TequilaBay
Registered User
- May 30, 2019
- 108
- 153
One common jab that fans of opposing teams make about the Avalanche fanbase is that we're a fairweather fanbase, only supporting the team when they're good. Now I'm not here to give bread to the haters, I'm only here to discuss with the fans. I find the topic at hand to be fascinating and worth discussing, so I'd appreciate to hear your input on the matter.
Granted, the Avs attendance has been lower in the '10s than it was back in the '90s and '00s, when the team was very good and constantly making the second round or higher. Our attendance has commonly dropped into the bottom 6 throughout this past decade, when we were constantly missing the playoffs or falling out in the first round. NBC even compared the loud and enthusiastic home crowd we had in the second round against San Jose to the home crowds we had in the '90s and '00s.
Truth is, any franchise is naturally going to have higher attendance when the team is winning or in the playoffs rather than when they're losing. Even Canadian teams can struggle to draw when their team isn't doing well, like Ottawa this past season. Yes, I know in Ottawa's case there's also the Kanata factor, but Kanata is still an in-reach driving distance, you can't deny the Sens' awful season also played a major role in their decline in attendance. Ticket prices are not free, they may be cheap at times, but you're still paying money for a product that will either excite or disappoint, and likely money on snacks and drinks on top of that, money that could be going to paying your taxes, mortgage, water, electricity, etc.
If you ask me, however, I believe the real reason our attendance has been so low throughout the '10s is that the franchise is very young, and came in like a fad.
The teams that usually have high attendance regardless of "rain or shine" are the older franchises, like the Original 6 or the older expansion franchises.
With the Original 6 teams for example, if you're a local fan born in the 1990s, than likely you'd have generations of fans in your family going back to your Great-Great-Grandparents that were also local fans, and the generations in between would've grown up going to these games and wanting to pass down these cherished memories onto the next generation, so it's not just local fandom, but also sentimental value.
For a local Avs fan born in the 1990s, the ones that would've started getting into the team would've been their parents, and they would've been taking part in a fad. Let's not lie to ourselves, the Avs were a fad, like Pogs, when they first came to Denver. They were a hot new franchise that was winning, they had a cool rad logo, they were bringing home championships, something that not even the Broncos had done until afterwards, and they were the "cool" thing to like. Once the team sank and the fad affect wore off, the attendance sank as well.
I also believe the Vegas Golden Knights are the modern equivalent of what the Avs were back in the late '90s and early '00s. Right now, they are a fad. They are the hot new franchise with a cool rad logo that is winning and has become the "cool" thing to like, only differences are that they're expansion and not relocation, and that although they made the Final, they didn't win a cup in their initial year, unlike the Avs. I also believe the fad affect is going to hurt the Knights more in the long run than it did to the Avs, since Vegas is not a natural hockey market.
Overall, the issue isn't so much that the Avs are a fairweather fanbase, they're really no more fairweather than most other fanbases in the league, but rather that they're still developing, and I think this second honeymoon should help the team stay afloat in attendance, at least so they're far from the bottom 6, for years to come, as the franchise is garnering new appreciation from both Gen X fans that popularized the team in the first place, as well as Millennial and Gen Z fans that are popularizing the team again.
Colorado is a natural market for hockey, as it's 4-season, a hot spot for winter sports, and has one of the best colleges for hockey in the country. Not only that, but I saw more people wearing Avs gear than Nuggets gear when both teams were in the playoffs, and the Nuggets were the second seed in the west, while the Avs were the bottom seed in the entire playoffs! Truly, I believe this second honeymoon is the best thing that could happen for the team, as now they're an appreciated franchise rather than a fad.
Anyways, that's my input, what is yours?
Let me know in the comments below.
Granted, the Avs attendance has been lower in the '10s than it was back in the '90s and '00s, when the team was very good and constantly making the second round or higher. Our attendance has commonly dropped into the bottom 6 throughout this past decade, when we were constantly missing the playoffs or falling out in the first round. NBC even compared the loud and enthusiastic home crowd we had in the second round against San Jose to the home crowds we had in the '90s and '00s.
Truth is, any franchise is naturally going to have higher attendance when the team is winning or in the playoffs rather than when they're losing. Even Canadian teams can struggle to draw when their team isn't doing well, like Ottawa this past season. Yes, I know in Ottawa's case there's also the Kanata factor, but Kanata is still an in-reach driving distance, you can't deny the Sens' awful season also played a major role in their decline in attendance. Ticket prices are not free, they may be cheap at times, but you're still paying money for a product that will either excite or disappoint, and likely money on snacks and drinks on top of that, money that could be going to paying your taxes, mortgage, water, electricity, etc.
If you ask me, however, I believe the real reason our attendance has been so low throughout the '10s is that the franchise is very young, and came in like a fad.
The teams that usually have high attendance regardless of "rain or shine" are the older franchises, like the Original 6 or the older expansion franchises.
With the Original 6 teams for example, if you're a local fan born in the 1990s, than likely you'd have generations of fans in your family going back to your Great-Great-Grandparents that were also local fans, and the generations in between would've grown up going to these games and wanting to pass down these cherished memories onto the next generation, so it's not just local fandom, but also sentimental value.
For a local Avs fan born in the 1990s, the ones that would've started getting into the team would've been their parents, and they would've been taking part in a fad. Let's not lie to ourselves, the Avs were a fad, like Pogs, when they first came to Denver. They were a hot new franchise that was winning, they had a cool rad logo, they were bringing home championships, something that not even the Broncos had done until afterwards, and they were the "cool" thing to like. Once the team sank and the fad affect wore off, the attendance sank as well.
I also believe the Vegas Golden Knights are the modern equivalent of what the Avs were back in the late '90s and early '00s. Right now, they are a fad. They are the hot new franchise with a cool rad logo that is winning and has become the "cool" thing to like, only differences are that they're expansion and not relocation, and that although they made the Final, they didn't win a cup in their initial year, unlike the Avs. I also believe the fad affect is going to hurt the Knights more in the long run than it did to the Avs, since Vegas is not a natural hockey market.
Overall, the issue isn't so much that the Avs are a fairweather fanbase, they're really no more fairweather than most other fanbases in the league, but rather that they're still developing, and I think this second honeymoon should help the team stay afloat in attendance, at least so they're far from the bottom 6, for years to come, as the franchise is garnering new appreciation from both Gen X fans that popularized the team in the first place, as well as Millennial and Gen Z fans that are popularizing the team again.
Colorado is a natural market for hockey, as it's 4-season, a hot spot for winter sports, and has one of the best colleges for hockey in the country. Not only that, but I saw more people wearing Avs gear than Nuggets gear when both teams were in the playoffs, and the Nuggets were the second seed in the west, while the Avs were the bottom seed in the entire playoffs! Truly, I believe this second honeymoon is the best thing that could happen for the team, as now they're an appreciated franchise rather than a fad.
Anyways, that's my input, what is yours?
Let me know in the comments below.
