Should say “local economic crash of 1998”

Local ownership combined with former popular players will increase attendance over the short term… a skilled team and management is compulsory for longterm survival in pg..

The empty stands have absolutely nothing to do with economics. It has everything to do with crass nepotism and expecting your customers to shell out good money while you let your son-in-law pretend to manager a team. Honestly, where in any sports franchise could someone hang around with such a poor losing record. PG Cougars do not participate in the cyclical nature of Junior Hockey. The remain somewhere near the bottom every season. They struggle to win 35 to 40% of their games and they have been doing it season after season. They must have some idea of what it takes as they have used numerous coaches as scapegoats while the real reason for repeated failure maintains his position.

Sell this team, change the management, stick to the program and I will roll the dice and purchase my seasons tickets again. Get more butts in the seats and give the players something to play for.

People don’t go to hockey games to see the owners. If the team is sold, it will be interesting if attendance goes up as some people claim to have left because of ownership. I have my doubts.

Nothing less than a winning culture will bring the team back. This won’t happen overnight even if new owners come into the picture.

BC2410…you’re absolutely right! Gotta have a good product on the ice if you want the fans to come back but new ownership is definately a step in the right direction. They’ve really been a black eye for the league and the city for at least the last 10 years maybe 15. It would be nice to see it come around and be like it was and I think it will with the right people in there. Let’s hope the Brodsky’s are out and the organization can start fresh. Good luck guys!

PGguy1234…well said! It’s been a disgrace for the last 10-15 years. I would definately go again if new ownership takes over. I don’t think Hamhuis and Brewer would tolerate year after year of losing seasons. Although I do believe a lot of people have boycotted the team because of the owners…the fans in Prince George need something to cheer for again and that is what it ultimately boils down to. I hope it works out for them…I’m excited to see it like the old days in PG again.

Sorry but the cougars was spiraling long before the 2008 correction.

I think new ownership of the team will make its priority to put a winning product on ice. Meaning that its focus will be to bring the fans in. The owners of the new cougars will not be so focused onto themselves only. In fact they will earn their rights to be a proud new cougars owners.

The problem is Brandi, just could not pull it off as being a manager. Way too much family involved and it did not focus on putting a winning team on the ice. Any WHL team has great potential, the importance is to recognize the career of these players are 4 years in the league, meaning it has high turn over rate, meaning the only thing that does not change is administration. Thus when a player shows up at administration, they need to become proud of the organization, and willing to play for the organization. Not waiting to be traded off the team.

I think there may be a suprise coming, I dont think the people with only a passing interest in hockey realize how strong the current “boycott” is. There are A LOT of people that will start going to games again once this team is sold. IMHO of course.

Brandi isn’t the problem. She has been the best thing in Cougars management. Unfortunately, the situation is messy as her husband is the GM and he has done a horrible job. Rick Brodsky has largely been absent the past few years and has had no say on the direction of the team.

And let’s be honest, outside of a couple of memorable playoff runs, the team has been consistently bad for 20 seasons. This has been the biggest factor in the attendance spiral. If the team was winning, nobody would care who the owner was.

About time the talks are on. The last few seasons the Cougars did not circulate with the fans. They changed to another station, have no post games, and many of us do not even know what the players look like off ice. The fans got shut out big time this year. Get the fans to participate in the post games . Prince George is not in a depression, our workforce is working we have the lowest unemployed in BC so don,t give me that things are tough and not affordable . Bring back Cougarview. Bring back the first ten years. And winning helps. Time for a banner

There never was a Cougar fan base. People attended the games in large numbers when they first came to town, because it was a new franchise, and it was the in thing to do.

The last 10/15 years show that there are not very many dedicated Cougar hockey fans in this town. Mainly seniors, and some juniors, and a few people in between.

To average 1600 fans per game should be your first indication. To blame management is all well and good, however that only covers part of the problem.

The problem is. A lot of the seniors who supported this club 10/15 years ago, are now gone to that great hockey game in the sky. Women, teenagers, children, etc, who attended the games in the early years, have grown up, got married, moved, or gone on to other things.

When you factor in all the hockey that is available in this town, ie; junior, senior, rec, Spruce Kings, Cougars, WHL, NHL, etc; we have an extreme case of overkill.

