I get the talk on marketing, but it's not relevant to why folks around here pass on games. You don't need as much marketing in Canada to know and attend NHL games, Tampa is a bad example as they have to fight for recognition, which is not an issue in Ottawa. Fans are already reading and listening daily en masse.
There should be a department funded with the goal to drum up new fans and entice businesses, no question, but none of that has to do with a single person in here. Personally, if there is a limited budget I'd rather see the money go to scouting.
It does provide folks with another reason (though incredibly weak) to blame the team for attendance, instead of taking responsibility. I mean theres another thread right now with some dude calling for fans to boycott a game, but yes, marketing is the problem.
Personally I wish all of the smart fans would finally head off to cheer for a better team, like they always threaten to do, so the rest up us few dumb fans can get back to being entertained by our NHL hockey team.
Marketing is done to get a return on your investment. The team has little to no positive buzz around it, and hasn't really had much since the closing of the playoffs last year. We had some momentum, but pretty much everything that happened afterwards was a downer; Karlsson surgery, expected to miss the start of the season, Brassard surgery, expected to miss training camp, Methot picked up in the expansion draft, only to get traded to Dallas for a really reasonable price, nobody of significance signed to replace Methot at UFA, MacArthur fails his medical, no attempt to replace him, tarping off seats, Melnyk opens his pie hole at the out door game, the feud with Turris, and the list goes on.
There was absolutely a need to market this team better in a time when almost all the news was negative, but it really doesn't appear there was any attempt whatsoever.
Honestly, what the hell did the team expect to happen? Hope and excitement about the product sells tickets, can you name one thing the Sens did after 25 May 2017 to create more hope for the upcoming season, or capitalize on the buzz created by the deep playoff run?
Tampa is a great example of a team being pro-active to create buzz around their team. Now, I don't disagree that Canadian teams typically don't have to go to the same extremes to create that buzz, but at the end of the day, they have to have a feel for the pulse of the city, and at the very least, react when that buzz fades. We've been flat-lining since sometime this offseason, and the team hasn't reacted at all, little lone been proactive. Go back to 2006-07 and you saw at least some attempt to build on what the team accomplished. Nobody is asking for the same degree of investment into marketing as Tampa has, but you'd have to be blind not to see how putrid this teams marketing attempts have been of late.
The confusing part is marketing is something that gives a near immediate return on your investment as well as creates long term benefits, and compared to player salaries, costs a pittance. The mantra that this product sells itself is recipe for failure.