100k > 40k

Thanks Gary.  Ass.

It will be 50 degrees on January 1st in Chicago. Guranteed.

I recall reading that Holland has lobbied hard to have 5,000 tickets available for Wings fans.

It will be 50 degrees on January 1st in Chicago. Guranteed.

That’ll make for slushy ice.

After all the press get into the game, there may be NO seats left for fans at all.
Of course, the press is not allowed to cheer for their team, so the whole event might sound like a graveyard.

Hey now, there was some bona fide news goin’ on:

Cubs Chairman Crane Kenney says the event is a great chance to showcase Wrigley Field for the world to see, especially as the city vies for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Kenney says they’ll have an allotment of tickets that they’ll make available to season ticket holders, most likely through a lottery.

He expects to easily fill out all 41-thousand seats.

About 41,000 will see the Chicago game although prices have not been set. Kenney said no seats will be placed on the field.

Paul Kelly, executive director of the NHL Players Association union, said the league was also exploring the option of having a college hockey game played a couple days after the pro game to maximize the TV and media attention.

In other groundbreaking news, it may be cold on January 1st.

How’d I get roped into this mess…

Wow, the word “tickets” doesn’t appear in the transcript once.  “Ducats” neither.

Good on the league for creating event for which the only thing anyone seems to care about is how they can score tickets.  Not so good on the not being able to tell them 3 weeks later…

1) Wrigley holds 41,000 & Soldier field holds 62,000.  Not even close to double the capacity.
2) Soldier field was not made available due to the Bears
3) Why are you b**ching and moaning about such a classic event.  Lets try a little positive energy for once.  If you want tickets bad enough, you’ll be able to get them.

Hey Joel, I have a question for you.

What venue was the last Winter Classic played at? I believe it was the same place the Buffalo Bills play at. Blaming the Bears for the availability of Soldier Field? I hope you have a source for that one, because I’m not buying it.

It’s going to be a lot harder to score tickets to an event where only 41k seats are available than it will be to score tickets to an event where there are 62k seats.

And I believe it’s everyone’s right to complain about the fact that there’s going to be a Winter Classic in such a small venue, as well as the fact that ticket information hasn’t been released yet. Besides, you know, the blurb on the Blackhawks site trying to sell us season ticket packages.

Thanks, Gary. Ass.

2) Soldier field was not made available due to the Bears

Why give a minor-league football team precedence over hockey?

(It’s not like they’ll be in the playoffs or anything.)

Why give a minor-league football team precedence over hockey?

Ouch!

All the more reason the WCII should’ve been held at Michigan Stadium.  God, the Windfall!

Thanks, Gary.ASS.

Sheesh…
Security word:  mo95ney

The only way that the Bears would be a worry is if they made the playoffs.  But you see, that’s not even a worry as January 1, 2009 falls on a Thursday.

“Oh yeah smart guy?  What about the final week of the year?  They need time to get the field prepared for such a thing!”

Oh right, of course.  The Bears final home game of the NFL season is played on December 22nd.  The Bears close their season on the 28th at Houston.

So, feasibly, the only worry about Soldier Field would be about whether they could get the field ready for January 3rd or 4th for a football game.

Excuse:  Null and void.

Thanks Gary.  Ass.

What the hell are you guys bitching about?  I read when they announced the event that Soldier field was unavailable (due to the possibility of a Bears game (playoffs?)), so that’s why Wrigley.  Tickets will go on sale soon, it’s only July.  Did the Hasek Club Car open it’s doors early?  Or do people just need an outlet now that Lilja’s not on the ice flubbing breakout passes or losing defensive position?  I guess Lil’ Gary is as good an outlet as any, makes a nice Lila proxy.  Perhaps burning an effigy may help?

It could be worse...they could have the game at that sterile office building on the South Side where the Sox play.

What the hell are you guys bitching about?

Two things:

That the league had the opportunity to do something big, really big, but chose to think smallish instead.

