Letters to the editor -
Dear editor,
How Mile One, East Coast Senior Hockey executive, Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador (HNL), and finally the Cee Bees Organization itself, have treated CBN fans is beyond contempt.
Just imagine this - the Events Centre in Clarenville has Herder tickets on sale to all of Newfoundland a month before they know who won the West title. Clarenville wins, but most of the tickets are already sold. Imagine what Clarenville fans would do!
For six years Cee Bees fans have put hundreds of thousands of dollars into the coffers of Mile One, East Coast Hockey League and HNL. And what do the fans get in return? Nothing. They get maybe 500 tickets put away for them. In addition, they get no special consideration as to where they can sit, which preferably, would be all together. They have been told: "buy your tickets a month early if you want a seat."
This is outrageous!
If and a big if it is, tickets are to go on sale early, nothing less than 2,100 should be kept for the winner of the East. I suggest 2,100 because that's the amount of people we could fit into our own building, the S.W. Moores Memorial Stadium in Harbour Grace.
I know of a lady who has attended every game in Harbour Grace this year. Like me, she had no intention of spending hundreds of dollars to watch Torbay or Southern Shore play. She thought "I will wait until the east coast winner is decided". But now, she cannot get a ticket for the Herder.
I can't think of very many sports events where tickets go on sale before the teams are decided. Did Mile One sell tickets for the playoffs when the Maple Leafs were there a month before regular season was over? I think not.
I have a crazy idea. Why don't the Cee Bees tell all the aforementioned organizations where to go? Tell them we have decided to play in our own rink, where the true fan, one who has a holding seat, has attended all the home games, has contributed hundreds of dollars to their team and to the league, would still get a ticket. Yes, play in your own barn, in front of your own fans, on your own ice. Play in Harbour Grace where local businesses would make money, where the stadium would make money. Surely you say no one would be crazy enough to go that route. But wait, we are too late. Clarenville has already seen the light. They see they can make almost as much money by raising ticket prices, still cheaper than driving to St. John's and they satisfy their fifteen or sixteen hundred hard-core fans.
I applaud you!
Edward Winsor
Harbour Grace,
