COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Winning makes everything easier, particularly selling tickets. After playing the best hockey in franchise history down the stretch, the Columbus Blue Jackets have enjoyed an upsurge at the box office in recent weeks. The team says it has seen a 13-per cent improvement in season-ticket renewals from one year ago, when the Blue Jackets were coming off perhaps their worst season in the NHL and sold around 7,000 season tickets. The team has sold almost 1,000 new season-ticket plans including fans who upgraded to larger packages. Its a major difference from when the club was a doormat -- especially for those charged with talking to the fan base and selling them tickets. "Theres no question a lot of the conversations are more pleasant than they were perhaps last year," Blue Jackets senior vice-president and chief marketing officer John Browne said with a laugh. "People are very emotional about it, very passionate about it. They want their opinion to be heard. Theres no question over the last few months as the team continued to play really well, those less-than-friendly conversations are far fewer than they were." Its been a remarkable turnaround. Those visiting the teams website at www.bluejackets.com are now greeted by a picture of fans smiling while a scrum of players celebrate a goal. Emblazoned over the scene are the words, "The Best Is Yet To Come." After having far and away the worst record in the league during the 2011-12 season, the Blue Jackets came out of the owners lockout and were dead last in the league (5-12-2) again in late February. But then, spurred on by new acquisitions, wily veterans and up-and-coming players, they went on a 19-5-5 tear that tied them with Minnesota for eighth place in the Western Conference. They missed out on the playoffs in a tiebreaker. They drew a capacity crowd of 19,002 to their season finale at Nationwide Arena, welcomed more than 17,000 in each of the two home games before that, and finished the year averaging 14,562 in attendance. "The crowd was electric," centre Brandon Dubinsky said after the final game, a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Nashville. Dubinsky previously played for the New York Rangers and came over in the ballyhooed deal that shipped Rick Nash -- Columbus captain and the franchise record holder in almost every offensive category -- to the Big Apple last summer. The fans were caught up in the sudden reversal of fortune by the team. "They really appreciated the hard work that was put in and us proving everyone wrong. All the so-called experts picked us to finish dead last," defenceman Jack Johnson said after the season. "Its kind of the old, when someone says you cant do it youre determined to prove them wrong. Everyone around the city really appreciated it." Now the teams website also carries the prompt, "Next season starts today. Get the best seats now." Most of the team is expected back next season, including old hands R.J. Umberger and Fedor Tyutin, rising young stars Cam Atkinson and Matt Calvert and relatively recent acquisitions Marian Gaborik and Nick Foligno. The club also has three first-round picks in the June 30 amateur draft. Adding to the excitement is that the Blue Jackets (along with longtime nemesis Detroit) move to the Eastern Conference next season. That means less travel, easier access to broadcast road games for fans who have to work the next day and renewed interest in potential rivals. "We know from research that the NHL has done, in addition to Columbus Blue Jackets fans, eight of the top 10 teams that they identify with as other teams they follow are Eastern Conference teams," Browne said. So the first step was earning some respect by winning games. Now general manager Jarmo Kekalainen and director of hockey operations John Davidson must keep the fans engaged with a team that continues to be competitive. "I havent heard the building that loud," said forward Jared Boll, the Blue Jackets longest-tenured player, the next day after the season ended. "It just shows you these fans are really here to stay and they want a winning team." Wholesale Under Armour Shoes China . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say. Under Armour Shoes Free Shipping . LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. http://www.cheapuashoes.com/ . 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LONDON -- It might be billed as a one-off, two-night special, but dont think for a minute that WWE hasnt got its eyes on bedding down with a permanent presence in the United Kingdom.Paul Triple H Levesque, WWE executive VP of talent, live events & creative, pulled no punches when asked about WWEs ambitions for all of its brands across the pond.Well do 30-ish events here in the coming year, and were putting together plans now for the next four years, and really trying to stamp what we do here for the long term, Levesque told ESPN.The latest WWE brand to be launched, the United Kingdom Championship tournament, was announced in a bombshell news conference at Londons O2 Arena on Thursday morning.Although Levesque told ESPN that plans for the 16-man, single elimination competition -- which will take place live on the WWE Network Jan. 14-15 in Blackpool, England -- have been in the works for over a year, the timing of the announcement is certainly intriguing.Free-to-air U.K. terrestrial television channel ITV recently commissioned a one-off wrestling special, under the old World of Sport Wrestling banner that used to air in the 1980s, with the pilot