Very well stated George, you have hit on many point that I meself was going to turn into Paul tomorrow for his open Friday post.  For example, If Henry does not figure whos wife he is taping and is brain dead because of Arby’s and the ever popular Draper in the shirt rack “YEA I WORE IT”

I get very emotional, not crying emotional when talking the Wings.  I have been a stead fast Michigan Fan since the Dead Wings of years past.  The funny thing is that a lot of the spots then are still being shoved our way now.  Like you said, you have to be a member of this and a member of that to get close.  Are you tired of paying bucks to follow your team and get nothing in return.

How about the management telling us all one thing and then doing the same old things.  We were going to get younger and faster and, well that happened.  Greg Johnson Retires, why?  your never heard another word about this and the Wings are giving him a spot in player development, thats a great jester, and I wish Greg and his family all the best, Jiri, what is he doing, collecting a paycheck for how long.  I am beginning to feel that Hahn loves to play the games and keep the fans, you know the ones that pay the BILLS! in the dark.  We get no information and in case a lot of you know this already, the Red Wings are loved by the NHL and they go out of their way to see that Detroit gets the best of everything (insert sarcasim) here.

Try going through the Red Wings Official Site and find tickets, the Joe is half empty and yet you can not hardly find 2 tickets available.  Well, I am getting really upset and sorry but I am pissed off.  This is BS and Hahn and the others in the media and front office know this but will do nothing for you the fan.  So I got to rant a little and will write something else for the Friday submission.  Thanks George for the great posting, it’s exactly what I wanted to say.

As a working member of the NHL media, I applaude you George for writing this.
We receive the exact same treatment from the Wings.  The players and coaching staff are great as you describe, the rest of them are leading their team into PR hell.

Bravo, George. That pretty much says it all.  And God knows, there are a couple other teams that could use the same treatment, too.

How long have these jerks you speak of been in PR?  Were they always like this, or did the people grow more arrogant with time spent in the job?

I only ask because I haven’t had any dealings with the Detroit organization, so I had no idea they were so horrible in their contacts with the public.

Here, here!

This really needed to be addressed and should be echoed on any hockey forum or bulletin board on the net.  Hockey fans of all teams should e-mail the Wings or make calls voicing their complaints to create a change!

Baroque: John Hahn has been in “office” for at least ten years, and Brinick is his new helper boy.

Thats a great article.

Get the views on this from the fans at LGW.

Check out what Christy from Behind the Jersey has to say…

Also a suggestion for other sites linking to this post from George.  Leave trackback or a link in the comments so people reading this can also read your opinion too.

Good on ya George,about time somebody in Detroit had the guts to stand up and be counted.The games at the Joe are a shell of what they once were,pathetic.A corporate meeting place where the hockey is a reason,not THE reason.They turned their backs on the real hockey fans for so long(10 year waiting list my arse) they now have to look to gimmicks.

Very sad because now there are a lot of hard working folks who supported the team when they were down and could no longer afford to go to a game,who will say the heck with it.

The beginning of the end of a great run started while they were on top.Arrogance will kill you every time.

I linked it at the Sports Inferno- here

but great, great article, really refreshing to read stuff like his.. And maybe if the wings were more accessible to media they’d talk about them more!!

Kukla, you’re a local guy, you need a radio show around here, there really aren’t any hockey people on the air in the area!!!

sfa2, Both sports radio stations have been contacted, but I was told they have no interest in getting into hockey.
They both have their mandatory, once a weeknight hockey show, but other than that, hockey is not on their radar.
A podcast is being looked into, but no decision has been made yet.

Sports Inferno opinions.

Bang-on, George.

In regard to people ‘tolerating’ the PR department over the years, I think that the team’s success over the last decade is the great elixir in letting issues like this slide by.

But all things come to an end and the “free pass” the fans and media have given the team in light of winning looks to be passing as the team goes through a season of transition.

The most amusing thing for me this year was parking at the JLA garage. Was $7 pre-lockout, $10-post… And after getting a pair of preseason tickets for $25 the JLA parking price of $15 generated a hearty laugh from myself and my brother-in-law. Nothing like almost spending as much on parking as you did on preseason tickets…

Title: FLAMES PRACTICE POLICY FOR FANS
Date: October 20, 2006
Welcome to the Pengrowth Saddledome, home of the Calgary Flames! We are pleased you are interested in attending a Flames practice. We are also proud that we can provide our fans with the opportunity to see our team at work in a more intimate setting at the Saddledome. And of course, we love seeing you at the games with 19,000 plus fans, cheering the Flames on to victory!
For the 2006-2007, I would like to outline a few guidelines around our practice sessions that will assist you in planning your practice attendance.
o All our practice sessions at the Pengrowth Saddledome are open to our fans to attend.
o On non-game days, fans are welcome to sit in the lower bowl behind our bench and feel free to say hello or request an autograph from the players as they depart the ice following practice.

more from the Flames press release…
Another example of a team doing it right…

I guess this article was serious?  Seven games into the 1st season after Stevie Y retires & the grumbling has already begun?

