News Article: Quebec City, Andlauer and the Sparticat Fiasco

[DackellDuck]

LOL .

Big deal!

Relax!

Mendes is communications boss… it went across everyone’s desk.

Total overreaction

Maybe too far, but the reaction of some fans is ridiculously insane.

Eh, the NHLs entire product is based upon people’s irrational attachment and pride in the team they cheer for. That’s why they’re able to charge so much for tickets and TV rights. The actual entertainment value of an average NHL game is not very high… especially in comparison to what you get from Netflix for 15 bucks a month.

So if you’re entire product is based on the irrational fandom of people that live within a specific city and their attachment to the history and “ownership” of their local team, you can’t be surprised when people freak out after you debase your own logo publicly for another city and fanbase.

 

[Cosmix]

If it were up to Andlauer it would be happening now.

You know what Andlauer can do with "his vision"! Shove it!

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Pretty ham handed announcement and even worse “clarification” by Leeder on TSN1200 today.

What did they think the reaction would be? Nobody blinks when teams play preseason games in other cities, except usually, the announcement is made in a hohum press release.

But the Sens flew out the owner and Thomas Chabot to a city that has made no secrets about being ready and willing to accept a relocated NHL team, dressed their mascot in that city’s former franchise’s jersey, implied that they’re open to hosting regular season games there, and then blasted it across social media.

Did they really think the fans in Ottawa would applaud? And then Leeder goes on the radio and wonders why people are talking about this and not the two wins on the weekend… It’s because you made it such a big deal dumdum!

So much for these guys having savvy and a good pulse on the local market. I’d say it was “worst-in-class”. I can’t imagine the Habs, Leafs, Oilers, Flames, etc every doing something like it.

The Andlauer defense squad needs to ask themselves how they would react if Melnyk did the same thing, along with what Andlauer has done to gain the amount of goodwill that is being afforded to him, short of being "not Melnyk".

People are too quick to judge Andlauer by his words, rather than his actions. He says best in class, and they say we don't have to worry about relocation - but do his actions and the actions of the org' today support those words? Absolutely not. So if their intention wasn't to get people thinking that today means relocation could be at least a distant possibility if an arena doesn't materialize, they completely failed to convey whatever message it was they intended to convey by debasing a beloved anthropomorphic mascot.

Best case scenario, this is a tone deaf embarrassment.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Andlauer is the victim here, having to deal with Ottawa city bureaucrats has driven him insane and caused him to make irrational decisions.

 

[thinkwild]

The Andlauer defense squad needs to ask themselves how they would react if Melnyk did the same thing, along with what Andlauer has done to gain the amount of goodwill that is being afforded to him, short of being "not Melnyk".

People are too quick to judge Andlauer by his words, rather than his actions. He says best in class, and they say we don't have to worry about relocation - but do his actions and the actions of the org' today support those words? Absolutely not. So if their intention wasn't to get people thinking that today means relocation could be at least a distant possibility if an arena doesn't materialize, they completely failed to convey whatever message it was they intended to convey by debasing a beloved anthropomorphic mascot.

Best case scenario, this is a tone deaf embarrassment.

I'd think best case scenario is we add more french language television rights to the Senators revenue stream.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Andlauer is the victim here, having to deal with Ottawa city bureaucrats has driven him insane and caused him to make irrational decisions.

Things aren't always black and white. It seems like the NHL may not have operated in perfectly good faith with him during expansion, and Ottawa is a difficult city to get anything built in. That does not absolve him for ruining Spartacat.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Things aren't always black and white. It seems like the NHL may not have operated in perfectly good faith with him during expansion, and Ottawa is a difficult city to get anything built in. That does not absolve him for ruining Spartacat.

Let he who has never tried to get a city of Ottawa member to approve something throw the first stone.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

The Andlauer defense squad needs to ask themselves how they would react if Melnyk did the same thing, along with what Andlauer has done to gain the amount of goodwill that is being afforded to him, short of being "not Melnyk".

People are too quick to judge Andlauer by his words, rather than his actions. He says best in class, and they say we don't have to worry about relocation - but do his actions and the actions of the org' today support those words? Absolutely not. So if their intention wasn't to get people thinking that today means relocation could be at least a distant possibility if an arena doesn't materialize, they completely failed to convey whatever message it was they intended to convey by debasing a beloved anthropomorphic mascot.

