[OOT] May 23, game six of the Eastern Conference final.

[midniteowl]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

After watching Kessel whine repeatedly early in the series, I'd love to see the sens come back and win it. Not gonna happen though.

I'd rather see Kessel whine than to see Burrow get a chance to hoist the Stanley Cup.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Help me reconcile the the first two points of your post. The down fall of the NHLs gate revenue, will be due to the quality of the TV product. The TV product, that is so good it's going to deter in person attendance at games, is however going to have less value in the future than it does now?

How is that possible. If demand for the TV product is going to go up, how does the value drop?

Demand for the overall product not going up but staying steady or heading down, with people shifting from viewing in person to viewing on TV.

While arguably I could see that inflating TV numbers, I think a company like Rogers has buyers' remorse on spending too much on their deal in the first place. So that's where I'm thinking the deal could be tough to replicate. Open to debate though! I think that article was fairly old if I recall (think I saw it on here though).

[robaur]

I have heard a lot of times that the Senators play out of the way for a large part of the population....yet I checked and its a 20 minute drive from Ottawa city center to the canadian tire center...and 30 mins from gatineau....like in calgary...it easily takes me 30 mins to go to a flames game....anyone care to shed some light on this?

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by robaur

I have heard a lot of times that the Senators play out of the way for a large part of the population....yet I checked and its a 20 minute drive from Ottawa city center to the canadian tire center...and 30 mins from gatineau....like in calgary...it easily takes me 30 mins to go to a flames game....anyone care to shed some light on this?

I think it also has to do with traffic, apparently thereis one road in and out. At the end of the game it can take well over an hour to get home or to anywhere.

I had a friend move from Calgary to there and he backed up the awful location claim. That is all I know.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by robaur

I have heard a lot of times that the Senators play out of the way for a large part of the population....yet I checked and its a 20 minute drive from Ottawa city center to the canadian tire center...and 30 mins from gatineau....like in calgary...it easily takes me 30 mins to go to a flames game....anyone care to shed some light on this?

On paper it may be a 20 min commute, that is if you are driving an ambulance on an empty highway blasting through.

Don't get started with the "Airdrie is only 10 min away from downtown Calgary" type crap....

[robaur]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

On paper it may be a 20 min commute, that is if you are driving an ambulance on an empty highway blasting through.

Don't get started with the "Airdrie is only 10 min away from downtown Calgary" type crap....

well...thats why i'm asking. if you could please explain, that would be great.

[billybob123]

I've said this before: I grew up in Ottawa and was a partial season ticket holder for the Sens in the late 90s/early 2000s. The arena is not that bad if you live in the west or south ends of Ottawa, and the suburbs. There is more than one road to get to the arena, but only one expressway (which I never drove in Ottawa at rush hour even if I wasn't going to games). People will complain all they want about how 'inconvenient' the arena is,but the reason they don't sell out games is because Ottawa sports fans are fickle. Look at the attendance this year, they have had 12000 and less to Arizona and Carolina games.

ETA I haven't been back in a while but the arena area is a lot more built up. There are also restaurants on Terry Fox Dr (outlet road from parking lots) in both directions, including a large power mall area. Excuses, excuses, excuses.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by ah123

Read on Reddit that it has a lot to do with the ongoing Phoenix payroll system issues.

Apparently a lot of federal employees haven't gotten paid in a while, so a lot of people are really tight on money

A while is putting it lightly. My co-workers wife has not been paid in 18 months.

[flamesrule_kipper34]

Isn't it also due to the fact that there is no a great public transport available to the arena?

Someone told me this once, not sure if true but if it is that's also pretty key.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by Flames89

If pens win series, there will be wayyyy too much yellow in the SCF

These jerseys would be better then.

[yow8309]

Originally Posted by flamesrule_kipper34

Isn't it also due to the fact that there is no a great public transport available to the arena?

Someone told me this once, not sure if true but if it is that's also pretty key.