set to be screened on New Years Eve in a prime-time slot.If the show is successful, it could become a regular staple of ITVs lineup. But while World of Sport Wrestling is looking to lock performers down to contracts, William Regal confirmed to What Culture Pro Wrestling in London that talent featuring in the U.K. Championship tournament will be free to work for other U.K. promotions.WWE has always had a very special relationship with the U.K., and I think this is another step in that relationship, of putting our foot on the ground and not only saying this is our home away from home, its our home, Levesque added.Thats the goal, is to become a weekly show. Hopefully we can make that work out, a weekly show that can feature the best of the U.K. talent and put that out there in a way that gives talent here a clear path into the WWE. Starting here and moving up the line and going through things. I think thats a huge opportunity and will help everybody down the line.With the popularity of cable television declining in the United States, and streaming platforms on the rise, it makes sense that WWE could be preparing the groundwork for a global territory system.The U.K. Championship tournament will no doubt provide a pipeline of local talent to WWEs developmental promotion, NXT, and Mexico, Japan and Canada would be obvious candidates in which to set up similar promotions.Its a way for us to get more talent, period, talent that want to lace up boots and put on trunks and do this, Levesque said. One of the things I found five years ago when we started this process [of the WWE Network], was giving people a pathway to get to the WWE. It gives us a platform like nothing else to go and do this type of content. I think you see that with NXT becoming its own brand, and the cruiserweights with 205 Live. That same process is beginning to happen there. And this is another step in that direction. Theres a systematic approach.[Before] it kind of was this pipe dream. You hear people like?Finn Balor?or Nigel McGuinness say, It was always my dream, but just how do you do it, right? You just kind of do what?you do and you do it for so long that maybe someone will see me or maybe Ill get my stuff in the right perssons hands, but how?Balor did eventually make it to WWE in 2014, via NXT, after having wrestled for 14 years on the independent circuit, including eight years in New Japan Pro Wrestling.ddddddddddddMcGuinness, on the other hand, saw his in-ring career ended prematurely by health issues in 2011, after a deal with WWE fell through in 2009 for the same reason. But he will commentate on the U.K. Championship tournament alongside Michael Cole and Regal at the Empress Ballroom.Whether its a Pete Dunne or a Trent Seven or a Wolfgang, or any of the guys in this tournament -- theyre good, theyre really good, and youre gonna see that here, Levesque said. Were taking these guys and giving them the platform to show the world what they can do so they can fulfill their dreams and be a part of the WWE.People can put it out there in any way they want. Success is not just measured by getting to that, theres a lot of successful people [outside WWE], but I think anybody with any level of success, if you said, Would you like to be at Wrestlemania in front of 100,000 people? its a different level of success.Many of the 16 men competing in the U.K. Championship tournament have been pooled from Insane Championship Wrestling, Progress and Revolution Pro.Going forward, Levesque said WWE will work with the U.K. independent promotions to cultivate talent and provide them with a global platform.The only way you get better at this is by doing it and getting to those big dances and doing this with more pressure on you, he added. As they progress, theyre going from there to NXT or to Raw or SmackDown and making their way up that ladder.And to me now, if Im a kid looking at that, and Im sitting at Raw, now that burns into my head -- Im gonna do this for a living. Heres what I gotta do. I get trained, I go here, I go there. Theres my way to the top. It gives you a goal.There are several names conspicuous by their absence from the U.K. Championship tournament -- the three British stars not under a WWE banner who are most known to global audiences. Zack Sabre Jr. competed in the Cruiserweight Classic this past summer but is not believed to be tied down to a deal anywhere. Theres a definitive reason for Ring of Honor duo Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay (who also has a contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling), as those contracts restrict them from competing for WWE.Levesque confirmed to ESPN, though, that a name like Ospreay is definitely on WWEs radar.Will Ospreay is an amazing talent, he said. Theres a lot of amazing talent out there. When theyre available, when its the right time for them, I wanna work with all of them.Its funny to me people say things along the lines of this guy is an amazing talent but maybe hes not the right fit, or this guy doesnt have the experience. If theyre great at this, then talent is talent, Levesque continued. I wanna bring in the best talent; I wanna help them be better. I wanna take our process and help them be the best they can be.Some people go like, Oh, they try to fix things. We dont try to fix things, we try to make them better. I learn something new every single day about the business because it changes on a daily basis. Anybody [who] thinks they dont have anything to learn in this business is crazy. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '