Cowardly Bettman ignoring evidence of Thrashers fans
Gary Bettman is blaming Atlanta hockey fans for not supporting a bad product. (AP photo)
In his most recent spoken example of the Wile E. Coyote/Acme explosives/NHL public relations disaster, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman somewhat admonished Thrashers fans for not buying tickets to what has been a crummy product for most of their 11 seasons.
Quoting here: “Demonstrating your dissatisfaction by not going to games is an interesting strategy. It’s your absolute right. But if it becomes a turnoff for anybody who might want to buy the franchise, the long-term consequences could be severe.”
Imagine if we applied this philosophy to other aspects in our life.
Buy a new car. If the doors fall off two blocks down the street, that’s OK. Just make sure you support that dealership by buying another one next year. Eat at a new restaurant. If dinner makes your stomach feel like there are a thousand screaming piranhas in it, that’s OK. Eat there the following week, because you wouldn’t want that restaurant to go out of business. And this time, bring friends!
Bettman doesn’t want to leave the impression that the NHL is on the verge of abandoning Atlanta again (which it is). So he is trying to lay the ground work for the Thrashers’ exit to Winnipeg. He’ll point to attendance and stupid stuff like only a few hundred fans showing up at a rally. He’ll do everything possible to try to convince you that this mugging wasn’t his fault and he had no choice.
Don’t fall for it.
All aboard for Winnipeg . . .
Let me tell you a story. The Braves averaged about 10,000 fans per game in 1988, which they finished 54-106. In one late-season game, attendance was announced at 3,017. Ex-Brave Gerald Perry mused, “Sometimes, we look up from the dugout and say, ‘This’d be another good day to paint the seats.’”
Let me tell you a story. In 1989, 7,792 fans showed up for an NFL game, or at least one between the Falcons and Detroit Lions at old Atlanta-Fulton Stadium. When one fan was asked why he purchased a ticket, he responded, “It was a Christmas present, and I didn’t want to let my brother down. He could be here, but he said he’d rather go to grandma’s.” The Falcons finished 3-13 that season.
Postscript: The Braves started winning in 1991 and attendance doubled. It tripled by 1992 and quadrupled by 1993. Falcons’ attendance spiked under Jerry Glanville, dropped again when the team lost, then returned after Arthur Blank, Michael Vick and success arrived (38 straight sellouts).
Most of you probably understand where I’m going with this. The cowardly Bettman is in the corner with his eyes closed, ears covered and loudly humming, pretending not to notice.
If a team wins, it draws fans. If a team does the right thing – or sometimes even just leaves the impression it’s trying really hard to do the right things – it draws fans. Atlanta losing an NHL team isn’t about Atlanta not having enough hockey fans to support a franchise. It’s about the fact that people grew fed up with supporting a bad product run by bad ownership.
Let me tell you a story. In their inaugural season, the Thrashers sold out 14 games and averaged 17,205 fans per game in a 61-loss season. A year later, they averaged 15,265 in a 47-loss season. In three year, the team got worse and attendance dropped even more.
The Thrashers made the playoffs in 2006-07 for the first (and only) time in their history. Funny thing happened. They sold out more games (11) and averaged more fans (16,239) than in any season since the first.
Millions of Braves fans didn’t suddenly move here in 1991. Blank didn’t hand out $500 bills across state borders to get people to come to Falcons games. Thrashers fans didn’t move after two seasons, then come for the playoffs, then move again. This isn’t about a market. It’s about a fan base that has seen too many car doors fall off.
In 2003-04, Chicago, an “Original 6” team, had the second-worst record in the league and ranked 27th in attendance at 13,253 (2,000 less than the Thrashers). Six years later, when the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, they drew 21,356.
Could it be there’s a connection?
Bettman will try to convince you Atlanta just didn’t want hockey bad enough. He’ll ignore the reasons. He’ll grab millions in a relocation fee from a city that he moved a team from 15 years earlier.
The Winnipeg Jets averaged 11,316 fans in their final season — 2,000 less than the Thrashers drew this year. Don’t expect to read that in the news release.
