News Article: Melnyk: 'not selling the team — period'

[Nac Mac Feegle]

What relevance do other teams have in this convo? My only concern is what is going on here Nac. I'm sure it happens a lot , especially in the States. Not sure in Canada.

I'm hoping the next generation of fans that grow up with players like Karlsson and only know Alfie from highlight reels will be more passionate, more rabid and support the team no matter what.

The worrying part is lean years with stars that we have now...rotten timing.

Well, it's relevant because it happens with virtually all teams. Why single out Ottawa as a bad market, when you can get freebie tickets in Vancouver? We've seen so far this season virtually every Canadian market have noticeable empty seats...not just Ottawa. Calgary is having the same arena troubles as we are, yet we aren't hearing tons of people screeching to move the Flames.

Why is Ottawa singled out as the bad market? Why are we classified as 'bad' fans, when original six franchises like Chicago were sitting with half empty arenas for the better part of a decade?

 

[JD1]

You give me far too much credit...but I am a realist. And a business man. Glad you go and support the team. If everyone goes to a game or two, there wouldn't be empty seats. It's not like every one has to buy season tickets. Money is tight and circumstances are what they are for many.

unfortunately the reactions over the past 48 hours, at least on this board, result in a scenario where attendance goes from bad to worse and that's certainly not good.

 

[coladin]

ya that's the way I see it too

but as I posted earlier, the man is a PR buffoon and his comments were pretty offensive to the fan base

He is a twit, no doubt. I just know a lot of STH like myself, and other I speak to, know he isn't talking about us. The ones who typically get riled up are ones who don't go to the games. So those in the fa base that don't go , he pisses off a lot more than myself .

I skirt that stuff and listen to things that matter to me: he said we are doing "just ok"', which is good enough for me and I basically stop listening to the posturing stuff. I really hate that he is going to cut the budget to reflect attendance, which is not fair to the people who go and buy tickets.

Which is why I resent many here who will cost me Karlsson and others.

 

[Sensung]

He is a twit, no doubt. I just know a lot of STH like myself, and other I speak to, know he isn't talking about us. The ones who typically get riled up are ones who don't go to the games. So those in the fa base that don't go , he pisses off a lot more than myself .

I skirt that stuff and listen to things that matter to me: he said we are doing "just ok"', which is good enough for me and I basically stop listening to the posturing stuff. I really hate that he is going to cut the budget to reflect attendance, which is not fair to the people who go and buy tickets.

Which is why I resent many here who will cost me Karlsson and others.

Melnyk will be the one costing you Karlsson, not the fans who rightfully won't give their hard earned money to that buffoon.

 

[Micklebot]

He is a twit, no doubt. I just know a lot of STH like myself, and other I speak to, know he isn't talking about us. The ones who typically get riled up are ones who don't go to the games. So those in the fa base that don't go , he pisses off a lot more than myself .

I skirt that stuff and listen to things that matter to me: he said we are doing "just ok"', which is good enough for me and I basically stop listening to the posturing stuff. I really hate that he is going to cut the budget to reflect attendance, which is not fair to the people who go and buy tickets.

Which is why I resent many here who will cost me Karlsson and others.

So, insulting the potential clients you covet is supposed to do what exactly? What exactly does publicly calling out your potential client base accomplish other than ensuring they are less like to spend money on your product? His job as a business owner is to give customers a reason to pay for his product, not insult people who don't.

Apparently this market was fine at filling the seats for the first 13 years of him owning the team, do you really think it's reasonable to assume that the market changed so drastically the last year and a half, and it wasn't other factors that lead to declining attendance?

 

[coladin]

Well, it's relevant because it happens with virtually all teams. Why single out Ottawa as a bad market, when you can get freebie tickets in Vancouver? We've seen so far this season virtually every Canadian market have noticeable empty seats...not just Ottawa. Calgary is having the same arena troubles as we are, yet we aren't hearing tons of people screeching to move the Flames.

Why is Ottawa singled out as the bad market? Why are we classified as 'bad' fans, when original six franchises like Chicago were sitting with half empty arenas for the better part of a decade?

Nac we went three rounds and turned that into tarped seats. Do I have to spell it out for you. Does that sound like a bad market? Usually people buy packages for the following year to get playoff tickets at humane prices. I bought a Flex 20, on top of my half season and it ended up saving me thousands during the second and third round. No one else took advantage which is why they tarped sections.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

So, insulting the potential clients you covet is supposed to do what exactly? What exactly does publicly calling out your potential client base accomplish other than ensuring they are less like to spend money on your product? His job as a business owner is to give customers a reason to pay for his product, not insult people who don't.

Apparently this market was fine at filling the seats for the first 13 years of him owning the team, do you really think it's reasonable to assume that the market changed so drastically the last year and a half, and it wasn't other factors that lead to declining attendance?

