I usually don’t write about these subjects but just thought this matter would be of interest. We are humbled as the Caps are now ranked as a Top 10 team in the NHL in paid admissions with only Minnesota, Buffalo, Detroit and Philadelphia ahead of us for US -based teams. We are up in paid admissions more than 27 percent year over year. Only Chicago is growing faster than us.
Amazing but true: We passed Pittsburgh and the NY Rangers and teams like the Boston Bruins; Chicago Blackhawks; Colorado Avalanche; Dallas Stars; and Edmonton Oilers which are called – by the experts – true hockey markets.
I don’t want to comment or gloat too much on our growth as it is still early in the year. These results were as of November 15th and I can’t say thank you enough to our fans. I have always believed in our market and I have always believed that DC could be known as a hockey town too alongside these other great destinations and markets. Thank you. Go Caps!
I just hope that GMGM and the scouting team is working their tails off at “deep draft scouting” like Detroit does. Love’em or hate’em, Detroit has what should be the standard when it comes to scouting and minor league development.
As we become steady contenders over the next several years, the early draft picks are going to become fewer and farther between, and we have to be able to find the cream of the crop deep in the draft picks.
Detroit has built a sustainable franchise/farm system by thinking deep draft, and picking guys like Franzen, Zetterberg and Kronwall who develop for a few years in the minors and later step up to lead their team far in the playoffs.
The Caps focus needs to be finding those nuggets that can be polished for a few years in the minors and help keep the team strong over the long term, not just for the next 5 or 6 years.
A little over three years ago, in October of 2005, I saw my first live Caps game. The announced attendance was 10,0002. The atmosphere was almost funereal.
Contrast that to tonight’s game, a midweek sellout against the Thrashers. Let me type that again, A MIDWEEK SELLOUT AGAINST THE THRASHERS. It got so rollicking in there at one point that some fans were actually doing the wave.
And it’s only November! Just wait until March gets here!
Hi Ted-
Can you have your crew add a link listing all the stations in the Washington Capitals radio network? I’m driving home to Virginia Beach tonight and am timing the trip to coincide with the game, but do not know the stations I need to pick up in Richmond and Norfolk.
Yes, I know I could buy XM, but it is a little late for that tonight!
Cheers, and Go Caps!
great news— keep it going…btw dallas a true hockey market?
i now expect to be in dc next week and look forward to hopefully seeing and feeling a hockey atmosphere in the beltway.
Well, I’d expect the Caps would pass teams with far smaller rinks. In terms of capacity, Washington’s middle of the pack.
Still, it’s great to see almost 18,000 in the building every night. Good teams should always be supported like that.
Ted, you’ve taken a lot of abuse and negativity over the past five years on various topics from many, myself included. Bottom line though, you and your organizational leaders created a plan, began its execution and stuck to your guns. And the team is now, injuries and funk aside, a highly entertaining product and one that clearly should be successful for years to come. You have fans, media, bloggers and experts from across the country recognizing this and lavishing praise on the team and organization. We may agree at times, agree to disagree at times, but you did put in the time and deserve the rewards.
In thirty years as a Caps fan I’ve not seen a more connected and enthusiastic fan base and our home arena is now our home arena (tests coming up in January with Pittsburgh, Detroit, etc.). Congrats on the team’s success on the ice and at the box office, no matter what happens I think we’re all rooting for success no matter how we get there.
Thank YOU, Ted. I think lost in all the shuffle of LTIR and salary caps is that this money is real. Yeah, we get to go over the cap now, thank goodness. But that is money straight off the bottom line. We went from way under the cap, to maxed out, now spending even more than that. Thanks for stepping up.