Calgary Flames still look low-rent
No, hold the antenna right there. Either Iginla just scored or Phaneuf's leg fell off.
For the last billion years or so, it’s been pretty bad being a fan of a small-market team. This is particularly true in Canada.
For the three western Canadian teams, some games are chosen to be broadcast on pay per view for something like $12 a pop, and some games are not broadcast at all. There have been several Calgary Flames games that I’ve missed over the past few years when they’re not on Center Ice because no one’s broadcasting them. Fans of the Oilers and Canucks have had similar problems.
This year, though, it’s just Calgary that comes out looking pathetic. The Canucks and Oilers are both broadcasting all of their games — yes, some still on pay per view — while Calgary might not. Between the CBC, TSN and Sportsnet, all but 12 games will be covered on free TV (which is a pathetic thing to say just months away from 2009). If you’re an out of market fan and ponied up the well-worth-it $159 bucks, it’s not so bad because you might miss one game here or there over the course of the season against your favorite team, usually mid-week and against a bad opponent. But if you live in Calgary, you’re boned. It’s roughly $150 bucks to watch 12 games against bad teams, and the production values are typically atrocious.
Worse than that for Flames fans? Unlike the Canucks and some Oilers PPV games, Calgary games aren’t broadcast in HD. Over on Calgarypuck, the same frustrations come up year after year, and Flames fans really seem to be tiring of the same old song and dance now. The Flames are right to point out that broadcasting in HD costs about double, but it’s still pretty tough to swallow for any fan who’s shelling out money to watch an F’ing hockey game on TV in their homes.
Says “Incinerator” (perhaps not his real name):
Holding your customers hostage (either buy the crappy version or do without at all) is not how you win fans over.
Calgary doesn’t necessarily need to win fans over, though. The Flames sold more seats on a percentage basis than any other team in the league by a pretty decent margin, and people love the team so much that they’ll do anything to watch them.
The Flames know it’s an issue as much as the fans do, but given the market size, there’s no way to really fix this any time soon. It’s kind of sad that any NHL team has to suffer this type of indignity. No way this is a problem in the NBA or Major League Baseball.