By Jeff Schultz
♦
Earlier: Countdown: Bettman, Spirit on Facebook, angry beaver, Monta’s tattoo
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455 comments Add your comment
the gooch
May 24th, 2011
3:17 pm
Maybe if we make some line changes the Thrasher will stay.
Tommy
May 24th, 2011
3:19 pm
Bettman never had an original thought, so of course he’s hiding behind the ‘Atlanta has fair weather fans’ tripe. Atlanta fans are not any more fickle than fans anywhere else–we just don’t blindly throw money at inept teams.
Unfortunately, making Atlanta hockey work is now a two-step process. First, someone has to buy the team, and then they have to get them out of Phillips Arena and into a location in North Metro, like Gwinnett Arena. If you plotted the location of Thrashers ticket buyers on a map, I guarantee they live on average 25 miles from the arena, and their geographic center would be around Alpharetta.
This stinks, but everyone take solace in the fact that this is the NHL, and odds are that Atlanta will have a team in whatever association takes the place of this ramshackle, bankrupt ‘league’ in about 10 years.
Heck with it. The Gladiators are better anyway.
Reality
May 24th, 2011
3:19 pm
Nate “Because he’s a p@#$y and won’t stand up to pressure from the Canadian zealots who want another team anymore. And he does it at our expense…again…because he’s a p@#$y.”
Wrong….
Gary Bettman would rather have a full body hair removal procedure done with duct tape than move a team to Canada. Why else do you think he bought the Coyotes? To keep them out of Canada. So why are the Thrashers moving to Winnipeg? Because at this moment in time it is the only arena in N.A. ready to take a team for next season.
Horsehockey
May 24th, 2011
3:24 pm
I wish people would stop referring to hockey as a Big Four sport. Any sport that abandons a market of over 5 million for one of 700,000 cannot be considered Big Four. I like hockey and hate to see Atlanta lose any team, but hockey is a niche sport at best. Not only below the NFL, MLB, NBA, college FB and BB, but probably beneath NASCAR and golf as well. More like big 8 than big 4.
David
May 24th, 2011
3:24 pm
@Hindu Elvis Pimp
NFL weeknight (Monday or Thursday) games are 1 to 2 games a year, if your team is good. Where week night games in the NHL is at least 40% of the home schedule.
You said the white people don’t want to come down to Atlanta because of people of different races? No, the stadiums in Atlanta are the most unsafe area at night. It does not matter what race you are. Several men opened fire in a public park right next to the capital building last Saturday!! The people that were shot were black.
Why do you think Blank wants a new stadium north of downtown Atlanta.
bananahead
May 24th, 2011
3:25 pm
@Hindu Elvis Pimp
Wow. You couldn’t be more idiodic in your post. Do you really think that someone is bigoted for that post? I mean really???
What he said is exactly true, and it has nothing to do with color. Holy crap! Nobody I have ever talked to… nobody… has ever mentioned “fear” as a reason, implied or otherwise, even in the most private of conversations, for not going downtown to Philips Arena. Your comparison to the Falcons is laughable. Once a week, 8 games a season Sunday games vs. rush hour mid-week games. Apples to oranges (no color reference there, mind you).
Grow up and realize that you are the one who shows bigotry by trying to find racism where it doesn’t exist.
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:25 pm
Bluelander — Thanks. No worries. With the Internet, everybody sees everything.
Brendan
May 24th, 2011
3:26 pm
It’s a great post-mortem article, Jeff. That’s for sure. This is a money grab, and the lack of effort on the part of the Commissioner to keep hockey in Atlanta is very evident.
