Friday, February 16, 2007

We comment on Ted commenting on the schedule

The deuce pointed to this post by Ted discussing the difficulty of playing in and selling tickets for games against Southeast Division opponents.

Um, Ted, where were you a month ago? The bid to change to a more balanced schedule, which would have us play less against the Southeast and more against better drawing teams was voted down by NHL's board of governors by a single vote. And as I understand it, our representative voted against it.

So yes, teams in the Southeast will continue to draw lower gate receipts than more storied teams like the Rangers, Pens, Flyers and the rest of our former Patrick Divison opponents. And yes, our team will continue to have a tough time making the playoffs while we play Tampa, Atlanta, and Carolina every other night.

The Caps had a chance to change that, and did nothing. There's no need to throw it in fans' faces. We didn't have a vote at the meeting. You did.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have an excellent point. It was Capitals management choice to leave the old Patrick Division with its' fierce rivalries with the Rangers, Islanders, Flyers, Penguins and Devils, to join the ACC, I mean the Southeast. Gone are the old rivalries with nearby northern teams with fierce followings that generated so much intensity and ill will. Now we have "battles" with teams from cities or states whose fans barely know the difference between ice hockey and ice fishing. It was management's choice in a sad attempt to dominate what appeared at the time to be a feeble Division. See how that worked out! Don't cry now. If you can effect a change to make the schedule more balanced so that some of the old rivalries return, do it! Stop whining about the lack of support. We fans don't make the schedule.

Anonymous said...

Well said.