Also that they didn’t bother actually having any information available regarding the second thing so many fans thought of when the game was announced:  “Who do I talk to about selling my brother’s kidney for tickets?”

(The first thing they thought was some variant of “Awesome!")

Soldier Field held more before that monstrosity of a flying saucer squatted on it, I think.

(And more than 50 degrees I’d be worried about a well-below-zero wind chill and two feet of snow.  Jiri Hudler would have to carry around a flag so he wouldn’t get lost in the snow drifts if the Blizzard of 1967 makes a reappearance.)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-chicagodays-1967blizzard-story,0,1032940.story

Why give a minor-league football team precedence over hockey?

Ouch!

Have you seen them?  I don’t know much about football at all, but even I know that it isn’t possible to run an offense without actually having a quarterback - and Rex Grossman doesn’t count.  At least not the “Bad Rex” version. 

Sometimes the truth hurts.

we should just count our blessings that the Wings are even it the WCII.  It could’ve been Phoenix vs the BJ’s.... exciting!

It could’ve been the BJ’s.... exciting!

Posted by cementslinger from Midland MI on 07/22 at 08:00 PM

I’ve watched BJ’s on New Year’s before!

...I am so ashamed of what I have become...<sigh>

Commissioner Gary Bettman: Good morning and welcome. The National Hockey League is absolutely delighted that Wrigley Field, this wonderful historic landmark, will be the site of the Winter Classic for 2009.

There he goes with that word “delighted”.  Blimey, have a spot of tea with scones and listen to some John Mayer.

Why have they not realized they need to do these at college football stadiums. They hold tons and tons of people.
WCIII better be beaver stadium pens and flyboys.

...I am so ashamed of what I have become...<sigh>

As far as I’m concerned, all your perversions are forgiven as long as you don’t take up stalking as a hobby. 

Let me get this straight, A2K readers.  Your team finishes in first place overall, wins the Cup, somehow manages to get even better in the off-season by signing one of the most sought-after free agents in the game, and then gets selected to play in the most watched single-game NHL event of the year, and you folks are complaining about tickets that haven’t even gone on sale yet?

But you’re right.  I mean hockey has really treated you Wings fans unfairly.  The NHL should have scheduled the Winter Classic in Detroit, in Bill’s backyard, with tickets reserved solely to A2K readers—no, not all of them, only the ones who do nothing but complain about a sport they obviously love—and each of you should have received a hand-written invitation from the Commissioner, 5 years in advance, so that you could all piss on it.  Am I right?

You guys crack me up!  Go Wings!

HockeyFan:

See earlier post with quote from Doom about pessimism.

And also Baroque’s post about what “we are bitching about.”

Sorry but Love = intense, even unfair, scrutiny over every choice.

Osrt:

Understood.  Not saying that the league’s choices don’t deserve your scrutiny, and I’ve been reading this blog long enough to know you guys are the experts at that (seriously, you guys know you’re stuff, that’s for sure). 

And yes, Love does equal intense/unfair scrutiny, but that’s not all it should equal.  Love also equals gratitude, and Wings fans have more to be grateful for than the fans of any other team these days, and I’m just noting the fact that gratitude rarely (if ever) makes it into the A2K reader comments (or Bill’s articles for that matter).  I just think it’s a shame, cause most NHL fans would die to have all the things that Wings fans have.

This was all about Bettman promoting the two non Crosby/Ovechkin players (out of the 700 or so who play in the NHL) that they’ve chosen to market, Jonathan Toews and (he’s an AMERICAN, OBOY) Patrick Kane, the team that they want to market that’s not named Pittsburgh, the Chicago Blackhawks (a.k.a. the Next Big Non-Crosby Thing), and getting a little MLB palm-greasing in the process courtesy of Mr. John McDonaugh. 

