It’s a tough thing, the business of in-game entertainment. A slow, boring game can sap the life out of an arena pretty quickly, and pockets of empty seats can stop “the wave” dead in its tracks.
As a frequent attendee of hockey games, I’ve been fortunate to witness the best from hockey crowds, and unfortunate to see the worst as well.
Recently, Erin Nicks at Universal Cynic posted a statement from The Real Sens Army about some mistreatment they received at Scotiabank Place. Root of the problem: the group intended to cheer loud and proud for the Ottawa Senators at a recent home game, but were shunned, exiled and even kicked out for ‘rowdy’ behaviour.
Now I don’t intend to cast guilt on either party. I wasn’t there, and I can’t speak to what happened. But it does raise some interesting issues about Scotiabank Place crowds.
So how do you get the crowd more involved? What elicits a response from crowds, and what is downright cheesy? I think there’s a few things we can look at, which hopefully find their way to the right people.
1. Fans aren’t stupid.
- There is an absurd amount of coddling that takes place during hockey games. To think of a few: the noise-meter, the red light, the “Noise” wordmark that travels around the arena. All of these seek to create a response, but in my opinion, do nothing but offend the fan. I understand the necessity to fill dead air with noise, but fan responses are…
2. …organic.
- That’s right. Fans are an organism. If you look at the fan base as a body or structure, it is filled up of many moving parts. In unison, it can work marvellously; however, it also has the ability to appear discombobulated without a unified goal. I know it sounds like I’m saying one thing and preaching the other, but fan responses (the best ones at least) come from the grassroots and not from a fancy graphic on the scoreboard. Not once have I ever seen the scoreboard tell fans to Boo the referee, but yet these are some of the loudest moments in a game. Same goes for booing individual players. As such, in-game entertainment should seek to complement this organic and grassroots movement, rather than force it. Which leads me to my next point.
3. Fans often come up with better choices than they’re given.
- This might offend a few people in the marketing department, but it is a difficult point to argue against. After all, the marketing department is at the arena every single day. It must be hard to not have apathy find it’s way into the job, and sometimes it’s easier to look at what other arenas are doing and just emulate that. But like the booing of a referee or a player, fans respond better to the mob mentality than they do to big brother. Think back to a few years ago during the playoffs when the “Alfie chant” first emerged. No prompting from the scoreboard. No explanation from Stuntman Stu. Pure, unadulterated passion from the fans. In my opinion, the marketing department should be taking a long look at stuff like that, and trying to complement it rather than replace it. I think throwing “Alfie, Alfie, Alfie” on the scoreboard is a lot more effective than “Noise!”
4. We’re there for the hockey game, but the marketing should be about us.
- The Senators have tried this over the past few years, but ‘Sens Army’ just hasn’t taken off as well as I thought it would. But the marketing should be about the fans and their contributions to the game and the team. The 13th Man for the Saskatchewan Roughriders (sorry, the irony is too much) is a classic example. But again, fans aren’t stupid. A simple slogan of ‘Wear Red’ might work for a few, but pictures and movies of an arena awash in red is much more effective. We want to know that our contributions to the game are being recognized, rather than being told what to do. The Senators have done an okay job at this, sometimes. A few years ago they had a video playing about the run to the cup, but this is still the closest I’ve seen them get to celebrating the fans. The Montreal Canadiens, on the other hand, make you feel like you’ve been around for the entire 100 years of the organization; that in some microcosmic way, the fans have contributed to the franchise’s success. I don’t need to see highlights of goals and saves anymore. I need to see the fans.
5. Fans respond to one another.
- This is the simplest of all. It’s a mob mentality out there, but good ideas don’t go unnoticed. Even the shyest individuals will join a chant if enough people are involved. I like to think of the J-Block at Arthur Ashes stadium as a classic example. Whenever James Blake plays in the U.S. Open, the J-Block is full of fans cheering for Jason Blake, wearing matching shirts and going absolutely nuts for him. Why not block off a section of Scotiabank Place, and advertise it as a fan zone. But not a GM Fan Zone. Advertise that this is for real fans only. Noisemakers, signs, capes and flags are not only there, but strongly encouraged. I have no doubt that it would take off and maybe even grow.
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I’m not sure if any of these ideas will actually go anywhere, but I had to write it down. I’ve grown so tired of going to games and watching fans sit on their thumbs. Maybe I’m way off base on these ideas, but hey, I tried. And I’m not even getting paid for this.
Stay classy, Ottawa Senators crowds.
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This is a great post, Tambland. Nice work.
In addition to your thoughts, do you think part of the organic atmosphere is the pre-billing to a game? For example, Chicago comes to town in two weeks and there will be a buzz. Buzz for former Senator in Marian Hossa. Buzz for a young and exciting team with Toews, Kane, and others etc…
In order to add to the organic mood/atmosphere of a game, is it part of the marketing strategy/pre-game build ups to do a better job of setting expectations, educating the crowd about this team and why they are a must see team. Chicago is easier than say… Florida, but you get the point. There has to be more of an interest in the game than just the Senators playing. That happens 41 times a season.
Great post — you’ve captured some of the “Catch 22″ of game entertainment. As much as we try to generate noise & excitement in the building — it’s always more effective when fans do it by themselves.
We often get emails saying we should run a contest for an “official Sens chant”, or add cheerleaders, or any other number of “manufactured’ ideas to get fans making noise.
My approach has always been to encourage fans to take the initiative and make their own noise.
