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Stevie Wonder new GM of Lightning


tom webster

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well, i'm sure all 57 lightning fans are "Overjoyed."

 

 

2003-04 average attendance:

 

TB: 16,545

Buf: 13,776

 

 

2004-05 average attendance:

 

TB: 17,820

Buf: 15,290

 

2005-06 average attendance:

 

TB: 20,509

Buf: 16,886

 

2006-07 average attendance:

 

TB: 19,876

Buf: 18,690

 

 

2007-08 average attendance:

 

TB: 18,692

Buf: 18,690

 

 

2008-09 average attendance:

 

TB: 16,497

Buf: 18,531

 

 

2009-10 average attendance:

 

TB: 15,497

Buf: 18,529

 

 

Bottom line: a lot more people have attended TB games in the last 7 years than have attended Sabres games -- and that doesn't even consider cost. Is there any doubt which team's tickets cost more?

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I'd take him as our GM any day. Look for a turnaround in Tampa.

 

He's done absolutely nothing so far that would suggest he will be a good GM. A 6 year old could have assembled a gold medal squad with all the talent Canada has to offer. He's going to have a much smaller talent pool now. But yeah, there will be a turnaround in Tampa, but that started long before Yzerman left Detroit. His true test begins with Lecavalier and that awful contract.

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2003-04 average attendance:

 

TB: 16,545

Buf: 13,776

 

 

2004-05 average attendance:

 

TB: 17,820

Buf: 15,290

 

2005-06 average attendance:

 

TB: 20,509

Buf: 16,886

 

2006-07 average attendance:

 

TB: 19,876

Buf: 18,690

 

 

2007-08 average attendance:

 

TB: 18,692

Buf: 18,690

 

 

2008-09 average attendance:

 

TB: 16,497

Buf: 18,531

 

 

2009-10 average attendance:

 

TB: 15,497

Buf: 18,529

 

 

Bottom line: a lot more people have attended TB games in the last 7 years than have attended Sabres games -- and that doesn't even consider cost. Is there any doubt which team's tickets cost more?

There are a lot of transplanted hockey fans in Tampa but those numbers are surprising. I was at the Sabres game in October and the building might have been 3/4 full and seemed like a 50/50 split between Sabres and Lightning fans. The night before against SJ had even fewer fans. Maybe Mike Billoni is tracking attendance for them???

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There are a lot of transplanted hockey fans in Tampa but those numbers are surprising. I was at the Sabres game in October and the building might have been 3/4 full and seemed like a 50/50 split between Sabres and Lightning fans. The night before against SJ had even fewer fans. Maybe Mike Billoni is tracking attendance for them???

 

Well, they've stunk for a few years now, so a low turnout at an early-season game isn't surprising. When they've been good, though, they've gotten very good fan support. Frankly, they've done better attendance-wise than the Sabres have when both teams have been good, and when both teams have been lousy.

 

I'm not knocking the Sabres' fan support -- I just get annoyed at hearing the same mindless refrain over and over that the sun belt teams don't get any fan support. It's true for teams that are terrible every year like Atlanta, Florida and (until this year) Phoenix, but not for teams that have had some success like Tampa and Dallas. Once people go to a good hockey game, they get hooked and they come back. The game is too good not to.

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2003-04 average attendance:

 

TB: 16,545

Buf: 13,776

 

 

2004-05 average attendance:

 

TB: 17,820

Buf: 15,290

 

2005-06 average attendance:

 

TB: 20,509

Buf: 16,886

 

2006-07 average attendance:

 

TB: 19,876

Buf: 18,690

 

 

2007-08 average attendance:

 

TB: 18,692

Buf: 18,690

 

 

2008-09 average attendance:

 

TB: 16,497

Buf: 18,531

 

 

2009-10 average attendance:

 

TB: 15,497

Buf: 18,529

 

 

Bottom line: a lot more people have attended TB games in the last 7 years than have attended Sabres games -- and that doesn't even consider cost. Is there any doubt which team's tickets cost more?

 

In the immortal words of, uh, you... +1.

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2003-04 average attendance:

 

TB: 16,545

Buf: 13,776

 

 

2004-05 average attendance:

 

TB: 17,820

Buf: 15,290

 

2005-06 average attendance:

 

TB: 20,509

Buf: 16,886

 

2006-07 average attendance:

 

TB: 19,876

Buf: 18,690

 

 

2007-08 average attendance:

 

TB: 18,692

Buf: 18,690

 

 

2008-09 average attendance:

 

TB: 16,497

Buf: 18,531

 

 

2009-10 average attendance:

 

TB: 15,497

Buf: 18,529

 

 

Bottom line: a lot more people have attended TB games in the last 7 years than have attended Sabres games -- and that doesn't even consider cost. Is there any doubt which team's tickets cost more?

I'm not denying the numbers, of course, nor am I denying that Tampa and other Sun Belt cities do get decent attendance, but anyone whom is remotely suggesting that Tampa is anywhere near the hockey city that Buffalo is, would have a "screw loose" - in my humble opinion.

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If Buffalo won the cup you'd see sabres attendance spike for a few years too. You have to figure in the fact that sabres fans have been saddled with the Quinn,Regier management team for 12 years now and its been 40 years without a cup. If our management was capable of building anything resembling a contender there would be waiting lists for the nosebleeds.

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I'm not denying the numbers, of course, nor am I denying that Tampa and other Sun Belt cities do get decent attendance, but anyone whom is remotely suggesting that Tampa is anywhere near the hockey city that Buffalo is, would have a "screw loose" - in my humble opinion.

 

Certainly it's not a "hockey city" in the sense that when the team is doing well, everyone in town is crazy insane for the team -- but Tampa has 4x Buffalo's population. No big US city has a high percentage of its population that is crazy about its hockey team the way Buffalo is. There is too much other stuff going on -- e.g. TB has the beach, MLB, and lots of other stuff that Buffalo doesn't. My point was simply that if more people are attending hockey games in TB than they are in Buffalo, and spending more money to do so, it's not correct to say that the team doesn't have any fans.

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Here's the difference, though. Tampa only averaged 11,000 households viewing the games whereas Buffalo averaged 41,000.

When? This past year, their 3rd consecutive season of being a bottom-5 team? What were the #s in 2004?

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Certainly it's not a "hockey city" in the sense that when the team is doing well, everyone in town is crazy insane for the team -- but Tampa has 4x Buffalo's population. No big US city has a high percentage of its population that is crazy about its hockey team the way Buffalo is. There is too much other stuff going on -- e.g. TB has the beach, MLB, and lots of other stuff that Buffalo doesn't. My point was simply that if more people are attending hockey games in TB than they are in Buffalo, and spending more money to do so, it's not correct to say that the team doesn't have any fans.

 

There's one tricky factor when comparing the attendance figures. Tampa's got a higher capacity. It really only became a factor for two seasons, but it's worth making note of. This really doesn't say anything for the point you made, but I'll just throw it out there for anyone who wants to look at those numbers and just wants to do the simple x>y comparison.

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If Buffalo won the cup you'd see sabres attendance spike for a few years too. You have to figure in the fact that sabres fans have been saddled with the Quinn,Regier management team for 12 years now and its been 40 years without a cup. If our management was capable of building anything resembling a contender there would be waiting lists for the nosebleeds.

 

there is a waiting list.

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