Now that the NHL is proceeding to lockout, I hope that Tom Golisano, owner of the Buffalo Sabres, will stop running his “Smitty” advertising campaign. It is clear that the NHL, and pro sports in general, stopped caring about the fans a long time ago.
Smitty is supposed to be this average fan that goes to all the home games, inspires both the players and the fans on to victory, and sticks with the team through the good and bad times. The notion that the players or the owners even realize that the fans exist is almost laughable. When it comes down to it, millionaires are fighting billionaires as to whose pockets the fans’ last budgeted entertainment coins fall into. We are not even seen as fans anymore. We are viewed as gate sales, season ticket sales, and vending sales. You will not find any love of Smitty in those numbers.
Sadly, we the fan created the problem. The owners know that we will keep attending the games because we love the sport, and while we are at the game, we will buy food, t-shirts, and foam fingers. And the athletes know that we do not go to the games to see the owners, we go to the games to see them. What neither the owners nor the athletes seem to care about is that we, the fans, are tired of being held hostage.
I do not begrudge the monies that the players receive for their athleticism, and I certainly do not dismiss the owners’ ability to make a profit when they can. Where I am upset is that the only time “Smitty” is acknowledged is when the game is being held hostage by both the owners and the athletes. Then it is all about the fans and how we are so dearly loved. The only other time that the owners consider the fan base is when it comes time to consider whether to move the team to a new metropolis with 500 skyboxes, seat licensing, and fat tax breaks. The players care about the fans when they are renegotiating their contracts. That is when they love the fans and they cant get enough of us.
To the owners and to the athletes, when you walk, in all likelihood, so will many of the Smittys who pay your bills. It is time to realize that your job is to entertain the fans and we are long past entertained.