Best case scenario, this is a tone deaf embarrassment.

Melnyk did also plan on having games played in QC and got heat for it. The difference was that he threatened to move the team on national TV a few years earlier.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

I'd think best case scenario is we add more french language television rights to the Senators revenue stream.

What reasonable proof of concept do you have for a large enough portion of Quebec City fans to convert to Senators fans in large enough quantities to raise the value of the upcoming TV negotiations? If you're going to advocate for the upside of this marketing campaign, you have to justify why it is greater than the very obvious downside. If we take it at face value and nothing fishy is going on, this entire thing was a complete disaster. The only way the organization aren't completely tone deaf is if they have some ulterior motive.

Add in the damage they have now done to their local fanbase with the approach. A huge element of trust was breached by the way Andlauer set this thing up. People bring up the Sweden comparison. But there is major negative downside to trying to market the team in conjunction with the same group that has openly lobbied for an NHL team, and has also been speculated as a landing spot for our team. Then they do this during the same week where the arena plans once again fail to materialize, the same year that we just saw a team relocate due to not being able to build a new arena.

It's fine to say "I think it is a good idea to market to areas that we have the TV rights to". That doesn't have to be mutually exclusive to defending a marketing campaign that clearly was tone deaf.

Not to mention, they did this right before season ticket renewals.

 

[thinkwild]

I dont really see a downside. Dont think most fans are losing sleep over this. Reaching out is a good thing

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Melnyk did also plan on having games played in QC and got heat for it. The difference was that he threatened to move the team on national TV a few years earlier.

Melnyk did all of the above. He hijacked what should have been a very special event to grandstand about moving his grocery store. He also was rightfully taken to task for it.

Andlauer forged a business partnership with a group that is notorious for being a landing spot for our relocation and heavily marketed it during the same week that talk about our arena deal being delayed again has started.

He does everything you would do if you were trying to set up a relocation as a backup plan/leverage point against the NCC. The fact that they had to acknowledge that this supposedly isn't an attempt to squeeze the NCC shows that the theory isn't that farfetched - But then Cyril Leeder goes on TSN 1200 and says "we aren't relocating. guys stop talking about it adam gaudette has 15 goals or something talk about that lol" and there is a large defense squad of people who say "SEE THE ORGANIZATION YOU ARE ACCUSING OF DOING SOMETHING FISHY HAS LOOKED INTO IT AND DETERMINED THAT THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG".

That is what I take issue with. I don't expect people to share my level of skepticism, but my mind is blown at some of the defense squad tier threads I've seen.

I dont really see a downside. Dont think most fans are losing sleep over this. Reaching out is a good thing

Spartacat wearing Quebec Nordiques colours not cool with fuming Senators fans

The mascot for the Ottawa Senators has drawn a lot of online ire after wearing Quebec Nordiques colours at a news conference.

ottawacitizen.com

In case you missed the fan reaction to the Senators marketing this partnership...

 

[thinkwild]

Online ire whipped up over an obviously contrived narrative. A sign of the times isnt it.

 

[IpsoPostFacto]

I don't mind the preseason games in Quebec. Saying he would like to have a couple of actual regular season games is too far. The announcement is also too far. Just go to Quebec a few days before the preseason games and have Chabot, and whoever, do the rounds with the media and tell that fans to jump on the Ottawa Senators Bandwagon.

Maybe Andlauer got our 1st back for doing all this.

 

[Tuna99]

Andlauer isn’t offering a clear vision for ownership and that’s totally on him and it’s stupid and a dumb thing to fumble.

If there’s a brand of Ottawa Senators that needs to die it’s the owner flirting with other markets. Andlauer is an idiot for his recent 2 months of murkenstances interviews and hats.

Please go away and come back with an arena deal when it’s done. Don’t need to hear about your vision for the Quebec market ever, and honestly I don’t need to hear from you every 2 weeks. Just go away and work the arena deal behind the scenes until shit gets done and yes you need to be patient, the real Ottawa brand. It’s what the fans have done

 

[mysens]

This might have something to do with one of the Ottawa Senators Investors liquidating his 12% stake in the team (George Armoyan) and Andlauer possibly is doing a show and tell to some Quebec City Billionnaire/millionnaire. There are a bunch in that area.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Starting a gofundme for #ANDLAUEROUT

It is time!

