Fan: Boycott opener if NHL returns
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Fan: Boycott opener if NHL returns
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
A Flyers season-ticket holder wants fans to boycott the home opener if the NHL ever returns from its labor war.
"Whether it's this year or next year, the first game back should be in an empty Wells Fargo Center," said Bill O'Toole.
He said it would serve as "a protest to what the league and the players have put us through. It would be a national story and a fitting 'final word' put on the debacle by the fans, the ones who write the checks for the billions of dollars these two sides can't seem to divide."
O'Toole claimed he has received lots of support from other season-ticket holders on his idea, and he is hopeful it spreads around the league.
Your thoughts?
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Comments (56)
While they will not be getting my money, I completely agree with this idea. It should be for at least the first 5 games or more.
I will share this on every blog I can find— howe02- I've already decided that, if there is a shortened season, the NHL will get none of my money. I had planned to attend 10-15 games this year, and also to buy several jerseys. The NHL will not see any of that money.
I won't pay for parking, overpriced beer & food, merchandise or the Center Ice package, all of which are usually automatic purchases for me. There is no real need for this lockout. It's nothing more than a cash grab.— JSaq - Flyers Fans are "brainwashed" and think the world cares about the
Flyers. The TV ratings are on lower than womans golf....but Flyers
fans just don't "Get-it "......— vassal - I support the idea. How can fans with any self respect support a sport that has no respect for them? Fan willingness to look away from the NHL jerking fans around makes only more likely that it will happen again in say 8 years or less. Put your money into a sport run by people who abuse the public trust -- yeah, go for it if you have absolutely no self esteem. How is what NHL owners are doing any worse than what what Miami Marlins' owner Loria doing in Florida. Public financing of sports arenas gives the public a stake at the table. If NHL teams paid entirely for their own facilities, then they could kill the sport with the impunity that they are showing.— Claudio Vernight
- Vassal. You're an idiot.. do your homework 1st. This guys point isn't on TV ratings.. but a message to the NHL in general.. not LPGA fans like yourself, clown.— Nezhy
- That would be a Pyrric victory for the season ticket holders. By definition, a season ticket holder is someone whose has already given the Flyers their money. Do you really think the Flyers management cares if no one shows up as long as they get paid?
— backhand - Sounds good to me; it saves $500 for me.— meteo30
- I'm reading the posts here as a casual regular season hockey fan and see the number you put out for a single game $500.00. That's just insane for one night out to view a hockey game.
— delcodanno - Well, it depends on your level of desire to attend the game, and your choice of seats whether it could be considered insane.
Lower deck seats, say 10 rows back from the glass, go for between $90-$125, depending on which end of the rink (home team shoots twice in one end). Seats closer to the glass go for $150-$250 each. Seats on the glass go for about $400 each.
Seats in the upper deck, where oxygen is optional at extra cost, go for as little as $35, but IMHO, the view you get is worse than if you stayed home and watched on TV (although being there not only has its own special ambiance, you can also watch the play *away* from the puck where most scoring opportunities are actually initiated).
If you include parking and an Eskimo Pie in that $500, for a devoted hockey aficionado, that's not bad.
The opportunity costs must be evaluated by the individual. Do I go to ten hockey games, or by a four-wheeler to race around the back country? Twenty hockey games, or the summer rental down the shore?
Whatever floats your boat...— backhand - When they have your money - and they do - they will not care at all if fans 'boycott' the first game. Not sure how that will teach the players a lesson either. If you are upset, drop your season ticket, otherwise ....— elbrewador
- @backhand - yes i do actually, if you think ticket revenue is what pays the bills for these guys, I would argue that you are highly mistaken.
-not bob levy— remyy - Well then what *does*, in your opinion, pay the bills?
The NHL took in $3.2 billion in revenue last year. $180M of that was from the TV deal with NBC.
Are you suggesting that merchandise sales are what "pays the bills for these guys"? Beer? Nachos?
Season ticket holders have already voted with their wallets. The NHL is laughing all the way to the bank.— backhand - SportsMoney national editor Mike Ozanian is quoted by Forbes Magazine as writing:
"Among the four major team sports in North America, hockey is by far the most dependent on ticket revenue. During the 2010-11 season the typical NHL team relied on gate receipts for half of their revenue. Last year the average team in the NFL, which has the richest national television deals (divided equally among all teams), gets less than 25% of its revenue from ticket sales. The comparable figures in the NBA and MLB are 33% and 25%, respectively.".
Forbes concurs.
So, @remyy, I think you are "highly mistaken", as well as massively uninformed.— backhand - I must've missed what the players put us through. Did they strike?— HandNik
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Broad Street Bull is the Inquirer's blog covering the Philadelphia Flyers and the National Hockey League.
Reach Sam at scarchidi@phillynews.com.
Sam Carchidi
Inquirer Staff Writer
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