Another thought on this issue. The NHL in its smugness is, in my view, in danger of f'ing up their most important market, Southern Ontario/GTA, through their shortsightedness.
As we all know, businesses are built on new customers and allegiances are built early in life, in middle school.
For sports, in Southern Ontario/GTA, a lot of the young ones are new Canadians, not just by the obvious, age, but by ethnicity. They are developing loyalties for sure but the loyalties are not to the NHL/Leafs but to the Raptors/NBA and the TorontoFC/MSL. The Leafs are becoming less and less reflective of the community and this does not bode well for the NHL.
WFDS
Showing posts with label Southern Ontario. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southern Ontario. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
109...NHL, Group Think and Failure
The National Hockey League and their commish Gary Bettman are the most absurdly run major professional sports league in North America and most likely the world.
Just because you say something over and over and over again does not make it true but it does reinforce group think.
Case in point comes from Rod Bryden's interview in Friday's Ottawa Citizen under Don Brennan's byline where the former owner of the Ottawa Senators wraps himself in the flag and repeats the company line which is small market Canadian cities, like Ottawa, cannot make it in a world full of big bad American cities that want to steal our hockey teams and make them our own.
It is Joesph Goebbels big lie theory redux; if you say it enough and with sincerity then it must be true. No one, and I mean no one, in media, either main stream or in the blog sphere has ever questioned the fact that little ol' Ottawa is a small market.
The only fly in the ointment is that we are not a small market. We are not Toronto or New York or Montreal that is for true but out of about 300 markets in North America we are in the top 20 per cent.
Keep in mind sports fans that the NHL is not selling corn flakes or pop or cars, they are selling a specific product, hockey, and when you take that into account Ottawa is safely ensconced in the top 10 per cent of North American markets, as are Edmonton and Calgary.
When Mr. Bryden's Ottawa Senators were spiralling into bankruptcy he kept saying what he said in yesterday's Citizen: I could have sold them to an American market for a lot more money than keeping them here. Yeah, well, no. Seriously, where Mr. Bryden, where? No one ever asked that question. Until now.
The truth of the matter is in the little story right below the piece on Mr. Bryden where our beloved Premier, Dalton McGuinty is quoted in an uncredited piece as saying "I don't know what's up with these guys. I mean, this is a great market [referring to Hamilton and Southern Ontario]...the strongest and most committed fan base on the face of the planet. We would welcome one, two or three more franchises in the province of Ontario." The Premier suggested that the NHL come to grips with the realities of the hockey business, that being it works well in markets that have snow. He is, of course, right.
You could drop a team in Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and somewhere north or east of the CN Tower and do just fine with those clubs. For those of you who have been to the Joe Louis in Detroit, do you think it is a coincidence that the Detroit Red Wings rink is right, right, right on the border with Windsor, Ontario? For those of you not familiar with Detroit's demographics, the metro is a bit over 21 per cent Black, a bit under 4 per cent Hispanic but the city of Detroit is about 90 per cent Black and about no per cent White. Look around next time you are at a hockey game, it is very pink and pale in that house. If the owners of the Wings were merely marketing to their Michigan fans the arena would be above 8 Mile Road; in a lot of respects the Detroit Red Wings are really the Windsor Red Wings.
The concept of a metro in North America having more than one major league team in the same sport should not be anathema, in fact the NHL has two teams in the Los Angeles region and three in the New York City area, spread out over two markets in both locales. You can not tell me or anyone sane that there are more hockey fans in either places than in Toronto. In England's Premier League [soccer] London has five teams, Liverpool and Manchester, a pair each and best I can figure Birmingham will have two in the Premier League next season. It is germane to point out that the combined population of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham is less than the GTA and Liverpool is smaller than Ottawa-Gatineau. Therefore, the concept of cities spread tens of klicks from each other in the most hockey mad part of the world having individual clubs in the NHL should also not be anathema. It should be an no brainer.
Which may be Gary Bettman's problem.
WFDS
Just because you say something over and over and over again does not make it true but it does reinforce group think.
Case in point comes from Rod Bryden's interview in Friday's Ottawa Citizen under Don Brennan's byline where the former owner of the Ottawa Senators wraps himself in the flag and repeats the company line which is small market Canadian cities, like Ottawa, cannot make it in a world full of big bad American cities that want to steal our hockey teams and make them our own.
It is Joesph Goebbels big lie theory redux; if you say it enough and with sincerity then it must be true. No one, and I mean no one, in media, either main stream or in the blog sphere has ever questioned the fact that little ol' Ottawa is a small market.
The only fly in the ointment is that we are not a small market. We are not Toronto or New York or Montreal that is for true but out of about 300 markets in North America we are in the top 20 per cent.
