Devils vs Leafs 11/2/07

[NJTank]

The whole league is poorly marketed, which is why Bettman is the worst Comish in Sports History.

The Devils have no excuses as to why they can't sellout their games.

Agreed... I could see the problem with the Meadowlands when I tried to get to a game there and just couldn't -- but there's no reason why people can't get to this new arena.

You can't blame marketing from the comissioner on this one, if people in Northern New Jersey don't care or know about the team after 25 seasons and three cups in the last decade (and a bit) then they never will.

They know and LOVE the Devils. The Devils have a huge fanbase...

...but No ONE wants to go to Newark. No one is going to bring their family into Newark. No matter how safe they make it, Newark will always have the stigma of being "Newark". That is the biggest problem facing the team. If they put it in Jersey City or Hoboken, it would probrally be doing better than it is now. I just don't think they ever had a chance of succeeding in Newark.

THey need to clean that city up fast, and market the City first, and get people to come back into Newark, and then once you get people coming back into Newark, you'll get fans to go into the arena.

They have no reason to be afraid just take the train to Penn Station and walk 2 blocks to the Rock, its safe there are tons of police and tons of other fans walking with you. Newark needs to clean itself yes, but this Arena is vital to save this city. Jersey City on the other hand is the most god forsaken place on earth. I went there last year and got lost, its a bitch to drive there, unlike Newark, which is not nearly as bad as people make it out to be.

This arena simply is the greatest thing that ever happened to Newark.

[BRUINSFAN]

An article with more on the attendance at the "Rock"...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07310/831474-61.stm

Excerpt from the article, if you don't want to read the whole thing...

If it's any consolation to the Devils, they were able to suffer pretty much in private in the building they and the City of Newark spent about $375 million to build.

Erecting a state-of-the-art arena was one way to use that money. Another would have been to give $1 million to each fan who showed up there last night.

The announced attendance was 14,032, but that total represented either tickets-in-circulation or an arms-and-legs (as opposed to a head) count, because at least half of the 17,625 seats were empty.

"It was surprising," Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "A beautiful new arena. I was surprised by the lack of a crowd."

And the decibel level was lower than the body count. There are religious services that are more rowdy.

"I think it'd be tough be New Jersey and look around and not see a whole lot of people, and it's not overly loud," Penguins forward Erik Christensen said.