Lafleur wades in, thinks the NHL should declare bankruptcy...

[SmokeyClause]

Very good try. I give you points for creativity.

The problem is the attendance in Nashville is NOT paid attendance. And considering some things like 2 for 1 specials at your local fast food place it really scours the real numbers which are scary in Nashville (might improve after they tasted the playoffs)

Alot of the poor attendance teams offer the same things so just because your team has 13,000 in the stands don't mean those 13,000 are paid for.

I'll echo NMK's and Trigg's sentiments and ask, "just where the hell can we get these great specials?" Cause they sure aren't offering it to any of us regular fans. Maybe there is an underground ticket distribution network that us diehards haven't become aware of yet. Yeah, that must be it

I'd love to hear of these specials. All the time, I go out of my 4 tickets per game season allotment to purchase tickets for friends, family, and coworkers. At no point in time have I stumbled accross these free tickets to the extent you are saying.

 

[Kickabrat]

Throwing things out there without support doesn't do a lot of good. I could swing the arguement back and say maybe Ottawa should have given more tickets away it's first 5 years, when it struggled to sell 15k, pointing out that it was year 4 before they broke the 11k mark in ticket sales, having one season of less than 10,000

The Sens played out of a 1/2 sized arena with capacity of <11,000 from 1992 to mid Janaury 1996. They played in the Ottawa Civic Centre until the Corel Centre (then called the Paladium) opened up in January 1996. That is why ticket sales were so low in the first 3.5 yrs, they couldn't fit anybody else in there.

 

[triggrman]

The Sens played out of a 1/2 sized arena with capacity of <11,000 from 1992 to mid Janaury 1996. They played in the Ottawa Civic Centre until the Corel Centre (then called the Paladium) opened up in January 1996. That is why ticket sales were so low in the first 3.5 yrs, they couldn't fit anybody else in there.

If you're going to use my quotes please don't cut it off to correct me. I did after all say

but I'd assume that it's much like Calgary in that it first moved into a building that didn't house more than 12k.

I do however appreciate you pointing out the specifics of their situation.

It still stands though. All expansion teams have to go through a growing period and each have their own obstacles to overcome. Nashville has to sell the game to a nontraditional hockey Market, so does Atlanta and Anahiem. Ottawa and Calgary had stadium issues, Carolina, a combination of these.

I'd never come on here though and say this town or that town doesn't deserve a team. I wish every town had a team, and I surely don't want my city or anyone elses to lose their franchise.

I think some Canadians have a little penis envy with Nashville though.

 

[Tom_Benjamin]

I'll echo NMK's and Trigg's sentiments and ask, "just where the hell can we get these great specials?" Cause they sure aren't offering it to any of us regular fans. Maybe there is an underground ticket distribution network that us diehards haven't become aware of yet. Yeah, that must be it

And you are in British Columbia? During the Messier years, any Canuck fan could get a hockey ticket for half price by calling a 1-800 number between periods of a hockey telecast. Furthermore, the large corporation I scored my freebies from couldn't give away their tickets in those days.

The good thing about cheering for a winner in Vancouver is that the team is winning. The bad thing is that tickets are expensive and hard to get. The good thing about cheering for a loser in Vancouver is that tickets were cheap - free to anybody who knew somebody at MacBlo - and easy to find. The bad thing about cheering for a loser in Vancouver is the team sucked.

Tom

 

[handtrick]

I think some Canadians have a little penis envy with Nashville though.

:lol :lol

 

[two out of three*]

That's just fine, neither does LA.

...

 

[Bring Back Bucky]

That's just fine, neither does LA.

Play nice, lads, all fans deserve their teams. Let's all hope that all NHL fans keep their teams in their current markets. Firing "you don't deserve..." posts back and forth won't help. Stick togehter brothers and sisters....

 

[thinkwild]

Just like the NHLPA will

 

[thinkwild]

Actually I think the flower raises a great point. Let all the teams go bankrupt. Come on, as Bettman says they have lost nearly $2Billion dollars in the last decade. THey are running $300mil a year deficits. Just who is giving them this line of credit anyway? Were banks keeping them afloat because they knew they would win their labour negotiations? Or are they lending themselves the money at treadmill to obscurity rates of interest and making the teams pay it off, thus leaving them further in debt?

If they all go bankrupt, then some new owners can buy the teams at much cheaper prices, perhaps $20mil a franchise. And then run their businesses without babysitters or salary caps. By then they will have to lift the cap just to try and attract back all the great talent that would make them the big money again. And all they would need to make is $2mil for a 10% profit.

Maybe thats the owners plan. Flush their business down the toilet so that franchise values drop in half meaning they dont need to make as much money to get a profit.

Guy also mentioned that 6 teams should contract. No one seems to mention that part though.

 

[guinness]

Most markets are only as good as the team. If the team is doing poorly, attendance will suffer. If the team is good, then more people will show up.

Most smaller markets would be fine if they could compete as well as the Wings, Rags, Stars, and Flyers. If the playing field was more level, you might see an NFL-type parity.

 

[thinkwild]

So you want to design a system that allows them to buy a team?

They need to build their teams from scratch to greatness. Its part of the fun, the journey. Its tough, and money wont do it now.

Tampa Bay doesnt need the ability to buy $10mil players to compete with Colorado. They need the ability to develop those players cheaply themselves. If they go on to enjoy the success Colorado did with their players, they will have the same money Colorado did. They dont need a level playing field. They need an unlevel playing field to develop cheaply and then become great.

Or yes, you could make sports a lottery like the NFL and forget all about team building.

Does Video generation get team building?

A whole new generation of football fans is growing up judging the quality of teams by their performance in video games. The new generation does not know any better, it knows nothing about how a real team, a team that sticks together through years of ups and downs, operates

 

[YellHockey*]

Most markets are only as good as the team. If the team is doing poorly, attendance will suffer. If the team is good, then more people will show up.

That's true. The only exceptions are Toronto and the Rangers.

Most smaller markets would be fine if they could compete as well as the Wings, Rags, Stars, and Flyers. If the playing field was more level, you might see an NFL-type parity.

But the smaller markets can compete. Who won the Cup last year? Small market Tampa Bay.

Who was the favourite for the Cup last year? Small market Ottawa.

Vancouver went from a small market Canadian team in financial turmoil to one of the most profitable franchises in the league with a competitive team.

You can't see an NFL-type parity in the NHL because the good teams, regardless of market, can keep their core group of players together as the team stays a contender. There are only so many top players to go around and if a team gets an unequal portion of the top young players, they'll be good for a long time.

In the NFL the cap prevents teams from holding on to an unequal amount of good players. They have to lose some to stay under the cap. And what teams have cap room? The ones without enough talent to make it to the cap.

 

[thinkwild]

THe playoff successful teams in the NHL also get a much larger percentage of the revenue than playoff winners in the NFL who get the equivalent of one round of playiff revenue. The playoff revenue isnt as big a disparity generator in the NFL as in the NHL.

Which is a better test of greatness anyway. One game take all or best of seven?