Decius wrote:

After years of smart drafting, shrewd trades and clever free-agent signings, your team is in contention for the Cup.

Alas, it's hard to believe the club might be pricing the cost of moving vans in the near future.

The team is struggling desperately at the gate, ranking 23rd in the league. Despite all the winning, attendance is dwindling -- making it likely the Preds will miss the average marks necessary to qualify for revenue sharing from the league. And that's money they can't do without.

It should be made clear that the issue at hand isn't fan support. The die-hards at the Gaylord Entertainment Complex are as passionate and loyal as you'll find in the league. It's the empty seats that splatter the high-dollar lower bowl, and the rows of unoccupied luxury boxes that are the real problem.

The upper crust of Nashville's business community doesn't care about Hockey. I've heard that the impact of regulations on marketing in the healthcare industry might be part of the problem, but I also have to wonder how many Nashville businesses have sunk insane amount of money into seat licenses for the Titans. My employer used to have a half box in Atlanta for hockey/basketball. You could call up the secretary and get tickets. It was a nice perk working there. Unfortunately, they don't do it anymore...

GODDAMMIT! WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG!!!

I can't believe this made SI. This entire piece of shit came from the buffoons at the Tennessean, who can't seem to understand the definition of 'journalism' much less 'truth'. What did the Tennessean have on the front page of the Sports section on Monday? A huge picture of Steve McNair. 1) Steve McNair doesn't play on any team in Tennessee anymore (unfortunately, since he's the bomb); 2) The team that Steve McNair played for in Tennessee is not in the NFL playoffs; and 3) The team that Steve McNair played for in Tennessee isn't playing at ALL at this time. So why the FUCK is Steve McNair splashed all over the front page of the Sports section of the TENNESSEAN when the Predators just swept Columbus in a home-n-home series the night before and managed to leap into second place in the NHL and be the first team this season to have 32 wins? That didn't even make the paper. What did was this crappy piece of shit article insinuating that the Predators will leave Nashville if they can't get attendance up.

Well guess what? Attendance IS up. It's up nearly 7% compared to last year and even higher than the pre-lock out season which saw Nashville make it's first playoff appearance. It may be ranked 23rd in the league in attendance, but that's better than previous years when it was ranked even lower. And having been to games in both Chicago and Detroit recently, there are more empty seats in these Original Six barns than in the GEC. Desperately struggling at the gate? This is just salacious jour... [ Read More (0.7k in body) ]

That was one hell of a rant! You should have posted it to your memestream, but I'll post this to mine.

flynn23 wrote:
Hockey 'purists' can't stand the fact that 3 of the last 4 Cups have gone to 'non-traditional' markets and that the last 2 Cups have gone to Southern US teams is grating on the nerves of every Canuckuckle head north of Oshawa, ONT. Whatever they can do to drag down this franchise, they have been doing. From poor press and media coverage (except from people who actually look at y'know... stats!), poor officiating (Scott Nichol overreacts and gets 12 game suspension. Alex Ovechkin slews and spears Danny Briere, no call), shitty scheduling (65% of the games so far have been on the road), and just general disrespect - this team has gotten the SHAFT. If anything, I hope that all the crap that is going to get kicked up from this meme does nothing but inspire this team to go ALL THE WAY just to silence this bullshit once and for all. When it's clutch time boys... think of all of these idiots and put their hot air into the wheelhouse of your shot, because that will be the only thing that will win something even greater than the Cup. Respect.

Its good when your team is a pain in everyone's ass, isn't it?

Decius wrote:
That was one hell of a rant! You should have posted it to your memestream, but I'll post this to mine.

Sorry. It was 2am or something. I've just had it with this topic. It's been everywhere for a week and I would've hoped that it would've found the sewer for which it belongs by now.

GODDAMMIT! WRONGWRONGWRONGWRONGWRONG!!!

I can't believe this made SI. This entire piece of shit came from the buffoons at the Tennessean, who can't seem to understand the definition of 'journalism' much less 'truth'. What did the Tennessean have on the front page of the Sports section on Monday? A huge picture of Steve McNair. 1) Steve McNair doesn't play on any team in Tennessee anymore (unfortunately, since he's the bomb); 2) The team that Steve McNair played for in Tennessee is not in the NFL playoffs; and 3) The team that Steve McNair played for in Tennessee isn't playing at ALL at this time. So why the FUCK is Steve McNair splashed all over the front page of the Sports section of the TENNESSEAN when the Predators just swept Columbus in a home-n-home series the night before and managed to leap into second place in the NHL and be the first team this season to have 32 wins? That didn't even make the paper. What did was this crappy piece of shit article insinuating that the Predators will leave Nashville if they can't get attendance up.

Well guess what? Attendance IS up. It's up nearly 7% compared to last year and even higher than the pre-lock out season which saw Nashville make it's first playoff appearance. It may be ranked 23rd in the league in attendance, but that's better than previous years when it was ranked even lower. And having been to games in both Chicago and Detroit recently, there are more empty seats in these Original Six barns than in the GEC. Desperately struggling at the gate? This is just salacious journalism and a poorly calculated PR stunt by the front office to scare people into buying tickets.