YOU CANNOT EXPECT PEOPLE TO SPEND ALL THIER SPAR TIME WATCHING HOCKEY. 36 home games a year is a hell of a lot of hockey for soft fans.

Throw in other things, like swimming, soccer, gambling, etc; and the number of people available for attending hockey games, declines even more.

Prince George is not the only team that has attendance problems. However because of our ;location, etc, I can see where moving this team somewhere else would be a good **business* decision.

We will now have the opportunity to see if we can get all these **so called** fans to come back, even with a winning team. Somehow I doubt it.

There is hole in your train of thought Palopu.

Your taking a snap shot of people in the year 1999 and seeing what those exact people are doing today. Yes people come and go.

But there is always new people that wants to be entertained, and the cougars have not done that. They have not made too much effort in the past ten years to turn things around. PG has a lot of hockey fanatics, they love the game, they have no problems supporting a franchise that may be having a few years of developmental issues. However, you can’t expect them to show up if you continuously loose and barely make the playoffs. We are hockey fans.

i’m sure the Brodsky family is reading this blog site, I don’t care.

Brodsky’s know that they are not the most loved business in town. They are in it now to last as long as they can and get as much as they can for the team. Their love for the community left a long time ago. They don’t care about Prince George.

He Spoke, you have to understand where Palopu is coming from. He doesn’t know much about hockey, doesn’t care about hockey, has probably never attended any games, but that doesn’t stop him from constantly weighing in on the Cougars woes over the years.

Take his hockey opinion with a huge grain of salt.

I can’t say anything bad about Brandy Brodsky. She looks like she was trying things to make the games more interesting. Junior hockey works in cycles. You win for a bit then the studs move on, you lose for a bit, draft in the earlier rounds, get new studs and move up the ladder. Look at Vancouver. Great for a few years. Not a great team right now but they will stay the course, draft well in the future and be good again. Cougars don’t do that. It’s a catch 22. Players don’t want to come here to play because no one is watching and no one wants to watch a losing team.

I also think people will be surprised by the support the Cougars will get under new ownership. I personally have not attended for a long time as I refused to give a dime of my hard earned money to the Brodskis. I am a HUGE hockey lover and would love to attend WHL games but on principle alone I could not support a Brodski owned team after all he did to screw this community, and everything he didn’t do to ensure a decent product on the ice.
I know many, many people who are the same as me. I will return to watch under new ownership and so will they.

He Spoke is on to something.

Sports Marketers want to put fans on the fan escalator. Start small, get hooked and then stay on for the ride, whether it is short term or long term. PGGUy123 used to be a season ticket holder, but due to his perception, got off the escalator a long time ago.

If the Cougars had any sense of marketing and business, they would work very hard to keep guys like PGGUY123 happy, as those revenue streams provide the highest value. Lose them and you lose a huge source of revenue.

Right now, you are seeing a team that is running out of escalators and eventually, those fans will ultimately decide to catch another escalator, or move on to something new. I have a feeling many are moving on to something new.

Winning helps, but it is rather myopic to say winning will cure everything. It takes great foresight to create an excellent franchise. Hiring staff because of word of mouth is not the best way to do it, and if you look down the list of people on the payroll, there is a shortage on qualifications and great depth on the six degrees of separation from the Brodsky family. Instead of offering favours to your inept unqualified buddies (such as coaching washout/wannabe Brent Arsenault) why not pay them properly and have some sense of accountability to the club (you know, we pay you in exchange for good service or else).

Change that and the culture of the club changes. Winning will happen as a result and maybe just maybe, you won’t have the constant stream of players quitting around the Christmas break.

Please sell them. I know I will be back

Sell and I will return also. You cant win them all but something has gone seriously wrong here , and it all starts with who is running the show,,, time to go.

Thanks Baba,

The problem is, the Brodsky’s pretty much in the driver seat, they know that the next owner can make more money than themselves owning it. Thus they can ask a premium for it, and holding the citizen’s of the city in ransom, by threatening to move the team to a better support. Let’s see, they did this to Victoria before us.

So don’t think the deal is done, to them its all about the money. So, why can’t we just get another WHL franchise team…. well, I think Rick Brodsky is on the board of govenors for the WHL…. Isn’t this just a nice little package.

