NHL..slowly eating at the fabric of its fans

[rats19]

IMESHO.

I believe the pain with each lockout/strike going back to 1992. Is lessening the impact it has on the fans. Yah sure there are some that eat-sleep-breath the league, but I believe a majority are like me. Love it to death when I can watch it...hate it when I cant, but yet...I still am alive...Its not the end of life as we know it. Maybe just maybe there are other things I can get my winter pleasure from...(besides that..lol) lower tier teams that actually play thier guts out to remain on a team or look to be promoted...

I have watched a lot of news clips of fans and read lots of blog material..newspaper articles.. It just seems to me we may just be a little bit more indifferent to the whole shebang!

If it was me(NHL-NHLPA), I would begin to worry....

[Blob Mckenzie]

The owners and Bettman etc are too myopic to give a shit about the fans and the damage that lockouts cause the game. The players are just too dumb and thick to grasp the damage that is happening around them, not to mention the $$ they are losing that they will never make back.

LOL i can imagine guys like Marty St Louis, Jarome Iginla , Roberto Luongo, Vincent Lecavelier and a host of others must be thrilled about the millions of dollars they have lost through the last lockout and this one. These guys are on the back nine of their careers and in some cases in the twilight years. Yeah, they must be stoked to be missing millions of dollars when they have only a couple of years left to play.

I could really care less about the games not being on right now. I have a 9 year old and a 6 year old who play sports for fun and I have fun watching them. I golf when I can, go hiking and watch MLB and NFL when i can find the time. I'm sure I will miss it somewhere down the line but if these retards ( both sides) shitcan another entire season I could be a former fan of the NHL. It really isn't me that the league should be worried about. i only get to 2 or 3 games a year tops and even then tickets are usually given to me. I have maybe paid to go to 5 games in the last 5 years. They have priced themselves out of my budget. I watch on tv as often as I can and pvr the games when I can't but the Canucks don't see a ton of my disposable income.

The NHL and the players should be a lot more worried about the season ticket holders...... the people who actually pay the freight.

[rats19]

The owners and Bettman etc are too myopic to give a shit about the fans and the damage that lockouts cause the game. The players are just too dumb and thick to grasp the damage that is happening around them, not to mention the $$ they are losing that they will never make back.

LOL i can imagine guys like Marty St Louis, Jarome Iginla , Roberto Luongo, Vincent Lecavelier and a host of others must be thrilled about the millions of dollars they have lost through the last lockout and this one. These guys are on the back nine of their careers and in some cases in the twilight years. Yeah, they must be stoked to be missing millions of dollars when they have only a couple of years left to play.

I could really care less about the games not being on right now. I have a 9 year old and a 6 year old who play sports for fun and I have fun watching them. I golf when I can, go hiking and watch MLB and NFL when i can find the time. I'm sure I will miss it somewhere down the line but if these retards ( both sides) shitcan another entire season I could be a former fan of the NHL. It really isn't me that the league should be worried about. i only get to 2 or 3 games a year tops and even then tickets are usually given to me. I have maybe paid to go to 5 games in the last 5 years. They have priced themselves out of my budget. I watch on tv as often as I can and pvr the games when I can't but the Canucks don't see a ton of my disposable income.

The NHL and the players should be a lot more worried about the season ticket holders...... the people who actually pay the freight.

you are what my post is all about Blob...

I think unfortunately , the season ticket holders (like Lever) for instance if they no longer buy..the corporate world will pick up the slack...but it will be at the detriment of the league and its standing of importance in joe/blows life..and betty blow...

I think a lot of revenue is developed in the marketing department of such things as jersys,towels,bath mats, lawn chairs,lighter, rearview mirror bobles and dice. slippers robes, underwear, t-shirts, ad naseum...

they underestimate the damage that is being done over the long haul...

[griz]

I think you will be correct ... eventually. The massive change in the world these days is about to disrupt many former corporations and institutions.

When we have more options to watch games from more leagues online, for example (and for less $), the NHL will loose fans/customers to this emerging competition. Especially if they take the fans for granted like they are now. This pisses people off and of course you can stop supporting greedy monopolistic companies with your wallet. Capitalism's built-in filtering process. They exist because we enable them to.

Besides, some people prefer to watch games on their home theaters. The fans are not *just* the folks inside the arenas after all. This happened to movie theaters. And arcades.

For now though, I can see the arena continuing to be sold out by us monkeys who just keep taking it up the ass.

[Meds]

A couple of friends and I were chatting about this very thing the other night.....

For my part I have noticed a large number of fans from different sites and a pile of TSN response comments that have had enough and are simply "done" with the NHL now. Obviously this is largely a reactionary response born out of frustration and, in some cases, absolute outrage with the league and the PA for the loss of their entertainment, however, I think that many people have gotten to the point where the dollar signs are just too much and when it comes down to it, regardless of which camp you side with, these petty disputes between set for life multi-millionaire and billionaires are a complete waste of time.

I do think that the NHL is in for a surprise when they finally return to playing hockey. Maybe not so much in Canada where the amount of hockey watched/not watched can be medically monitored, but in the US they will definitely have suffered.

As to Blob's comment about the season ticket holders, I agree, but I also disagree. I've been on the waiting list for a few years now, and if enough people go Lever's way then those people on the list are going to be getting some phone calls. I for one will probably pounce on a decent pair of seats if they become available.....for the simple reason that I can re-sell the tickets and get my money back (considering that most of the tickets I've bought from season ticket holders have been marked up to at least double), besides, the covenience of having the ticket if and when I want to go to a game would be nice if I end up moving closer to the lower mainland next fall. I can tell you for a fact though that the amount of money that goes out of my wallet for NHL merchandise and apparel is going to be pretty much non-existent now.

