Are the Avs a "fairweather" fanbase?

[DanishAvsfan]

I think the Avs have quite a few fans abroad in since the 1990s because of Forsberg. One should not forget that he was maybe the most popular euro player for a long time.

 

[atreyuavenged]

I don't live anywhere near their market so my chance of seeing them play is when they play the Oilers, Flames, Canucks or on a prime time slot. Because they were shite for a minute that wasn't too many. Main way of watching them is reading what boards say or scoreboard watching. I will admit, I didn't pay as close attention as I could've or should've during their lean years.

 

[UncleRisto]

I think the Avs have quite a few fans abroad in since the 1990s because of Forsberg. One should not forget that he was maybe the most popular euro player for a long time.

Where Swedes chose between Forsberg and Lidström, Finns chose between Sakic and Yzerman.

 

[Babel Salamander]

I think there's a difference between "bandwagon fans" and "fair weather fans".

There's a certain type of fan that's going to find a successful team to root for and keep jumping bandwagons. So all the new found Warriors fans in recent years, etc. I think the impression that this is a low character thing to do has some merit. At least if you are going to be the type of fan who wears the gear and walks around like wearing the gear of a successful team makes you something.

Then there's other fans that only root for one team that might be more likely to buy tickets to games or watch on television when the team is playing well. By definition those are fair weather fans, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. That many sports fans think there is just a byproduct of many sports fans being addicted to stupidity. No one is obligated to spend there time or money following a poor product, nor is doing just that some virtuous thing. The bottom line is that sports are here for our entertainment. People are going to have different levels of commitment to engaging with it, and to each their own. Taking a fanbase to task if they are not filling an arena or television ratings aren't high when the team is really bad doesn't make sense. Tickets are expensive and people are busy. Especially with NHL/NBA/MLB where there are so many games in the regular season, successful teams will reward people's commitment more. That's just the way it is.

 

[Taak19]

I don't think this is just an Avalanche issue. It happens with all teams. Do you remember Hawks fans invading every other teams home arena before 2008?

 

[ABasin]

Probably a bit. But then again, I suspect most sports teams outside the really huge fan base ones (Yankees, Cowboys, etc) are similar.

And I’m not sure that attendance in and of itself should be the sole measuring stick. I used to be a season ticket holder, and am no longer so. While the front office’s inept nepotism was part of my decision to withdraw my money from season tickets, it wasn’t the only reason. I got a couple of promotions at work, started traveling more, made a couple of children I had to raise, etc. I got busy - too busy to attend multiple games every week.

Now, I attend a home game per month (or so), but pay for killer seats. So, I now attend 8 games instead of 40, but it doesn’t mean I’m any less of a fan.

 

[AvsFanInMichigan]

Used to watch games with my Dad and liked the Avs because of Sakic and Forsberg. I was a child in Michigan at the time too which made things interesting, to say the least, when I worse my Avs jersey to school haha. I actually remember getting a detention one day in elementary school and the teacher told me that I should have been suspended just for wearing that jersey lol.

You just described my childhood haha

 

[2bowhunt]

I've been a fan since they were the Nords. I read and follow this board most everyday. I just don't post often.

 

[John Mandalorian]

I think if people are making this accusation of Avs fans, it primarily goes back to the Avs' very beginning after their move from Quebec. Consider, there were a lot of hard feelings in Canada around this move. By this time, Canada had already lost Gretzky to LA. So it really shouldn't be a surprise that there was heightened sensitivity when Canadians lose their beloved teams and players and then are forcefed "it's good for growing the sport".

So there were hard feelings simply from the move itself and before the first game. And then you add the fact that they won the SC in their first year in Denver. Quite honestly, it shouldn't be a surprise people might say this.

This is more about hard feelings around a sensitive issue more than it's about Avs fans.

What fanbase wouldn't like a SC contending team with Forsberg, Sakic, et al?

I'll also point out that it's foolhardy to question Denver for it's sports loyalty. The Broncos have the second longest sellout streak in the NFL. Only Green Bay has a longer one. And the Broncos didn't exactly have a Vince Lombardi era around the time the sell out streak started, which is the case with Green Bay. In fact, Denver's sell out streak preceded it's first winning season by a few years.

So again, this is more about Canadians and their sensitivity about losing beloved players and teams to the US.

 

[henchman21]

Beyond the Broncos, I'd say Denver is a fairly fairweather city in general. I think a lot stems from there being a metric crap ton of migration to the city. Pretty much every time I talk to somebody in Denver, they are not from the area... they are from Minneapolis, Chicago, San Francisco, Columbus, etc. People tend to cheer for who they grew up with and when you have the growth that Denver has had, most of the people didn't grow up cheering for the Avs, Nuggets, or Rockies.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Beyond the Broncos, I'd say Denver is a fairly fairweather city in general. I think a lot stems from there being a metric crap ton of migration to the city. Pretty much every time I talk to somebody in Denver, they are not from the area... they are from Minneapolis, Chicago, San Francisco, Columbus, etc. People tend to cheer for who they grew up with and when you have the growth that Denver has had, most of the people didn't grow up cheering for the Avs, Nuggets, or Rockies.

It's mostly Califorinia. A lot from Texas too but Californian migrants are the biggest culprit.

 

[henchman21]

It's mostly Califorinia. A lot from Texas too but Californian migrants are the biggest culprit.

Simply because California is so big... when they comprise ~12% of the US population, their movement to any other state is going to overwhelm the numbers. I remember living in Idaho and it seemed like everybody was from California originally.