Attendance issues started happening during the MacLean era. Arena was peppered with thousands of giveaways every night

 

[coladin]

Melnyk will be the one costing you Karlsson, not the fans who rightfully won't give their hard earned money to that buffoon.

Yeah, go cut off your nose in spite of your face. Sounds like a plan. Just so you know you guys are not right. You guys are actually lousy fans. Go watch Karlsson sacrifice his leg and don't be so butt hurt over Melnyk.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Yeah, go cut off your nose in spite of your face. Sounds like a plan. Just so you know you guys are not right. You guys are actually lousy fans. Go watch Karlsson sacrifice his leg and don't be so butt hurt over Melnyk.

Isn't that what Melnyk is doing?

 

[Micklebot]

Attendance issues started happening during the MacLean era. Arena was peppered with thousands of giveaways every night

Ok, so lets say for argument sake that it started in 13-14 when the team was having a rough go with Karlsson and Spezza underperforming, that adds 2 years. Again, is it really more reasonable to say the fans became poor? It seems absurd to me that 11 years of hockey, a good chunk of which was a pretty poor product (Hartburg and Clouston years come to mind) the market was fine, but all the sudden it's the fans fault and not perhaps something else.

 

[BonkTastic]

You guys are actually lousy fans.

Thanks for the 374,668th reminder on that one there, chief.

 

[coladin]

So, insulting the potential clients you covet is supposed to do what exactly? What exactly does publicly calling out your potential client base accomplish other than ensuring they are less like to spend money on your product? His job as a business owner is to give customers a reason to pay for his product, not insult people who don't.

Apparently this market was fine at filling the seats for the first 13 years of him owning the team, do you really think it's reasonable to assume that the market changed so drastically the last year and a half, and it wasn't other factors that lead to declining attendance?

It's a well known fact that the house was papered by thousands, 3000 a night. You know this though!

He didn't insult anyone, other than stating he cannot understand why attendance is poor. He cannot understand how there were thousands of empty seats in Round 2. Thousands. Billy Daly says the NHL, and I'm sure probably the BOG as he is their employee, are mystified. Find me an insult specifically saying what I am saying. That we have lousy, pathetic, entitled, snivelling, self righteous fans. He doesn't say it.

He just says attendance is not good. If that is an insult, well I think a lot of people have guilt issues.

 

[coladin]

Isn't that what Melnyk is doing?

Yes. I am not condoning what he said. I understand why, but stupid on that stage to do so.

And he can do it because he has the keys to a franchise that wil continue to rise, fans be damned. He is still 5 times his investment. He has one of 31 sports franchises in the NHL. If he doesn't like it , ultimately, no one wins here.

So go and watch Karlsson. I hear everyone talking about him saying he is a modern day Bobby Orr! And he is in our arena 41 times a year! Watch him sacrifice blood, sweat, limbs trying to win for these petulant fans!

 

[pepty]

He won't be forced to sell nor move. But we will be mediocre, and young and always cheap if attendance is what it is.

We will not necessarily be young but the team will be cheap no matter the attendance. The only reason it is not now as cheap as it might be is because they have a couple of huge albatross contracts hanging around their necks rising in part from a panic move to assuage fans rage with the Alfie fiasco in which Melnyk played a prominent role, and from trying to get out from under previous bad contracts.

 

[NyQuil]

Yeah, go cut off your nose in spite of your face. Sounds like a plan. Just so you know you guys are not right. You guys are actually lousy fans. Go watch Karlsson sacrifice his leg and don't be so butt hurt over Melnyk.

Yeah, I paid my $500 for a single game.

That's on top of my ticket package which I've owned since 2003.

I'll say what I want about Melnyk.

If there's a problem, a good leader takes some responsibility for it.

He says, "We have to come up with a solution, we all have to be better."

You don't point fingers at the fans and say "It's all your fault!" and expect a positive response.

Kind of like what you're doing.

 

[Micklebot]

It's a well known fact that the house was papered by thousands, 3000 a night. You know this though!

He didn't insult anyone, other than stating he cannot understand why attendance is poor. He cannot understand how there were thousands of empty seats in Round 2. Thousands. Billy Daly says the NHL, and I'm sure probably the BOG as he is their employee, are mystified. Find me an insult specifically saying what I am saying. That we have lousy, pathetic, entitled, snivelling, self righteous fans. He doesn't say it.

He just says attendance is not good. If that is an insult, well I think a lot of people have guilt issues.