Corporate-created chants rarely work. (Look what happened at the World Juniors with the much-criticized Eh-O Canada-Go!)
Next time you’re at a Sens game — start the Alfie chant, start a “GO SENS GO”, taunt the visiting goalie, whatever it takes … keep it up & keep it going and it WILL catch on.
One last thing — when the Sens are on the their game and we have a full house, Scotiabank Place is as loud — if not louder — than any rink in the NHL.
If you have any ideas for music, chants, fan stuff, mascots, videos, or anything else, send them to us via:
http://senators.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=48801
GO SENS GO!!
I highly disagree about your take on the “Noise” image on the jumbotron. I never see it fail at Scotiabank Place – even when there are 10,000 fans left in the building after a 4 goal deficit. I find the the noise meter especially effective since a lot of fans actually think it is real. However, it is I do understand what you’re saying and think that these create artificial noises in the sense that it goes quiet once the message is off the board.
IMO, Sens fans have often been criticized about being reactive instead of proactive. Meaning that fans will react to what is on the scoreboard, but seldomly start anything themselves. This is part of the problem. (I will agree with you on the red siren… but I’ve already stated my dislike a few times heh)
It’s hard to say what causes it. Ultimately, I think you have to look at the demographics. This city is highly conservative. I think it would be safe to say that most of those who can afford to go to the games are also conservative (obviously this is a generalization).
Perhaps a problem is all the corporate seats and having them filled with non-hockey fans who are pre-occupied by talking on their blackberry and sipping wine. But on the other end, teams cannot survive with out all these corporate sponsors and corporate ticket holders. So how do you get them more involved in the game? I think this would be a great start.
I’ve always felt that the organization lacks some tradition. IMO, tradition is what makes organizations like Toronto, Montreal, Detroit and even Philly so strong. When’s the last time these teams tweeked their logos or their jerseys? And if they did, they went back “old school”. I hate the “Sens” black jersey and thought it would fail… was I ever wrong. Once they were introduced before the Rangers game last year, the arena was full of black jerseys by the 3rd period.
Even changing the team slogan so often… it seems like there is a new one for each season and then a new one come playoffs. Perhaps sticking with one, kind of like the Leafs… “The passion unites us”.
Speaking more of starting and keeping traditions, I felt that the announcing of the players names after a goal were very effective. This year the team stopped doing it. While most players names aren’t screamed by the crowd this year, you still hear loud “Ruutu” screams whenever it is announced that he scored.(i.e. to go with your point of the fan started “Alfie” chants).
I think if we/they could figure out a way to get the fans more involved with the game and try to create a deeper connection to the team… that might be another thing to help.
I think you could look at Pittsburgh and Washington as examples. They went from bad attendance to full buildings. I think the big named players and the recent success of both teams are a big part of that. It’s just amazing to see how many red jerseys are in Washington… you don’t sell 19,000 red jerseys overnight.
Anyway, I think I could go on for days comparing or discussing other teams… and sorry for the novel. Promos are one of my biggest passions so I may have gotten overly excited. :)
Whatever happened to the announcement after a goal? Last year, when they scored, the announcer would say “Goal scored by #19, Jason…” and the crowd would fill in “SPEZZA.” I’m not a Sens fan, but I thought it was a good idea. I know Pierre McGuire was a fan as well. It worked. Why not stick with it?
I know most fans don’t like it, but the Habs “ole” sogn sticks out. It comes up at various points of the game, is spontaneous, and gets the fans into the game. Plus, they’ve been doing it for about four or five years now.
Fans may not be stupid but they won’t act on their own most nights and that’s why the Sens org feels like they need the noise meter. Honestly at some games, it’s usually silent until someone scores a goal and that’s not the way it should be.
I know the Sens fan base is fairly new and we need a few more years to solidify ourselves like the Habs and Leafs fans but honestly like many have said before, we need to start our own traditions and be much louder. It’s really a shame when our own Captain gets booed in the home arena.
Another point that bothers me quite a lot actually is when I’m at a Sens game I make it my mission to be loud through the 60+ minutes to the point where I usually end up not able to speak properly for 2 days but then to my surprise I have witnessed more than once people telling loud fans to keep it quiet and not cheer so loud, or cast a nasty look whenever a GO SENS GO is chanted a little too loudly for their liking, uhmm what? I personally find that insulting and at times really ignorant to the whole point of being a hockey fan. I may hate the Leafs and dislike the Habs but there’s a reason these two cities are on top of most NHL players’ lists, they’re absolutely electrifying to be in
@Tom – I agree. I for one was a huge fan of the last name announcement after a goal. I would love to see it during the playoffs. I feel like the building would shake!
@Sens19- I think that’s where a “superfan section” would be a huge improvement. I mean, as a fan, if you knew you could sit in a section that was going to be loud and noisy all night, it would be fantastic. That’s the kind of section that would wake up a building.
@glengower- Thanks so much for reading. I understand how hard that job would be, especially when you’re dealing with games like Saturday’s against the Panthers. There are just some things you can’t overcome.
@msconduct- I don’t disagree about the Noise banner. I see that it works, and can be quite effective. It’s just that it’s kind of demeaning at times. I mean, as soon as it disappears, the crowd goes quiet. It’s a tough call. Like I said to Tom as well, I really do miss the calling out of the last name. I would love to see that come back. Great call on the tradition as well. I think a huge factor in all this is that we’re really only dealing with our first generation of Sens fans, while the Habs and Leafs both have at least 3 generations of fans.