The Devils struggle with their "brand"

[sundstrom]

You just love trolling, there's absolutely no other explanation. You cannot possibly be as stupid as you are sounding here, and it's unfortunate that no one else cares about this because I know that no one's going to back me up.

tri - why do you need anyone to back you up? your standing on this board, regardless of whether people agree or disagree with your positions, should not be in doubt. you don't need anyone to get involved in this.

my advice is to not feed the animals. you've let the terrorists win.

[DevsMan84]

You just love trolling, there's absolutely no other explanation. You cannot possibly be as stupid as you are sounding here, and it's unfortunate that no one else cares about this besides you and maybe people who like to troll me.

hahahaha what a joke! I responded to PK and like you have done on every other post where I respond to PK outside the Beer thread you write back to me with this condescending garbage. If anything, you troll me every time I respond to her in this forum.

Again, I really do not take any of your posts seriously anymore, especially since you even admitted that you cannot trust your own words here and instead must trust your memory over words on here.

Also, here is some fun reading too:

That's much different. We're not talking about whether I said I thought Sasha Lakovic was the best Devil of all time, or whether I said I disliked old fans. I've written a lot of posts, as you love to point out, and I can't possibly be expected to remember them all. We are talking about things I experienced. You are trying to tell me that the things I write on here and your memories of those things are more important than the literal memories of things that I have, which I'm telling you right now. That's a completely batsh!t position to take on things. 76 remembers it too, so I must've written whatever I wrote very poorly.

DevsMan, you are completely mistaken. Learn how to use the search function, find the post, or stop telling me what my life is.

I'm glad you guys care, though.

I did learn to use the search feature thank you very much:)

Edited March 14, 2012 by DevsMan84

[LucifersDog]

I don't want this to happen, because their fans deserve better, but the Isles going to Quebec, Kc, Seattle would be the best thing that could happen to us from a financial perspective.

If this happens it will have a very little impact with the Devils.

If the Devils win the up this season the team will raise the ticket prices out of sight and there won't be a gain of fans.

[mouse]

hahahaha what a joke! I responded to PK and like you have done on every other post where I respond to PK outside the Beer thread you write back to me with this condescending garbage. If anything, you troll me every time I respond to her in this forum.

Again, I really do not take any of your posts seriously anymore, especially since you even admitted that you cannot trust your own words here and instead must trust your memory over words on here.

I kinda like that pk is inadvertently in the middle of this.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Getting back to the subject at hand, I think if the Devils hadn't won so much, they'd definitely be in another city by now. I think sundstrom's LA comparison is apt - there just aren't many cities that can even support 2 teams in any sport, and the media doesn't have the time or ink to devote to multiple teams in sports that aren't popular to begin with.

That's why the NHL getting out in front of new media is so important - the decision to not restrict posting things on youtube was a great move for them.

Don't know if you remember Walt MacPeek (he was an NHL beat writer for the Star-Ledger in the 80s-90s), but in the early 90s, he reported briefly that the Devils could possibly move to Milwaukee. That story didn't last long, but the Devils have clearly been on shaky footing more than once here. And yeah, their winning likely kept them in New Jersey.

[The 29th Pick]

We play in a market that doesnt cover its own backyard of NJ, or hockey in general.

It wouldnt matter if we marketed ourselves til we were blue.

And hockey around these parts has less fans than baseball, football and basketball. The fans of hockey in NJ have rooted for the rags and fly's for a long time....it's just hard to gain market share under these condtions.

Look, if they built a baseball stadium at the meadowlands, how many Yankee, Met, Philly fans would change over to support the new (NJ) team?

Not too many I'd think.

Edited March 14, 2012 by hargsy

[maxpower]

The Devils "get" social media but don't even let players use it. And the only ones that get away with it do it in double secret hiding. So I'm not sure how they "get" social media.

[The 29th Pick]

When Lou's gone, I think they'll loosen the reigns quite a bit.

[Colin226]

The Devils "get" social media but don't even let players use it. And the only ones that get away with it do it in double secret hiding. So I'm not sure how they "get" social media.

The Devils are 2 entities.. There's the team side and there's the office side.. The office side uses social media better than any other team in sports (and like I posted earlier, has generated over $500k revenue in 1 year).. This side of the Devils is basically free to do what it wants as long as it doesn't violate Lou's rules (hence why they don't market individual players much).. The team side is completely controlled by Lou.. He controls all operations, so players must follow all of his rules (clean shaving, no twitter, etc)

So the one side "gets" social media and the other doesn't

Edited March 15, 2012 by Colin226

[Beetlebum]

Frankly I like the way Lou runs the Devils.

[mouse]

Frankly I like the way Lou runs the Devils.

