunderbirds home games this season.
Photo by Lucas Armstrong
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Net Positives
Thunderbirds Continue
to Soar with Sellouts,
Economic Impact
When Nate Costa spoke with BusinessWest recently about the Springfield Thunderbirds’ 2023-24 season, the team was in a pitched battle for the final playoff spot in the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division, a fight that could go either way as the cam- paign winds down this month.
But in many ways, this season has already gone the right way. Very right.
Start with attendance, which, at press time, had produced a fran- chise record-tying 15 sellouts, including nine in a row.
“We’ve seen
the growth and impact. We know what we’re doing internally, but we wanted to be able to quantify it.”
“The year has been really successful, especially on the business side,” said Costa, the team’s president since its inception in 2017. “We’re right in the thick of the playoff hunt, and we’re trying to stay in contention for the playoffs. But beyond that, the business side has been tremendous. Our staff has done a really fantastic job.”
Start with group sales, which topped $1 million this year, and more than 1,500 season ticket holders; the previous hockey franchise in Springfield, the Fal- cons, would typically put up around $400,000 in group sales and 400 season tickets. Both elements are criti- cal, Costa said, in selling out the MassMutual Center each night. “When you’re trying to sell 7,000 tickets, you can’t just sell them on a game-by-game basis.”
On some sellout nights, he said, group sales —
which typically involve organizations providing an experience for cli- ents, employees, or area young people — account for more than 50% of the tickets.
“So we’re getting a ton of kids here who maybe aren’t into hockey, and they’re checking out what we’re doing. And at the end of the day, they have a great time coming out to the games, feeding off the experi- ence in the building. We’ve played really well at home this year and had some really exciting games.”
Part of that experience, he was quick to add, has been a slate of pro- motions mixing new offerings with growing traditions like Pink in the Rink (a fundraiser for Rays of Hope), Pucks N’ Paws, Mayflower Mara-
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