Capitals Reborn In DC, Will Break Franchise Attendance Records
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Tonight's Thrashers-Capitals Game Will Mark
The 10th Straight Sellout At Verizon Center |
The Capitals tonight will tie a franchise record with their 10th consecutive sellout at Verizon Center, and DC's "once-dormant hockey team is enjoying a surge of interest that rivals anything the franchise has experienced in its 35 years," according to a front-page piece by Dan Steinberg of the WASHINGTON POST. By the end of this season, the Capitals will have "established new marks for total sellouts and total attendance." When '09-10 season tickets went on sale last week, the team's "ticket staff -- which has doubled in size over the past year -- sold 1,000 new plans in a day and 2,000 in a week, despite a modest increase in ticket prices and gloomy economic forecasts." Capitals officials said that they could "deplete their ticket inventory before next season begins," and the record fan support has "translated into a raucous environment downtown at Verizon Center." Team officials cite a "confluence of factors in explaining this sudden turnaround," starting with on-ice success. The Capitals owned the NHL's worst record at the end of November '07, but rebounded to win the Southeast division last season and now have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin, the NHL's reigning MVP, is "widely considered the game's most exciting player." As Ovechkin and his "young teammates became the team's backbone, front-office officials decided to target the 25- to 34-year-old demographic, trying to position their brand of entertainment as younger and edgier." Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis said, "There's this generation that's ready to be grabbed. Right now we've kind of captured something, and it's kind of ethereal, (the) buzz or the good vibe that we have." In addition, Steinberg notes as the Capitals have "taken off, the city's other pro franchises have struggled." The Nationals last season had the worst record in MLB, the Wizards currently are "contending for that distinction" in the NBA, and the Redskins last year failed to make the NFL playoffs. Many of the Capitals' "new ticket buyers explicitly point to those failures." Meanwhile, the team's appeal "extends beyond the inner suburbs" surrounding DC, as Tuesday's Flyers-Capitals game earned a 1.6 rating on CSN Mid-Atlantic, the "highest of the season" thus far (WASHINGTON POST, 2/26).
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