SeeMartin

Almost a year ago I wrote a blog post Fairweather fans are the cash cows, it’s time for an update. For the Washington Capitals the weather is not fair anymore as this season they are a mediocre team at best. Let’s not worry about them, however, and see what’s happening with the cash cows. I consider myself a cash-cow for the Caps and NHL because I occasionally buy overpriced tickets, merchandise, subscribe for hockey channels etc. I also happened to have a son who plays hockey at the mite age group (7-8 years old) and pay handsomely for him to do so. Yes, the money goes to a different league but in the grand scheme of things indirectly benefits NHL. Last year, when the Caps had a great season, the interest in youth hockey was such that my son’s team management had to cramp 21 kids in one team so they don’t turn any parents (and their money) away. This year? Not so much, as Borat would have put it. Team management and coaches are scurrying to recruit kids and it seems that the interest is winding down. I bet the situation is the same for all regional teams. On the positive side the interest in ice hockey must be picking up sharply in Tampa, FL as their team is doing great – too bad they don’t have many ice rinks there.

The Verizon Center was packed for all Capitals games this season. Last season too. During the 10 previous seasons, however, the Caps could only attract a few thousands per game at most. Those were the loyal fans that are now somewhat annoyed by the flock of newbies that makes it harder to find tickets and parking. The fairweather fans, however, are what really makes particular sport more popular—sounds like a statement of the obvious but there are some behavioral economics aspects worth speculating about: For NHL as a franchise it would be best if every few years different teams climb and stay at the top of their respective division as opposed to having a few traditionally strong teams dominating the game for a decade. Even better, if different cities can be awarded the franchises every few years that would benefit NHL even more, although that’s not feasible for other reasons.

Why? Let’s say the Caps lose steam and revert to the mediocre team they were 5 years ago (it was not easy to write this, even as an example), what would happen to the interest in hockey in area? It will probably go down but not to pre-Ovechkin levels. Unlike the interest, however, the awareness and the familiarity with the sport will remain: we’ve been infected and the hockey fever will return at full swing as soon as the next talented team makes several good games in a row (case in point last week were the Montreal fans that poured on the streets after 10 years of disappointments). Until that happens we’ll probably not buy hats and jackets like crazy, but we’d prefer to watch whatever Stanley Cup playoff game is on instead of Hell’s Kitchen and that’s what makes the difference for NHL as a franchise. The more dormant hockey fans you have out there, the more you can charge for commercials. In the best case scenario, they’d be in every metro area and the way to get there is by having different teams in the spotlight every few years. Let’s go Caps!!!