In the time that has passed, Bill's son, Rocky, has taken over the team and a few games have made their way to television. Now, Chicago's remaining half dozen hockey fans are waiting to see where this goes and if any significant changes will be made.It was announced today that Chicago Cubs team president John McDonough will be leaving the North Side for his new home on Madison, where he'll take over as team president for the Hawks.
McDonough is seen as a man of the fans, who introduced the Cubs Convention idea to bring fans in to meet the players and stoke the fires during the wintertime. The Hawks are hoping he can use his bag of tricks to make the United Center warm and fuzzy again for thousands of apathetic and alienated fans.
As a little background here, the elder Wirtz became an evil cartoon caricature by the mid-90s when he blacked out home games (he was afraid that by giving home games away for free that fans would stop going to games), failed to resign the team's established stars, drove ticket prices through the roof and a laundry list of other disrespectful acts that meant Blackhawk fans beat the rush out the door before the lockout killed the rest of the league.
Long story, short, more than one former Blackhawk fan swore off the game until Wirtz died and now it's an interesting time to see how the fan base reacts. In the interest of full disclosure, I have zero idea what has happened in the Hawks season this year, aside from their 5-3 win over Detroit a few days ago. I found that out accidentally.
Today, there was a question posted on the Chicago Tribune web site regarding the McDonough move and what he should be doing for the team. Speaking as the fan that the team is trying to lure back, here's my quick rundown.
* It was never a matter of cash that limited the fan turnout. I think it's safe to say the self-imposed blackouts were the biggest problem the casual fan had with the Bill Wirtz regime. You had a stubborn owner who refused to see things differently and a fan base that eventually threw up its hands in disgust.
Speaking as a former Minnesota Twins season ticket holder, even if you have the financial means, it's virtually impossible to make every game based on time and interest constraints. Now that the team needs to lure back fans, adding television broadcasts will be the smartest move the team makes.
* The Blackhawks are in unenviable position of having hostile fans on top of the disillusioned ones. For anyone who wasn't turned off by the team prior to the strike, there was that to push the remainder of fans away.
This means that the team has all the problems that everyone else in the NHL has in addition to a hostile fan base that was on its way out the door to begin with. Not good.
* It's no secret that I'm a baseball junkie and will go well out of my way for information, but for the breed of fan required to bring the franchise back, that's not going to cut it. Everyone in town knows the business of the Cubs, knows about the Garland trade for the Sox and knows that Rex is slowly killing the Bears as they have a disappointing season.
No one knows much about the Blackhawks and they're not going to go out of their way to find out.
This will be a problem in growing the brand. Short of giving away free tickets, I don't know how they'll address this.
* Finally, the big problem for fans like me is the respect issue. I became a fan in my early teens, when I couldn't afford a ticket, couldn't drive and needed that TV coverage in order to stay in the loop with the team.
It was insult to injury when the team then locked out fans when they were in town.
Add the financial and time pressures and you take what amounts to a blue collar sport and put your fans on the wrong side of the glass.
When you can't make the game and the team decides to dedicate years mocking you for it, that just might be a problem even McDonough and his bag of tricks can't fix.
(Image from: FirstAndTenSportsden.com)
1 comment:
It's truly sad that one of the preeminent franchises in sports had the life sucked out of it by the late Bill Wirtz. There's an entire generation of Chicagoans that are more likely to have the Wolves and Fire on their radar screens than the Blackhawks. I think they will always have a hardcore fan base, but with the Bears, Cubs, Sox and Bulls always on the front burner, not to mention the various college teams, I doubt it's ever going to go back to the days when a Hawks-Wings ticket was the hottest thing in town.
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