 

[Spilot23]

I'm from Quebec and I followed the team when they moved in Denver because of Sakic and Roy mostly but also fell in love with Foppa. We've seen some good years and mostly bad years but through everything I've always been hopeful even when the roster didn't look that great. Alot of my friends and family here in Quebec asked me if I would switch teams if Quebec would get his own team and I've always said : No there's too much history there that I couldn't switch a team like that.

 

[Raucherhusten]

Remember the 48 point season? I watched all 82 games. Sooooo

Really funny TV-Show btw.

 

[missionAvs]

You just described my childhood haha

Lol yeah I remember also going to games at the Joe and security would always engage in banter with me. My Dad was a sellout though and would always wear a Wings jersey to counteract my Avs one. He would always tell me that I only got away with it because I was a kid haha.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Its fair in some cases to say that. In my case I was a Nords fan since 94 and been ride or die since then.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Remember the 48 point season? I watched all 82 games. Sooooo

Really funny TV-Show btw.

Same. There were times in those GDTs where it seemd like there were only a few of us. God I hated Joe Colbourne lol.

 

[AvsFanInMichigan]

Lol yeah I remember also going to games at the Joe and security would always engage in banter with me. My Dad was a sellout though and would always wear a Wings jersey to counteract my Avs one. He would always tell me that I only got away with it because I was a kid haha.

I can vividly remember going to a game in GR it was the Griffins vs Hershey back when they were the Avs affiliate and my dad and I both were wearing our Sakic jerseys and we got so much shit the whole night. Trash thrown at us and I remember a guy saying “Sakic sucks” and my dad just replied back “really that’s all you can say?”

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Remember the 48 point season? I watched all 82 games. Sooooo

Same here.

This discussion is funny for me because towards the end of the 48pt season my wife asked why I kept watching them every game with all that losing. I said I just had to and she said: "Well nobody can accuse you of being a bandwagon fan!" Her comment was alluding to our friends that are complete Canucks fair-weather fan.

What a long season that was though. Thank God it's gone.

 

[Pokecheque]

More power to ya if you could stomach that season all the way through. I still shudder when I think back and watch that team try and do a "rush" up the ice. Tyson Barrie couldn't even get to full speed because the forwards in front of him were so slow they practically blocked him. They always looked like a slow-moving row of bodies when they tried to move it up, it was child's play for opposing players to just stand there and wait (for a while) and just break up the play.

Anyway, I still don't begrudge people for turning away the past decade or so. There was very little to be excited about in the intervening years between Sakic's retirement, which officially started the rebuild, and Roy's hiring. And even then they still sputtered along for 3-4 more seasons. And all during that time they cut back costs in terms of the in-arena experience as well as marketing and promotions outside Pepsi Center. Even the frickin' Cutthroats installed an HD jumbotron before the Avs did, which I think kinda stung them from a PR perspective, because they moved pretty fast once that happened.

On a side note, I hate to sound whiny but...am I the only person who thinks that big-ass screen is just a little too big? Whenever I see the Avs live I have a slightly harder time nowadays keeping my eye on the live action because the screen is almost in the way. Probably just me being nitpicky, but I would've been fine with them keeping the scoreboard the same size as the last one. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I wouldn't mind a stadium or arena putting up one of the old-school monochrome scoreboards, just for nostalgia's sake. I loved the old one at Big Mac back in the day, buzzer and all.

 

[nightonthesun]

Maybe I'm echoing what was said in some of the lengthier posts here, but I think the bandwagon for Colorado was a real thing - right after they moved. But, how different is that from what Vegas experienced when they got started? I'd bet that both inaugural hype trains converted an equal percentage of people into diehards, but that'll be tough to measure until Vegas spends a couple of seasons in the basement.

FWIW - after Forsberg left and Roy retired, my teenage self found it very difficult to care, and I kinda erred on the side of guitars and girls and stuff. Maybe you can call me a bandwagon fan, too. I jumped back in during the Sacco years... Undershot it by a little bit, I suppose.

 

[tucker3434]

Every team is like that aside from a select few.

 

[CB Joe]

Yes, but most teams are. I do think the Avs are a little worse than average though.

 

[dahrougem2]

I don't think Avs fans are fairweather in general (though every fanbase has their share), it's just that Denver seems to get invaded much, much more by opposing teams fans. It's not even limited to the "popular" teams, either. One can understand when teams like Chicago, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Boston, etc come into Colorado that they're going to have fans, because they have fans everywhere.

But when you have teams like Nashville, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, San Jose, etc coming in and it feels like it's a 50/50 split with the crowd... I mean, it's irritating watching that as a fan not living in Denver, but it is what it is lol.

I don't think the Avs will ever have that true "home ice advantage" in the playoffs compared to teams with hardcore fanbases.

 

[MarkT]

I think the OP hit the nail on the head. There's two factors working against the Avs:
1) Lack of generational support
2) Another sport being more popular in the city

1) My dad and grandfather are both Montreal fans, which is the main reason the Habs are my #2 team. There are no Avalanche fans who have been pulled into supporting the team because their grandfather watched them when he was a kid. Since watching sports is traditionally a family activity (that's changing now with the internet), family fandom makes a huge difference.

2) Denver appears to be a football town first and foremost, and supporting more than one sports team closely is a big time and money investment. Most people simply aren't willing or able to commit to two. That's why you're likely to have more hardcore Broncos fans who are also casual Avs fans than the other way around. If you're going to pick one in Denver it's likely to be the Broncos. In other cities that get constant support, hockey is often either the #1 sport or the population is so huge that even being the #2 or #3 sport results in a full arena and massive support.

Overall, I think the people who post here represent a small minority of Avs fans. We're not representative of the whole. But I will say this: If you supported the team all the way through the Tyler Arnason/ T.J. Hensick years, you're a true fan in my books.