As far as I’m concerned, the non-season ticket-holders of the Blackhawks, Cubs, and Wings don’t count in Bettman’s eyes--they can watch on NBC and CBS, I mean the CBC--and that European team that won the Stanley Cup that will compete against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Winter Classic II at Wrigley Field< at 1 PM on NBC/CBC doesn’t really count.

Do they ever? 

Bettman’s going for ratings and bucks, and Chicago has more TV’s than Detroit does, and doesn’t have a one-state recession goin’ on:

“It’s important for all of our franchises to be healthy,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. “But this is an Original Six franchise. Chicago is a great sports town and this is a franchise over the last few years that has had some difficulties. With some terrific young players, (Jonathan) Toews and (Patrick) Kane to name two . . . there is a renewed vitality, renewed revitalization of this franchise. Hockey fans, sports fans in Chicago have a lot of reasons to be very excited.”

The game, which will be the 701st regular season-meeting between the two franchises, will take place at 1 p.m. ET.

“In addition to showcasing the excitement of today’s NHL to the millions of Americans on New Year’s Day, this game will also reintroduce America to the new Chicago Blackhawks,” said Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz. “This is a team of young and talented players who are renewing our franchise’s proud tradition. They’ll see a team that represents the new generation of hockey, the next generation of stars. This is a great move forward towards our future and the Blackhawks’ ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup.”

Rocky and Gary seem to forget that the team his club beat five times in the regular season actually made the playoffs last season, but it doesn’t matter.

In the words of the Two Live Jews: Bitter?  No, no, never bitter...Maybe pissed off…

There are places that this game could have taken place where fans who don’t feel like spending a grand per ticket on Ebay could have actually attended the game, places where it wouldn’t cost another grand to get there and stay there over New Year’s, and places where you could get to and from your venue in less than half a gabillion hours.

Y’know, if you’ve got the bucks to spend, good on ya, but there’s something to be said for an event that the fans who don’t have a grand to spend for a single game can also attend and have a good time.

I’m not sure if Gary Bettman understands that these “casual” sports fans that he wants to introduce to the NHL aren’t aware of the fact that the NHL is a difficult and sometimes expensive sport to follow in the first place, especially in the U.S., where Versus is both hard to find and is usually a “premium” channel, the non-internet major media coverage is confined to a back page of SI or ESPN’s magazine and/or a 90-second clip at the 48-minute mark of Sportscenter, and those who follow the sport fanatically need to shell out for the Center Ice package and pay some rather expensive prices to attend games at places like the United Center (cap or no cap). 

I’ll grant you that there are some good intentions here, it’s going to be pretty awesome for the players who participate in the event and the fans at home to take it in, and it is nice to know that, even unwittingly, Chairman Mao is going to be putting that Swedish Cup-winning team and Uncle Mike on a national stage. 

Who knows, maybe somebody will do something interesting like find out whether a boiled octopus tentacle sticks to a flagpole in January, but I won’t be there to see it in person, and I’m gathering that you probably won’t, either.  As somebody who was actually at the Cold War and can tell you that being there in person is worth any frostbite one might incur, that’s a big disappointment.  I just can’t get the image of a Wings-Leafs game at the Big House in Ann Arbor with 100,000 fans present out of my head, and it’s too bad that it’s gonna take another decade or more to see that happen.

It should have been played in a college football arena.  Maybe as half-time entertainment for one of those little-watched bowl games.  Increasing awareness of college football would have been a nice gesture on Lil G’s part.

@ HockeyFan from Online:

The problem is that even in spite of valid gripes, Wings fans (who do realize how lucky we are to have such a team to watch, believe me) have spent years hearing that the team is too European to win, too European to appeal to fans, too soft, too old, and plays a boring style of hockey because they don’t fight enough.

In the last playoffs, some talking head (might have been Milbury, might have been Melrose, might have been the Douche Canoe) actually said that he didn’t think Detroit had a good chance of advancing because “they didn’t have enough penalty minutes.”

