Check out this article.
Last time I looked, the Caps were 12th in the NHL in overall attendance. Revenues are up by double digits, 25 percent. We were the second fastest-growing team in the NHL. We have increased our season ticket holder base dramatically. We have a sea of red at games and the NHL is booming too.
Now let us look at Disney, parent company of ESPN. Last quarter, Disney earnings were down 13 percent. The outlook is sobering. One analyst said it was “an ugly, ugly quarter.”
Overall revenues grew only six percent. ESPN ad revenues were down. Stock price is way down. Analysts are growing concerned about outlook. Layoffs are coming, big cuts everywhere. Now Sports Czar, what is it that you want to say about our team; our fans; and our outlook again? Your move.
Tags: ESPN, Hockey, NHL, Ted Leonsis, Ted's Take
ted—-i guess if you are a writer for disney—it really is a small world afterall…… (ie disney/espn are the greatest and everyone else sucks)
The NHL and ESPN are not “partners”. ’nuff said.
Mocking the SE Banner? Eliminating 8 teams? Perhaps we should move 2 teams to Quebec and Winnipeg, they were so successful the first time…
That article is way to long to read…. Are you referring to the idiot talking about the NHL cutting 8 teams and adding some teams in Canada? Really - Canada adding teams? Just because they like hockey doesn’t mean they have the economy to support NHL teams - their socialist economy doesn’t give their citizens much spending cash, but at least they have free health care!! So they can visit the Dr anytime they want but can’t take their kids to see their national pastime - perfect! Let’s follow that model!
yeesh, sensitive much?
What a terrible thing to say. A division championship is meaningless? The city and area are really getting behind this team and the team needs to start being recognized as one of the best teams in the NHL
Now Ted, do you really think ESPN watches/cares about the state of the NHL? They always seem to forget that locally many teams seem to be out drawing NBA teams in viewership (well 1/3 American teams) and had better attendance figures then the NBA last year.
Teddy,
I am a longtime Caps fan, going back to the beginning. I used to listen to the games on the radio in the first season. I have been thru the heartbreak. But things are different now. I can see it and feel it. It’s a shame the Washington Post and Times do not give hockey the coverage it deserves and this team deserves. I go to other cities must smaller and can get so much more NHL information that the locals give you. You have built a winner like you promised. But the job isn’t done yet, but Mr Leonsis, the Stanley Cup is within our grasp like no other time in our history. The buzz entered the building a year ago and its a championship buzz. Last season was heartbreak also, but we were still a year away at that point. Our time has come and I hope you get to enjoy this as much as I am.
I agree with everything you wrote, I love the Caps, and I am very proud of last year’s division title…but the Mystics attendence banners really need to go; they’re terribly lame. Please keep the banners to titles won by our teams (division, conference, league, etc.).
He’s just another talent-less, want-to-be, thinks he’s being funny and knows it all, egomaniac with an ESPN pulpit. Do you think it’s bad form to wish this Xmas for ESPN to lay off some staff writers?
I’m confused, because the Capitals raised a banner for a division championship Washington is a crappy sports market? The Bruins, Blackhawks, and Flyers all have banners for division championships (the Bruins list all theirs on one large banner), so does that mean Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia are also crappy sports markets?
And if not, why was the banner mentioned? Fail.
this guy is an idiot!!! why worry about morons and their ridiculous comments. maybe you should actually attend a Caps game BEFORE wrting something so moronic.
I guess Mr. Simmons never looked up at Boston Garden (home of his Bruins) and seen the old divisional banners, nor the TD Banknorth Garden and seen the three banners with the list of division titles.
Also, I presume he has never gone outside Fenway Park to see his beloved Red Sox and seen the banners commemorating the AL East titles.
Of NHL teams, I believe only the Canadiens and Leafs don’t have divisional banners - and in fact, some teams even carry the playoff divisional banners (something the Caps don’t have from 1989-90).
Joke: That comment was so far out of line, you ought to demand an on-air apology during ESPN’s next NHL telecast.
Not a joke: ESPN was showing a live poker game the other night, but doesn’t broadcast NHL games.
I think Ted is being a bit overly sensitive here. What does ripping ESPN’s profits have anything to do with one writer’s opinion on the recent performance of Washington sports teams? I’m missing the connection here…….
As for the whole division banner thing, Simmons’ point is that last year’s division title is one of the few titles Washington has had in recent years. Most other cities have more than that. It is what it is. People are going to mock that until things change, and given the Caps direction, I think it will.
[...] — Apparently Ted Leonsis doesn’t like it when mediocre, unfunny ESPN writers shit on his town and team. That’s why Ted Leonsis is [...]
@john lozupone
I don’t know what planet you’re on, but the Post, Tarik El-Bashir’s blog specifically, has some of the best local team coverage of any NHL team in the US.
It doesn’t matter if much of it doesn’t show up in the print edition. Nobody reads that anymore anyway.