For Marrella, Re: Hockey interest in Calorina.

[Jazz]

Hey Marrella.

Our local sports show had a segment on the Calorlina Hurricanes last night. There was an interesting interview by Luke Decock, the Hurricanes beat writer with the "News & Observer". You can hear it.

To access the interview:

• Go to www.cknw.com
  
• Select "AUDIO VAULT"

[/b] near the upper left.
that should get you to this site: www.grahamscott.com/vault/

[/li][li]Select "SUN JUN.20"[/b] under date: and "10pm"[/b] under hour and hit "GO"[/b].
Windows Media player will open up.
[/li][li]Adjust the scroll on the bottom to "27:00"[/b] (corresponding to 10:27:00pm Vancouver time).[/li][/ul]

The inverview is about 10 minutes long and they talk about all things 'Canes related, including the recent Gerber acquisition , and what damage a potential lockout can do to the fan-base in Carolina.

I just wanted to know if you (or anyone else here) had any thoughts on the topics discussed.

Gurj in Vancouver.

[marrella]

Hey Gurj ... I just saw your note to me. Sorry for the delay in responding. I haven't listend to Luke's interview yet but will. Thanks for that heads up.

Since I don't know what Luke said, I can't comment. But here are my thoughts.

Everyone from outside the area characterizes Raleigh as a college basketball town ... which it is since we have three major universities here ... each with a great basketball team. But what continues to get overlooked by so many people is, we also have 1) one of the highest per capita incomes in the nation, 2) it's very much a family town, and 3) we have a LOT of transplants from "traditional" hockey towns, including those in Canada (Nortel). THis means we have a built in decent hockey fan base. On top of that, it's a sports oriented town anyway due to college basketball and football ... so it picks up additional fans from that base. Finally, for some reason, hockey attracts NASCAR fans. They seem to prefer the tough guys like Jesse Boulerice, but what the heck ... they're buying tickets so who cares.

So we got our new arena five years ago, we made our run to the Stanley Cup, and our season ticketholder base hit 12,000. Critical to that base is, of course, corporate sponserships. But, the team bombed out the following season, the economy went South, layoffs of high salaried, high tech people were rampant. So, individuals could no longer afford their season tix and companies drastically reduced their financial support.

However, I am firmly convinced the interest in hockey is here and with an improving economy and a decent team next year, we'll be back on track.

So, what about the lock out? If it delays the season start, I don't think it will be a problem. In fact, hockey fans will be so ginned up when it finally does start I suspect we'll see a full arena for every home game. If we lose the entire season, I still don't think it will kill hockey here from a fan's perspective. And frankly, I don't even think it will cause the team to go under. In fact, I really wonder what incentive many of these owners/managers have to ensure there isn't a lock out? If they're losing as much as they say they are during a full season, playing only a partial season or no season at all probably doesn't cost them as much as their full season losses!

My biggest concern is .. if there is a full season lock out and Karmanos decides to sell or the Canes fold, we the taxpayers are stuck paying for the arena. Losing 40+ games /events is going to be tough to replace with concerts or other events. Not a pretty picture.

I would also have concerns about what kind of a team we would have when the lockout ends (assuming the Canes franchise still existed here in Raleigh). Would the guys be playing in Europe? WOuld they not be playing at all? What kind of shape would they be in? The usual questions.

While I understand the NHLPA's issues and certainly am one of many who can't stand Bettman (he got booed by the fans during yesterday's draft) I do have to ask the NHLPA this question .. ultimately, is it better to have 600 guys employed playing in the NHL with a salary cap .. or is it better to have 600 guys playing for lesser salaries elsewhere .. or worse yet, not playing at all?

I realize the salary cap is not the only issue, but it's probably the most contentious. I'm not a big union fan since I think unions have a tendency to not see the forest for the trees. And I am for a cap to help level out the huge disparity among team payrolls. I prefer to see great coaching, draft picking, trading and training result in the greatest teams ... and not have payroll so significantly influence performance.

OK, I've gone off on a tangent. And you're probably now supremely bored. So I'll listen to Luke DeCock's interview and if he addresses anything I didn't, I'll comment later (and shorter)!

[Jazz]

marrella said:

OK, I've gone off on a tangent. And you're probably now supremely bored. So I'll listen to Luke DeCock's interview and if he addresses anything I didn't, I'll comment later (and shorter)!

Hey, no worries!
I was glad to read your response.

One thing Luke (or I may have heard it eslewhere) mentioned was that the upcoming season is the first season where all the luxury/corporate boxes are all sold out - and that appears to be a good sign.

2 further questions for you:
Are you a (relatively) recent hockey convert or a long-time fan?, and
Is hockey having the same problem there as it normally does in appealing to minorities? I was wondering with Kevin Weekes there for a few years if they used him at all to try and attract the Afro-American population?

Gurj.

[marrella]

Good questions!

OK, this is going to be a dead giveaway as to my age, but I went to a few Flames games in my earlier years ... and I mean Atlanta Flames, not Calgary Flames!!! Wouldn't say I was a hockey fan, though. I just happened to be dating a guy who liked hockey.

Was moderately interested in hockey but not a big fan (to be clear, I was never a big fan of any sport when I was growing up). When I moved to Raleigh, we had a hockey team, the Ice Caps, so I went to quite a few of those games. And I used to travel a lot for work and would wind up going to hockey games with clients in "true" hockey towns (like Detroit).

But I didn't really get hooked until the Canes moved to Raleigh. I went to watch them practice one day and was absolutely hooked. Since they were new to the area and building a fan base, I was able to lock in season tix and never intend to give them up! So I guess that would mean, I'm a recent convert.

On the minority fan issue, I did notice an increase in black attendance after Weekes arrived. But it's not a huge base. I don't see any major marketing effort directed towards the African American community. Most marketing just seems to be directed toward the sports-minded male community in general.

Oddly, we have a decent fan base of Asian Indians. Again, not huge, but noticeable. I'm not sure if they are really Canadians of Indian heritage, or Americans of Indian heritage but I suspect a good many are Canadian as the population increases when Toronto is in town.