Red Wings to test new policy to encourage fans to be in their seats

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The Detroit Red Wings enjoyed hundreds of consecutive sellouts at Joe Louis Arena and were routinely at the top of the NHL in terms of attendance. The trend is continuing at Little Caesars Arena, where every game thusfar has been announced as having been sold out.

However, it’s easy to see that just because every ticket has been sold, that doesn’t mean that every seat has a butt in it. There have noticeably been several open seats at home games for the Red Wings this season. Detroit Pistons games have seen even more empty seats, of course which is not what officials planned on seeing after the move from Auburn Hills.

The routine reasoning given has been that the fans have been busy checking out the amazing new bars, restaurants and other concessions that are located throughout the concourses. Additionally, because neither team is seen as a championship contender, it has been reasoned that fans would simply rather check out the building as opposed to watching the action of whomever is playing that night.

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The Red Wings think they may have found a solution, and they let Red Wings staff at the LCA know about it in a letter that was sent out on Tuesday night.

“We are going to allow guests to go to their seats during the first few minutes of the first, second and third periods while the puck is in play just until the initial rush at the beginning of the game and after the intermissions end,” the letter read

After the initial rush, the fans will have to go back to waiting for a whistle to return to their seats, as is the regular policy at all NHL arenas.

The letter said that it was going to be a trial run for Wednesday’s game against the Flames, Friday against the Sabres and Sunday against the Avalanche.