Since Senators Chair Rod Bryden announced Friday that
he was extending the team's season-ticket campaign deadline
to February 22, the club "has seen only minuscule amounts of
new support," according to the OTTAWA CITIZEN. Yesterday,
the team added 28 new season-ticket equivalents, while 0.5%
of current season-ticket holders agreed to renew for the
2000-01 season. Also, for the second consecutive day, "not
a single company" accepted a 10% increase in the cost of
luxury suites, signs and other advertising with the
Senators. The number of companies to respond stands at 126
out of more than 300 involved with the team. The team now
has 1,202 new season-ticket equivalents, short of Bryden's
goal of 1,500, and a renewal rate of 76.2%, about 13% short
of the 90% goal (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 2/14). On Sunday, the
OTTAWA CITIZEN reported that slow sales over the weekend has
led to "concerns that, perhaps, the campaign to save
Ottawa's NHL franchise has gone as far as it can go" (OTTAWA
CITIZEN, 2/13). In Ottawa, Andrew Seymour writes that
Senators players are "pitching in cash of their own, buying
tickets to donate to local charities." One source
"believed" the plan will add "more than [C]$50,000 to the
ticket campaign," and "see 50 season tickets bought by the
players and turned over to charity" (OTTAWA SUN, 2/14). In
Toronto, Jeff Blair wrote that Bryden "put the squeeze on
the Ottawa region's small and medium businesses, which he
said were grossly underrepresented in the previous 10-day
frenzy." Bryden: "We would have a resounding success here,
right now, if the local business community were as fully
committed as they are in other cities" (GLOBE & MAIL, 2/12).
ENOUGH ALREADY? In Edmonton, Scott Haskins wrote under
the header "Hey Rod - Stuff A Puck In Your Mouth!," that he
had "two words" for Bryden: "[S]hut up. Two more - go
away." Haskins wrote that Bryden "does more whining than a
six-year-old. And it's not like we haven't heard it all
before. Over and over, in fact" (EDMONTON SUN, 2/13).
