In Boston, Galen Moore notes the Red Sox ended April with the best record in MLB, and despite 17 home games in April, the teams has only "sold out Fenway three times, and remain just barely in the top 10 for attendance.” Consequently, ticket resellers are “dropping prices.” A $52 ticket for an upcoming Twins game “was listed on reseller Fenway Ticket King for $34." Even a “surge of civic pride that followed the Marathon Monday bombings did not push Fenway attendance over the sellout limit on April 20, the next home game following the Marathon” (BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/3 issue).
FLYING BY THE SEAT OF HIS PANTS? In Philadelphia, Sam Donnellon writes, “At some point you have to ask: Has [Flyers Chair] Ed Snider become our version of Al Davis, his heart in the right place, his head not so much? Is there something structurally wrong with how the Flyers do things? A philosophy? A lack of one? And if so, does it all trace to its founder and the guy who still calls all the shots?” Donnellon continues, “What you like about Ed, what saves him from the vitriol, is his history. He probably will eat [G Ilya Bryzgalov’s] contract if it leads to a better defense and a better team. What you don't like is that if he does, it suggests once again that his wallet is no match for his seat-of-the-pants stewardship of this title-starved franchise” (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 5/7).
WHALE OF A TALE: In Hartford, Paul Doyle noted Madison Square Garden Co. is “competing for the right to renovate and run the Nassau Coliseum.” But the company said that it has “no specific plan to eventually move” its AHL affiliate, the Connecticut Whale, from Hartford to Long Island “if it wins the bid.” MSG “vowed” to spend $250M in "renovating the coliseum and creating an entertainment complex around the arena.” The new lease in Hartford “is for three years, and the deal includes two one-year extensions” (HARTFORD COURANT, 5/4).