He didn’t even say they weren’t fighting enough, just that they didn’t have enough penalty minutes (although seeing how Zetterberg killed penalties, he might have unintentionally had a point).  Hear that year after year after year, and then have every other team used as the Sidney Crosby to the background of the Red Wings, as though all they are is props for the rest of the league, gets annoying after a while.

Now if I was making the decisions, every season ticket holder for the Blackhawks would get a ticket to the game (none of this lottery stuff - they paid for 41 home games, they should get to see 41 home games), all the Red Wings season ticket holders would get first chance to buy remaining tickets at whatever price they were set at by the NHL to gouge the fans (one ticket per ticket-holder), and only then would it go to general public.

I’d also set aside 500 bleacher seats to be distributed to fans randomly drawn in a lottery to which they had to submit an essay as to why they are a hockey fan, so some regular fans would have a chance to attend instead of the well-heeled only, for the price of their travel only instead of shelling out an arm and a leg for tickets.

Unfortunately, no one else is compelled to conform with my delusions of grandeur, so regular people will have to watch on television (although I may need to resort to mute if the announcers make me hurl). 

I’m on the “You guys are bitching too much” train for this one.  Bitching for bitching’s sake gets old really, really fast.

Personally I wouldn’t have attempted to attend whether the game was at the United Center, Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, a porta-john, or the face of the moon.  As far as I’m concerned it’s a Wings game in Chicago; what I’m worried about is whether or not our boys are going to get their act together when playing against the Hawks because Chicago is a pretty good candidate to make the playoffs this year.

First and foremost. Wrigley Field? What about the Big House? Who are the champions? Ever been to Chicago in January? I have. Three blizzards full. And last but not least, no tickets for Wings fans.
Thanks Gary.Ass.

Wow.  Here’s a box of tissues.

They didn’t get Soldier field because those who run the place didn’t want a potential clusterf*ck.  Sure they could probably bust their ass and get the field ready, but why put yourself in that position?  It’s the Chicago Bear’s sandbox and if they don’t want the NHL to play in it, they don’t have to let them.

If Bettman really cared about getting a lot of people to the game in person, he’d schedule it for the middle of February.  Like someone else said, he’s after ratings, although I still think New Year’s day is a bad day to broadcast anything that isn’t College Football.  Luring in a lucrative TV deal is more important than getting every unemployed auto-worker with a hard on for the Wings into the Classic.

Do those tissues you offered up at the beginning of your rambling piece have pictures of Penguins on them, by any chance?

heard on the radio this morning the top 10 pussiest sports team names.  not exactly what they called the list, but my accurate interpretation.

in the #10 spot...the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Luring in a lucrative TV deal…

Which isn’t going to happen in the US.  The audience is far too fractured - other sports are moving more games to special channels and subscription packages as it is because so few people watch individual sports events.  That’s why the moaning and crying over dropping ratings for basketball, baseball “Games of the Week” (unless it is the Yankees or the Red Sox), and all-star exhibitions for all sports.

They are chasing after something that is vanishing as time passes.  The ratings might be good for that individual game, but it won’t draw attention from new fans for seeing an entirely different looking style of hockey - different jerseys, no snow, and usually with consderably less talent than a Detroit-Chicago matchup.  Why would someone want to see the Panthers and the Devils play in Florida in late January after they were captivated by Chicago and Detroit in a light snowfall in Wrigley?  Completely different experience.

I’ll take constructive criticism mixed in with a little bit of bitching.  Hockey fans are an extremely critical lot, but I think that there are some very positive and useful comments amidst the hand-wringing--my own included.

I don’t disagree Baroque, but that doesn’t mean the NHL can says screw it and not even try.

I’m no fan of Gary and the way he chooses not to market the NHL.  I do think the Winter Classic is a good thing, this could be an exciting game barring the injury factor.  The Hawks always play the Wings tough no matter what.

I just wish someone other than Gary would take over the NHL.  I’ve been wishing for a long, long time now....

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/23 at 12:21 PM

Dude, Baroque....I just sat here for like 15 minutes thinking of a way to say exactly that, but couldn’t find a way to articulate it. Impressive.

