Friday, November 13, 2009

A Bitter Post

NYR 3,  Atlanta Suckies 5


I am pissed off. Who cares? I do.

In more ways than one, The Dark Ranger is inebriated by a number of beers tonight and feeling passionate and ready to speak truth-isms that no other bloggers are willing to print tonight post-game. They are all afraid of MSG revoking their free-ticket-press/blogger passes to every game in the name of good press. Forget about the game until the morning, let's talk about the fans and the attendance. Here goes...

Before I even record a single word about the least-passionate game of the season, let's look at the following statistic that has already been re-printed in three NY Rangers blogs post-game already tonight, including a recurring thematic email I have received throughout the season as a NY Ranger Insider:


New York has sold out 165 consecutive regular season games, dating back to Nov. 5, 2005 against New Jersey; the last regular season non-sellout was Oct. 31, 2005 vs. Montreal (17,697); including the playoffs, the Rangers sellout streak is now at 179 games.

This is complete horseshit and contrived by The Garden, Jimmy Dolan and his lemmings. It is a false statement that includes the premium cost of corporate sponsorships and corporate tickets and averaging them to justify this 'sellout position' that The Garden is claiming. Despite the team, this is sad PR and symbolic of the product we get on the ice as we - the working man - have to pay for seats these hard-days. These sellout statistics are sad, as it is obviously transparent, while equally false to the fans when they pay attention and give a damn.



Who wants to call out the second most NHL powerful franchise on how they value their stock, team and worth? Me ( and our legion of Dark-followers)!

Well, let's get real about this Garden Faithful as I brought three clients of mine to The Garden this evening to find less than 50% of the 18,000 seats attending, lest I forget to mention that I have received offers every game with a special limited "new block of tickets available for season-ticket-holders only" direct from The Garden and my NY Rangers account rep has called me 10 times this season offering me additional seats 24 hours before the puck drops. That hardly feels like another sellout game!!?

Should I also mention that this is the only season in 10 years that The Dark Ranger has NOT BEEN ABLE TO SELL ANY SEATS FOR COST to friends & family, regardless of who they were playing? The scalpers are buying at 25% of cost in front of The Garden at game-time and I cannot unload season-tickets to the regulars because it's a buyer's market. As a single ticket consumer, you can pick the game, pay less than half the ticket cost (without premiums) and pretty much sit where you want. This is a first for me, as I have four seats and every game where no one buys them, I am out $432.00 per game for my 4 seats at $108 a piece if I have a life unable to attend every single home game. Holy crap! The Garden = Season Ticket Holder Sucka Born Every Minute.



I am in the season-ticket-holding doghouse. But I digress...

Oh, and the game tonight. We lost again tonight. No one on the ice cared. Official recap here.

Tomorrow I'll sleep this off, elaborate somewhat and actually analyze the game and get this slowly-developing chip off my shoulder.

Time out for me.

tdr

3 comments:

  1. Finally a person speaks the truth. No person without corporate connections can afford to go to a game. Let me see: $225 for two seats, $30 to park, $10 for one beer plus tolls and gas. So I can drop at least $265 for a few hours of fun or buy groceries to eat or oil to heat my house. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. The economy sucks and MSG is cooking the books.

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  2. With that said, nobody forced you to get the $108 tickets, there are plenty of cheaper options at the Garden. If I was a casual buyer, I would look for someone selling tickets below face value, it makes sense. As a matter of fact I just dropped $100 per ticket for Rangers vs Islanders at Nassau for 12/17, face value. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, and it's not just a random game.

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  3. No question about it, anonymous...as a non-season ticket holder the Garden is your choice to take. Literally, I cannot get 20 bucks a ticket from the scalpers for a pair -- because even the illegal guys are overstocked with no one coming.

    It makes me re-think renewing...and even moreso, if there's a half-ass chance we actually do get out of this slump and make the playoffs, there is another thing to consider. If I lay all the dough on the table to maintain my seats and pay for the playoffs, will people still stay home?

    tdr

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