[Reefer2]

I don't miss it right now, like many I am too busy on other things

I am only interested in how my SIM players will be next season if when the season is called off once again.

[Meds]

Great Monday morning thread btw Rats.

[ukcanuck]

what really sucked the last time the season was lost (stolen?) was from the allstar weekend to the drop of the puck to start the playoffs.
I find my patience for shit weather and dark afternoons, shoveling snow and other assorted pain in the ass winter evils is running pretty thin by the allstar weekend, and the run up to the playoffs is pretty much what keeps me going. The positional races, the trading deadline, each week getting closer to lawn cutting reminds me of being a kid and street hockey without street lamps... game seven Boston and Montreal, Don Cherry standing on his bench in 79, the winning goal and then out on the street reliving it.

that's when its gonna suck, maybe ticket buyers will remember that when they come back?

[rats19]

Great Monday morning thread btw Rats.

thnx meds...I looked for the sarcasm indicator too...lol

But I am serious...we are getting numbed to it..Not numb yet but getting there. Pretty soon maybe in 2018 we wont actually give a fuck anymore..what then? what will forbes list an NHL teams value when no one cares....

It is becoming fairly obvious as has been pointed out by many...the fans dont matter in this affair. When in actual fact ..
WE ARE THE ONLY THINGS THAT DO MATTER..


So, whether it is recognized and ignored...(must bring perils dont ya think.) OR

its not recognized and wont be until we show them whats what...

I believe it is the former....They know we are the driving force, they are taking a calculated risk upon our skin being as thick as the polar ice cap....(which is also receding at an alrming rate)...

[donlever]

But I am serious...we are getting numbed to it..Not numb yet but getting there.

Numbed, don't give a (ahem) rats ass anymore. Fuck 'em. Tickets gone, won't be back.

I believe it is the former....They know we are the driving force, they are taking a calculated risk upon our skin being as thick as the polar ice cap....(which is also receding at an alrming rate)...

I do not think so.

They believe you are not a rat at all but rather a lemming who will blindly run over the edge of the cliff once the game returns.

They do not respect or care about you.

You are, in their mind, replaceable, interchangeable...not a cog....

[rats19]

But I am serious...we are getting numbed to it..Not numb yet but getting there.

Numbed, don't give a (ahem) rats ass anymore. Fuck 'em. Tickets gone, won't be back.

I believe it is the former....They know we are the driving force, they are taking a calculated risk upon our skin being as thick as the polar ice cap....(which is also receding at an alrming rate)...

I do not think so.

They believe you are not a rat at all but rather a lemming who will blindly run over the edge of the cliff once the game returns.

They do not respect or care about you.


You are, in their mind, replaceable, interchangeable...not a cog....

You could just be right don...I know that my curling up on a couch with a combination flashlite radio for emergencies, battery operated...praying bure would score...is not equeal to many years of large coin output and your sinisism is rightfully felt.
a fear I have is that a mind of your calibre will not partake in the daily life of a hockey talk message board any longer. I know it would survive without you..but it would be different and you would be missed.

[SKYO]

I would like to see a day of nobody goes to see a game on a particular day, like the first game of the season when the NHL starts again.

Make the owners pay and show how valuable the fans are!

[Mondi]

Unfortunately, I think we are the vocal minority. That is, people who are seriously considering not spending our valuable free time thinking (often, obsessing) about overgrown teenagers playing a game for obscene amounts of cash.

In my view, the majority of people who go to games (at least in Vancouver) seem to be a group of people who can (a) afford to go and (b) go because it is cool to do so, or the place to be seen.

Those people will continue to do so when the NHL comes back, because they do not care where and when the games are played, they simply care to be there. Similarly, television ratings won't be affected too much as it is so simple to tune in when one is at home doing whatever one does on a week a night.

As for people who think large swathes of fans will turn away, I'm afraid they are likely to be incorrect.

I think a reasonable amount of hardcore fans will have a hard time returning, and perhaps being as rabid as they once were. But, I get the idea that people will be straight into their usual routine once the playoff race heats up.

I understand that the owners and players are megalomaniacs, and I think they are all behaving like 5 years olds. Gosh, I get a kick out of the deference people (i.e. players and media) show to Bettman and Fehr's "intelligence". These guys are stubborn. These guys are arrogant. These guys are seized with knowledge of the issues. But intelligent? I think two intelligent, reasonable and fair-minded adults would have solved this long ago.

But with all that being said, the fans will be back. I would bet on it.

[Meds]

I would like to see a day of nobody goes to see a game on a particular day, like the first game of the season when the NHL starts again.

Make the owners pay and show how valuable the fans are!

So long as the next game the fans all show up with signs that ridicule the players. I'm more disgusted with the players in this situation.....but I am pretty turned off by business owners that are wanting to reneg on contracts and ask the other party to give up nearly a quarter of what they negotiated in good faith.

If the owners had come in and said, "No rollback on existing contracts, but going forward there will be a 24% roll-back on the league maximum allowable salary." Well that would have been fine, the players would have balked and bucked, but it's the owners perogative to decide how much they want to pay in salary.

When the NHL returns I want both the owners and the players to get sent the message that it's not OK to screw with the fans. The players in particular need to be reminded who it is that ultimately foots the bill for their lifestyle.

[Southern_Canuck]

OK, so your girlfriend dumps you... and then later she wants to get back together, and like a fool you do it. But do you ever really trust her again?

Who now trusts that the NHL (owners and players) cares one iota about their meal ticket - the fans?

Not me. If I've got nothing else going on, I'll probably sleep with her, but I know it's never going to work out long term.

Which reminds me rats, I'd like to meet Betty Blow...

S_C