This just in

Good News!
According to an exclusive report out of Toronto on The Hockey News.com, ticket sales and revenue are up!

What the NHL convieniently neglects to mention is that attendance throughout the league is down. The average fan cannot afford to attend NHL games on a regular basis, and this is not a cry for support, this is the truth. The rough Canadian average *household* income for 2006 is $53,000 dollars/annum (Wikipedia). Compare that to the cost of a single (that is 1) season ticket to the average Canadian NHL market - (An average lower bowl/low 2nd level seat listed on CalgaryFlames.com) $3822.00 dollars. That is an astounding 7.21% of the average Canadian household income. I'll admit my numbers are far from perfect, but the principle and the point are still valid. For the average Canadian to purchase 2 barely-above-moderately priced season tickets it will run them around 14% of their average yearly household income. Now I am not looking to make math a trend in my writing but when I saw this story break I felt it was something worth writing about.

Take St. Louis for instance;
a team that had great success for an extended period of time both on and off the ice successfully building up a corporate ticket base that supported the team through the good times. Now that the Blues are struggling to reach the same standards on the ice, the corporate draw is not there as the Blues are not the 'sell' they once were... and because of increased ticket prices the true fans of the sport cannot spend the additional money to watch the team lose on an all too regular basis.

So here lies the dilemma.

If corporate stops filling the seats, but the average fan is forced to cover the costs, the sport will suffer. Commisioner Bettman himself said the NHL cannot try to emulate the NFL, so why are ticket prices in the NHL's 41 home game regular season sharing the same concession stand with the NFL's 8 game schedule per capita?

This site is young, and I personally do not want to come across to readers as a hater of the sport, or the league. However, as St.Louis has taken the initiative to reduce ticket prices in the 2007/2008 season (although a 8% ticket reduction does not even cover the previous year's 10% increase)I believe it is in the league's best interest to invite the true fans back to the game.

We, the true blue collar fans, are still here and we would like the opportunity to support the sport we love on a regular basis... perhaps it is not so much a matter of drawing new fans or winning back the ones who have lost touch with the sport, as it is embracing the ones who have supported the league all along...