Basic rule of the sport business, when you win, you get to make the rules.  The players clearly wanted to focus --without fan distractions --and did (except during those 2, or sometimes 4, weeks in the playoffs).

As soon as club finishes it’s trip to medicrity, (figure another 10 -12 games before it become undeniable) THEN the fans start to have leverage. 

The business will react accordingly.  After that, we’ll learn if you’d rather have a mediocre team that wastes energy doing media exercises or a really good one that doesn’t come out before & after games to kiss your behind…

You took the words right out of my mouth. I forked over the money to get to training camp in Traverse City, forked over the money to get a ticket to the Yzerman jersey retirement ceremony. I love my Wings, more than any other franchise in sports, but I have to admit that there are times I wished I lived in Columbus, Ohio. My relatives that live there have no problem getting tickets to games at reasonable price, as well as getting chances to meet players without bending over backwards. And it’s not just because hockey is less popular there. It’s because, like this post discusses, the Red Wings make it so damn hard to get close to the team. Put that on top of the Joe being more of a nostalgia experience rather than an entertainment experience and it’s obvious why hockey ticket sales are slumping in Detroit. In the past, these obvious faults for maintaining a fan base were easily remedied by consistent success in the NHL, but with so many early playoff exits and the way the 06-07 season has been going so far (6-1 loss to San Jose? Ouch...), it’s getting to the point where you can say that the Red Wings aren’t going to be able to rely solely on winning hockey games to sell tickets anymore. But then, maybe all of this will be a turn for the better for our beloved franchise. Maybe it will take a little bit of inconsistency to signal a wake-up call to the organization and start letting the fans inside the franchise without an entrance fee.

I think this has been coming for a while, and while the Wings’ winning ways greased the rails a bit, the Wings’ PR machine has been stuck in reverse for half a decade.

The Wings themselves admit that they get a real charge out of their fans on the road, and they love the shows of support, and we’ve heard that for ten years.  Why?  The team’s actually much easier to get close to away from Detroit.  You might actually get an autograph or a conversation with a player if you’re in Columbus or Nashville.

Christy at Behind the Jersey noted that the Wings had at least some sort of semblance of acknowledgement of their fans during the championship years, and even in 02-03, but, over the years, even going back to the mid 90’s, things have been going backwards, not forwards. 

In an age where teams with the biggest profit margins are responsive to their fans because they know we’re a whole lot savvier and have more information as to who’s going to give us more bang for our hockey buck, the Wings’ attitude seems to be that Detroit fans have the same access to information regarding competing organizations--OHL, AHL, and CCHA teams, as well as other NHL organizations--as we did in the day and age where you either got your information from the 11 O’Clock news, waited till the paper came out the next day, or heard it on the radio. 

Even RedWingsWorld was considered pretty cutting edge in 02-03...It just hasn’t changed since then, and the whole “pay for your access” NHL sites fell by the wayside pretty fast because free sites were offering more content. 

Hockey fans are comparison shoppers now, and if you’re a working parent in Metro Detroit, you’re probably going to give your kid a more authentic and meaningful hockey experience--and you’ll probably save a few hundred bucks, too--by taking him or her to a Whalers game.

We see the Wings organization’s attitude towards us at the Joe when players come on and come off the ice before the game and during intermissions.  In most every other NHL rink, teams let fans crowd around the tunnel, and most players slap hands with those who’re cheering ‘em on.  The Wings post guards at the railings, and ushers shuffle you away fast if you try to get anywhere near the tunnel.

According to the Wings’ official website, Steve Yzerman is not only playing, but is the current captain.  I wonder if Lidstrom knows.
http://www.detroitredwings.com/history/stats-allTimeCapts.jsp

George please send this piece to the Detroit Free Press, this needs to reach more people than this website.  Thank you for saying exactly how I feel.

Signed Steve Yzerman’s Jersey is being auctioned off.  I got it signed by Steve.  I was in a box with Steve at a hockey game and got him to signed the jersey. 

I am Ron Giles and I was a bone marrow donor to a young child Tom Garrett and he is doing very well now.  He wanted to meet Steve and we did everything in our power for him for Tom to meet Steve.  Finally he met him and now they are close.
They did a story on Tom, on the NHL site.
http://www.teaparty-online.com/forum/profile.php?mode=register&agreed=true

When I met Tom it inspired me to want to help other. We started a foundation called Better World today.  We are
planning a camp on July 13th - 15.
Many events are planned for the camp. for more information go to http://www.camp4compassion.com

We are looking for many members of the media to write.

Ron Giles
519-991-4919