Fan feedback continuing to drive change as Belleville Sens enter historic 10th season

For the Belleville Senators, the conversation with fans didn’t end when the 2025-26 season did, nor did it end at the club’s annual 613 Country Town Hall last month.

As the Sens prepare to celebrate 10 years in the Bay of Quinte this season, the team has spent the summer looking closely at what its fans are saying — and, just as importantly, turning that feedback into action.

Following the conclusion of last season, the Sens worked with independent consultant Matt Jackowitz to survey fans about their experiences with the club, their ticket-buying habits and what would encourage them to attend more games. Those responses were then considered alongside the club’s sales data to provide a broader picture of the local fan base.

The goal was simple: listen, learn and identify opportunities to make the Sens experience even better.

“What we did was, we wanted to align it with the end of the season, so things and memories were fresh for the fans,” Jackowitz said. “We put together an outline, really trying to get a pulse from the fan base.”

That pulse produced some clear takeaways.

Among the most prominent was the impact of the schedule.

After a season with fewer Friday night home games, fans made it clear they missed them — both in their survey responses and in the club’s sales trends.

“Some of the major things we saw, both in the sales trends and the qualitative feedback, were the Friday nights,” Jackowitz said. “That was kind of the number one — people miss coming to those. They miss sort of that atmosphere.”

With more than a dozen Friday night home games returning to the schedule in 2026-27, the club now has an opportunity to reconnect with a group of fans who traditionally made those games part of their routine.

But the research went beyond the schedule.

Ticket affordability was another recurring theme, with some fans perceiving that attending a Sens game had become less accessible. The sales data, however, offered another perspective, and for the Sens, that creates an opportunity to ensure fans are aware of the different ways they can attend games.

“What was interesting was it’s not like the cheapest price points are selling now,” Jackowitz said. “There does seem to be a bit of a perception of what sort of tickets are available now, and I think that is another opportunity to kind of talk about that and the affordability of coming to the games.”

Perhaps the most interesting finding, though, was the difference between how fans feel about the Sens and how often they are attending. The research showed strong sentiment toward the club, with fans indicating they would recommend the Sens and expressing positive feelings about the brand and overall experience. At the same time, the club has seen a decline in the number of casual fans who return for another game or continue attending from season to season.

In other words, the challenge isn’t necessarily convincing people that they like Sens hockey. It’s giving them a reason to come back.

“How do you bring them back to that second game?” Jackowitz said. “Especially within that season, so it can become more of a pattern and routine and they get sort of more connected there.”

That could mean finding new ways to engage a fan after their first visit, reconnecting with people who haven’t attended in some time or giving casual fans another reason to make a game part of their plans.

The research also reinforced what shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has watched the Sens play in Belleville: hockey matters.

When asked what would encourage them to attend more games, fans identified a more competitive team as the strongest factor, well ahead of improvements to the in-game experience.

And when fans talked about what they value about having the Sens in Belleville, the connection to the hockey itself was front and centre.

“The opportunity to see high-grade professional hockey, future NHL stars — that’s really resonating with fans a lot,” Jackowitz said.

There was also a strong sense of hometown pride and nostalgia in the responses, including recognition of the Sens role in filling the void left by the Belleville Bulls. That local connection could prove particularly important moving forward.

The research showed that some of the decline in casual attendance was concentrated within the immediate Belleville area, presenting an opportunity to strengthen the club’s connection with its hometown audience.

“How do we kind of engage that group? Kind of more that hyper-local fan base,” Jackowitz said. “Making it kind of a can’t-miss event…within the city.”

Those findings are already helping inform the Sens’ approach to the upcoming season, from highlighting the return of Friday night hockey to placing greater emphasis on hometown pride, professional hockey and the opportunity to watch future NHL stars.

And the club isn’t treating the survey as a one-time exercise.

The same measurements can be revisited in future surveys to determine whether the changes being made are having an impact — and to identify new opportunities as fan habits and expectations evolve.

“I think that combination then can really have some impactful change, and that’s what we’re here for,” Jackowitz said. “Just like kind of an outside look on how things are.”

For a club entering its 10th season in Belleville, the exercise provided something more valuable than a list of statistics.

It provided a clearer understanding of what brings fans through the doors, what keeps them coming back and what makes the Sens part of the Belleville community.

Now, it’s up to the club to put that feedback into action.