There’s a Lesson in the Turnstiles

The national publication had printed--or broadcast or dot.commed or byted or whatever it is you do on the information superhighway--the usual cliche about Southern California sports, and this time it demanded to be addressed:

The Kings are still looking for a star to promote in their new Staples Center.

Ahem, no.

For some reason, people in the hinterlands--defined as that territory east of the Sierra--seem to believe everybody here is so hung up on the Tinseltown phenomenon that the package is more important than the product. That unless you can put Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts or Shaquille O’Neal on the marquee, nobody will go to the show.

They tend to ignore history, which says that the Kings with Wayne Gretzky and a winning team filled the Great Western Forum; the Kings with Wayne Gretzky and no winning team played before a half-empty building.

They tend to ignore the present, which says that the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, with all their supposed Disney marketing magic and with Paul Kariya, the single most promotable player in hockey outside of Pittsburgh, are drawing embarrassingly low crowds.

When you draw an advertised--and many there say inflated--11,134 for a game against St. Louis, one of the most appealing teams in hockey with Chris Pronger, last season’s most valuable player, there is a problem.

Game was on a Sunday afternoon, say the apologists.

So, is everybody in Southern California at home watching pro football on the telly?

When you draw an alleged 11,602 for Phoenix, the hottest team in hockey, words fail.

Lest the Ducks stand alone in indictment, take a look around a league in trouble.

The NHL claims to have played at 88.5% of capacity, averaging 16,231 a game, so far this season, and it’s happy because the leaves are still turning in some environs. More than that, the claim is attendance is up 0.5%, or about 70 customers a game.

But when the Islanders count 10,126 for the return of Ziggy Palffy on Sunday afternoon, and when that game really drew fewer people than finished within five minutes of Abdelkhader El Mouaziz, the runaway winner of the New York Marathon, what can you believe?

It could be worse. When Boston visited the Islanders a week ago, the announced crowd was 6,418.

At Carolina, an alleged 7,016 that was more like 4,000 were treated to a Halloween game against the Lightning, though the Hurricanes had sold out a game against New Jersey four nights earlier.

There are problems in Tampa, where the crowds are routinely in four digits; in New Jersey, where the Stanley Cup champions aren’t exactly packing the Continental Airlines Arena for new ownership that demands the Devils stand on their own merits, in this case a $40-million budget that is $10 million to $20 million less than team owners say is necessary to play in the NHL; in Boston, where Bruin fans are tiring of years of neglect; in Washington, in Florida, in Chicago.

A sellout is even a rarity in Montreal, the cradle of the sport, if you buy the Chambre du Commerce line.

Understand, these are real figures, not those announced in your daily statistical summary. Those numbers are tickets sold.

“I’m concerned about no-shows,” says Columbus President Doug MacLean, and rightly so.

You announce 11,167 for the Boston game at the Pond, because those tickets are sold and the corporate dollars many of them represent are already in the bank. But when you actually draw 8,000, that means the moguls couldn’t give their tickets away.

It also means parking isn’t being paid, beer isn’t being bought, souvenirs aren’t being sold. Yes, ticket revenues are up slightly, but you pay the bills out of the entire boodle. Turnstile apathy is a shot through the heart of a game that is more attendance-driven than any other.

The answers are different everywhere, though common throughout the game are ticket prices that command corporate investment and deny the average fan a seat anywhere below nosebleed country. It’s fast reaching a point at which you can choose to take your family to a game or send your kids to college.

At the Pond, the Ducks spent money on German Titov in the off-season to put a better team on the ice and they are better. But all the rappelling mascots and sound-and-fury shows signifying nothing aren’t getting fans to flock to the building in a spirit of civic-mindedness just because the team calls itself Anaheim. They have become more savvy and want the winner that, so far, has not been provided.

At Staples Center, the jury is still out because the Kings have played only four home games and two of those were sellouts. They sold out 19 games last season--a team that made the playoffs--but in a town of what-have-you-done-for-me-lately, more postseason success is needed to lure fans.

Elsewhere, the marketing mavens are out in full force, but so far they aren’t getting much more than the dollars that were spent last summer for season tickets; and they’re still pandering to people who would benefit most from George W. Bush becoming president, if you buy the Al Gore line. And to television, while they and everybody else know that the game has to be seen in person to be appreciated.

REALITY IS DEFLATED

It has been written in most ports--and, alas, here--that Rob Blake turned down a three-year, $22.5-million contract extension from the Kings, but it turns out he didn’t do so at all.

It was a three-year, $20-million deal.

Blake has been somewhat bemused by the inflated figure, but fact is that he and agent Ron Salcer were presented with two offers: one for $30 million over five years that didn’t merit even a turndown, and the $20-million, three-year deal that isn’t close to the market that has been set by St. Louis’ Pronger, the Rangers’ Brian Leetch and Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom.

In a spirit of helping, three years at $8 million per might do the trick.

Then again, it might not.

NO HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS

When Marty McSorley met with Commissioner Gary Bettman to ask for reinstatement to the NHL, the union was on the phone.

Not in the room.

When the NHLPA was asked if it supported McSorley’s bid, spokesman Tim Wharnsby said: “You can’t say support. The incident did, after all, involve another union member. Just say we’re watching.”

Or in this case, listening.

While in the employ of the Boston Bruins last February, McSorley hit Vancouver’s Donald Brashear in the head with a stick. Bettman suspended McSorley for the remaining 23 games of the Bruin season and decreed that McSorley would have to go through him to get back onto an NHL club.

The Vancouver courts found McSorley guilty of assault with a weapon--his stick--and gave him probation.

And the union is missing the point.

Now that justice has been meted out by the court and the league, the remaining problem does not involve McSorley and Brashear--his probation requires McSorley not play against Brashear during the 18 months--but McSorley and the league. It’s the job of the union to represent its members in such circumstances.

SWAMPLAND IS A BETTER SELL

Finding the National Car Rental Center hard by Florida’s Everglades is tough enough, and apparently nobody with enough money to buy the Panthers is making the trip.

The only people who watch Florida hockey these days are those who go to the games to tell Bryan Murray, the team’s general manager, that he should fire Coach Terry Murray, his brother.

The team has been for sale for a year now with no buyer, and attendance is down 7% from last season, which was down 13.5% from the year before that. Yes, that’s announced attendance. Fewer people are in the seats.

CHANGE ISN’T THE ANSWER

Firing coach Pat Burns certainly wasn’t the solution at Boston, which is 2-5 under replacement Mike Keenan and was outscored, 15-4, in two games over the weekend.

Burns did what he could with a bad team and Keenan isn’t happy with his new club and, for that matter, with the way it’s treated by the opposition.

When he said he would talk with the NHL about Toronto’s Tie Domi, whose roughing penalty precipitated a brawl in a 7-1 game on Sunday, Domi responded: “[Keenan should] worry more about his personality. I don’t have anything against Keenan, but that’s typical.”

SLAP SHOTS

* San Jose has activated goalie Steve Shields, out since Oct. 12 because of an ankle sprain, but it’s not as if the Sharks are having problems. Unbeaten in its last eight games, San Jose is getting outstanding goaltending from rookie Evgeni Nabokov, who’s 6-1-1 with a 1.79 goals-against average.

* There’s concern about Owen Nolan’s health in San Jose, where he has suffered a setback in recovering from off-season abdominal surgery.

* The Islanders brought up the No. 1 pick in June’s entry draft, goalie Rick DiPietro, even though he has struggled with the IHL Chicago Wolves. DiPietro was 2-4 with a 4.44 goals-against average at Chicago.