I live in Kanata and it isn't in the middle of nowhere. Kanata is where most of the Sens cooperate supports are located (the hi-tech companies). We need to remember that the Fed can't buy tickets and public servant cannot accept tickets from cooperation.

Driving on the 417 isn't that bad but it is no fun and the special event buses aren't that bad. It is going to be worst when the team move to downtown with no parking, no quick access to highway, and a LRT system that go to nowhere...

[mennoknight]

Originally Posted by flamesrule_kipper34

Isn't it also due to the fact that there is no a great public transport available to the arena?

Someone told me this once, not sure if true but if it is that's also pretty key.

I live downtown-ish Ottawa and I will only go to games on the bus. It's 40-45 minutes typically for me to get there, 45 to get back plus a 15 minute walk. It's a big deterrent. It is definitely not the only reason attendance stinks, but it's a factor.

[Erick Estrada]

It's the Stanley Cup conference finals so there's no excuse for not selling out. If this was a US city nobody here would be making excuses for them and most would be talking about how much better the team would be in Quebec City. Ottawa simply isn't a very good sports city as they have lost their CFL team twice and they like the Redblacks now but once they have downtime attendance will be terrible again.

[yow8309]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

It's the Stanley Cup conference finals so there's no excuse for not selling out. If this was a US city nobody here would be making excuses for them and most would be talking about how much better the team would be in Quebec City. Ottawa simply isn't a very good sports city as they have lost their CFL team twice and they like the Redblacks now but once they have downtime attendance will be terrible again.

I agree and last night's game shouldn't consider a sold out also... I got an email from my boys school yesterday afternoon...

"A generous donor in the Ottawa community has purchased a large block of tickets for the Senators vs Pittsburgh game #6 tonight and has given this block to the Education Foundation so children may attend the game. We have been selected as one of the schools to receive these tickets as a thank you for the thousands of dollars that we have raised for the Education Foundation over the years."

I have to give a big thank you to this generous donor... he/she was doing a great deed to kids in Ottawa yesterday.

[CroFlames]

EE right. Brutal that it's not sold out.

Meanwhile you have those wonderful maniac spastic fans in Nashville. I hope they win the Cup.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by mennoknight

I live downtown-ish Ottawa and I will only go to games on the bus. It's 40-45 minutes typically for me to get there, 45 to get back plus a 15 minute walk. It's a big deterrent. It is definitely not the only reason attendance stinks, but it's a factor.

And that's if you live downtown.

If you live on the East Side of the city/suburbs (Gloucester/Orleans) then you are looking at 90 minutes each way via transit.

Whenever I visit my in-laws in Orleans we talk about going to a game, but when you are looking at 3 hours of transit time there and back it's just not worth it (for a regular season game at least).

For a conference finals game I would probably make the trip, but still can see why people might just prefer to stay home or go to a pub.

[Toonage]

What was Ottawa's regular season attendance like?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

A while is putting it lightly. My co-workers wife has not been paid in 18 months.

Does she still go to work? I would give me company like 2 days past the mandated pay time to pay me before I stopped coming in.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by ah123

Read on Reddit that it has a lot to do with the ongoing Phoenix payroll system issues.

Apparently a lot of federal employees haven't gotten paid in a while, so a lot of people are really tight on money

http://www.hockeydb.com/nhl-attendan...h.php?tmi=7328

2000 less in attendance then last year and most recent years, in a Stanley Cup final potential year.

Definitely Pheonix being the main cause. There are many people who haven't been paid in 6 months.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by yow8309

I agree and last night's game shouldn't consider a sold out also... I got an email from my boys school yesterday afternoon...

"A generous donor in the Ottawa community has purchased a large block of tickets for the Senators vs Pittsburgh game #6 tonight and has given this block to the Education Foundation so children may attend the game. We have been selected as one of the schools to receive these tickets as a thank you for the thousands of dollars that we have raised for the Education Foundation over the years."

I have to give a big thank you to this generous donor... he/she was doing a great deed to kids in Ottawa yesterday.

Nice gesture but no kids are going to a game where puck drop is scheduled at 8:15 in the middle of nowhere.