The problem is that they started what could be a very bad cycle. A lot of season ticket holders are going to look at what just happened this season and not renew as cheaper tickets seem to be offered for sale by the Canes for a whole heck of a lot of the season. Then what, they are going to keep offering the discounts because season ticket sales were down?
Dundon's take, if you watch the video on the renewal site, appears to be that people want to be close to the players, have more interaction with the players, get to know the players, make a connection with the players and the team. And those opportunities will be there for season ticket members. That's neat, but at least to me that is not worth paying MORE for season tickets than I might otherwise pay per game FROM THE TEAM. The secondary market generally provides 'cheaper seat' options compared to the box office, I get that and that is fine. I have milked that for years. But for the Canes to undercut season ticket holders over and over and over again for most of the season? That's not very smart. And partial plan holders? Whoa, they REALLY got screwed this season.
The only way to save this all now is to put a real strong team on the ice and win people into buying season ticket plans, because what they did this season into this renewal is a pretty crappy business plan.