NHL Lockout Over! A Tale of Two Cities

The NHL locket is OVER! As I contemplate what exactly this means for me and my hockey viewing/consumption habits, I thought I’d share two emails I got this morning. Obviously, the NHL and its teams have a massive PR mountain to climb in repairing the damage done to their fanbases, so these letters were expected. However…one is a marketing fail, the other a success. I think it’ll be quickly apparent which is which.

I’ll have more to say on this on a blog entry over at WeLoveDC tomorrow. For now, marinate in these very different marketing approaches to repair fan relations:

We are extremely excited that the National Hockey League has reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the Players’ Association, pending final approval on both sides. This is certainly welcome news for all of us – fans, players, corporate partners, local businesses, broadcast rights holders, media, staff and owners – and especially our plan holders who have created such a fantastic Verizon Center atmosphere.

Thanks to all of you for your patience, support and understanding during this process. We will continue to be in touch as more information becomes available, and all of us at the Capitals look forward to seeing you at Verizon Center in the coming weeks.

We offer our apology. There is nothing we can say to explain or excuse what has happened over the past four months.

However, now that the NHL is back, we want to assure you that the Pittsburgh Penguins will do everything we can to regain your trust and show how much we value your amazing support.

The sounds of skates churning across the ice and pucks banging against the glass are returning to CONSOL Energy Center. That means a healthy Sidney Crosby is about to rejoin NHL MVP Evgeni Malkin, first-team All-Star James Neal, Marc-Andre Fleury, Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik and others as we begin our quest to bring the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh.

We want to thank you for your patience and your loyalty to the Penguins. We hope to repay it many times over. Our commitment to winning the Stanley Cup and our commitment to you has not changed.

We look forward to seeing you at CONSOL Energy Center.

 

‘Nuff said.