In conclusion, if you want a locally owned team, reach for your ankles.

What are the price tickets. Probably expensive for a family of four to attend??

As a former Corporate advertiser/sponsor and season ticket holder, I can say that not only will new ownership with a local component get me back to buying seasons tickets again, but I would be very happy to have a part of my advertising budget allocated for the Cougars again.

I have experience first hand the indifference of the current ownership, this indifference appears to be systemic though out all aspects of the organization and it is most apparent in the management of the on ice talent, not just their partners and advertisers.

We are a hockey family with children in minor hockey, as it stands we only attend Cougars games for special occasions with our children. I hope to change this trend soon with the encouragement of new caring owners.

As a former Corporate advertiser/sponsor and season ticket holder, I can say that not only will new ownership with a local component get me back to buying seasons tickets again, but I would be very happy to have a part of my advertising budget allocated for the Cougars again.

I have experience first hand the indifference of the current ownership, this indifference appears to be systemic though out all aspects of the organization and it is most apparent in the management of the on ice talent, not just their partners and advertisers.

We are a hockey family with children in minor hockey, as it stands we only attend Cougars games for special occasions with our children. I hope to change this trend soon with the encouragement of new caring owners.

I sincerely hope that those of us who stayed the course and supported the team will be given the opportunity to purchase our same season tickets.

4 seasons, I think the prenial ticket holders gets first rights to their seats every season. The rates may change.

I think the cost of the tickets are reasonable to see the next batch of NHL players in action, watching them develop from bantam players to Proffesional players is worth the cost.

I think the new ownerships will create a new era of hope for the future of the team.
Will the Cougars consistently be able to put together a winning team year after year. I would give that 50% chance. The problem is, there is a lot of stigma stuck with Prince George because of Brodsky’s past performance. The new owners have a steep hill to climb, in the aspect of image control.

So if your planning to buy season tickets, I think you have to be prepared to invest in it for at least four years, to have the seats for 2nd round of the playoffs in 2018. that’s my opinion.

In reality, the cost of a season ticket is $475 per seat. which is $13.20 a game.

The cost for two adults, one kid over 12 and one under 12 is $59.00. Not much different than taking the family out to the movies, or bowling.

Its when you decide to eat and drink, it hits your wallet pretty hard.

my prediction, by year 3 of new ownership.

Season tickets $550/yr

walk up tickets $21 per game

JohnnyBelt. You might have a point to some degree. I am not a big hockey fan. However I have attended a number of games just to confirm that there is little or no support for this franchise. Furthermore having lived and worked in this town for many, many, years I know a hell of a lot of people who initially attended the Cougars games on a regular basis, and have over the years lost interest in hockey, and no longer attend.

One of my concerns is that the Cougar Franchise is a private business, that is being subsidized by tax dollars. This has to stop. If the fans are hell bent to support this team (if they win), then perhaps they can pay sufficient money to make it a profitable franchise, and get off the subsidy from the City.

At the end of the day we need to face the facts.

1. We are a small town (city) with a surrounding population of say 84000 people.

2. We would need at least 5% of the population to support this franchise on a regular basis to make any money. Ie; 5% would be approx. 4200 fans.

3. Over the years Brodsky has stated that he needed at a minimum 3000 fans per game to break even. This means that you would have to increase attendance by 100% to break even, and much more to make a dollar.

4. According to another news source, the Cougars stand to lose $650,000.00 this year based on an operating budget of $1.8 Million.

5. The Cougars have the worst attendance in the 22 Team WHL.

6. How can you blackmail the new owners with the proviso that **I will support you if you win**, but not if you continue to lose???

7. The Toronto Maple Leafs are a losing team, however they have the strongest fan base (and make the most money) of any team in the NHL. How do you explain that. If Toronto fans whined and cried, and left because they were a losing team, they would have gone broke years ago.

8. If you are a hockey fan, get off your ass, free up your wallet, and support the team. Quit blaming the owners because you have found other interests, or are too lazy or cheap, to get off you ass and go to a game.

9. We will have an opportunity in the next few years to see how much support new owners can get for this franchise, however if I was a betting man, I would bet that the new location for this team has already been decided, and it is just a matter of time before they say goodbye.