The only real issue is not necessarily about corporate support, although that is sorely lacking and the Nashville business community should be ashamed of itself for its fickle support of what this market has to offer. This is about revenues and profits for the team, which needs to make a baseline average of 14,200 this season in order to qualify for the bottom tier of revenue sharing profits that will get distributed. Nashville is currently averaging 14,700, but I'm sure that's just a little too close for comfort for Craig Leipold. Especially if the team has another early exit out of the playoffs, where most teams make their real revenue, charging 3x ticket prices and making bank on merch sales. Given that the Preds are playing FANTASTIC hockey right now, an early exit doesn't seem likely. But anything is possible in the playoffs and I'm sure Leipold knows that.

But back to the sods in the Nashville business community and their idiotic understanding of how pro sports works in a real city. See... the sports team doesn't have the coddle you. You give them money. Period. Whether through advertising, suites, season tickets, or whatever, you give them money and they make your bushwhack excuse for a town worthy of national exposure (ie. jobs and investment). So stop crying... [ Read More (0.8k in body) ]

Rattle wrote:

Ok. First, I need to declare something. Kind of like a punk rocker, walking into a bar bellowing with country music and filled with dudes in cowboy hats...

I don't know shit about sports. I feel so out of place approaching a sports discussion.

And I do mean I don't know shit about sports. No clue about any form of foot and ball, baskets, or any other bullshit. I have almost no clue. I understand teams and team loyalty. I understand sticks and ice. I understand group gatherings, ritual, and seeking liminality at a crucial point of conflict. I'm trying to grasp this and understand.

I understand some things well. I ski. Getting to the bottom of the hill fastest. Got that down. Running faster than anyone else. Not so good at that myself, but I grasp that one too. Driving really fast in a circle.. I can reason away the circle.. Somewhere between curling and American Football I just loose all interest and connection to the spirit of the competition.

The core of your argument, as I read it, is that regardless of the way a team is playing, the host (city) needs to be behind/supporting the team to achieve positive perception of it's success... Not just support in a operational context, but in a way showing exuberance and pure devotion. I understand this argument. I think it's valid.

I see it as a branding thing. It's even effective to push products. In the case of sports teams, It seems to work really well with a nation. Not so much between cities. It requires some kind of conflict below the surface that interfaces through the sport, in the form of devotion to athletes that embody something we find dear. I don't see that in cases where people complain about lack of support for a team. In many of the cases where it is present, it seems artificial, or at least a product of the league. Other times, you get anything from great ceremony to a riot.

Nothing seems honest about most professional sports to me. Why should I care? Some things appear to need more of my attention, and have more to offer for my devotion. College teams are more appealing to me to support than professional ones. The Olympics still stir my competitive spirit more than the NFL.

Why do I want to put my city's "branding power" behind a sports team? Using either monetary or emotional resources? Where is the gain? What does winning achieve?

Funny. Yeah. I get it. In the grand scheme of things, this ain't nuthin. I agree. And I don't know anything about other sports either. I can watch them and somehow feel like I can at least tell when something bad happens. But for whatever reason, I like hockey. And well... actually I like curling too. It's fun to play at least.

But you ask a good question and one that I don't have quantitative evidence for (although I'm sure it exists) but just an anecdote to try and... [ Read More (0.3k in body) ]

But you ask a good question and one that I don't have quantitative evidence for (although I'm sure it exists) but just an anecdote to try and answer with.

You know the city of Detroit, right? Dirty. Smelly. Always on the brink of falling into complete chaos. Well, when the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997, after a 42 year drought from a championship, I've never seen the city so 'happy'. People were cheering together. People were hugging each other. People were even acknowledging each other's existence. It was a monumental occasion. And through it all, not one thing burned and there were no arrests for violence. Contrast that with the Tigers winning the world series in 1994 and the front page of USA Today was 'merrymakers' atop a burning police car, or when MSU won the NCAA basketball championship and they practically destroyed Lansing, and you could tell that something had changed. The city was tired of being embarrassed and conducted itself with class. It wanted the press to be about its glorious Wings and their championship, not the city showing its worst.

That 'feeling' or esprit de corp, lasted a LONG time. Unfortunately, there was still tragedy , but another Cup in 1998 helped to heal the city again, and I swear things were different there for a few years. There was tons of investment into downtown. Things looked brighter and the future seemed to have a hint of promise. This being the late 1990s, there was lots of activity and hope.

Now I'm not saying that a sports team can lift up a city on its shoulders and carry it to a promised land all by itself. That clearly didn't happen in Detroit, which is back to its wasteland imitation. But for a few years there, the whole town was Red & White and people had something that made them feel good for a bit. You can't BUY that kind of spirit and who knows how to calculate the value of putting a smile on a face that rarely knows any happiness?

Think about it for just a second. Imagine the glee in Boston when the Red Sox finally beat the Curse! The surprise when Joe Namath came through with that promise to NY. The sheer emotion when the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team gave us a miracle.

That, my friends, is what sports teams are for.

That's a great perspective. It does show th... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]