Angry fan implores Melnyk to ‘move on’
TAMPA, FL A. One week after Senators owner Eugene Melnyk knocked over some lamps, burned a hole in a couch and soiled the rug at the NHL’s big party in Ottawa, Gary Bettman is still cleaning up the mess.
Speaking to The Fan 590 as a guest of Bob McCown’s Prime Time Sports on Thursday, the league’s commissioner was asked about Melnyk’s comments.
“I do think what he said, how it was portrayed, was blown out of proportion,” Bettman said. “He never said, ‘I’m moving.’ What he said was, ‘I need a new building, and for the long term if things got bad, I’ll have to deal with it.’ But that was more of a long-term forecast. I think it was blown out of proportion, but I also think it would have been better had it not been said at all.”
He also angered a lot of fans and Senators customers.
The following is part of a wellwritten open letter one of them posted on medium.com in a blog:
Dear Mr. Melnyk,
My name is Nick Dunne. You do not know me, but I am a lifelong fan of the Senators. I am part of the young cohort of the Sens Army that was born soon after the birth of this team, and have known no other to be so close to my heart. I am also one of the thousands of anonymous fans you have belittled and berated over the past year in response to ticket sales. We have endured many ups and downs with your tenure as owner, but this particular incident on the eve of the NHL 100 Winter Classic has compelled me to write this letter.
Just as you have more or less expressed an abandonment of hope in the people of this city, I wish to speak on behalf of the fans to say that the feeling is mutual — we have wholly abandoned hope in your ability to own and manage this team.
The city owes it to you for keeping the franchise afloat after you had purchased it in 2003, but that goodwill has long since run out. I have never witnessed an owner of a major sports franchise with such contempt for his own team’s fan base. An owner who, after receiving a life-saving liver transplant from a fan less than three years ago, has the audacity to flippantly threaten relocation. An owner who staffs one of the smallest front offices in the league and allegedly asked them to take out the garbage themselves in an effort to cut costs. An owner who receives persistent and universal criticism by fans, media and players alike for his outbursts, short temper, stingy budgets and notorious difficulty to work with, who makes a public spectacle of himself and regularly embarrasses the entire organization, and who allegedly forced out Kyle Turris, one of the most beloved, compassionate, and active members of this community. An owner who blasts the fan base for not showing up to games after one of the worst losing skids in recent memory. An owner who has driven out Daniel Alfredsson, the best player this franchise has ever seen.
I could call you names, I could give you my exact thoughts on your utter buffoonery, but merely listing your actions has done multitudes more than my words ever could express.
On behalf of the city I love and call my home, we implore you to move on from this team, or continue to relocate until you realize that you are your own biggest problem. For my sake and yours, I hope you consider the former.