I can’t believe I gave up ten minutes of downloading porn to read the comments on this entry.

this could be an exciting game barring the injury factor.

she said it…

prepare ye faithful for the coming of the Vorpal Bunnies.

I don’t mean they shouldn’t try, but just that they shouldn’t hang all their hopes on that big television contract that will magically lift them from semi-obscurity and raise them to new levels of profitability and prominence.  It’s like a gambler losing, losing, losing, but convinced that this time, THIS TIME, his luck is really going to be different and he can cash in all his chips and retire a rich man.

Instead of chasing something that may not happen to the exclusion of all else, they should be working on how to market the game most effectively to the fans they have as well as those who might become hooked, instead of trying to convince those who are already predisposed to dislike hockey to change their minds.

Dude, Baroque....I just sat here for like 15 minutes thinking of a way to say exactly that, but couldn’t find a way to articulate it. Impressive.

Thanks. 

This was all about Bettman promoting the two non Crosby/Ovechkin players (out of the 700 or so who play in the NHL) that they’ve chosen to market, Jonathan Toews and (he’s an AMERICAN, OBOY) Patrick Kane, the team that they want to market that’s not named Pittsburgh, the Chicago Blackhawks (a.k.a. the Next Big Non-Crosby Thing), and getting a little MLB palm-greasing in the process courtesy of Mr. John McDonaugh.

As far as I’m concerned, the non-season ticket-holders of the Blackhawks, Cubs, and Wings don’t count in Bettman’s eyes--they can watch on NBC and CBS, I mean the CBC--and that European team that won the Stanley Cup that will compete against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Winter Classic II at Wrigley Field< at 1 PM on NBC/CBC doesn’t really count.

Do they ever?

Bettman’s going for ratings and bucks, and Chicago has more TV’s than Detroit does, and doesn’t have a one-state recession goin’ on:

“It’s important for all of our franchises to be healthy,” said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. “But this is an Original Six franchise. Chicago is a great sports town and this is a franchise over the last few years that has had some difficulties. With some terrific young players, (Jonathan) Toews and (Patrick) Kane to name two . . . there is a renewed vitality, renewed revitalization of this franchise. Hockey fans, sports fans in Chicago have a lot of reasons to be very excited.”

The game, which will be the 701st regular season-meeting between the two franchises, will take place at 1 p.m. ET.

“In addition to showcasing the excitement of today’s NHL to the millions of Americans on New Year’s Day, this game will also reintroduce America to the new Chicago Blackhawks,” said Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz. “This is a team of young and talented players who are renewing our franchise’s proud tradition. They’ll see a team that represents the new generation of hockey, the next generation of stars. This is a great move forward towards our future and the Blackhawks’ ultimate goal of winning the Stanley Cup.”

Rocky and Gary seem to forget that the team his club beat five times in the regular season actually made the playoffs last season, but it doesn’t matter.

In the words of the Two Live Jews: Bitter?  No, no, never bitter...Maybe pissed off…

There are places that this game could have taken place where fans who don’t feel like spending a grand per ticket on Ebay could have actually attended the game, places where it wouldn’t cost another grand to get there and stay there over New Year’s, and places where you could get to and from your venue in less than half a gabillion hours.

Y’know, if you’ve got the bucks to spend, good on ya, but there’s something to be said for an event that the fans who don’t have a grand to spend for a single game can also attend and have a good time.

I’m not sure if Gary Bettman understands that these “casual” sports fans that he wants to introduce to the NHL aren’t aware of the fact that the NHL is a difficult and sometimes expensive sport to follow in the first place, especially in the U.S., where Versus is both hard to find and is usually a “premium” channel, the non-internet major media coverage is confined to a back page of SI or ESPN’s magazine and/or a 90-second clip at the 48-minute mark of Sportscenter, and those who follow the sport fanatically need to shell out for the Center Ice package and pay some rather expensive prices to attend games at places like the United Center (cap or no cap).

