By Mark Janzen /
If Kyle Turris and a national championship team can’t sell tickets, you know have a problem.
After five years of woeful attendance at the Bill Copeland Arena in Burnaby, the Express are returning to Coquitlam for the 2010/11 season.
And it seems there’s a whole lot of optimism and excitement.
“We met with the mayor of Coquitlam (Richard Stewart)…and basically the theme and common motto was, “we want you to come home,” said Darcy Rota, the Express’ president, general manager and now, interim coach. “And that seems to be the buzz coming from Coquitlam.”
After the 2004/05 season in Coquitlam, the Express made the move to Burnaby largely because the Coquitlam Sports Centre was undergoing renovations, the parking lot would have been vastly diminished and the logistics didn’t add up.
In their first year in Burnaby, not only did they have Turris – who would become the highest BCHL player ever drafted in the NHL Draft (third overall to Phoenix) – but they also went on to win the national championship; yet, essentially, the crowds just didn’t come out as hoped.
Despite the immediate success, the Express averaged 992 fans per game, which was 100 less than the previous year in Coquitlam.
The following year, with Turris bringing in nearly as many scouts as fans, Burnaby drew 895 fans.
“Alarm bells really started going off big time,” Rota said.
Since then, attendance has steadily decreased. So much so, that this year’s average attendance is 528.
Go to an Express game these days and you never have to wait in line for popcorn, you can have your pick of any seat in the house, and you definitely don’t need to leave the game early to “beat the rush.”
And that’s the problem.
The five-year deal the Express signed with Burnaby is done at the end of this season and it’s time to go.
Sure, their on-ice product has been lacking the last couple of seasons but even when the Turris-led success had Burnaby in the national spotlight, the team still struggled to draw fans.
“To say that our attendance has dropped off because of [our recent poor play] is unfair because of the fact that in year one, we were a national championship team,” Rota said. “The next year, you’d think attendance would pick up.”
But it didn’t.
And the questions as to why Burnaby fans never embraced the Express seemed prevalent from pretty much the first day.
“It’s a good question,” Rota said. “Is it too close to the city? Is it the Canucks or the Giants? Is it the location of the arena? But from our standpoint it [just] has not worked.”
But as Mayor Stewart articulated, next year will be a homecoming for the Express and Burnaby’s leading scorer, Brad Reid, is excited for the possibilities.
“I think it will be an upgrade,” Reid said. “We’ll get a lot more fan base. The facilities over there I hear are amazing so it will be a change for the best.
“It’s disappointing (not having the support here) but the fans aren’t the ones playing the game. We’re the ones playing the game so I don’t think it can affect us too much.“
And with renovations to the Coquitlam Sports Centre scheduled to be finished by September 2010, it looks like the train is returning at just the right time. |