SAN JOSE — Sharks Sports & Entertainment has parted ways with Flavil Hampsten as its chief sales and marketing officer.

Sharks Chief Operating Officer John Tortora let staff know Monday of Hampsten’s departure, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, which first reported the front office change.

Tortora was unavailable for comment Tuesday but in a statement to this newspaper, Hampsten wrote, “The job was always intended to be short-term. When I started, ownership and senior leadership set out very specific business targets to achieve and I’m proud of the entire team because many of those targets have been met and surpassed.

“John Tortora and I have been in discussion about the future for some time now and decided this week that it was time to part ways. I wish them the best in bringing the Stanley Cup to San Jose.”

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Hampsten, 37, had previously worked for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets and was hired by the Sharks as an executive vice president over two years ago as the organization beefed up its sales and marketing staff after they missed the 2015 playoffs.

Average paid attendance for regular season games went up from 16,746 for 2015-16 when the team made the Stanley Cup Final to 17,508 last year. Capacity at the Sharks’ home, SAP Center, is 17,562.

Attendance has dipped this season, though, as the Sharks have announced sellouts for just seven of 17 home games and have an average paid attendance of 17,279, or 98.4 percent of capacity.

Tortora told this newspaper in September that the Sharks had sold roughly 12,000 season tickets or equivalents for 2017-18 with a renewal rate of approximately 90 percent. In 2012, the Sharks had approximately 14,000 season ticket holders.

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Some of those longtime season ticket holders have taken issue with several of the recent changes the Sharks have implemented.

The Sharks went away from paper tickets for this season, replaced by electronic tickets that are designed to be downloaded either from Ticketmaster or the Sharks’ app. The option of printing tickets at home and bringing those to games was discontinued this year.

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Home sweet home? Giants, visitors at Oracle Park, tie franchise record in win The Sharks, according to the Business Journal, also introduced a pricing system that was based on prior demand for each seat, not by each section in the downtown arena. That left open the possibility that neighboring patrons could be paying different prices for their seats.

Prices for season tickets, on average, went up about 4 percent for this season with the biggest increases coming for most of the seats in the first three rows of the lower bowl.

Tickets for those seats, which used to range in price from $137 to $222, now cost between $300-$500. The price tag includes parking, a dedicated entrance and food and beverages in the new BMW Lounge, which replaced The Grill that faced Santa Clara St.