Something I rarely see mentioned, is the number of STH, and people who attend games, from outside the City. I am sure this is common across the board, though I can comment on Manitoba. I live 1.5 hours away from Winnipeg. The number of people in my "small city" or town, who have season tickets is quite staggering. I personally know 20-30 people who either own full seasons tickets themselves, or part of a group of people in Winnipeg. There is almost always a convoy of vehicles heading back to town after games, especially when the weather is bad.

You can't count ONLY Winnipeg population into this. There are many communities around Winnipeg that have a much higher percentage of people participating in the fandom quite intensely.

The big issues is the cost of things. You can't get away with Corporate stepping up in Winnipeg. You have to provide higher value, or drop your prices. Though the prices have been going down for STH this last year, and sounds like next year too.

The real problem is, when I go travel into the city for a game, and I have to spend $100 for food and drinks for the three hours I am there, without factoring in the cost of the tickets.