Future Of The Fans

I read a great article by Robert Cribb of the Toronto Star yesterday (I'll post the link at the end for you to read).

It really opened my eyes as to how MLSE is sacrificing their future fans for revenue generation today. Probably one of the reasons I'm such a huge fan is the emotional attachment that I had to the team growing up. I was lucky enough to go to a handful of games at the Gardens with my dad on Saturday nights. We'd watch the game, grab a hot dog and an ice cream, and as I would watch my heart would race, as the likes of Doug Gilmour and Felix Potvin inspired me for my big Sunday morning game. This is how life-long, passionate fans are created.

But with prices getting out of control, it simply isn't an option for most fathers to bring their sons and daughters to a Leaf game, let alone the whole family. This means that the younger generation does not have an emotional attachment to the team, and MLSE is losing those critical life-time fans that have driven the success of the franchise for so long. Cribb reported in his article that the younger generation of fans are more likely to buy a Crosby or Ovechkin jersey than a Leafs jersey (Leaf jersey sales are already down 25%).

To be a Torontonian was was once synonymous with being Leaf fan, but with Leaf games being unaccessible to so many of our future fans, it looks like this will no longer be the case.

Be careful MLSE, those fans are going to grow up, have spending dollars and own corporations, but with no emotional attachment to the Leafs, those dollars will be spent elsewhere. It's become clear that the future of Leaf fans will depend on MLSE's decision to lower prices

Losers' jerseys are a tough sell - Robert Cribb
- Daniel