What a mess!
Quick lesson in business:
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NHL franchises charge as much as they possibly can for their tickets, in an effort to maximize revenues, as much have you have said, and many others somehow fail to understand. This concept is COMPLETELY independent of the salaries of players.
If Toronto can sell out their home games at $200.00 a pop, why on earth would they drop prices to $150? Guess what, they wouldn't. If you were the club owner, you wouldn't. You would be crazy to.
The same goes for a club like Carolina. If they can sell tickets for $150 and get 45% attendance, or sell tickets for $100 and get 55% attendance? What do you think they would sell their tickets for? It's a no-brainer.
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I'm in the midst of watching the Goodenow interview on CBC, and I wished I was able to watch all of yesterday's forum with Bettman.
One specitfic commentary I would like to hilight is Goodenow's response to a fan's desire for a fixed cost structure. Goodenow emphasized that teams of various salary levels have achieved at a high level in the NHL, particularly Tampa and Calgary last season. Hey keyed on the fact that the root of success in the NHL is the development of skilled hockey players, and recognizing a club's needs and effectively and efficiently addressing them.
Obviously, operating in a stronger market provides a significant advantage in this management funcion, as it provides additional available funds for player salaries. However, savvy management groups have been able to remain highly competitive with lower salary structures.
Finally, many fans have said that they're "sick and tired of spoiled players whining," and all sorts of other garbage. To those people, I ask you, if you're going to talk the talk, start walking the walk. Please, NHL fans of the world, recognize this: we, as fans, set the market value of these players. We buy the tickets, the merchandise, etc, etc. We watch the games on TV, we come onto HFBoards and spill our guts daily about how much we love this game.
Fans want to be involved in the negotiation process. Jeez, people! We're more involved than Goodenow and Bettman put together. We are the market. Without fans, there is no bloody NHL.
Quick lesson in business:
****
NHL franchises charge as much as they possibly can for their tickets, in an effort to maximize revenues, as much have you have said, and many others somehow fail to understand. This concept is COMPLETELY independent of the salaries of players.
If Toronto can sell out their home games at $200.00 a pop, why on earth would they drop prices to $150? Guess what, they wouldn't. If you were the club owner, you wouldn't. You would be crazy to.
The same goes for a club like Carolina. If they can sell tickets for $150 and get 45% attendance, or sell tickets for $100 and get 55% attendance? What do you think they would sell their tickets for? It's a no-brainer.
****
I'm in the midst of watching the Goodenow interview on CBC, and I wished I was able to watch all of yesterday's forum with Bettman.
One specitfic commentary I would like to hilight is Goodenow's response to a fan's desire for a fixed cost structure. Goodenow emphasized that teams of various salary levels have achieved at a high level in the NHL, particularly Tampa and Calgary last season. Hey keyed on the fact that the root of success in the NHL is the development of skilled hockey players, and recognizing a club's needs and effectively and efficiently addressing them.
Obviously, operating in a stronger market provides a significant advantage in this management funcion, as it provides additional available funds for player salaries. However, savvy management groups have been able to remain highly competitive with lower salary structures.
Finally, many fans have said that they're "sick and tired of spoiled players whining," and all sorts of other garbage. To those people, I ask you, if you're going to talk the talk, start walking the walk. Please, NHL fans of the world, recognize this: we, as fans, set the market value of these players. We buy the tickets, the merchandise, etc, etc. We watch the games on TV, we come onto HFBoards and spill our guts daily about how much we love this game.
Fans want to be involved in the negotiation process. Jeez, people! We're more involved than Goodenow and Bettman put together. We are the market. Without fans, there is no bloody NHL.