ColoradoHockeyFan
Registered User
Why wouldn't the statement made by the poster to whom you responded be true today, instead of having to go back ten years? The poster began his statement with "If the Pirates" (became contenders again). Why is that unreasonable? In fact, going back as recently as 2002, there's evidence that fully supports that poster's position. Consider that in the spring of 2002, the Penguins had just missed the playoffs for the first time in twelve years. They had also been within a whisker of the Stanely Cup Finals just twelve months earlier. Meanwhile, the Pirates had been nothing short of miserable for about a decade, and were coming off of a last-place 62-100 (!) season. Yet the Pirates were pulling in TV ratings in the high 5's that spring, while the Penguins had just averaged a 2.5 for that season.That might have been true 10 years ago, but I think that the new arena fiasco and the recent surgings of the Pens will do wonders for the hometown fanbase. Nothing makes fans like winners or contenders, and the way the NHL playoffs are set up, it's much easier to get into the post-season than MLB. You might end up seeing a generation gap between people who remember the Pirates post-season and those who can't in the next few years (it's already been 15 years).
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_70170.html
The Pirates’ ratings are up on Fox Sports Net. The team drew a 5.73 average in April, compared to 4.76 in April of last season.
...
With Mario Lemieux missing most of the season with a hip injury and the team missing the playoffs for the first time in 12 years, the Penguins finished with a 2.5 average rating.
They didn't have the full-year number for the Pirates, but considering the horrible product, that alone is remarkably high. And the point here isn't to knock Pittsburgh, because it is a good US hockey market. The point is that the other poster's statement about the Pirates' place in the hierarchy if they were to be contenders is not out of line at all, considering their relative popularity even at a time when their past decade had been horrific while the Penguins had been very successful over the same period.