Me too, though I also like some of the fan stuff JVB has brought in. Sometimes the 2 don't work, like changing Kovying to goal celebration, but Lou knows how to build a team, and some of it is because he stops the selfish crap. And it's not his fault they couldn't market in the past. As they're proving now, there are ways to run a team Lou's way and still reach out to fans. It's just gonna be awhile before they start to really generate the revenue we want to see.

[Devils Pride 26]

It goes without saying but the biggest problem for the team right now is the economy. Devils fans aged 18-25 I would guess are at an all time high. Unfortunately, school, unemployment, and student loan payments are just a few things weighing down this age group. The past three years I have gone to progressively fewer games and I know many others who are in similar situations. Once everything gets settled things will be on the way up. IIRC, in 08-09 NJ sold out more games than not.

[Satans Hockey]

I don't want this to happen, because their fans deserve better, but the Isles going to Quebec, Kc, Seattle would be the best thing that could happen to us from a financial perspective.

It won't make much of a difference. There aren't many people who are going to commute from Long Island to Newark during the weekday after they are getting out of work. There might be some that will do it a few times during the season but there won't be many full season ticket holders doing that commute and I don't blame them.

[thefiestygoat]

It goes without saying but the biggest problem for the team right now is the economy. Devils fans aged 18-25 I would guess are at an all time high. Unfortunately, school, unemployment, and student loan payments are just a few things weighing down this age group. The past three years I have gone to progressively fewer games and I know many others who are in similar situations. Once everything gets settled things will be on the way up. IIRC, in 08-09 NJ sold out more games than not.

I can only speak for myself but this is the exact reason why I have only been to 1 game this year (which I had a free ticket to). I'm 24 right now and in-between work, school, bills, and gas, I have no extra money left over to spend on games this season. Half of the few games I made last year were the free games otherwise I probably would've have only been able to make 2 or 3. A few years ago I was just working a ton of hours and not in school so I was easily making 8-10 games a year. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to that after I graduate in December and can work more hours at some sh!tty job as I try to get a better paying job. Then again I plan on applying to jobs out of state since the cost of living sucks here.

[Legion15]

Me too, though I also like some of the fan stuff JVB has brought in. Sometimes the 2 don't work, like changing Kovying to goal celebration, but Lou knows how to build a team, and some of it is because he stops the selfish crap.

Yeah, that's true, but the league itself and some of the bigger name teams get away with singling out certain fan favorite players and promoting on that and it works - Crysby with the Penguins(and the league) is a big example. That gets a lot of the younger fans involved because it's advertising a star and a role model they can follow and "want to be like" I think that's where that market is, they're targeting the kids with "Kovying" and the kids would probably eat it up. Younger kids like seeing stars score and put up big stats, while the older fans know a team game is better to watch, and what wins games. A lot of times kids aren't turned on to the sport by talk of how the team as a whole performed, it's more of "Kovy's better than..." or "Parise...." or "Elias..." or "Marty..." the individuals. Idk I just think it's a two-pronged attack: The kids and the adult fans. Can't group them together as a single fanbase cause they don't think the same way about the game...

[The 29th Pick]

It goes without saying but the biggest problem for the team right now is the economy. Devils fans aged 18-25 I would guess are at an all time high. Unfortunately, school, unemployment, and student loan payments are just a few things weighing down this age group. The past three years I have gone to progressively fewer games and I know many others who are in similar situations. Once everything gets settled things will be on the way up. IIRC, in 08-09 NJ sold out more games than not.

Yeah I went to 1 game this year, real good seats ...but the ticket was $250 !!!!!.....heck the same ticket at Continental was half that, and yeah I know the Rock is better, and with that ticket I got some free food, but I think they'd be better off making the ticket prices downstairs more affordable, and cut some of the free-bees. The place would look and sound better with the lower bowl filled.

[DevsMan84]

Yeah I went to 1 game this year, real good seats ...but the ticket was $250 !!!!!.....heck the same ticket at Continental was half that, and yeah I know the Rock is better, and with that ticket I got some free food, but I think they'd be better off making the ticket prices downstairs more affordable, and cut some of the free-bees. The place would look and sound better with the lower bowl filled.

In the lower bowl behind both nets the pricing is $75-$85 for most of the seats there (of course this goes up during premier games). This is cheaper than the $90 at the CAA when the Devils moved for the entire lower bowl regardless as to where you sit.

You have to have figured that with the new arena they were going to take advantage of the mid-ice seating. I bet you anything outside maybe the Islanders the Devils were the last to price the entire lower bowl as a single price point.

[Marv4Life]

Frankly I like the way Lou runs the Devils.

I would too if this was 2003. But when you haven't done anything worthwhile since then maybe it's time for a new approach.

