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Originally Posted by Textcritic
For you, yes. For fans that live and die with the team, yes. But this is probably only 20-30% of the season-ticket base. For most casual fans—who, as a collective form the largest cross-section of the market—it is not nearly as palatable.
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I'm not sure it's this black and white. There are a myriad of other ways ownership can market a rebuilding team than solely on the prospects of making the playoffs.
I.e fans in Ottawa attend games to watch the blossoming young talent like Tkachuk and Stutzle. Edmonton, even in their darkest years and through times of economic turmoil, averaged a sellout. I think fans are as interested in watching premiere hockey talent, and from a STH perspective, would get behind a vision that included building around that talent through the draft.
We've seen this proven out in Toronto as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I don't believe this is true. Rebuilding in most cases is still a dacade-long process. The 4-5 year builds by Chicago or Pittsburgh are the exception, NOT the nor..
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I think it's obviously draft class dependent. The last Flames 'rebuild' was two years. It doesn't need to be a 5 year tankathon, and accumulating picks I think minimizes the turnaround. With two excellent drafts upcoming, it's not unreasonable that a quicker rebuild could be on the horizon for teams that commit to it.
