Loose Pucks: Popcorn, Pretzels, and Pucks

January 22, 2013

With the lockout over and an abbreviated season underway, the NHL has concluded the vexing business of CBA negotiations and briskly moved on to the business of marketing the league.

In its celebratory slogan “Hockey Is Back,” the NHL has adopted the grateful tone of a pet owner whose lost puppy finally showed up on the doorstep after a bewildering absence.  Never mind that the NHL owners threw their puppy out in the cold four months ago and locked the door.  Fido is home again now and all is forgiven.

The last time owners were reunited with their wayward puppy, they expressed their gratitude with extravagant gestures: miniature Stanley Cup replicas handed out to fans at every home opener and the words “Thank You Fans” painted on the ice in every arena.  This time, the owners are more jaded.  They’ve been through this routine before.

So the NHL is bypassing any organized league-wide demonstration of appreciation for the fans, instead leaving the task to individual teams who, as the league put it in a lukewarm announcement, are thanking fans for their loyalty “using a variety of methods.”

Some NHL clubs, in keeping with the league’s apathetic response, are marching ahead with business as usual, making only perfunctory mention of the new CBA and redirecting fans’ attention to routine news items such as roster moves, ticket sales, and season previews.  Among the teams choosing to move on quickly and forgo conciliatory post-lockout gestures to the fans are the Bruins, Oilers, Devils, Rangers, and Canadiens.  Attempts at fan appreciation are noticeably absent from the news headlines on these teams’ websites.

The Rangers focused on bigger news, such as the expansion of the Crown Collection, a Henrik Lundqvist-designed fashion line featuring “a signature fitted jacket, hooded sweatshirt, a new fitted cap style, a knit scarf,” and “select novelty items.”  After all, although Lundqvist’s performance on the ice so far is weak — a 4.77 goals-against average and 0.865 save percentage, ranking 34th and 32nd respectively in a league with 30 starting goaltenders — his fashion sense is unbeatable.

Not all NHL teams are taking their fans for granted, however.  Some franchises spared no expense in showing goodwill to their fans.  Both the Avalanche and Lightning offered fans the chance to buy a hot dog for only one dollar.  The Lightning also offered a $2 beer special and hosted “Free Lunch Friday with the Lightning,” serving “hot dogs, Italian sausages, and hamburgers” (vegetarians were out of luck).

The Blues could only swing a buy-one-get-one-free deal for their hot dogs, for which they normally charge $4 each, meaning Blues fans were still paying twice as much as Colorado and Tampa Bay hot dog eaters for their discounted convenience-store fare.  The Blues made up for the pricey hot dogs by offering “a FREE 12 oz. Pepsi” (drinkers of Coke, despite being on the winning side of the cola war, were out of luck).  And as if hot dogs and soft drinks weren’t enough, lucky Blues fans also received “a coupon good for $10 off a $50 purchase at Famous Footwear.”

The most appreciated fans, though, were those in Pittsburgh and Washington, where fans were treated to a smorgasbord of movie-theater-quality food.  The Capitals even added dessert to the menu, providing “[c]omplimentary fountain soda, popcorn, pretzels, hot dogs, nachos and ice cream” at their “special Thank You event” for fans.  Penguins fans got no ice cream but were given “a voucher for three free concession items” and could “choose from among hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, nachos, popcorn, pretzels, salads and fountain drinks.”

Although not related to the lockout, the Flyers announced a junk food deal for their fans too.  Thanks to “their season-long partnership with Papa John’s,” purveyor of mediocre delivery pizza, fans will receive 50% off their order after any game in which “the Flyers score 3 goals or more and win.”  Flyers fans may want to make other dinner plans, however, since Philadelphia is 0-2 with a total of three goals scored so far this season.

With or without pizza and hot dogs, and despite scattered threats of boycotts and other fan retaliation for the lockout, fans are returning to the NHL.  The league’s apathetic reception of its fans has been rewarded with sellout crowds and record TV ratings, a fact smugly noted by commissioner Gary Bettman.

For better or worse, the NHL doesn’t need to give its fans cheap food to win back their patronage.  A deeper hunger brings them back, one the league can take no credit for: the love of hockey.