Quote:
Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction
I think ownership and management put a lot of stock in the opinion of season ticket holders. While the fanbase is engaged and rabid, there is also a history of losing interest when things go badly.
I remember suggesting that the team properly rebuild by tearing it down and stop resisting a bottoming out. It pissed off a few people on here who are season ticket holders (me, not being one). There were many who said they would cancel their tickets rather than see a rebuild. Maybe it wasn't a huge sample size given the total number of season ticket holders, most of whom probably don't engage on here, but I did get the sense that it is a popular sentiment.
I can see how this attitude would influence ownership/management decisions, and not always for the best when it comes to building a contender.
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The owners are scared to death of what a rebuild would mean for the sustainability of the franchise, and it is hard to blame them with the examples on hand.
In more than 25-years a Canadian team has not managed to see a rebuild successfully through to a championship. The best result may have been the 2011 Vancouver Canucks, and it took nearly ten years and two management changes from the time the Sedins were drafted before they started to see tangible results.
Since then, the Winnipeg Jets have floundered in mediocrity, the Oilers remain an awful team after winning FOUR draft lotteries, and the Maple Leafs had to invest over $30 m on their top-three forwards without a single playoff-series win to show for it. The Flames were drawing fewer than 12,000 fans to watch hockey in the dark times, and seeing what Ottawa and Vancouver are suffering right now is enough to make them think twice about scorching earth.