Before L.A. Kings executives began putting together a marketing campaign for the upcoming year, they tapped into the minds of fans still seething over the lockout that cancelled the 2004-2005 season.

The team, which sent out surveys and then spent $15,000 on three focus groups, will use the results in plotting a marketing plan for the upcoming season.

Kings officials insist that the damage doesn’t have to be permanent fans want a winning team, affordable prices and greater access to the organization.

“They are very upset,” acknowledged Mike Altieri, spokesman for the franchise. “We owe a large apology to all our fans for what they’ve had to go through. I don’t think the labor dispute had anything to do with them, yet they are the ones that have to bear the brunt of the consequence.”

With hockey owners and players on their way to ratifying a new labor agreement late last week, the 2005-2006 season is likely to start as scheduled in early October, with preseason games in mid-September.

The Kings plan a marketing effort designed to strengthen the relationship with fans. A laundry list of new and expanded initiatives starts with the first preseason game, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 17.

Tickets to that game will be free. Throughout the season, the team plans to double the number of $10 seats in the Dave Taylor Die Hard Section, to 1,000 per game. (Taylor is a popular former player who is now the Kings’ general manager.)

The team will also increase its all-inclusive ticket packages to more than 50 percent of all home games. The deals allow fans to buy packages of two or four tickets, parking, food and non-alcoholic beverages and in some cases merchandise at a reduced price.

Season-ticket holders will see a “slight reduction” in prices, Altieri said. (They would have ranged from $10 to $96.50 per game last season.) And season ticket holders will be invited to one of the free monthly breakfasts hosted by Taylor.

Once the season gets started, Kings officials will continue to organize focus groups, including season ticket holders, casual fans and holders of six-, 12- or 22-game packages. And more ticket holders will get chances to meet the players at several parties.

“They want to have relationships with our players beyond just cheering for them in the stands,” said Altieri. “The best communication we can have with our fans is crucial to our success.”

L.A. is an especially tough market for hockey because there are so many activities vying for the entertainment dollar. The sport does not hold the sort of top-tier status it does in Canada and cold-weather U.S. states.

A year ago, with the threatened loss of the season due to labor troubles, the Kings offered season ticket holders the chance to reserve their seats for the 2004-2005 season for just $100. Almost 10 percent of the more than 12,000 season ticket holders did not renew. Down the I-5 in Anaheim, the Mighty Ducks offered an even lower ante $50 and they lost 20 percent of their 8,000 season ticket holders.

“It’s going to be interesting to see if people swarm back because they missed it or whether hockey will just be so far out of their minds it will be a non-factor,” said Jeff Cable, president of Saratoga, Calif.-based Pro Sport Marketing. “So many in the U.S. didn’t even know they were locked out.”

Neither team would say how much they are spending to try to lure the fans back. (Mighty Ducks officials acknowledged that they will increase their spending plan over what they would have invested last season.)

There’s also a logistical challenge in restarting a dormant organization. Sales and marketing positions will be a priority in refilling many of the 40 positions lost to layoffs and attrition since play ended in 2004, Altieri said.

As the league gets going, officials hope that proposed rule changes will help draw more fans. Those include overtime shootouts to eliminate ties, wider space between blue lines to increase the size of offensive zones, and limiting the area where goalies may handle pucks. “From a sales and marketing standpoint, we have to get loud really fast,” Altieri said. “We’ll have a month and a half to get going. Normally we have four.”