Used to have a season pass – my advice to new owners – lower the price for everyone ( make it an afforable family affair);make the team more opened to everyone etc. and the crowds will come.
I remember when you waited in line to get your season pass – not anymore – buy a game ticket and you can sit wherever you want.

After reading all the comments posted here and seeing opinions of why the team is where it is, it reminds me of the saying, “opinions are like ***holes, and everyone has one.” The majority of you are what most of us loyal fans call “fair-weather fans.” You do not come to the games for the “love” of the game. You come to the games to see a win. Do you not think that the boys know that? I would like to ask them where would they rather play? At home in PG, where the stands are as cold as the ice?? Or road games, even though they might not being cheering for them but at least there is a crowd making some noise???
Point fingers where you must, but remember that the boys want to win. The team is good! This town is depressing. Anyone who lives here must agree that if YOU were asked to play for a team in the lower mainland, the states, or even Alberta, where the travel to and from away games would not be physically and mentally exhausting, where would YOU want to play? Do you think PG was their first team of choice? But they came here because they love the game and they want to play hockey.
So as you all sit there and voice your “opinions” think about who you are really hurting. By you not attending the games because you do not want to give “Brodsky” anymore of your money, who are you really affecting???? I believe the boys respond to the energy of the crowds, but also to the negative comments always being spouted by someone.
Bring in new owners, but it is still the same depressing negative town that will find something to complain about. The players do not deserve this treatment, but also PG does not deserve this team.

Plain and simple, the best possible product is not being put on the ice. Its not hard to see. Why should people of PG pay their hard earned money to an owner who isn’t doing everything he can to bring the best people and the best talent to the team? How many coaches has the team gone through in the past 5 years? How many players have walked away from the team, deciding to pursue other opportunities or walk away from hockey altogether? This GM would not have last more than a couple seasons on any other team but since he is married to the owners daughter, things are different.

“The majority of you are what most of us loyal fans call “fair-weather fans.””

————————————————

Then I guess me and my friends were “fair weather fans”, although I’m not sure one could call a decade of support as being “fair weather”.

I prefer to think of us as “fans who would no longer support a business that could care less about their customers”.

Oh and for the record, sign me up as yet ANOTHER example of an ex-season ticket holder who would again buy season tickets the day after the team was sold to a local ownership group (assuming I still lived in PG of course).

Anyone seeing an obvious trend in the responses here? Hmmmm . . . .

Westcoast girl be honest. The players came here because they were drafted here and if they want to play at the WHL level they either come here or they don’t play, simple as that.

I run a business here as well and we had 4 season tickets for the first 10 years. I used to give them out to my customers and we had people from as far away as Prince Rupert wanting to use our tickets. It was great advertising for us and the Cougars. Then the losing was happening more and more and I had fewer and fewer calls for tickets so a lot of nights the seats went empty. That didn’t make much sense to me so I did not buy them after that. I did not get one call from anyone in the Cougars office to see why we weren’t buying or anything. If my sales are slipping I sure want to know why.

The reason I feel the Brodsky family is not trying to put a competitive team on the ice is because they want out.

I also had season’s tickets for the first ten years or so. Like many people, I got tired of seeing them lose, and saw too many nights where the team wasn’t giving any effort, almost like they knew they were going to lose before the game started. That kind of hockey I could not continue to support.

Since then, I have attended 6 – 10 games per season and sadly not much has changed on most nights that I was there. Either they weren’t giving any effort or the other team was so much better that it didn’t matter. I don’t know if it’s coaching or something else, but in the end it doesn’t matter. Changes are needed.

Thanks for your last comment Palopu, lots of facts and figures about attendance, break-even amounts, etc. I learn somethings when I read your comments… JB’s not so much!

Is it fair to compare the Leafs to the cougars in relation to support. Lets compare.

We have a city population of 84,000 and 5% is 4200 people for support.

Toronto has a population base of 4 million people with 5% to support. that is 200,000.

Lets check this out. CN center has a capacity of 5600. The need 133 % of its people support level of 4200 to fill its seats.

The Leafs has a capacity of about 18,000. the need to hit a target of a meare 9% of the 200,000 fan support to fill their areana.

Thus the argument still has holes.

