This has been an exciting week in Toronto. On Friday, Air Canada Centre was re-opened after a $45 million reno that saw the creation of a new Atrium, new concessions, tons of televisions, including a gigantic new one on Bremner Boulevard which is the beginning of what will be an awesome new public space where TML fans who can’t get tickets will have a chance to meet and cheer on the Buds. On Sunday, the season seat holders of the Raps, Buds, and Marlies got to get up close and personal with their heroes at the MLSE Block Party at Polson Pier. Of course, Wednesday night was the Coke Zero Fans First game where the true Leafs fan got a chance to sit in seats they normally wouldn’t and cheer on a team that they hardly (if ever) get to see live from the stands; this is the only NHL (pre-season) game in Toronto where the suits in the “plats” are replaced with real fans there to see their team start that unending quest for the elusive Lord Stanley’s Mug.
There are two things that can be taken from this week:
1. Fans love their Toronto teams. Even though they may not have access to seats, they are passionate.
2. Fans crave player interaction and more is definitely better.
This week, I got my season seats and scarves from the ACC for the Toronto Marlies 2009-2010 season and my renewal package for my Toronto FC seats. Picking up the Marlies tix was a real pleasure as I got the chance to meet Rick Vaive, along with current Leafs Bozak, Tlusty, Foster, Finger, VanRyn and Beauchemin. Despite some minor hiccups along the way, MLSE really outdid themselves on this one and a special thanks to the Leafs and Raptors players who couldn’t have been more fan-friendly, posing for thousands of pictures and signing hundreds of autographs. MLSE needs to take the Block Party concept out to the streets….Dundas Square…..Square One….Albert Campbell Square…Mel Lastman Square….everywhere!
For the TFC seats, it was amazing to see how hard it was to access my account manager to pull the invoice, as the 16,000 “SSHs” as we’re called, lined-up to pay for next year’s games, while 14,000 people wait for the chance to do the same.
Fans are passionate. People call Toronto a hockey town (and it is), but it is amazing to see the passion that fans have for the Raps and TFC, and there were many, many Marlies jerseys in the crowd at the MLSE Block Party and even the Fans First Leafs game as well! If we were ever to take control of the tickets out of the hands of the scalpers and corporate suits and into the hands of fans, think of how different the new and improved ACC would really be? EVERY GAME would be a FANS FIRST GAME!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Every Week Needs To Be Like This Week in T Dot
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment