Sens Army to Sid Seixeiro
In response to Sid Seixeiro’s rant against Ottawa Senators fans, Troy Geary breaks down the reasons behind the Senators’ attendance woes.
When I woke up the morning of Game One against the New York Rangers, I was surprised to see cheap tickets were still available, so I bought one for myself. Little did I expect to find that there were nearly 2,000 unsold seats when the puck dropped that night. The Senators didn’t even have rally towels on the highest sections of the Canadian Tire Centre; arena staff members had removed the unclaimed towels by the end of the 1st period.
It was embarrassing.
Sportsnet’s Sid Seixeiro delivered a fiery on-air tirade against Senators fans, ripping the fanbase apart for not supporting a team that had made tremendous sacrifices over the course of the season. He wasn’t wrong, and many Sens fans agree with him.
With that being said, Sid oversimplified the issue. There are a number of issues that affect ticket sales in Ottawa. While it’s important that we as a fan base take responsibility for supporting the Senators, it’s important to understand the reasons behind the subpar ticket sales.
There is no single issue behind the Senators attendance woes. They go back to this season’s home opener, where the team failed to sell out against the Leafs. In fact, Ottawa didn’t register a sellout until Daniel Alfredsson’s jersey retirement.
That game was on December 29th, nearly three months into the season.
The team brought in Tom Anselmi after the mid-season the firings of Chief Marketing Officer Peter O’Leary and team president Cyril Leeder, who had held his office since 2009. It was a sign that change is coming. The worst ticket sales in 20 years will do that. There was almost no marketing done for the team through traditional or digital advertising. When Roy Mlakar was team president from 1996 to 2009 there was always an aggressive campaign to market the players individually or as a team.
The matter of the Phoenix payroll issue has affected nearly 80,000 people, many of them in the Ottawa area. Thousands of people in Ottawa who may normally be attending games have felt a severe financial pinch. Furthermore, the federal government, Ottawa’s largest employer, is not allowed to distribute tickets to their employees. Other Canadian NHL teams do not have to contend with the the same issues the Senators have faced this year.
Neither of these points were mentioned by Seixeiro in his rant.
The Senators have also worn out the fan base by toiling through mediocrity. Not draft lottery awful but not a contending team either. The on-ice product starting to win again is the best way to cure the attendance problems. As Eugene Melnyk said when Cyril Leeder was let go, the team will have to reposition and rebrand.
There is only so much the Senators can do to make changes to the issues that have led to the attendance struggles. Even so, Ottawa Senators fans cannot be totally excused for having all those empty seats in the building during Game One. While there is a general frustration towards Eugene Melnyk, and rightfully so, the players on this team deserve our support. It’s time that we let our grudges go. As Guy Boucher said, “our fans have to appreciate what we have here.”
The city of Montreal learned that lesson the hard way with the Expos. Let’s not repeat history in Ottawa.
Troy Geary is a hockey writer for theocho.ca. Look forward to regular contributions from Troy on all things Senators and NHL.