It sickens me how “pleased” so many entities are with this relocation. The NHL is pleased because it’s getting $60-$90 million in the deal. True North is pleased because … they WANT the team. Winnipeg is pleased because they WANT the team. Canada is pleased because, They see Sunbelt franchises as a ‘failed experiment,’ and will point to Atlanta, GA, as “exhibit A.” (Nevermind that’s not true. And I believe the team soldout 38 of 41 home games, after the gate receipts were counted, in 1999, while setting an NHL attendance record for an expansion team.) The Mayor of Atlanta is pleased since … there’s apparently no love of hockey among his voting constituency. The Governor of Georgia is pleased … because … he has some YET TO BE COOKED UP method of reproducing the $30 million in lost State income tax revenue from NHL hockey. And, then there’s Maude. (Sorry.) I meant, then there’s the Atlanta Spirit, LLC, who has wanted to flip the team since they acquired it. So, needless to say, they are “pleased.”
My, my, my. So many “pleased” entities, shouldn’t this by the FEEL GOOD story of the Spring??? How Atlanta ditched hockey, and made everyone but hockey fans happy. It’s kinda crazy. Somewhere, Jim Ballsillie is watching this, in stunned disbelief. He tried and tried and tried to get a team relocated to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. I believe he targeted the Nashville Predators. Imagine if he’d targeted the Thrashers instead? He’d probably have played a few seasons in Hamilton by now.
To the wonderful hockey fans of Winnipeg I say, “Enjoy the team. You’ve got an ownership group with, to my knowledge, no plans of hiring Don Waddell as GM, nor any designs on Dan Marr, as Head of Scouting. So, you’re starting out BETTER than we did!” To GM Rick Dudley, I wish him the very best of luck as he takes the Thrashers/Jets/Moose and molds them into a Cup winner, hopefully.
Re: Atlanta ever returning to the NHL? Sure, I think it’s possible. But I don’t want that, UNLESS the NHL will actually properly vet an owner or ownership group that will actually CARE for the franchise, and hold accountable the parties that need fixing. Let’s all go support the Gladiators, now. I think their ownership is trying. No reason to withhold our support.
One last thing … and Jeff … I want your feedback on this. “Isn’t it true, that Don Waddell’s name will be forever linked to the most unsuccessfull and detrimental, and inept men in Hockey History? And that THAT will be his legacy, for accepting a “lame duck” paycheck while performing the duties that any accountant in the area, could have done. Namely, adhering to a budget.” Please, posters, weigh in on that.
“What is Don Waddell’s legacy?” Would you say, “He’s the man who crushed hockey in Atlanta.” By my account, he didn’t grow the sport in the region. And he had nine (9) Top 10 overall picks with which to build this franchise. (Stefan, Heatley, Kovalchuk, Lehtonen, Bogosian, Kane, Coburn, Burmistrov, and Alex Borret, 2005, via # 8 overall.) Did ownership ever tell Waddell who to Draft? Could ownership pick out Devin Setoguchi, Marc Staal, or Anze Kopitar in a police lineup, in 2005? If you answered, “No,” then this is Waddell’s fault. And the inability to lock up key player is a shared fault, between ownership and the GM, who jointly misran the organization.
True or false, when you think of faltering GM’s, don’t you think not only of Mike Milbury, but also Don Waddell? Beee honest.
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:26 pm
Tucker T — Thanks.
I. C. Wiener
May 24th, 2011
3:27 pm
Blank wants a stadium a few blocks north of the Dome, actually…
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:27 pm
Thanks Brett . . . and Brent . . . and the other Brent (same Brent?)
BIG BUFF
May 24th, 2011
3:28 pm
Jeff,
Thank you for caring.
Mark Bradley,
Move to Winnipeg.
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:28 pm
Gary Bettman — That would be “The Hammer” to you. And meet my linemate, Don Saleski.
Flames
May 24th, 2011
3:29 pm
Tom Lysiak’s investment team was going to save us.
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:29 pm
Bananahead — I have never, ever, ever blamed hockey fans here for anything. I’ve always put the onus on management to put out a better product.
Uncle Milty
May 24th, 2011
3:30 pm
The Winnipeg Jet attendance numbers in the final season posted in this article are correct; what the author fails to include though is that it was a lame duck season as relocation was announced prior to the beginning of the season. No one wanted to go watch a season long funeral, myself included. As such, the comparison is unfair.
kid dynamite
May 24th, 2011
3:30 pm
Go on with your bad self Jeff! Seriously, good stuff. Bettman is a clown.
