NHL returns

By Kenton Wolfe
The NHL lockout is over and it may be affecting local business.
With the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, the new Collective Bargaining Agreement is formally ratified between the NHL owners and the NHL players association.
The NHL season is officially underway with fans everywhere flocking back to their favourite team’s home opener. Thirteen games took place Jan. 19, with many teams selling out, including in several Canadian markets such as Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver.
Fans who were not lucky enough to make it to their team’s rink congregated to sports bars, like the Derek Farrugia-owned Dugout Sports Lounge in downtown Windsor. Just one week into the NHL season, Farrugia said the bar has already seen a noticeable increase in business.
“It’s definitely going to affect business,” said Farrugia. “It’s those off nights (that it is going to affect). Weekday nights – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights, kind of slower nights, business has been up and down. It’s nice to have a couple fans who want to come out and enjoy the game at a bar.”
With the rising tension between the NHL and its fans over the course of the four month lockout, several teams have started initiatives to win back some of the begrudged fans. The Toronto Maple Leafs handed out over 1,000 free tickets, while the Buffalo Sabres gave a free tickets to season ticket holders like Chris Brooks. Brooks owns partial season tickets.
“It’s kind of (expletive) that it happened still,” Brooks said of the lockout. “But it won’t affect my attendance… I think we can all agree that NHL hockey is the best level of hockey in the world.”
However, not all fans were willing to go back to easily. For some fans, free tickets won’t be enough to win them back.
“I won’t go out of my way,” said sports fan Jaleel Sobers. “Nothing else will have to be on for me to watch it, maybe if Alexander Ovechkin is on. I still like basketball, football.”
Though it is still unclear how many fans were lost due to the labour stoppage, business has returned to local sports bars.
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