I have been a hopeless Leafs fan for all my life. Most of the Leaf fans do not go to see their team win, they go there because of the fun environment that they are being a part of, the Leafs have not won the cup in 46 years, but its still sold out. Why, because the TML guys have branded it, sold it, and made it the best place to be, when the game is on.

It’s easy to fill up the seats, when your playing the favourite game of the country, in the biggest city in the country, and only need to hit 9% of the supporters. The cougars don’t have that situation, they need to work at it, to make it the place to be, when the game is on.

The WHL Franchise is a business, it is a business to make money. The franchise is an entertainment business not a production business. Image is everything, the current owners must know by now, that the community wants less Brodsky’s running the team. The less Brodsky’s running the team does not equal no ownership of the team, it means, let the best person run the business and be behind the bench. Not family. Henry Ford had no problem realizing Edsel couldn’t run the company.

I don’t think it is fair to compare a big market hockey franchise to a small market franchise He spoke.

A more accurate comparison could be made between Kamloops and Prince George. IMO

Who are the cougars? I thought they were in Victoria.

People, I think you failed to realize I was picking on Palopu’s comment

Huh, They are those mature Ladies at the Bar staking out university boys.

Thanks for your last comment, He Spoke. Lots of facts and figures about attendance and why Palopu’s comparison between the Cougars and Leafs doesn’t hold water.

People#1: “I don’t think it is fair to compare a big market hockey franchise to a small market franchise He spoke.”

Hmm… On the one hand, he’s criticising He Spoke when it was Palopu was the one who made the comparision between a large and small market team. Then in another post he praises Palopu for the facts and figures, just to take another shot at me. Typical.

Like duffer, our business also bought 4 seasons tickets, we started doing this the first season the Cougars played here, and went continuously until 2010.
We did not renew for 2011, or since. The Cougars organization did not contact us either. Not that 4 season tickets is such a big deal, but I think they should have called, maybe they could have talked us into re-upping, who knows?
metalman.

I didn’t get a single call when I cancelled my season tickets either, nor did my friends.

I’ve gone to roughly 5-10 Senators games since moving to Ottawa and I’m constantly getting e-mails telling me of special events, game offers, early purchase season ticket specials, etc., and that’s for a guy who purchased walk up tickets!

As far as the argument that PG can’t support a team like the Cougars because nobody can attend 36 games a year, that’s a load of bunk. There are 22 cities with teams in the WHL, 20 in the Ontario Hockey League and 18 in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. That’s a total of 60 cities across Canada supporting major junior hockey and many of those cities also have NHL, university hockey, junior A, junior B, etc.

There is no reason that PG with the WHL being the biggest game in town, cannot support it in the future like they did in the early years. This is an operator issue, not a market issue. The posts in this thread demonstrate that.

@ JB;

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-avf8hn6UmuI/ULSzfYfEXHI/AAAAAAAAPRI/lLj_I2QmI5Y/s1600/bag+of+hammers+005a.jpg

Palopu, your points 6 & 8; 6: How about owners holding fans hostage, “If you don’t support us, we’ll leave.”
8: Who else do we have to blame for, as others have put it, years of indifference & an inferior product year after year? Have you or Westcoastgirl ever been to any of the prairie towns that have WHL franchises? I can tell you if I was between 16 & 20, Brandon, Moosejaw, Swiftcurrent or even Edmonton would not be my first choice of places to live in the winter. I will go back if & when either a change in ownership happens or (pipe dream) a serious effort is made to put a winning team in place…From top to bottom.

For fair comparison, the Kamloops Blazers are averaging 75% capacity for their home games this season.

http://www.hockeyattendance.com/team/kamloops-blazers/2013/

Yes, junior hockey is cyclical. That’s why when an expansion franchise comes into the league, and within 5-6 years wins a league championship, it hurts Cougar fans even more. Edmonton/Kootenay Ice did it, Calgary Hitmen did it, Vancouver Giants did it and now the Edmonton Oil Kings have done it. Sure it takes some luck but you really have to real hockey people (management, scouts and coaches) to build a contending team.

