Flames falter in Anaheim
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They’re wearing their Flames, Oilers, Leafs, Senators and Canadiens jerseys to the office. Flaming Cs are appearing on the windows of bars and restaurants; and Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson just challenged the other four Canadian mayors whose teams are in the running to grow playoff beards — to which Mayor Naheed Nenshi replied with a crack that doubted his Edmonton counterpart’s ability to grow one.
Yes, folks, it’s happening again. Stanley Cup fever, albeit still on a slow boil in this first week of playoff competition, has returned to our environs.
Even before puck drop at Honda Center in Anaheim on Thursday evening for the Flames’ first game against the Anaheim Ducks, the buzz is beginning in both mainstream media and the social variety, while local groups like Cowtown Opera unveil new anthem songs.
All of which has people like Ernie Tsu grinning from ear to ear. “It couldn’t have worked out any better,” says Tsu, the co-owner of Trolley 5 restaurant and brewery, a year-old establishment located where the old Melrose Bar sat for 23 years. Along with having the hometown NHL team in the playoffs, the fact that this year there are five Canadian teams making the cut is an embarrassment of riches. “There’s a game every night,” says Tsu, who finds his bar can fill with Oilers fans as easily as Flames fans.
“We’re booked solid for tonight and we expect to be busy for the next while,” says Tsu, who is thrilled the Flames and Oilers play on alternate nights. “It’s kind of caught us off-guard.”
It’s a happy kind of off-guard, though, for businesses able to cash in on the uptick of customers that the Stanley Cup playoffs bring. It’s also great for the Calgary Flames’ fortunes too, as it’s estimated that each playoff game can generate around $1 million for a franchise.
Having written on the Flames and the playoffs a handful of times since the 2004 Cinderella playoff run, I’ve heard time and again from economic officials that it doesn’t necessarily translate into a significant bump to the overall local economy, despite bringing in more tourists and giving us a profile boost on the North American stage.
Still, in a city that’s been in the worst downturn in a generation, every little bit helps. Not to mention the boost it gives to the collective psyche when there is something to celebrate amidst the daily barrage of bad economic news.
That’s a sentiment with which Robert Thompson wholeheartedly agrees. “Some people can get pretty hyperbolic about how much it helps a community’s morale,” says Thompson, a pop culture expert and professor at Syracuse University in New York. “But it definitely does help.”
Thompson, a noted authority on everything from the politics of reality TV to crowd behaviour, says, “it’s so cut and dried — the team has the city’s name in it, up against another city. Since the days when we cheered on the gladiators, it’s been proven to lift people’s spirits and temporarily forget what’s going on in the rest of their lives.”
While there is only a shortterm economic boost to local restaurants, bars and other businesses connected to the game, Thompson thinks the morale boost, if a team goes far in the competition, can last much longer. “You can’t build a civic infrastructure around that, but the good feelings from a winning sports team can spread through a whole community, not just the people who are hardcore fans.”
Still, no matter whether it’s a short or a long run for the Calgary Flames, entrepreneurs like Ernie Tsu will be grateful for every moment. “The downturn has not been good for anybody,” he says. “Being in the Stanley Cup playoffs will be great for businesses like ours and it’ll give Calgarians something fun to get behind.”