Great post. I am from Cape Cod, down here in the states. I think there are a lot of US fans that like Canadian teams - I am in Bruins country - and there attendance has been very low due to their lack of wins.

Hockey is NOT as big in the US as it is in Canada. Hockey in Canada is the equivelent (*spelling) to football here in the states.

GO HABS GO!

/northwind

The problem with some of these teams that have low attendance figures is that for a team like the Hawks, the owners is more interested with his bottom line than the product.  They rid themselves of all star players who asked for a raise or were going to UFA and not replaced any of them.  In the last couple of years, they have started to acquire players off the UFA market, but it hasn't done anything in the standings yet.  I guess people just got tired of watching a loser and decided to spend their money elsewhere.  The Hawks will have to put together a couple of winning seasons in a row and have a team on the rise before people decide to go watch them.  Plus I forget where I read this,  it was just a week or two ago, the owner Bill Wirtz does not broadcast one local game on local television.  He figures people should go to the arena if they want to see them play.  The Bruins had the same problem essentially with an owner that was more of a hindrance to the product on the ice.  Jacobs would spend the money for UFA, but none on his RFA at the same time alienating his stars.  Ray Bourque played in Boston for well below market value for his entire career there.  Jason Allison left for what began as a financial dispute.  Thornton is gone too, traded for less than market value.  They got quantity and not quality.  Primeau is not a bad hockey player but if he's on the second wave of the PP, you have depth problems.  There were other players who asked for a trade away from Boston over the years, I can't remember who at this time.  A lot of these other places like Florida, Tampa, Carolina have the kind of fans that are more like "Bandwagon fans".  They will only watch if they think their team is going to win, because let's face it, the party is a lot more fun if the team is winning and everyone is cheering.

Mad Habber wrote:

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The problem with some of these teams that have low attendance figures is that for a team like the Hawks, the owners is more interested with his bottom line than the product.  They rid themselves of all star players who asked for a raise or were going to UFA and not replaced any of them.  In the last couple of years, they have started to acquire players off the UFA market, but it hasn't done anything in the standings yet.  I guess people just got tired of watching a loser and decided to spend their money elsewhere.  The Hawks will have to put together a couple of winning seasons in a row and have a team on the rise before people decide to go watch them.  Plus I forget where I read this,  it was just a week or two ago, the owner Bill Wirtz does not broadcast one local game on local television.  He figures people should go to the arena if they want to see them play.  The Bruins had the same problem essentially with an owner that was more of a hindrance to the product on the ice.  Jacobs would spend the money for UFA, but none on his RFA at the same time alienating his stars.  Ray Bourque played in Boston for well below market value for his entire career there.  Jason Allison left for what began as a financial dispute.  Thornton is gone too, traded for less than market value.  They got quantity and not quality.  Primeau is not a bad hockey player but if he's on the second wave of the PP, you have depth problems.  There were other players who asked for a trade away from Boston over the years, I can't remember who at this time.  A lot of these other places like Florida, Tampa, Carolina have the kind of fans that are more like "Bandwagon fans".  They will only watch if they think their team is going to win, because let's face it, the party is a lot more fun if the team is winning and everyone is cheering.

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You nailed it Mad Habber. A lot of the NHL brass could give a @#!$ about the fans.

Which makes it doubly irritating to watch how successful they've been at getting fans to sympathize with them (cities offering to take the financial risk by paying for arenas, the one-dimensional line so many accepted about the lockout - which was only about reducing risk for owners, certainly not keeping ticket prices reasonable, etc...).