Westcoastgirl you’re pathetic. What you fail to realize is that hockey is a business. I stopped going to the games years ago not because I’m not a true fan of the game but because the organization was a joke. They’ve been the laughing stock of the WHL for the last 15 years. Do you think I care about what the players feel? This is a stepping stone to a career on professional hockey. They put their 3-4 years in here and they’re gone. I want to watch a team that wins . They don’t have to win all the time but they have to be a contender some of the time. Why should I give a shit if the ownership couldn’t care less? You can’t tell me they were trying to have a winning team. Christ, a monkey could have done a better job of running that team. You show me an owner/team that is doing their part and I’ll do mine. You can’t threaten people into buying tickets when you’re fighting for the last playoff spot every year. The owners need to sell the team and then pack their bags and get out of here. I for one will be ready to watch hockey again this fall!

@People#1: Are you saying I hit the nail on the head? Thank you for being big enough to admit it.

NMG: “I didn’t get a single call when I cancelled my season tickets either, nor did my friends.”

Nor did I. Having said that, I don’t think the Cougars organization is mystified as to why fan support has tailed off. All they need to do is look at their record for the answer. They can’t realistically expect fans to continually support a franchise with such a poor history given 20 seasons here, with no signs of things turning around any time soon.

Thank you ktaylor for the laugh. I love it that you called me pathetic just based on my “opinion,” about a hockey team.

“For fair comparison, the Kamloops Blazers are averaging 75% capacity for their home games this season”

===================================

It’s not really fair. Prior to this year, Kamloops was coming off of back to back 47 win seasons. The most games PG has ever won in a year was 43 and they did that in 97-98 and 99-00.

In short, Kamloops actually follows the normal cycle of building a successful junior franchise and they are in a re-building year of that cycle. Their fans know that and they remain supportive because they know that the year after next, they will again be up near the top of the standings.

PG, on the other hand, is always re-building. They never get out of the basement so there is literally nothing for the fans to look forward to. The folks that watched the team go through what should have been three full re-building cycles know the deal.

… fans show up when you have a team that competes for 3 periods . Odds are you will earn WINS along the way, therefore leading to more and more fans coming out.

We seen and hear it to often, the cougars are blown out after the first 10 minutes of most games, recently they been showing up for 40 minutes but still not enough.

Its time to get the boys rolling for all 3 periods ……..

Problems with the Cougars are numerous, but here are a few quick fixes that would bring more fans into the building.

1. Absolutely zero atmosphere in the building. Bring back the things that used to fun (blimp, rowdy race car drive, mascot with go Cougars sign, air gun shooting tshirts into the crowd, etc).

2. Music sucks 90% of the time. Start playing good old rock songs that brings passion to building. Playing Justin Beiber music doesn’t cut it.

3. Quit losing players continually. Why are kids continually quitting on the team. This needs to be addressed by general manager. This has to be solved by the new general manager, because Thompson can’t figure it out.

4. Player development has to improve. We have kids that don’t get better from 16 years to 19 years old. Do we need better training facilities, exercise equipment, trainers, etc. Our kids look like midgets compared to other teams like Kelowna, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

5. Food sucks at CN Centre. Can’t we bring in more vendors to provide more chocie.

6. Jumbotron operation is beyond horrible. Every other building uses jumbotron to entertain, but we barely use the stupid thing.

7. Start promoting the other teams coming to the building. Half of junior hockey is hyping the team coming into the building.

8. Bring more folks in like Hartley Miller. The guy has passion and makes people excited about the Cougars

9. Bring back the signature stand for kids to meet the players.

10. How about the fan bus idea. That was a lot of fun.

11. Reduce ticket pricing to encourage more season ticket holders.

The Cougars have a great on ice product, but entertainment value in the building is next to null. There is zero atmosphere in the building!

Problems with the Cougars are numerous, but here are a few quick fixes that would bring more fans into the building.

1. Absolutely zero atmosphere in the building. Bring back the things that used to fun (blimp, rowdy race car drive, mascot with go Cougars sign, air gun shooting tshirts into the crowd, etc).

2. Music sucks 90% of the time. Start playing good old rock songs that brings passion to building. Playing Justin Beiber music doesn’t cut it.

3. Quit losing players continually. Why are kids continually quitting on the team. This needs to be addressed by general manager. This has to be solved by the new general manager, because Thompson can’t figure it out.

