Touchdown: The Leafs score on price hike communication

Uncertain economic times call for straight talk. And while companies have a responsibility to maintain long term success, and to determine the best course of action to ensure this, how to present this is a challenge. The Toronto Maple Leafs recently announced they are raising ticket prices by an average 3.5% for next season. Recognizing there is never a good time for a price increase, what is important from a communications perspective is how this announcement was handled. The view among the Veritas team is that, throughout all of the interviews conducted, Tom Anselmi, Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment executive vice-president and chief operating officer, has remained consistently open and honest. Firstly, he recognized the impact the decision would have on fans. When asked how MLSE weighs ticket increases against what the average fan can afford, he responded "We know we ask a lot of our fans. We're blessed to be in this market. We're blessed to have the kind of loyalty we do. We don't take that for granted for one second. We just got to a place where costs keep going up and we felt we had to do it. We tried to minimize it and make it as painless as possible. I think our fans will understand and we hope they do." Obviously, this isn’t going to magically make everybody happy, but our take is that by acknowledging that it was a tough decision to make and that the primary reason for that was because they considered the fan impact, Anselmi demonstrates a well delivered, sincere and emotional message. He has also been completely transparent, openly sharing all of the reasons for the increase, complete with valid explanations. Avoiding getting into a debate about the numbers he outlined the team’s responsibilities and the financial challenges that come with those, focusing on the message that they are in ‘building mode’ to ensure healthy, continued growth for the organization which to fans means a better hockey team.