Keep in mind sports fans that the NHL is not selling corn flakes or pop or cars, they are selling a specific product, hockey, and when you take that into account Ottawa is safely ensconced in the top 10 per cent of North American markets, as are Edmonton and Calgary.
When Mr. Bryden's Ottawa Senators were spiralling into bankruptcy he kept saying what he said in yesterday's Citizen: I could have sold them to an American market for a lot more money than keeping them here. Yeah, well, no. Seriously, where Mr. Bryden, where? No one ever asked that question. Until now.
The truth of the matter is in the little story right below the piece on Mr. Bryden where our beloved Premier, Dalton McGuinty is quoted in an uncredited piece as saying "I don't know what's up with these guys. I mean, this is a great market [referring to Hamilton and Southern Ontario]...the strongest and most committed fan base on the face of the planet. We would welcome one, two or three more franchises in the province of Ontario." The Premier suggested that the NHL come to grips with the realities of the hockey business, that being it works well in markets that have snow. He is, of course, right.
You could drop a team in Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo and somewhere north or east of the CN Tower and do just fine with those clubs. For those of you who have been to the Joe Louis in Detroit, do you think it is a coincidence that the Detroit Red Wings rink is right, right, right on the border with Windsor, Ontario? For those of you not familiar with Detroit's demographics, the metro is a bit over 21 per cent Black, a bit under 4 per cent Hispanic but the city of Detroit is about 90 per cent Black and about no per cent White. Look around next time you are at a hockey game, it is very pink and pale in that house. If the owners of the Wings were merely marketing to their Michigan fans the arena would be above 8 Mile Road; in a lot of respects the Detroit Red Wings are really the Windsor Red Wings.
The concept of a metro in North America having more than one major league team in the same sport should not be anathema, in fact the NHL has two teams in the Los Angeles region and three in the New York City area, spread out over two markets in both locales. You can not tell me or anyone sane that there are more hockey fans in either places than in Toronto. In England's Premier League [soccer] London has five teams, Liverpool and Manchester, a pair each and best I can figure Birmingham will have two in the Premier League next season. It is germane to point out that the combined population of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham is less than the GTA and Liverpool is smaller than Ottawa-Gatineau. Therefore, the concept of cities spread tens of klicks from each other in the most hockey mad part of the world having individual clubs in the NHL should also not be anathema. It should be an no brainer.
Which may be Gary Bettman's problem.
WFDS
Thursday, May 7, 2009
99...Buzz Words/Follow up to Post 98
Gary, the commish d'NHL, Bettman, throws around buzzwords like market size with great regularity without knowing what they mean.
Hamilton/Vaughn/Winnipeg/Quebec City/Saskatoon are all bigger markets than Phoenix/Washington/Nashville. Not in gross numbers, no, but Gary ain't selling Coke or Hondas, he is selling hockey and there are 10 times more hockey fans in Vaughn than in Phoenix.
Research, Gar', research.
If I can do it from my laptop on Elgin Street in Ottawa, you can do it too!!!
WFDS
Hamilton/Vaughn/Winnipeg/Quebec City/Saskatoon are all bigger markets than Phoenix/Washington/Nashville. Not in gross numbers, no, but Gary ain't selling Coke or Hondas, he is selling hockey and there are 10 times more hockey fans in Vaughn than in Phoenix.
Research, Gar', research.
If I can do it from my laptop on Elgin Street in Ottawa, you can do it too!!!
WFDS
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
95...Stephen Harper Does Something Right
After all these years, I knew he had it in him.
Well, I didn't know, but pleasant surprises are pleasant.
The headline in the online version of the Ottawa Citizen says it all:
Harper supports another Canadian NHL franchise
Blackberry Jim Balsillie wants to buy the money pit that is the Phoenix Coyotes [formerly the Jets of Winnipeg] and move them to Southern Ontario. My guess would be either Hamilton, Kitchener or Vaughn, but anyhow, is smart idea.
Of course the NHL is famous for rejecting smart ideas because, well, because they are maroons.
In my opinion the NHL would be well served with another team in the Greater Toronto Area, a club in Kitchener and one in Hamilton. And I am right about this. Ain't gonna happen, but I am right.
WFDS
Well, I didn't know, but pleasant surprises are pleasant.
The headline in the online version of the Ottawa Citizen says it all:
Harper supports another Canadian NHL franchise
Blackberry Jim Balsillie wants to buy the money pit that is the Phoenix Coyotes [formerly the Jets of Winnipeg] and move them to Southern Ontario. My guess would be either Hamilton, Kitchener or Vaughn, but anyhow, is smart idea.
Of course the NHL is famous for rejecting smart ideas because, well, because they are maroons.
In my opinion the NHL would be well served with another team in the Greater Toronto Area, a club in Kitchener and one in Hamilton. And I am right about this. Ain't gonna happen, but I am right.
WFDS
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