Ottawa Senators Owner Eugene Melnyk fearing loss of Fan Base due to Lockout -NHL Update
Fans are being treated the worst by far ever since the lockout came about after the previous collective bargaining agreement came to an end on September 15, 2012, and for Ottawa Senators owner, Eugene Melnyk, losing a lot of them would not be a surprise.
While talking to The Fan 590 on Wednesday, the Ottawa Senators owner let his heart out on how he was not always a fan of hockey. He was initially a baseball fanatic that lost all hope and interest in the sport after the 1994 Major League Baseball (MLB) players’
strike in August of that year. According to Melnyk, that was the last time he followed the sport and moved on to other things.
“I was like a crazy, crazy baseball fan,” Melnyk said. “And after the strike, I was gone.”
Melnyk also stated that it was surprising to see how the corporate sponsorship has not let his team go and continues to support them where and when needed, along with the diehard Ottawa Senators fans.
“That’s one of the nice parts, seeing how much support we do get from them,” he said of the sponsors. “They’re all big players, and they all understand what’s going on. They all have that same look of ‘what’s going to happen?’ and you can’t answer, because
you don’t know,” Melnyk added.
When asked about whether any fans had wanted a refund for the tickets they bought to a now locked out regular season, the owner stated that it was an amount he could “probably count on a couple of hands”, showing how most of them had still held on to their
passes.
While the lockout may not be as bright as the Senators owner makes it seem like, he also talked about the gloomy side of affairs which had resulted in the laying off of a number of staff members, and could be seeing more in the near future if it does not
come to an end. He is certainly disappointed, but only one in a sea of people.
“It’s a huge disappointment. This should not happen, but it did.”
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