10,354 fans on a Saturday night.

[PHYS251]

Phoenix, Atlanta, and NYI all played home games tonight. Guess which one had an attendance of 10,354.

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[Guy Legend]

The game that was played early Saturday afternoon.

 

[Charlie Milles*]

The game that was played early Saturday afternoon.

Thread backfire.


Everything will be sorted out soon enough.

 

[PHYS251]

The game that was played early Saturday afternoon.

Fair enough. But guess which team it was.

 

[Jonas1235]

The team that plays in the worst stadium in north america? That has a horrible team with a small fanbase? With an owner who wants out?

Or the team that has made the playoffs once in 12 years and has never won a playoff game? And who's owners are incompetent and have severe fan backlash over there shenanigans with not only their team, but with the Hawks.

I don't think people really understand the magnitude of these two franchises problems. Not as easy as saying that they don't have any fans or that people don't like hockey in that area. Goes much beyond that.

 

[ThrasherMinion]

The team that plays in the worst stadium in north america? That has a horrible team with a small fanbase? With an owner who wants out?

Or the team that has made the playoffs once in 12 years and has never won a playoff game? And who's owners are incompetent and have severe fan backlash over there shenanigans with not only their team, but with the Hawks.

I don't think people really understand the magnitude of these two franchises problems. Not as easy as saying that they don't have any fans or that people don't like hockey in that area. Goes much beyond that.

Exactly.
And this is what makes me so angry about the Coyotes. They have a good team. They had the Gretzky branding. They don't have the attendance and if that team were in either Atlanta or Long Island with the success it has on the ice, no one would be discussing Atlanta or Long Island!

 

[PHYS251]

The team that plays in the worst stadium in north america? That has a horrible team with a small fanbase? With an owner who wants out?

I think their arena really isn't the problem. Hell Pittsburgh had very fine attendance some years in the Igloo. Instead, I think the problem is that the New York metro area has THREE NHL teams to split the fan base among. Only one other metro area on the entire continent has two teams, and that's LA.

Or the team that has made the playoffs once in 12 years and has never won a playoff game? And who's owners are incompetent and have severe fan backlash over there shenanigans with not only their team, but with the Hawks.

I don't think people really understand the magnitude of these two franchises problems. Not as easy as saying that they don't have any fans or that people don't like hockey in that area. Goes much beyond that.

 

[bodybreak]

Exactly.
And this is what makes me so angry about the Coyotes. They have a good team. They had the Gretzky branding. They don't have the attendance and if that team were in either Atlanta or Long Island with the success it has on the ice, no one would be discussing Atlanta or Long Island!

This is what makes me so angry about Atlanta "fans"... they turn up their noses at the likes of Evander Kane, Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien, Zach Bogosian, Ondrej Pavalec, Johnny Oduya and Mark Stuart... claiming they don't have any "good players."

Instead, they long to be like the Phoenix Coyotes, who will basically lose the entire team to unrestricted free agency at the end of next year (15 players total between this offseason and next).

Even looking at current rosters, I would take the Thrashers over the Coyotes any day... and yet there are so many Thrashers "fans" complaining about how horrible their team is.

Yes, I realize Atlanta has only made the playoffs once in 10 seasons and have never won a playoff round. The Coyotes haven't made it past the first round either, and their team's been around for 13 years. If you throw in the Winnipeg Jets history on top of that, the team has only won 2 playoff series ever since 1979-80.

So please, quit your griping.

The Ottawa Senators, they won 2 playoff rounds in their first 10 years of existence. You didn't see them going out and signing big names to try to make a quick fix of it when they were awarded their expansion team. You collect draft picks, build from within... That's what Pittsburgh and Chicago had to do in recent years (it all goes in cycles), and look where it got them. Winnipeg/Phoenix has had a horrible draft/trade history as a franchise... Atlanta tried to make a big splash early on with a big name veteran here and there... but they can't be the entire team. There isn't really the depth on an expansion team to justify bringing in the big stars for a cup run. Ain't gonna happen, no matter how much money you throw at it. Those names I mentioned up there, those are your big names. They will be the key cogs over the next 5 or so years... Oduya's the only one among them who is set to become an unrestricted free agent any time soon (so you either resign him or upgrade to someone else).

Not only do you have an NHL team... You've got one that's actually starting to do things the right way. Stop wishing it away.

 

[TOAONCBA]

Nobody is wishing anything away. But you have to understand that until we see actual results that we will always be a bit skeptical of what we have. It has always been a "light at the end of the tunnel" mentality in Atlanta. So much promise but nothing ever comes of it. I have been a Thrasher fan since day 1. I moved to Atlanta the summer of '99. This is MY team. But after 12 years of abysmal results it really starts to wear on even the most dedicated of fans.

 

[King Woodballs]

was it all 3's combined attendance?

 

[Fourier]

I think we're done here.