Habs alienate their die-hard fans

My rift with the Canadiens did not happen overnight

There is no doubt the legacy left by the Montreal Canadiens will remain an important part of this city’s heritage for decades, even generations, to come. However, there are signs the modern incarnation of our beloved NHL franchise is devaluing fandom, to the team’s own detriment.

Like most, my rift with the Habs did not happen overnight. My disinterest was cultivated over years of mediocre performance and myriad blunders; the latest disappointment being the failure to re-sign reliable 16-year veteran Andrei Markov, so devoted to the franchise that his recent wedding was somewhat Habs-themed.

To think that my interest in Canadiens hockey may prove to have been fleeting feels like sacrilege. I only take comfort in the fact that I am far from alone.

I know several Montrealers with the iconic logo tattooed on their bodies. This summer, two such superfans told me they were having them removed (this involves a costly, time-consuming and painful series of procedures).

“It doesn’t feel right to keep blindly supporting a franchise that no longer represents me or my values,” admitted TSN radio host and Canadiens analyst Robyn Flynn, who will be scheduling the procedure imminently.

Illustrating through body art a permanent devotion to a sports franchise is an awfully powerful statement; investing exponentially more time and money to remove the art is an even stronger one.

Though anecdotal, these seem like pertinent examples of the growing chasm between the Canadiens and even its most diehard fans.

I skipped the tattoo, but was an 82-game-peryear-watching fan club member. My fandom peaked well over a decade ago, in my early 20s, when I bought quarter-season tickets (no small gesture for a student with a modest income).

Earlier in my youth, on the playground, overwhelming support for the Canadiens not only had been the norm, it was practically the law.

There were few if any contrarian Bruins or Maple Leafs fans; they would have risked bodily harm, likely in the form of a wedgie, had they outed themselves publicly.

I can vividly recall one elementary school friend, Ryan, becoming inspired by former Canadiens goaltender Patrick Roy, convincing his parents to invest in the Roy-branded pads, blockers and a mask; he mimicked the legendary goalie, down to the ritualistic good luck goal post-tapping, and went on to play the position at elite, semi-pro levels (he’s since devoted his career to sports medicine).

Relationships to the Canadiens like these — life-altering, inspirational connections — it would seem are less common among young fans today, even with the popularity of Carey Price.

While the Canadiens are to be applauded for initiatives like the building of hockey rinks in neighbourhoods where they are needed, customer service is slipping.

Fans with season tickets now have to pay nearly $350 more to have physical tickets printed, with another $100 administration fee. As diehards will tell you, tickets are part of the package. They are pieces of potential memorabilia that many cherish for decades.

The assumption that the fans will always be there is almost certainly a false one, according to recent studies. Millennials and younger watch a wider variety of professional sports, watch less television overall and are hence less likely to become long-term fans. Had the fan factor been considered more consistently by Canadiens management, Markov and P.K. Subban would still be in town, where they belong.

“It was the P.K. Subban trade that really sealed the deal for me,” Flynn said. Clearly, the move failed to improve the on-ice product, as many other experts have noted, only exacerbating disenchantment.

All pro sports franchises will be facing unique challenges in the years to come. For any business in an evolving, increasingly millennialdriven marketplace, regressing on customer service is to buck the trend; such behaviour places the Habs in what could be their most compromising position in generations.