4. Player development has to improve. We have kids that don’t get better from 16 years to 19 years old. Do we need better training facilities, exercise equipment, trainers, etc. Our kids look like midgets compared to other teams like Kelowna, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

5. Food sucks at CN Centre. Can’t we bring in more vendors to provide more chocie.

6. Jumbotron operation is beyond horrible. Every other building uses jumbotron to entertain, but we barely use the stupid thing.

7. Start promoting the other teams coming to the building. Half of junior hockey is hyping the team coming into the building.

8. Bring more folks in like Hartley Miller. The guy has passion and makes people excited about the Cougars

9. Bring back the signature stand for kids to meet the players.

10. How about the fan bus idea. That was a lot of fun.

11. Reduce ticket pricing to encourage more season ticket holders.

The Cougars have a great on ice product, but entertainment value in the building is next to null. There is zero atmosphere in the building!

No post by Gus? Guess, he’s not a hockey fan.

Well as usual we get all the BS reasons why so called **fans** cannot, or will not attend a game.

I have said from the get go, that the majority of fans that attended the games in the first five or so years were **soft** fans, and they have gone on to other things.

So what do we have left. Well for starters for the past 10 years the average attendance at a Cougars game was 1668, more or less,. Soooo, would it be fair to say that those 1600 fans are the true fans of the Cougars, and those who do not attend, unless their conditions are met, are nothing more than **wanna be fans if things go the way I want**

I say Kudo’s to those fans who have stuck it out for the past 20 years come hell or high water, and Boooo to those fans who have conditions attached to their attendance.

Anyone who thinks there is not a significant difference between the two groups is living in a dream world.

I used the Maple Leaf example to show that real fans attend games even if the home team is losing over an extended period of time. The money is a side issue.

So the score is. Real fans one. Wanna be conditional fans ZERO.

Don’t call me a soft fan because I quit giving money to a business that didn’t give a shit about me as a customer. Played hockey for 40 years, coached it for 11, watch every game that I can on TV and supported the Cougars with many years of seasons tickets. IF they can’t hire hockey people to create and maintain a hockey team then I did my part by giving them my money for all of those seasons. They are the soft ones. I remember Stan Butler and Dennis Polonich were hockey people that were hired to improve the on-ice talent. That was when the Cougars were at their best.

I think if the fans were in the seats, the team over time would rise to the occasion.

Lets see what happens in the next few years.

Don’t forget PGguy that its the people who do not play the game or coach that need to step forward and support this franchise.

In the first five years you had a lot of teenagers, kids, wifes, girl friends, etc; etc;. Its that crowd that has moved on.

If things I have heard today are true then it sounds like I will be getting seasons tickets again for the family.

There was in article in today’s Citizen about it.

How much do the taxpayers of this city subsidize this team? Enough is enough!

Palopu, look up the word “sophistry” in the dictionary. I would say the majority of posters here are passionate hockey fans. The very fact that they are posting their heartfelt positions shows this. Nothing soft here. The WHL is a marketable product. Would you throw your hard earned money at a product that, while it could be vastly improved, is just not living up to your expectations? I highly doubt it. Once that product improved to your satisfaction would you return to it?

Posted by: hockeyfan on March 3 2014 7:48 PM
1. Absolutely zero atmosphere in the building. Bring back the things that used to fun (blimp, rowdy race car drive, mascot with go Cougars sign, air gun shooting tshirts into the crowd, etc).
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I agree with all you have said but I agree with this one the most. The few fans that are there barely make noise. Personally, I have had, on two occasions, people complain about how loud my 7yr old was cheering at the game. One went so far as to find an usher to try and demand we keep quiet. I have seen people with drums and cowbells get asked to leave because they were “ruining the atmosphere for the rest of the fans”.

Palopu, if we were talking about a pizza restaurant, your logic would basically be that people should get off their ass and buy a pie every week even though only half the pizza has cheese on it, the crust is either undercooked, the toppings get mixed up, sometimes they forget sauce and it takes two hours for them to deliver it to your house.

You would then conclude that because nobody is supporting this restaurant, for obvious reasons, it means that people in PG like pizza.

On this particular topic, you simply don’t get it. You admit yourself that you’ve only been to a few games over the years, so why don’t you just take a step back and realize that you really don’t understand what has occurred with fan support for this team since they came to PG? The people that bought season tickets or decades and put their money where their mouth was are far more qualified than you to speak to the situation.