Will the absence of the Maple Leafs during the hockey season translate into higher attendance to other hockey outlets?
The next few months may finally prove this adage right or wrong.
Toronto Sun’s Steve Buffery posed the question in his column on Friday and concluded even though fans may begin suffering from withdrawal symptoms after three weeks of the NHL lockout, that it will not result in any uptick in interest to junior clubs or American Hockey League franchises.
Took in a Brampton Battalion game at the Powerade Centre on Thursday night and the joint was barely half full. Just down the street at the Hershey Centre, the Mississauga Steelheads don’t exactly pack them in, either.
Both OHL franchises have struggled over the years to attract fans. And the OHL is great hockey.
The criticism that the GTA is nothing more than a Leafs town is a non sequitur if you are using the lack of attendance of particular junior clubs. Most of the successful CHL franchises are based in cities where they are the only show in town. Teams like Brampton or Mississauga not only have to compete with the Leafs, Marlies and each other for the hockey fan’s interest, they have to battle concerts, shows and other happenings in a large metropolis, as well as the fact that most people know little about the kids on their roster.
Buffery indicates that the Marlies have seen a slight increase in ticket sales for the beginning of their season, but dismisses any significance to it, stating that the franchise has struggled drawing people since moving to Toronto from the Maritimes in 2005.
The Maple Leafs are unique in that they can miss the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons and still be the hottest ticket in town, not because Leafs Nation are a bunch of saps, but simply because the Blue and White are a part of the DNA of most who love hockey in an area that is arguably the greatest concentration of fans in the world. Hence the reason why talk of struggling NHL franchises moving to Toronto will continue over the next couple years.
Attendance and interest go hand-in-hand with winning and entertaining performances. All nine Marlies playoff games were either sellouts or close to being sellouts last season. With the absence of the NHL, they will be getting more attention from broadcast outlets like Sportsnet, who are picking up their first two Saturday night home games at the Ricoh Coliseum on October 13th and 20th.
Based on conversations with Marlies officials, they are seeing an increase in ticket sales over the same time last season and they expect that interest will build if the lockout continues into November and December.
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One scary byproduct of the current lockout for some NHL owners are the reports of their players getting injured in games over in Europe. The Rangers Rick Nash suffered a bruised shoulder playing for HC Davos in Switzerland and Flyers winger Jakob Voracek suffered a mild knee sprain in a KHL game over the weekend.
One wonders whether the prospect of losing multimillion dollar franchise players like Evgeni Malkin or Joe Thornton to serious injury in meaningless European league games will provide any impetus in the negotiations with the Player’s Association.
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