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It’s everywhere. You can find it emblazoned on almost anything, from clothing to pet accessories to vehicles on our roads - even on windows at Portage and Main.

It’s the single largest change our city has experienced over the past year, and it is all that people can talk about: the return of the prodigal Jets.

From the obvious resurgence of civic pride, to increased traffic and visitors to Winnipeg’s downtown, the NHL’s return has had a snowball effect on this city.

Arts

Prior to the inaugural puck-drop for the Jets 2.0, various arts organizations expressed concern that revenue would be lost due to the long-term investments required for season ticket holders. And while several of Winnipeg’s mainstays have reported lower attendance in some cases, others have experienced gain.

“As for numbers, our subscriptions are down slightly,” Teri Stevens, publicist for the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, says via email. “It’s too early to say about our total ticket sales, as we still have four shows to go, including the two (August: Osage County and God of Carnage, at the time) that are currently running.”

For the 2011-12 season, MTC had a total of 17,701 subscribers at both the John Hirsch Mainstage and the Tom Hendry Warehouse, down only slightly from 19,128 for both stages during the previous season, with the theatre company playing host to a total of 134, 251 ticket holders.

CBC had reported in December that the Royal Winnipeg Ballet had experienced a 10 per cent drop in ticket sales for the first show of the 2011-12 season, the world premiere of Svengali.

“We have four shows a year as well as our subscription sales, and two of our shows, I would say, were below what we wanted them to be,” says Judy Slivinski, senior director of marketing and development for the RWB. “But the other two shows were … above our goals, so I’m not sure that I would draw a direct causal relationship between our sales and that of the Jets and the fact that the Jets have returned.

“Ticket sales for live performing arts are reasonably ... unpredictable, across North America at the moment.”

Slivinski says that several of the RWB’s tour stops, including Toronto, had to be cancelled this season due to poor ticket sales.

“It’s hard to say why that is, because it’s happening in cities across North America that don’t have NHL franchises.”

The culprit of lower ticket sales is closer to home, Slivinski says, with the increase of personal screen sizes and aging audiences factoring in.

Instead of beating them, the RWB chooses to join them, by taking pages from the Jets playbook.

“We did a ‘white out’ for Giselle,” she says. “Giselle is considered a ‘white’ ballet, so for the opening night on March 7 we encouraged our audience to wear white - same as you would be encouraged to do at a hockey game. A lot of people found that entertaining.

“We also have a board member who is involved with True North (the Jets’ ownership company),” she continues. “We are sort of keeping our finger on the pulse of how things are progressing over at the Jets, because like any other organization, they are also trying to market themselves. They hope that their audience isn’t tied to whether they win or lose a game, but rather to loyalty, and in that way we see RWB and the Jets very much in parallel with one another because they are both iconic organizations that put Winnipeg on the map internationally.

“I don’t see them as a threat, but rather like a brother or sister organization that’s doing the same thing for Manitoba and Winnipeg as we are.”

Business

With an influx of visitors to the MTS Centre around the dinner hour comes a bounty of hungers to tame and thirsts to quench, and local restaurant owners are benefiting from the boon of pre-puck drop guests.

In particular, 4Play Sportsbar has benefited from its lucrative location directly across from the arena.

“Typically what we see in the bigger numbers is people coming and having dinner right before the game, so that’s when we have our busiest rush,” 4Play’s promotions person Rebecca Horan says. “People want to come in and eat and have a few drinks before they head to the MTS Centre.”

La Bamba, a restaurant offering Mexican cuisine, recently opened a second location at 285 Portage Ave., and owner Edgar Rascon hopes that the Jets crowd will mean more business in the evenings.

Stephano Grande, executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement Zone (BIZ), says that some BIZ members that perhaps were catering to the lunch crowd are now considering opening up in the evenings.

“We’ve had a lot of BIZ members that have changed their restaurant concepts and reinvested in their buildings,” Grande says. “So it’s definitely been a positive response to the Jets and the 16,000 people coming down for every game, in addition to all the concerts and everything else that goes on at the MTS Centre.”

Urban shopping centres have also been riding the Jets bandwagon, with Cityplace offering food court visitor incentives in the form of chances to win tickets.

Dave Stone, manager of Portage Place Shopping Centre, says that while businesses downtown had little time or budget to respond to True North’s announcement last May, his mall has certainly seen increased traffic prior to game time.

“We have promotions on game nights for hockey fans,” Stone says. “It’s a fun experience, the whole game-day/game-night in the downtown, in terms of if you’re on the street at 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m., so we’d like to build upon, and be a part of, that excitement and bring it to Portage Place.”

Transportation

Despite the fact that more and more people are trekking downtown, transportation is not on the forefront.

Parking lot fees are jacked up prior to games, and free-after-5:30 p.m. street parking is the first to go.

People thinking of visiting downtown during games are dissuaded by the thought of finding parking, or even getting through the post-game traffic.

Winnipeg Blue Bomber fans were encouraged to use public transit to travel to and from the Canad Inns Stadium with the “show your stub” promotion.

According to a city spokesperson, while the MTS Centre is serviced by 47 routes, they are not considering a similar free ride program. Transit does provide an additional route 11 bus to deal with the post-game transport demand.

“ We see RWB and the Jets very much in parallel with one another because they are both iconic organizations that put Winnipeg on the map internationally.

Judy Slivinski, senior director of marketing and development, Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Other sports

Can Winnipeggers support the Jets as well as the city’s other sports?

Playing sports as an adult can be difficult, maneuvering around many different work and school schedules, but players missing due to Jets tickets is something many recreational sports teams have to contend with now.

Wendy Neil, a City of Winnipeg employee, has noticed a decrease in members of her adult bowling league.

“This year we only have 10 teams in our league, compared to 16 last year,” she says. “I know two of the teams (dropped out) because they decided they were buying season tickets.”

Now that the NHL is back after 15 years, will Winnipeggers have enough room in their hearts, wallets and schedules for our other professional sports teams?

Long-time Blue Bombers season ticket holder Colin Ward, 22, had a difficult decision to make last June.

“In the past, my friends and I had Bomber season tickets, and this previous season we opted not to get them because we got Jets half-season tickets,” says Ward. “To be honest, I really thought many people would do the same, but I was pleasantly surprised when the
Bombers had one of their best seasons ever, season-ticket-sales-wise. I suppose many people lost out on Jets tickets and wanted tickets to the Bombers.”

Non-profits

While businesses have definitely benefited from the team’s return, from ticket holders noshing at restaurants before the game to die-hards needing to get their hands on every piece of memorabilia from sports stores, so too has the Winnipeg not-for-profit sector.

With the sale of the 25,000 Jets license plates, Manitoba Public Insurance donated $30 from the purchase of each $70 team plate to the True North Foundation, the charitable arm of the team that provides funds to charitable organizations who offer programs for youth with a focus on healthy living.

The team has also done good for our four-legged friends.

In March, forwards Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little paid a visit to Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter, a no-kill shelter on Portage Avenue. One thousand excited Winnipeggers came through the doors that day.

“It was so, so exciting. They were very selfless about their time, especially since the (autograph) session was between two games,” shelter director Carla Martinelli says. “It made 1,000 people aware of Pet Rescue Shelter, and it was really great that they reached out to the community.”

The shelter collected donations, and several successful adoptions came out of the event.

“How do you put a dollar value on that? It was just terrific.”

Published in Volume 66, Number 26 of The Uniter (April 5, 2012)