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:30 pm
Rich T — I’m sure it won’t be same watching team play “home” games in another city.
Jake
May 24th, 2011
3:30 pm
Great job, Jeff. Waddell deserves being sentenced to Winnepeg, although the new owners will probably dump him immediately. Too bad we can’t send the ASG there, too.
Brendan
May 24th, 2011
3:31 pm
Jeff Schultz, thank you for CARING, and trying to point out the folly of our hockey team. I hope Don Waddell will own his failure, rather than try to deflect what has happened. We are, all of us, tied with Waddell for the number of playoff victories for the Thrashers, 11 seasons later.
Jimmy Crack
May 24th, 2011
3:31 pm
Good article Jeff, however it has been 24 hours since your post and I am comment #65. Not feeling alot of passion on this subject. Let the bell toll.
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:32 pm
Dean — I’m guessing Thrashers lost money that year. That’s because team’s generally make income on season ticket sales, suite leases and corporate and ad sales, most of which takes place in the off-season. … As for rumors of Winnipeg franchise being moved, why don’t you ask the average Thrashers’ fan how long they’ve dealt with rumors of a move?
Mr. Dawg
May 24th, 2011
3:32 pm
Hockey is just fickle that way like no other sport. Fans don’t see losing teams…unless you’re in Canada where they don’t know any better.
Bettman is clearly talking out of his rear on this one. ASG is the guilty party in this whole scheme, not the fans.
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:32 pm
Brendan — Thanks. … On Don, I don’t believe anybody will be sitting at bars, debating his legacy.
A2B
May 24th, 2011
3:34 pm
Anyone want to dig up why the Anson Carter team that had $350 ready to buy all three parts (hawks/phillips/thrashers) hasnt been directed to Bettman yet for the Thrashers and Phillips to get TSNE away from our boys. I mean if they want to keep the team in atlanta they get immediate right of way to negotiations. I know its hard to put people together randomly but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this group wants all three so someone is colluding to make sure their offer never gets to the table. Anyone thats reading this and can help please see what you can dig up and help out.
mbjets
May 24th, 2011
3:34 pm
To the author of this article: You have just proven our(Winnipeg’s) point. Atlanta is not a hockey town because you won’t support the team even when it loses. Who cares who owns it or how it is run financially. Take a look at the Maple Leafs under Harold Ballard. True, die-hard hockey fans still filled the seats in a metro area much the size of Atlanta. Why? Because they love hockey. Atlanta does not have enough of a fan-base to support the team when they are not doing well. Granted, your ownership appears to never had an interest in the game at all. That being said, hockey ranks below the LPGA in ratings and even below women’s professional bowling in most of the Southern states(no offense ladies). Now, let’s stop ripping other cities that you know nothing about and get back to reality. Bettman sucks. I have never liked the way he does things. All the rule changes. Moving my Jets in the first place. All Winnipeg needed was a fraction of the help that Bettman is giving Phoenix right now. (Another Southern hockey hotbed, by the looks of things – joke). NHL Hockey belongs in Winnipeg. If we can’t support it this time around, then shame on us.
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:35 pm
EW — Let’s just say when it’s easy to pick a side, it’s a good day to have a column.
ward
May 24th, 2011
3:36 pm
If I had the 170 mil (or my group of average middle class, hockey loving fans) it would certainly be a terrific turnoff on the deal to buy the team from the dysfunctional ASG knowing they still controlled “my” arena for home games. Ted Turner (and his relatives and friends still in the ASG) appear to consider hockey a sideshow in the whole sports picture in Atlanta. The show can be sold and they go on with their corporate/legal/wealthy lives. Atlanta has had two ownership situations whereby the “owners” needed money for other ventures, and to hell with the fans attracted to the sport and team. It seems the NHL should have more “character” when fans in a city are getting screwed. I thought we fans supported the team quite well considering an average of 31 wins a year (out of 82 games) for the eleven years…..and in an economic downturn in Atlanta more profound than many places.
