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Return To Toughness
by Paul on 01/20/08 at 01:02 PM ET
Comments (3)
from Jason Kay of the Hockey News,
Time to play a little Devil’s advocate, in part to speculate on how to attract a few more Devils advocates…and Red Wings advocates…and Bruins advocates, etc.
Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp opined recently on why the hometown team was drawing well below its typical average when the club is so darned good on the ice.
Among his conclusions is the Wings need to reach out to their “traditional” fan base by constructing a roster with more spit and vinegar – the Darren McCartys of the world. While he isn’t suggesting a return to a goon era, it’s ostensibly a recommendation of increased violence. And it makes some sense, from a marketing perspective.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
Comments
Wings suck.
Posted by J.Truant on 01/20/08 at 04:31 PM ET
Referencing anything that Drew Sharp has to say, especially regarding Red Wings hockey, is equal to paying credence to any trade rumor that comes out of Toronto.
Posted by Puck from San Francisco, CA on 01/21/08 at 04:31 AM ET
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I think the “traditional fan” argument doesn’t hold as much water in Detroit as he might think.
In a recent (pregame? maybe on CBC?) piece, one of the Detroit front office gentlemen made the point that the Red Wings fan base has a higher age than the average age of an NHL fan overall, and one of the contributing factors he mentioned was the fact that so many games have a start time after 9:30 pm Eastern time, which rules out opportunities for getting kids interested in watching the team. (It also rules out adults who have to get up early for work and don’t want to commute when sleep-deprived.)
If by “traditional fan” he means the older fans, then appealing to a shrinking demographic is stupid. Get the younger potential fans interested, and you will have fans in the future as well as right now. Short-term thinking won’t build a fanbase.
(And someone should tell him the next time Drew Sharp writes anything optimistic, he should be checked for mood-altering drugs. One of the most negative writers around.)
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 01/20/08 at 02:03 PM ET