[Triumph]

I would too if this was 2003. But when you haven't done anything worthwhile since then maybe it's time for a new approach.

Yeah, a new approach! Never mind that he's kept the team competitive and that the team will be competitive for the foreseeable future and that the playoffs are a total crapshoot. If the players were on Twitter, we'd really see a new day.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I would too if this was 2003. But when you haven't done anything worthwhile since then maybe it's time for a new approach.

This team has made the playoffs every year since '87-'88 with the exception of three seasons. Three Cups, a fourth Finals appearance, and two Conference finals as well. Go ask Ranger, Islander, Penguin and Flyer fans if making the playoffs every season is supposed to be some kind of birthright. Go look up the number of times each of those teams missed the playoffs since '87-'88 to '10-'11. God the instant gratification crowd is so aggravating to hear from.

EDIT: Saved you the trouble...here's the number of seasons each of those teams missed the playoffs from '88 to '11:

Flyers: 6

Penguins: 6

Rangers: 10

Islanders: 15

Edited March 15, 2012 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[mmajeski06]

It goes without saying but the biggest problem for the team right now is the economy. Devils fans aged 18-25 I would guess are at an all time high. Unfortunately, school, unemployment, and student loan payments are just a few things weighing down this age group. The past three years I have gone to progressively fewer games and I know many others who are in similar situations. Once everything gets settled things will be on the way up. IIRC, in 08-09 NJ sold out more games than not.

This has been a rough year to go to games. I live in Ohio full time now, so I made it to only one Devils game. But I havent been to a Blue Jackets game yet this year. Normally Ive been to 3 or 4 by now. Im sure its the same for people back in NJ.

[Marv4Life]

Dude, it hasn't worked. From a guy who has said not winning the Cup is a failed season his restrictive style has not produced great results recently. There are several teams with "non-control freaks" as GMs that have been much more successful(on and off the ice) over the past decade than the Devils, and that's the truth. It worked with the Devils and Nets 10 years ago, but it's not working now. It's a "what have you done for me lately" society like it or not. Gratification my ass. All I'm asking for is something different, not for him to get canned yesterday.

There's a reason why this team has a PR/public image problem, and it ain't just because of geography or the clueless Canadian media.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Marv4Life

[Triumph]

Dude, it hasn't worked. From a guy who has said not winning the Cup is a failed season his restrictive style has not produced great results recently. There are several teams with "non-control freaks" as GMs that have been much more successful(on and off the ice) over the past decade than the Devils, and that's the truth. It worked with the Devils and Nets 10 years ago, but it's not working now. It's a "what have you done for me lately" society like it or not. Gratification my ass. All I'm asking for is something different, not for him to get canned yesterday.

There's a reason why this team has a PR/public image problem, and it ain't just because of geography or the clueless Canadian media.

PR/public image is one thing. That I agree with, the Devils could certainly do better. But you can't argue with the hockey results. They're there, and they're going to continue to be there as long as the franchise isn't totally hamstrung by financial issues.

I don't think people realize just what kind of dire straits the Devils were in coming out of the lockout, and that is Lou's doing no doubt, but how skillfully he managed to steer out of that trouble.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Triumph

[LucifersDog]

PR/public image is one thing. That I agree with, the Devils could certainly do better. But you can't argue with the hockey results. They're there, and they're going to continue to be there as long as the franchise isn't totally hamstrung by financial issues.

I don't think people realize just what kind of dire straits the Devils were in coming out of the lockout, and that is Lou's doing no doubt, but how skillfully he managed to steer out of that trouble.

Could you please explain this more, what dire straits? Thank you

[Daniel]

Dude, it hasn't worked. From a guy who has said not winning the Cup is a failed season his restrictive style has not produced great results recently. There are several teams with "non-control freaks" as GMs that have been much more successful(on and off the ice) over the past decade than the Devils, and that's the truth. It worked with the Devils and Nets 10 years ago, but it's not working now. It's a "what have you done for me lately" society like it or not. Gratification my ass. All I'm asking for is something different, not for him to get canned yesterday.

There's a reason why this team has a PR/public image problem, and it ain't just because of geography or the clueless Canadian media.

Who would have done a better job? True there were the bad post-lock out free agent signings, but they didn't really prevent Lou from signing anyone else who was out there that was any good. And with the exception of Nieds and Rafalski, who were going to leave anyway, all the players who weren't re-signed turned out to not be that good for their new teams or at the very least are nowhere near as good as the money they got paid on their new deals (Gomez, Martin, Gionta).

The one bad draft pick that Lou's made since the lock-out has been Tedenby. Not so much that he'll never be any good, but that the Devils were in a position to draft Eberle before they traded down (John Carlson was also available). Still, no Hugh Jessiman caliber disaster picks.