Oh, sorry, I forgot, you're the one insulting the fan base. Glad we cleared that up. So you're the one doing his best to disenfranchise his client base. Melnyk should be proud to have a loyal season ticket holder like yourself. keep up the good work sport,

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

This whole conversation is so draining. I'm at the point where any enthusiasm there is for watching the game is quickly fading away. Sports is supposed to be fun and engaging...it's not supposed to feel like we're being held at gunpoint to open our wallets.

 

[pepty]

Melnyk's comments were all about the NCC negotiations, unfortunately Eugene is not very good at playing this out in the public forum. Think back when the Lebreton proposals were first being discussed, most of us predicted things were going to get nasty, potential threats of relocation were talked about too.

And here we are. These rich guys are fighting over multi billion dollar projects, they have no problem getting down in the dirt.

Melnyk can't be forced to sell and probably won't even consider it until the project is well under way and the team is playing downtown. It rather tastes bad as fans being used as pawns for a real estate deal but that's what happens. The bad thing is that there will be more to come yet.

Doers anyone know if John Ruddy is still a partner with Melnyk in this?

It sure sounded as though both Daly and Bettman were caught by surprise that he seems to be backing away from Lebreton.

 

[CanadianHockey]

Bill Daly did state that the the NHL is mystified at the attendance issues in Ottawa. I would think especially after last years playoffs and our ticket prices, it is a head scratcher as it would appear a winning product with a superstar should be an easy selling point.

If Melnyk uses these points , along with an arena that is now unviable, he can do what Winnipeg and Quebec did, and move. Now, in the event that hcannot move the team, we will have a team on the ice commensurate of the revenues
...
He won't be forced to sell nor move. But we will be mediocre, and young and always cheap if attendance is what it is.

The Thrashers are the recent precedent for relocation. They relocated because they were tenants in an arena that didn't want them. No matter who owned locally, they weren't getting around that problem (lack of venue). We won't be in that situation - even if Melnyk somehow loses Lebreton to another developer, that developer will build an NHL rink and want the Senators to play there. The BoG will not allow him to move without first attempting to sell to another local ownership group, and there will be local ownership groups. So, no, he can't just get up and move like Winnipeg and Quebec did in the 90s.

 

[Hit the post]

Well, it's relevant because it happens with virtually all teams. Why single out Ottawa as a bad market, when you can get freebie tickets in Vancouver? We've seen so far this season virtually every Canadian market have noticeable empty seats...not just Ottawa. Calgary is having the same arena troubles as we are, yet we aren't hearing tons of people screeching to move the Flames.

Why is Ottawa singled out as the bad market? Why are we classified as 'bad' fans, when original six franchises like Chicago were sitting with half empty arenas for the better part of a decade?

Not going to comment on the Ottawa situation (since I don't know anywhere nearly enough to render an opinion)...

Last time the Canucks were in the post-season:
Game 1 attendance........18,870 ("official" capacity = 18,910)
Game 2 attendance.......18,870
Game 5 attendance........18,870

No doubt the Canucks had a long lean period (just look back in history where the fans of the other team FAR outnumbered Canuckfans at the old Pacific Coliseum) - but at least in recent history, "freebie tickets" in the regular season isn't going to attract that much attention.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Ok, so lets say for argument sake that it started in 13-14 when the team was having a rough go with Karlsson and Spezza underperforming, that adds 2 years. Again, is it really more reasonable to say the fans became poor? It seems absurd to me that 11 years of hockey, a good chunk of which was a pretty poor product (Hartburg and Clouston years come to mind) the market was fine, but all the sudden it's the fans fault and not perhaps something else.

Essentially public servants' salaries didn't match the increase in ticket prices.

Attendance started to creep down once the Sens stopped giving away freebies and those working for the Feds didn't get the increases they were used to.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Ok, so lets say for argument sake that it started in 13-14 when the team was having a rough go with Karlsson and Spezza underperforming, that adds 2 years. Again, is it really more reasonable to say the fans became poor? It seems absurd to me that 11 years of hockey, a good chunk of which was a pretty poor product (Hartburg and Clouston years come to mind) the market was fine, but all the sudden it's the fans fault and not perhaps something else.

Im not disagreeing with what you're saying. Just pointing out attendance issues have started long before what most people believe

 

[Hit the post]

Attendance started to creep down once the Sens stopped giving away freebies and those working for the Feds didn't get the increases they were used to.

Wouldn't the phoenix payroll fiasco have an impact on that? (eg., less discretionary income)

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Wouldn't the phoenix payroll fiasco have an impact on that? (eg., less discretionary income)

Yes but Phoenix went live, government-wide, in April 2016.

 

[bert]

Frankly, I hate being lumped into this group as if were all terrible fans. I consistently go to 15/20+ games a year and spend a ton of money this franchise. I personally feel insulted by Melnyk, I work hard for my money and I get garbage unappreciated treatment from the guy im giving all my money to. I want him gone. He is scum.