Obviously, we have created a nice partnership with the Washington Capitals here at WNST.
Theyโre nice people. They really want to market Baltimore and bring their players and do events here. Thereโs even serious talk about a pre-season NHL game at the First Mariner Arena. And we have their coaches and players on and attempt to let people know that they have a good thing going on in D.C. with their hockey team and Baltimore is โinvited.โ
Recently, Dave Hughes, who has a nice local media site called DCRTV, asked me two questions.
1. What is the popularity of the Caps and Wizards in Baltimore?
2. Will Balto ever get a hockey/basketball team?
This is what I wrote to him:
Baltimore will never get an NHL or NBA team. There are territorial rights issues that would be more complex than the Orioles/Nationals/Expos/MASN/MLB.
Plus, it doesnโt have the industry or fan base to support those prices for 40 dates.
Plus the Arena wonโt be built of that fashion (18-22K seats)โฆ
The Caps are quickly gaining popularity in Baltimore. We do soldout bus trips to Caps games. Weโve done full bars for playoff games at Silver Spring Mining Company in Hunt Valley and White Marsh. It also helps that several people in my company love hockey.
I covered hockey for The News American and The Evening Sun. It was my primary beat, covering the Skipjacks and the Capitals. So I have a long history with the sport and the organization dating back to Bryan and Terry Murray and David Poile. Iโm still friends with Barry Trotz and Gene Ubriaco, who was my first coach on a beat. (Iโm writing an homage to him for Thanksgiving and having dinner with him! Heโs coming back to Baltimore for holiday!)
The Caps are a winner, have a great product, the best player in the sport and a marketing team that is reaching out to Baltimore after 37 years. Thatโs pretty cool.
The Wizards are a bad team.
I donโt hear much about them. The do zero to market in Baltimore. They took the Bullets name away. The took the handful of games they had in Baltimore away 12 years ago.
Not โkillingโ them, but reallyโฆwhat the last thing they ever did for anyone in Baltimore to say: โPlease be a Wizards fan. We want you!โ
Nothing Iโve ever heard ofโฆ