2013-14 NHL Season: "We Are North American Scum"

[FiddySicks]

I've been to plenty of Ducks games vs all sorts of opponents in all sorts of situations, and I can say that attendance has NEVER been great. It's not miserable or anything, they do draw fans, but I'd say that 99% of the time you could walk up to the window 30 minutes before the puck drops vs any team and still be able to get tickets for $20 or less. It's definitely nothing like the atmosphere you get in San Jose.

[Alex Houston]

Those 2004 numbers are interesting. Look at who's in the bottom ten, the so-called Northern, more "deserving" cities of Winnipeg, Buffalo, Boston and America's favorite bandwagoners, Pittsburgh. Amazing to think within a decade they went from possible retraction to golden child for the league and media. I'm going to start a discussion topic soon because I'm fully convinced now all sports fandom isn't equal and to try and portray it as such is disingenuous to true "fanatics."

[Sodboy13]

Well, that worked.

Look at the Blackhawks' attendance from 10 years ago if you want to see a connection.

Yes, let's compare a 59-point team led in scoring by Tyler Freaking Arnason and run by an actively-despised owner to one with over 100 points in the standings, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Teemu Selanne, and Jonas Hiller. Those two squads seem equal.

No, you're mixed up. He's not comparing them to the Ducks at all, he was responding to monkeypower's statement that teams will either always sellout, or always have bad attendance. The Six brought up the Hawks as an example of a team that has gone through periods of both strong and poor attendance.

My mistake, and apologies for misunderstanding the response.

[Alex Houston]

Those 2004 numbers are interesting. Look at who's in the bottom ten, the so-called Northern, more "deserving" cities of Winnipeg, Buffalo, Boston and America's favorite bandwagoners, Pittsburgh. Amazing to think within a decade they went from possible retraction to golden child for the league and media. I'm going to start a discussion topic soon because I'm fully convinced now all sports fandom isn't equal and to try and portray it as such is disingenuous to true "fanatics."

If Winnipeg even had NHL attendance numbers in 2004, that says a lot about Canadian dedication to hockey

And that's what I get for not having coffee this morning. Derp.

[The_Admiral]

I do wonder what the threshold of "bad attendance" is. If a team isn't 100% every night, is it time to panic?

That's a good question. First of all, it's a hard one to answer in a world where published attendance numbers have taken on the veracity of a Bill Brasky story. Carolina alleges crowds in the 15,000s every night for a dead-ass pillow-soft team that has missed seven of eight postseasons, but they fail the eye test if you can catch a glimpse of the seats. People here rag on the Hartford Whalers for only averaging 11,000 in down years, but if they had made it to a tickets-distributed world, they'd have the same phony-baloney 15-16K as everyone else.

As for the panic point, I would say it floats from team to team. The Blues play in a medium-sized metro with a large arena, I would expect that that dictates fairly reasonable prices insofar as any NHL prices are reasonable nowadays, and they've fielded three consecutive good-to-great teams. With all that in mind, it's not unreasonable to expect attendance to be over 90% on the year, or roughly 17,000 a night. Team's been there for 45 years and very good in a lot of them, so hockey's not a foreign concept. It's a typical midwestern city with a strong middle class and a growing contingent of affluent, tech-savvy young adults, just what the NHL wants. The Cardinals are out of season and the Rams blow. By rights, there should be no problem hitting at least 17,000 a night in turnstile count, while even Bettman Math has them just a hair under that figure. Would I panic about the Blues? Not at all. Can it be a much better hockey town than it is? For sure, and I hope people buy in.

The only case where you can reasonably expect and demand 100% a night is Winnipeg, and that's because there are only 15,000 seats to fill and you know the Count has the Sword of Damocles over them at all times. I'd say the same about the Islanders and their 14,000 seats when they move to Brooklyn, except a good deal of those 14,000 seats don't even give you a full view of the game you're paying to see, so quite frankly, I don't know what the hell to think about that whole disaster.

[zpqmaowl]

I want to rag on the Ducks for attendance, but then I remember the $27 suite tickets, $25 300 level tickets on the day of the game, and $50 tickets for the first and second rounds at Staples Center and just shut up.

