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Carolina Hurricanes

Subway Scoundrel

By Subway Scoundrel
in Triangle Coffee House

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jumboman Unincorporated Area

jumboman

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the washington capitals finished next to last in the eastern conference last season... broughton as well as the hockey team from washington are both nicknamed the "caps"... just joking that maybe a high school hockey team might be better than the professional team from wash.

i guess too bad we got shutout by them the other night. we were in a tough situation playing a road game the day after a home game. but its a long season, and i think the canes have put together a great team and we will be very competitive this year!

go canes!

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ChiefJoJo Town

ChiefJoJo

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I attended the Buffalo game last Saturday night. Man, I had forgetten just how much fun hockey is in person. That was a fantastic game... 4-3 win in OT. I think having Buffalo, the team the Canes beat in 2006 playoffs on the way to the finals, as the opponent added a little spice to the game as well with both teams trying to position themselves for the playoffs. There were a number of Sabres fans there too--no fights to report (unlike '06). Anyway, if you haven't been in a while, I highly recommend going soon. The current team is fun to watch and the regular season is almost over.

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Subway Scoundrel Hamlet

Subway Scoundrel

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I attended the Buffalo game last Saturday night. Man, I had forgetten just how much fun hockey is in person. That was a fantastic game... 4-3 win in OT. I think having Buffalo, the team the Canes beat in 2006 playoffs on the way to the finals, as the opponent added a little spice to the game as well with both teams trying to position themselves for the playoffs. There were a number of Sabres fans there too--no fights to report (unlike '06). Anyway, if you haven't been in a while, I highly recommend going soon. The current team is fun to watch and the regular season is almost over.
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canes-29 Crossroads

canes-29

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Well, the recession (yes, we are in one) can't help. I think after the Stanley Cup run of 2006, the Canes now have a nice base market they can count on, but for the average fan, ticket prices and other concerns can be a factor. I guess you could say I'm friends of friends of a few Canes players, so I have access to freebies every so often, which allowed me to get into the lower level for Buffalo. I know we've talked about this ad nauseum, but the overall experience surrounding the games would be vastly improved if the arena was downtown. Water under the bridge...
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Jones_ City

Jones_

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Just speaking for myself, but the precise reason I rarely go is the traffic. I also now do not go to NC State basketball or any concerts out there. Concerts at Memeorial...no prob. NC State at Reynolds....all the time. Hockey a trolly ride from home or at least a pregame place other than Damons....much more likely. Just me.

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dmccall Burg

dmccall

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One of the reasons Raleigh has grown is that it attracts a certain type of person, generally people who don't waste money. I go to as many games as I can, but ultimately I have to be fiscally responsible. I don't care what ticket prices in other cities are because that discussion doesn't include the average household income in those cities. I go to about 8-10 games a year, the most I can possibly afford, and watch nearly every game on TV.

I think we're doing a great job with attendance. There are not too many things that cost this much that typical people can do 41 times per year.

The location debate will probably continue until Meeker overrules the people and insists that we do what Charlotte did. The real question for all of the downtown arena zealots is: Why are the Charlotte Bobcats only drawing 14,000 people per game? It has nothing to do with the facility and its location. It's the product on the court. Does anyone remember the Tar Heels' attendance problem in 2002?

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ncwebguy Burg

ncwebguy

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The RBC Center and the Hurricanes (and a lot of companies in RTP) are where they are due to being good/tight/cheap/whatever with money and other resources.

The building is there because NC State already had the land sitting idle, used mostly for parking for football and the state fair. The land was free and undeveloped. Being close to I-40 and sort of close to 440 was an extra benefit. If being close to 40 was reason enough, the arena would have been built on the University's *other* undeveloped land near a freeway, Centennial Campus. The Centennial Authority, operators of the ESA/RBC Center, was named after that idea. Somewhere along the line, Steve Stroud conviced the right people the arena should be built by the football stadium because there were already parking spaces there, and it would make his nearby property worth more.

Throw into the mix Peter Karmanos. His Hartford Whalers were perennial cellar dwellers in a market with few loyal fans, financial problems and a horrible home arena. City government spent as little as possible on the Hartford Civic Center, and had no interest in building a new arena. City officials thought Karmanos's threats to move were just a bluff, since markets interested in the NHL were recently served by the league's expansion teams and several former Canadian teams moving south of the border. In the new NC State arena, Karmonos saw a way to get a state of the art facility for little money, and knew he would get the NHL's blessing because they were attracted to the Triangle's RTP-driven demographics and the benefit of being the the pro sports team in the market vs. Hartford's squeeze between NYC and Boston.

The city and county were happy to have an arena bigger than Dorton to host the circus, Harlem Globetrotters, etc. By then, Fetzer had made downtown quite unattractive by sending every possible city dollar north of 440. Hockey? Never heard of it (the loyal Raleigh Icecaps fanbase (myself included) not withstanding), but it is a Major league, and Raleigh wanted to be a Major League city. Of course the folks in Smithfield though the whole thing would never fly, but luckily we didn't listen to them. If only we could do that today, but I digress.

