America's Team: The Blackhawks

[Jets4Life]

"Under Wirtz, the Blackhawks’ business staff has tripled, to 75, while General Manager Stan Bowman sits in on marketing meetings to keep the business and hockey staffs in lock step. Coach Joel Quenneville has been known to ask about TV ratings after games.

The growth has been eye-popping. The Blackhawks had a paltry 3,400 season-ticket holders when Wirtz took over; now there is a waiting list of more than 13,000. The team’s two flagship apparel stores — one downtown and one in the suburbs — sold
$5 million in merchandise from last July to this past April. Forbes valued the Blackhawks at $179 million in 2007, 16th in the league. They are now ranked fourth, worth $825 million.

Last November, the research firm Nielsen Scarborough calculated that 50 percent of the Chicago market watched, attended or listened to a Blackhawks game the previous year, up from 8 percent in 2007. The head count was 3.7 million. (The Rangers were second among hockey teams in the United States, at 2.6 million.) Along the way, the Blackhawks leapfrogged the Bulls, the Cubs and the White Sox and now trail only the Bears here."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/sp...ef=hockey&_r=1

And just to think, the Blackhawks were voted the worst professionally run sports franchise in North America," just a decade ago.

[Flashpoint]

Amazing what winning can do.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

Amazing what winning can do.

Winning and non-inept ownership.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

Amazing what winning can do.

Amazing what competent, and in this case superior, management can do.

It always starts at the top.

[OutOfTheCube]

Yep, in the big market US in particular with so much competition for people's sports attention and money, winning is everything.

[White Out 403]

all well and good to praise the new management, and that's fine, but winning as much as they have in the 2nd largest US market in a northern US city should really be a no brainer to see these kinds of results.

[N-E-B]

The terms "America's team" and "Canada's team" need to die. Unbelievably annoying. Until they change their name to the America Blackhawks they are no one but Chicago's team. Same principle applies when the last standing Canadian team becomes "Canada's team". It's annoying and stupid.

And that's my rant on an issue that does not affect my life in any way shape or form.

[troutman]

The arenas in ANA and TB are bursting with Hawks fans in these playoffs.

[oldschoolcalgary]

friedman did a great story on this...definitely worth watching

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/c...y-renaissance/

Toews talking about playing in front of 9000 fans and being really surprised... 180 turn since 2007

[dammage79]

They might just become the Leafs of America. It is crazy to see how many Hawks jerseys you see in other arenas. Even NSH had a couple of bars aimed squarely at Hawks fans.

[thefoss1957]

Also, as far as emigration from the City, Chicago has had an exodus of population since the 70s, when recessions made the job market for industry tight...moreover, many retirement age Chicagoans head for warmer climes...Chicago having such a large population base, this means that there are significant native Chicagoans spread through the US...myself included...Chicago teams in general, and Cub, Bear, and Blackhawk teams, in particular, are often said to "travel well"...a LARGE portion of those Chi-fans are already living in those hostile markets.

Many might put this kind of fan down to "bandwagon", but, even though competent management and winning HAS added a few of those, one cannot say the same for the Bears, and especially the Cubs, who also have a diverse and dispersed fan base throughout the US.

[FlamesAddiction]

That black skull jersey is awesome.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

That black skull jersey is awesome.

Agreed. It's badass.

[Gaskal]

On my bike rides I'll often pass by a red car flag and smile thinking its calgary. But then go "Dammit" as I realize its a Blackhawks one.

[Jets4Life]

Originally Posted by troutman

The arenas in ANA and TB are bursting with Hawks fans in these playoffs.

Looks like it could have been worse, with this bizarre policy of discouraging Blackhawk fans from attending games:

"(CBS) When an executive defends a business decision by insisting that he’s not sorry they made it, that’s a pretty good indication that he knows it’s wrong.
Such is the case with the manifest insecurities of the Tampa Bay Lightning as they prepare to welcome the Blackhawks for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night. “Welcome” is probably not the ideal word in this case, however, after one notices the stern language on the team’s Ticketmaster site articulating their limitations on purchases.
“Please note,” it reads, “Amalie Arena is located in Tampa, FL. Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of Florida. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside the selected area will be canceled without notice and refunds given.”
It’s fashionable now for lesser NHL cities in this country to act petulantly like this, assuming they can use policies to somehow create more people who actually like their team and also assuming the vocalized loyalties of fans have a tangible effect on winning or losing. Nashville adopted this silly strategy earlier this year, particularly to ward off Blackhawks fans who seem to enjoy spending for plane tickets and hotel rooms to watch a hockey dynasty in full force. Imagine that."



http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/06/...y-is-pathetic/

[terminator]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

The terms "America's team" and "Canada's team" need to die. Unbelievably annoying. Until they change their name to the America Blackhawks they are no one but Chicago's team. Same principle applies when the last standing Canadian team becomes "Canada's team". It's annoying and stupid.

And that's my rant on an issue that does not affect my life in any way shape or form.

This post is annoying

[ricosuave]

but but but what about hockeytown?

[FireGilbert]

There are 23 teams in 'Merica. The Hawks are maybe the team of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. I like geography.

[tripin_billie]

I was in Chicago this weekend. The city is really going crazy over them. Jerseys everywhere, hawks decorations like helmets on art museum lions, and everyone talking about the hawks. Pretty awesome atmosphere they've got right now.

[jayswin]

I think some in this thread are focusing on the title a little too much. Don't worry about that just focus on the story itself as it's a really incredible story.

My favorite part was Patrick Kane saying how in the first season they would get 2-3 thousand fans in the building for pre-season games (seats 22k) and the players who weren't playing would go sit with the fans and no one would even recognize them.

That's pretty hilarious and shows how irrelevant that franchise was just ten years ago. I mean I get not being recognized at bars or in public in certain American markets, but that's pretty hilarious that not even the few people who care enough about the team to show up to a preseason game recognize a very highly touted American draft pick, haha.