1.20.08
Winning and losing
Despite having the NHL's best record, the Detroit Red Wings fanbase continues to erode
By RYAN PYETTE
DETROIT -- There's a strange vibe in Motown.
The 2008 North American International Auto Show is in full gear.
A plane carrying a banner in support of Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Ron Paul swoops over Joe Louis Arena on the day of the Michigan primary.
But talk of dreamy concept cars and politics fails to gloss over why the Detroit Red Wings -- the best team in the NHL -- is playing the Atlanta Thrashers on this night in a rink barely two-thirds full.
Hockeytown is down.
The Red Wings, used to drawing crowds at or near capacity for the past two decades, are suddenly averaging about 2,000 paid tickets below their norm -- one of the most staggering and worrisome dips in the NHL.
No one in Detroit likes to hear it. There are plenty of theories for it. Many point to the struggling economy in the city and Michigan as a whole.
"It's the state of the state," said Brandon Rotz, a manager at Wings' defenceman Chris Chelios' downtown restaurant Cheli's Chili. "There are a lot of people here who are worried and don't know if they're going to have their job next week. So you have to make a choice -- do I buy groceries for my family or go to a Wings game?"
It's not much of a choice.
But it can't just be all about the economy... (Full Story)
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Sports/Hockey/2008/01/20/4782933-sun.html
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