Voicedude
May 24th, 2011
3:36 pm
Excellent overview but I believe it was John Ziegler who was commissioner when the Flames bolted. As much as Bettman fouls the air in running this league, Ziegler was even worse.
docsbro
May 24th, 2011
3:38 pm
Don’t forget Pittsburgh their attendance has been terrible in ANY season without Mario or Sid the kid.
Dean
May 24th, 2011
3:41 pm
Jeff – I hear you about the profits, just curious.
The last season with the Jets was not rumors though. The Jets were sold prior to the season. I can’t imagine that the Thrashers or most other teams for that matter would still draw 11,000 every night knowing that the team is gone, not just for sale.
AJ Biles
May 24th, 2011
3:41 pm
THANK YOU! Someone FINALLY gets it! This totally made my day.
TheAntiMe
May 24th, 2011
3:41 pm
You Canadian folks can rag on us here in the ATL all that you want. The fact is, there are plenty of other ways for folks to spend their money around here. You spend your money supporting dog feces and I’ll spend mine to go see Megadeth, Godsmack, and Disturbed. Or Motley Crue and Poison. And, oh yeah, The Warped Tour is just on the horizon.
question
May 24th, 2011
3:41 pm
If the ASG is selling the Thrashers b/c they’re losing money, why are they also trying to sell the Hawks separately? Are they losing money with the Hawks too?
Ted Striker
May 24th, 2011
3:42 pm
Bettman looks like a smug, incompetent, blundering clod for saying the things he did. Goodell and Stern don’t always say the right things however rarely do they blatantly castigate the paying fans on the sacrificial altar of self indulgent blather.
That said, it’s not really Bettman’s fault the Thrashers will likely be leaving town. Without someone willing to make the necessary investment, they won’t stay.
Which only makes what Bettman said worse. He rubbed salt in the wound of an open sore. And that just ain’t right.
Atladave
May 24th, 2011
3:42 pm
I am from western Canada. Played junior hockey there and moved to Atlanta in 1988. Winnipeg just will not work long-term. The Winnipeger’s talk about low unemployment, a high Canadian dollars and a great economy in Manitoba that makes thing different than before. They are RIGHT as they write today. The problem is things to not stay the same. Everything is a cycle. Today the conditions in Winnipeg are perfect. It is the perfect storm. What about 2. 3 or 5 years from now? The Canadian dollar has historically been around 80% of the US dollar, not 105% as it is now. The economy cannot sustain itself at its present level in Winnipeg. When the inevitable down turn happens, and it will, what then?
Toni
May 24th, 2011
3:42 pm
Thank you for saying this, someone had to.
I don’t understand how anyone can say it’s a good thing to throw away your money to a bunch of idiots who are clearly not even trying to present a decent product. It’s illogical. It’s not like we’re Minnesota (stronger market, but the comparison still stands) where they give it an honest try and simply fail to achieve. The Thrashers have been utterly toxic for years.
Definitely would have been nice to see what would happen if we’d gotten a decent chance. Doesn’t look like that will happen though.
biz
May 24th, 2011
3:42 pm
The Winnipeg Jets averaged 11,316 fans in their final season — 2,000 less than the Thrashers drew this year.
Mee-ouch! Go getem Shultz!
Jeff Schultz
May 24th, 2011
3:42 pm
A2B — Regarding the “$350 million.” Don’t believe everything you read on Twitter or hear in the rumor mill.
The Ghost of Norm Van Brocklin
May 24th, 2011
3:42 pm
Whoa, wait just a minute…..
…Atlanta has a hockey team? Ice hockey? Really?
ATL Observer
May 24th, 2011
3:43 pm
>>>>Now, let’s stop ripping other cities that you know nothing about and get back to reality.
Oh, but apparently you’ve proclaimed yourself an Atlanta expert. You get to do it and we don’t. Good to know.
MJL
May 24th, 2011
3:44 pm
Great article, the truth shall set you free. We need smarter owners not more fans, there are plenty around if the product is worth watching.