I’ll grant you that there are some good intentions here, it’s going to be pretty awesome for the players who participate in the event and the fans at home to take it in, and it is nice to know that, even unwittingly, Chairman Mao is going to be putting that Swedish Cup-winning team and Uncle Mike on a national stage.

Who knows, maybe somebody will do something interesting like find out whether a boiled octopus tentacle sticks to a flagpole in January, but I won’t be there to see it in person, and I’m gathering that you probably won’t, either.  As somebody who was actually at the Cold War and can tell you that being there in person is worth any frostbite one might incur, that’s a big disappointment.  I just can’t get the image of a Wings-Leafs game at the Big House in Ann Arbor with 100,000 fans present out of my head, and it’s too bad that it’s gonna take another decade or more to see that happen.
Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 07/23 at 12:31 AM

thank you George !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  you said it all and said it well !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The problem is that even in spite of valid gripes, Wings fans (who do realize how lucky we are to have such a team to watch, believe me) have spent years hearing that the team is too European to win, too European to appeal to fans, too soft, too old, and plays a boring style of hockey because they don’t fight enough.

.....
......
Hear that year after year after year, and then have every other team used as the Sidney Crosby to the background of the Red Wings, as though all they are is props for the rest of the league, gets annoying after a while.

I just can’t get the image of a Wings-Leafs game at the Big House in Ann Arbor with 100,000 fans present out of my head, and it’s too bad that it’s gonna take another decade or more to see that happen.

Neither can I. Someday, and it better be soon! It would be the ultimate showdown.  There would be a good representation from both teams, with hundreds of the Idiot Nation along side members of Hockeytown!  I can’t imagine the trash talking that would be going on.  When I think of rivalries throughout the years, this is the first and greatest rivalry, even more so then Montreal/Toronto...When I think of dirty teams with classless players, I think of the Tie Dummys, the Darcy Tuckers, the Brian McCabes, and the rest of the Laugh Nation cheering them on.  This should be very high on the Winter Classic schedule, because of the hype it would create!

It is a “Highlander Conspiracy”!!!

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008/07/wings_hire_msus_mckitrtrick_as.html

Every person they hire has a name starting with “Mac” or “Mc”.

The next thing you know, they will hire our own Bruce MacLeod!

OH NO!

Och aye!  Between them and Bradley Stuart, they’ll be giving the Swedes a run for their money!  It’s the Picts and the Vikings!

I’ll have a glass or two of Longmorn malt whisky and a Tunnock’s with toasted coconut to celebrate our latest kilted Gaels to join the Dynasty.  (I’ll pass on the deep-fried pizza.)

A quick search brings up:

Scotty Bowman...consultant
Bob McCammon ....pro scout
Paul MacLean...coach
Joe McDonnell...Dir. Amateur Scouting
Paul MacDonald...V.P. Finance
Brad McCrimmon...coach
Todd McLellan ..former coach
McKitrtrick...video coach
Brad Stuart...defenseman

That’s a pretty impressive bunch, Andrew, and I am certain they will share your Longmorn with you!

The next thing you know, they will hire our own Bruce MacLeod!

OH NO!

No, that would be fine - then the Highlander could actually go on road trips and post about that, too.

Maybe they should develop a line of items in a red-and-white tartan. 

(Heck, I’d bet more women would buy that than some of the Pepto-Bismol pink monstrosities the league is trying to push at its female fans.)

Thanks , Gary, ass.

I cant say for sure but I think there is some type of event every year at soldier field Jan 1.

Though in regards to ticket prices.  I think its good that it isnt held there.  Almost the whole east side of the stadium is considered “CLUB” seats that you pay triple price for.  Only for a mens rooms with no urinals, shorter lines for beer and better food.  Its not really worth it.

I would also like to point out that there are only a little over 21,000 seats available at the united center.  Can the season ticket holders really buy 40,000 tickets?