Why Blaming the Fans for Losing is a Bogus Criticism

Damien Cox wrote in his column this past week, “No franchise in the NHL, it seems, struggles more with maintaining a level of decent consistency than the Leafs. Is it because their fans are so easily satisfied?”

To answer your question, Damien, no. No, it is not the fans.

Essentially, Damien is trying to correlate losing with the consistency of fan support in Toronto.

First of all, Toronto is an absolutely massive hockey market, with cities and towns surrounding it for miles and miles. Is it even fathomable that a revolt against the team in the form of boycott would produce better results?

Oh wait, MLSE doesn’t just own the Maple Leafs. They own the Toronto Raptors and Toronto FC, among other assets. I suppose that must mean that if they started losing money with the Leafs (hypothetically speaking), that they would be able to still make a profit off the other assets, and then refinance the Maple Leafs?

Hypothetically speaking, let’s say somehow, some way, Leafs fans collectively boycott the team and refuse to go to any games when the team is doing poorly. What would happen?

The owners would sell their shares in the company to a select few of a very large number of potential investors. Why is that? Because there will always, always be someone to invest in a hockey team smack in the center of Canada’s largest city with hordes of potential fans. Essentially, if the team does poorly in revenue, the marketing department, owners and GM will be to blame first. There will always be a way to maintain a fanbase in Toronto, short of a nuclear attack on the city. Doesn’t matter how many disgruntled fans there are, there are always going to be new potential fans which can be lured back with marketing.

Which is why it’s so strange that, when it’s clear the fans, as an independent factor, do not factor into this present situation, Damien Cox chooses to point the finger at them. Especially when he provides no evidence or proof of causality.

And I haven’t even talked about how incredibly idiotic it is to correlate the perceived satisfaction with the hockey team with poor hockey. There is no correlation whatsoever with how the team does and how successful the franchise is. The Leafs will ALWAYS be able to make money, through good and bad seasons.

Just because MLSE has miles of people to market to, and continues to succeed, does not mean that we fans are anything close to satisfied.

The image of the ’satisfied fan’, which is created in the minds of the mainstream media, essentially flows from the fact that the organization is able to sell tickets and run a profit. However, ask any individual fan about this team and you’re not going to hear a single one of them say they’re satisfied. Just because the ACC fills up (it’s not hard to pull that off in the biggest city in Canada), doesn’t mean the millions of fans are satisfied. Not even close.

And we all know, there is a lot more to gain financially from having happy fans than disgruntled ones, even if you’re going to make a profit nonetheless. That’s the kind of greed I don’t mind MLSE pursuing.

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