Gary
May 24th, 2011
3:44 pm
Went to 1 game. Could not get past the sticker shock for the evening. $160 for tickets food and drinks. For that kind of money I could see a really good concert. I could care less if they leave. Atlanta is a college town and always will be. People here care about Saturdays in the fall, an occasional golf tourney (Masters and PGA CHP), decent baseball crowd and a few Sunday football fans. No matter how good the Hawks are it is still a small group of fans. This is not and never will be a hockey market no matter how many folks from the north continue to move here. It was a waste of time and money to bring the franchise here. The only thing dumber is our aquarium. Was Chattanooga stealing that much business from Atlanta with theirs?
From Winnipeg
May 24th, 2011
3:45 pm
Good blog and the only reason we (winnipeg) pull 11,000 fans was because we knew they were going and we still couldnt sell out the season. i for one will not be bying tickets However, itd good for our local economy so i support the move
Take care atlanta!
truth serum
May 24th, 2011
3:46 pm
Why can’t he just say that the reason the Coyotes are staying in Phoenix is b/c they’re giving the NHL another $25 million this year for the second year in a row and the reason the Thrashers are relocating is b/c Atlanta will not do the same thing?
JASon
May 24th, 2011
3:47 pm
Jeff, its very simple. The thrashers organization is losing money. They have lost $130 million over the past 6 years. More fans buying tickets would help balance that budget. What about that do you not understand
JM
May 24th, 2011
3:47 pm
I hold Don Waddell, the ASG group and miserable jerks like Gary Bettman all culpable for the crime of NHL hockey bugging out of ATL for the second time. Don Waddell had some good players that he did not develop, there was no team-building, and the local media relegated hockey to the back benches in any sports coverage. If Tampa Bay can go from last place to being a Cup contender in 4 years, with Steve Yzerman at the helm, the ASG surely could’ve given Atlanta a good team. Bettman is a wanna-be elitist; a stuffed shirt, who regularly displays his total contempt for the fans of the game that pays his salary.
Bobby Walden
May 24th, 2011
3:48 pm
The Thrasher wouldn’t have drawn even IF they had won. Atlanta cares not for hockey. (Who does? Tell me what network shows it. VS? ) Good riddance to the NHL. I know the fans, all of 2 of them, will miss it, but, well, tough noogy.
Yes, Jeff, I am a dumb hockey fan!
May 24th, 2011
3:49 pm
WHAT????? That is the most outrageous statement yet since the afternoon knucklehead on 680. Look, the lawsuit brought out the first and most important point…the Atlanta Scumbag Group did not want this team at all!!! It clears up a lot of important points like why did they keep Don Waddell for so long….
If you are a GM of any intellect, you do not go around trading your best players for some unknown prospect and a 6th round draft choice. How often was this done and why? Easy, it was done a lot and the main objective was to keep the payroll of the team down. With payroll down, you are not as competitive which leads to less ticket sales which means, in the case of the ASG, a hopeful quick and easy sale of the franchise… it is so simple and with the lack of any marketing and penetration of the suburbs, the desire to buy tickets will drop. So Waddell stays, gets a nice salary for doing little to nothing for any team improvement and now here we are today.
No, Mr. Bettman, it was not us!!! I have been told the loudest cheer they ever heard at Philips Arena was when Keith Tzachuk scored on Ryan Miller of Buffalo to secure our spot in the playoffs. It still brings goosebumps to me and my other season ticket holder buddies.
If you are going to leave, leave! Quit dragging our emotions and heart around (sorry Tom Petty and STevie Nicks). Or else, if there is a chance, give somebody one…pick up the Thrashers and give us some time to get a true buyer who cares.
Walker, Texas Ranger
May 24th, 2011
3:50 pm
Jeff, funny you use the image of Willie Coyote when the whole mess is about salvaging the Coyote’s team and recoup some of their losses with the sale of the Thrashers. Bettman is a POS and a coward and the single reason for the demise of the NHL.