Karmanos's team was always near/at the bottom of salary, so ticket prices could be kept low and still come close to turning a profit. The Stanley Cup finals appearance againstt the Red Wings raised fan interest in the team. The Cup win helped cement it in North Carolina sports history, next to the baskebtall championships of the three local universities. The lockout and salary cap put the Hurricanes (and NHL in general) on firm financal ground and has been getting better since.

To attract fans, after some tweaking, managment realized what the Charlotte Hornets, Carolina Panthers, Durham Bulls knew -- fans want a college-like atmosphere/loyalty that was family friendly.

The Bobcats though they would be greeted as liberators, and their mere presence would lead to the same string of sellouts the Hornets received when they arrived. Unfortunatly, the Bobcats severely underestimated the resentment the fans had toward the NBA product. Hornets owner George Shinn wouldn't share power with Michael Jordon, Shinn abandoned Charlotte once New Orleans offered a new arena *and* gave Charlotte a small window to respond. When the NFL came to town, the NBA wasn't the only pro game in town, and the league did little to keep "their" Hornets in Charlotte. The Bobcats also had a difficult time figuring out how to replicate the college-like atmosphere the Hornets had. Drafting local UNC players Raymond Felton and Sean May after their NCAA championship season helped, as have other high draft picks. Light rail also helps draw fans to the arena that may otherwise be turned off by traffic, (various concerts, CIAA, ACC tournaments) another lesson we could learn around here...

UNC has attendance problems during periods of low performance because they are a pro team disguised as a college program -- the majority of their fans are loyal to a *good* team, not the team of the "People's university". Like Duke fans, a large number of UNC supporters didn't attend classes on campus.

The RBC Center's "convenience" makes several assumptions: 1) you don't use mass transit to get there 2) you are willing to subject yourself to traffic snarls on Edwards Mill and Trinity 3) you are willing to pay to park (or walk from the fairgrounds) 4) you don't want to hang out (other than tailgating) before or after the game -- get in, watch the game, go home. It is interesting/telling that people are willing to pay to park near the RBC Center for a few hours *and* walk several blocks from car to the arena entrance, yet refuse to park for free in parking decks downtown at night and on the weekends.

ESPN has done all it can to make the casual American sports fan forget about the NHL after the league didn't give away its broadcast rights. To say nothing of the Hurricanes themselves, since the Whalers were the "home team" for ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Conn. ESPN started losing interest in the NHL shortly after, and hockey now loses out to Arena Football for Sportscenter coverage.

Hopefully a playoff run will revive fan interest, as the team seems to be peaking at the right time. I just hope it can carry over into the second season.

(Edit -- added the NYT link)

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canes-29 Crossroads

canes-29

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One of the reasons Raleigh has grown is that it attracts a certain type of person, generally people who don't waste money. I go to as many games as I can, but ultimately I have to be fiscally responsible. I don't care what ticket prices in other cities are because that discussion doesn't include the average household income in those cities. I go to about 8-10 games a year, the most I can possibly afford, and watch nearly every game on TV.

I think we're doing a great job with attendance. There are not too many things that cost this much that typical people can do 41 times per year.

The location debate will probably continue until Meeker overrules the people and insists that we do what Charlotte did. The real question for all of the downtown arena zealots is: Why are the Charlotte Bobcats only drawing 14,000 people per game? It has nothing to do with the facility and its location. It's the product on the court. Does anyone remember the Tar Heels' attendance problem in 2002?

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dmccall Burg

dmccall

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The question referred to why we are not selling out every night. I'm not saying that going to games is a waste. I'm saying that there are a whole lot of people who have no business spending $5,000 per year for a pair of tickets to go do something 41 times. These events are not cheap and while we have a lot of people with money, it is still hard to sell something that costs that much to people night in and night out. I am a dentist and have an above average pool of patients. I commonly hear people talk about how hard it is to go to the movies ! - that's not even live entertainment!

Another challenge is the NHL's schedule. We have a disproportionate number of games against Florida, Atlanta, and Tampa. These teams are big draws to the rest of the league, either.

Keep in mind that I am not complaining about attendance. I think we're doing pretty darned well. On an average night we have 88% of the building full. We're 20th in the league, but we're very close to the median, not the low end.

I'm watching a spot on WRAL about how we are not attracting big events like secondary tournaments anymore because "we don't have enough to do around the arena." Start Meeker's drumbeat...

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kickazzz2000 Hamlet

kickazzz2000

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UNC has attendance problems during periods of low performance because they are a pro team disguised as a college program -- the majority of their fans are loyal to a *good* team, not the team of the "People's university". Like Duke fans, a large number of UNC supporters didn't attend classes on campus.
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