EDIT: and there were tickets going for $40 for Game 7 against the Sharks last year, after Game 6 was played.

[tp49]

I went to a Ducks game last month when Pittsburgh was in town. While it appeared to be a sellout realistically at least 50% of the people who showed up were actively cheering for the Penguins or wearing Penguins gear. My wife, who only had been to games at Staples remarked about how apathetic she thought the Ducks fans were. She said it reminded her of the crowds who go to SF Giants games. I told her I thought the large number of Penguins fans were probably due to Crosby, transplants, it being on a Friday night and people incorporating the game in with a trip to Disneyland. I was surprised that the team store had no Selanne Ducks player t-shirts (would have loved one in jade and eggplant) but did pick up a Selanne Winnipeg Jets player t-shirt.

[The_Admiral]

I guess the good thing about dud teams like the Predators and Panthers is that they act as kind of a control when it comes to road draws. Everyone draws well when the Penguins are in town.

[Cosmic]

I think there's been plenty of talk about Blues crowds being a little smaller than they ought to be and what a shame it is. I know Colorado has gotten also some derision for walking away from the Avs as soon as The House The Nordiques Built came tumbling down.

I honestly don't blame people for staying away quickly after the team goes in the toilet, but you should come back just add quickly then when the team gets good again. It's a little messed up that Colorado it's only filling 90% of the seats this year with the #1 pick, an exciting new coach and a team that's been at the top of the league all season.

[Brass]

Refs are certainly doing their best to ensure the Maple Leafs win this game. I guess Toronto needs all the help they can get.

[Still MIGHTY]

I went to a Ducks game last month when Pittsburgh was in town. While it appeared to be a sellout realistically at least 50% of the people who showed up were actively cheering for the Penguins or wearing Penguins gear. My wife, who only had been to games at Staples remarked about how apathetic she thought the Ducks fans were. She said it reminded her of the crowds who go to SF Giants games. I told her I thought the large number of Penguins fans were probably due to Crosby, transplants, it being on a Friday night and people incorporating the game in with a trip to Disneyland. I was surprised that the team store had no Selanne Ducks player t-shirts (would have loved one in jade and eggplant) but did pick up a Selanne Winnipeg Jets player t-shirt.

That happens in every southern market when a big northern/bandwagon team comes into town. I was at that game too. It sucks, but when it's the only time that team comes in and they do a back to back with LA/Anaheim fans from out of town make a trip of it and transplants in town all go to the game.

That's strange. I know for a fact there's Teemu shirts in the store. There's shirts in the store and at the kiosks around the building. And unfortunately there's no Mighty player tees. There's t-shirts (or was, idk if they're still there) with the name and number on the front with other stuff on it, but no shirseys.

[ninersdd]

Randy and Drew again on NBCSN for LA/SJ tonight!

[Kramerica Industries]

Might as well get used to them because there's going to probably be seven games of the Randy and Drew variety involving these two teams starting in two weeks' time.

[Still MIGHTY]

Gag me.

[Sport]

That was the biggest win of the season for the Blue Jackets. Two points back of Philly with 6 to play.

[JayMac]

The Flyers offense has seemed to hit a wall again. It's the worst time for a slump.

[BigBubba]

We're alive!

[Corvus]

Wow, Detroit has Buffalo twice before the end of the year. That ought to help cement the streak.

[dbadefense1990]

So those San Jose Sharkies set a franchise-record tonight with 52 hits, with that opportunist Thornton leading the charge.

M'kay, San Jose. You want it rough? Fine, in two weeks, you'll get it rough. You'll get a rough series from the people in black and white from SoCal.

[Funky Bunky]

Those 2004 numbers are interesting. Look at who's in the bottom ten, the so-called Northern, more "deserving" cities of Winnipeg, Buffalo, Boston and America's favorite bandwagoners, Pittsburgh. Amazing to think within a decade they went from possible retraction to golden child for the league and media. I'm going to start a discussion topic soon because I'm fully convinced now all sports fandom isn't equal and to try and portray it as such is disingenuous to true "fanatics."

You do realize that "Winnipeg" is actually Atlanta, right?

EDIT: beaten.