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Melnyk did also plan on having games played in QC and got heat for it. The difference was that he threatened to move the team on national TV a few years earlier.

Yes Melnyk was terrible at sending a message…. He usually spoke before logic caught up in his mind….but both owners seem to be sending the same message, with the current owner being a lot less ham handed.

When the Cap rises each and every season, it will be harder for small market teams to remain competitive with teams in larger markets with much more revenue streams….. throw in Ottawa being a government town, and how that impacts potential increases in revenues, the new owner has been here long enough to see what ALL previous owners had come to learn.

And now the new owner has dealt with the NCC long enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel getting further away, rather than closer….so make no mistake, the previous owner and the new owner are essentially sending the same message, as to how difficult it is to get anything done in this market, and if it can’t work here, perhaps there are other paths to explore…

How else do you explain the very similar reaction for the fan base and the local media?

Perhaps fans can make their displeasure known, by Booing Spartacat at the next few home games?

 

[Burrowsaurus]

I don’t even agree with needing to speak French to appease the Gatineau people.

My favorite soccer team never has to speak in English to me to make me happy and cheer for them. They’re not English. They’re Italian.

Too much pandering. Build a winning hockey team. That’s it. Don’t worry about not offending some dude in Gatineau

 

[Very Stable Genius]

Fan outreach is dumb, you know how you reach out? You win.

 

[Tuna99]

Such a stupid fumble by this team. The people who run the team have continually kept the ownership in a state of having one on on other markets and massively stupid after your team just reached 3rd in the division and is about to have fanfest its an amateur move, stupid and ignorant and Leeder should know better - stop with the Sens could do it somewhere else.

Why does this continually happen to tje Senators their ownership group flirts with other markets. Massively stupid of Andlauer, Andlauer should just shut his mouth and work behind the scenes like the fans want him to.

Andlauers loves the microphone. To much, and Sens fans are sick of owners who live microphones for a lifetime

 

[IpsoPostFacto]

Such a stupid fumble by this team. The people who run the team have continually kept the ownership in a state of having one on on other markets and massively stupid after your team just reached 3rd in the division and is about to have fanfest its an amateur move, stupid and ignorant and Leeder should know better - stop with the Sens could do it somewhere else.

Why does this continually happen to tje Senators their ownership group flirts with other markets. Massively stupid of Andlauer, Andlauer should just shut his mouth and work behind the scenes like the fans want him to.

Andlauers loves the microphone. To much, and Sens fans are sick of owners who live microphones for a lifetime

the response to a team in Quebec City should be "great, but that's in our viewership corridor. Make with the $$$"

 

[hockey20000]

i mean i would love quebec city back in the league way more then arizona or a atlanta team again but not at the expensive of my sens lol

 

[LuckyPierre]

I don’t have an issue with the high level strategy. In fact, it’s clever and cagey.

Andlauer is in it for at least a generation, so why not steal young fans from under Montreal’s nose. They can grow up and produce Sens fans of their own, and Andlauer, playing a long game, chips away at Montreal’s market share.

Better strategy than being complacent in the sliver between two behemoth markets in Montreal and Toronto.

Next, he has to figure out how to steal away interest in southern Ontario. I think the only surefire way to do that is to capture the imaginations of the youth with a cup win and hope they stick with you.

 

[Micklebot]

So, I think the Sparty jersey was a misstep for sure. I don't care personally, nordiques are long gone, but obviously some people do.

The home game thing though, here's my take on that.

Quebec City is technically our territory, so it makes sense that we market there,
I want Sens fans everywhere. I want them invading the Mtl arena when we are there. So if playing a mid February home game in Quebec city against the Utah Hockey club, or Clb or whoever can help get people get excited in that region for the Sens, I think it's great.

There are 41 home games in the reg season, and until we're selling them all out, we aren't actually taking much away from the city of Ottawa (sorry full season ticket holders that actually attend every game, I acknowledge that you loose out on something)

The reality is Quebec to the Maritimes is our territory (minus Montreal), it's time we start treating it as our territory, this is a step towards that, and if a couple home games out there can help cement the brand in the region, I fail to see how that's a negative. We need to take what is ours.