1st = ticket prices; only "suits" can afford those seats. The majority are corporate seats or season tickets, which means that the casual general fan isn't going to get their hands on them. Regardless. But give them something to cheer for, and they will. It's not like suits have only started sitting there recently. They've been there before, and they can get behind the team if they want to.
2nd = the empty seats during periods, and such. That's just down to the concourse congestion. I've been to 2 games this season, and both times we missed the start of the second period just because it took too damn long to get everything I wanted done during the intermission (bathroom, grab a beer + pizza, etc). If they let people walk in during play, you wouldn't have that problem.
If you didn't have ditz working on the beverage and food distribution locations, you wouldn't have that problem.
As a collective group, we're the reason those tickets are so expensive. Our fanbase. I sit down there with those suits, I'm one of the guys who sticks out like a sore thumb because I'm wearing a jersey. Believe me, you get over it and get used to it. And no, I'm not rich. I get tickets for free through a family connection. We, as fans, continue paying the money. It's a business. Demand will always be high. If you owned the Leafs why wouldn't you jack the ticket prices up. Stop complaining, drive down to Buffalo and see a game. I do it every year and it's reasonably priced for anybody.
What's the point of this thread? Are you saying that anyone wearing a suit, or anyone not wearing a jersey is not a fan? That "suits" are the cause of the Leafs' struggles on ice?
Who the **** are you to judge and police how people watch a hockey game. It's just as likely as your baseless assumption that those in suits are "real" fans who love the Leafs.
What's the point of this thread? Are you saying that anyone wearing a suit, or anyone not wearing a jersey is not a fan? That "suits" are the cause of the Leafs' struggles on ice?
Who the **** are you to judge and police how people watch a hockey game. It's just as likely as your baseless assumption that those in suits are "real" fans who love the Leafs.
Drive-by meltdown. Hope you've taken a nap, and come back a little more composed, and a lot less feral.
There are very few people arguing the principles you're upset about...
Have any of you ever been to a Blue Jays game? Because unless they're playing the Yankees or the Red Sox, the Rogers Centre is like a bloody mausoleum. I don't generally see many people in suits there.
The issue is that many sports fans in Toronto, in general, tend to sit on their hands at sporting events.
If you don't believe me, just Google "Winfield wants noise" - Dave Winfield was so sick of quiet little Toronto fans that he had to beg Jays fans to actually cheer for the team.
Just because they wear suits it does not mean that they are actual fans. That is the fatal flaw in your logic and it worries me that you cant see it. Your occupation or choice of attire does not an "actual fan" make.
Don't worry, I'm not making that simpleton assumption. If I wore my suit to a Maple Leafs game it wouldn't make me any less of a fan than I would be if I wore my Maple Leafs jersey. What I am arguing is that the majority of the "suits" in the lower bowl probably received those tickets through corporate hand-me-downs. They're not fans in the same sense of the word you and I are, they're there to be entertained while discussing business. I've been to enough Leafs games the past half decade to notice this, I'm not sure how many you've seen from Edmonton.
Last year Tom Anselmi was interviewed by Cybulski about the possibility of Ontario government altering the way corporations write off tickets. I wish I heard it because I can no longer get the podcast to work.
In Ontario, corporations are allowed to write-off up to 50% of all tickets and luxury suites for sporting events. I say let them write off corporate tickets but only the luxury suites, leave the regular seats to the real fans by not offering such good tax breaks.
At the end of the day do you know who's paying for those tickets corporations buy to entertain business partners? The taxpayers. That makes it even more laughable.
I must be late to the party, good message nevertheless
The next game I go to I'm going to point out all the guys who didn't even pay for their ticket and talk about how the government needs to stop subsidizing their entertainment costs just to ruffle some feathers.
If you've played sports you understand what a crowd like that does to the home team. It's like a natural steroid injection, you feel a little faster, stronger, more passionate.
Fans are capable of having more of an impact on a game than people understand. It's a shame ours are as soft and quiet as they are.
Good post.
Just dropping in reading through since I agree that the ACC seemed pretty quiet during the Caps-Leafs... Even during Leafs goals I saw so many people not even standing up in the lower bowl. It's pretty disappointing to see such a big hockey city like Toronto like that.
And to those saying that the "suits" do care about hockey... It's not that that's the problem (IMO), it's that they don't seem to show it. Home ice advantage is definitely a big factor... I bet the leafs would do a lot better at home with a better crowd. Plus it always makes the game more enjoyable for those there and those watching... Hell, I became a Seattle Sounders fan mainly because I loved the crowd that they had when I watched games.
If you don't think crowd matters just look at the Seattle Seahawks from this past season... or the Winnipeg Jets in their inaugural season.
Just dropping in reading through since I agree that the ACC seemed pretty quiet during the Caps-Leafs... Even during Leafs goals I saw so many people not even standing up in the lower bowl. It's pretty disappointing to see such a big hockey city like Toronto like that.
And to those saying that the "suits" do care about hockey... It's not that that's the problem (IMO), it's that they don't seem to show it. Home ice advantage is definitely a big factor... I bet the leafs would do a lot better at home with a better crowd. Plus it always makes the game more enjoyable for those there and those watching... Hell, I became a Seattle Sounders fan mainly because I loved the crowd that they had when I watched games.
If you don't think crowd matters just look at the Seattle Seahawks from this past season... or the Winnipeg Jets in their inaugural season.
You can't compare football to hockey. The Seahawk's prove that the crowd can impact a football game, there's no proof that it impacts a hockey game.
Don't worry, I'm not making that simpleton assumption. If I wore my suit to a Maple Leafs game it wouldn't make me any less of a fan than I would be if I wore my Maple Leafs jersey. What I am arguing is that the majority of the "suits" in the lower bowl probably received those tickets through corporate hand-me-downs. They're not fans in the same sense of the word you and I are, they're there to be entertained while discussing business. I've been to enough Leafs games the past half decade to notice this, I'm not sure how many you've seen from Edmonton.
Last year Tom Anselmi was interviewed by Cybulski about the possibility of Ontario government altering the way corporations write off tickets. I wish I heard it because I can no longer get the podcast to work.
In Ontario, corporations are allowed to write-off up to 50% of all tickets and luxury suites for sporting events. I say let them write off corporate tickets but only the luxury suites, leave the regular seats to the real fans by not offering such good tax breaks.
At the end of the day do you know who's paying for those tickets corporations buy to entertain business partners? The taxpayers. That makes it even more laughable.
Just for clarity's sake and you might already know this. Write off doesn't mean they get the money back for it, it means they can deduct a percentage of the cost of the tickets from their net profit as entertainment expense and pay less tax and if taking a couple clients help close some deals that increase the companys net income by more than the ticket deduction, the company ends up contributing more in taxes.
Drive-by meltdown. Hope you've taken a nap, and come back a little more composed, and a lot less feral.
There are very few people arguing the principles you're upset about...
Actually there are a lot of people arguing the principles he is upset about. I find it somewhat hilarious that you are likening his response to one that is childish. Actually it is more ironic than anything given what you have been whining about in this thread.
You feel this way because you are not in a position to afford to sit in nice seats or live an upper class lifestyle. Anyway I'm sure you're quite busy... I hear your foreman calling.
Just for clarity's sake and you might already know this. Write off doesn't mean they get the money back for it, it means they can deduct a percentage of the cost of the tickets from their net profit as entertainment expense and pay less tax and if taking a couple clients help close some deals that increase the companys net income by more than the ticket deduction, the company ends up contributing more in taxes.
I think many have gone to the Kramer school of economics.
I think you can to an extent. Home field/ice advantage is real. And it's not because of the sheet of ice or field of grass that they're playing on.
Having the last change and having your stick down 2nd on the face off is a bigger reason for home advantage than any crowd noise.
The reason why the crowd is so important in Football is the effect it has on the visitors offense. You don't hear much noise when the home team has the ball.
