No Winter Classic If You Live in Canada

[Sleemans]

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/darren_dreger/?id=255073

[hammer2003]

This is particularly unfair given that Canadians are much more likely to be physically able to tolerate freezing their asses off while watching an entire outdoor hockey game in the middle of winter.

[Dobber]

Sleemans wrote:

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/darren_dreger/?id=255073

Thanks Sleemans,
The Blackhawks sent me the exact same email - it\'s obviously a standard one. But when I replied back and mentioned how I planned to do a story on it, I received a phone call within 10 minutes.

It is great to see that Bill Daly is going to fix it. That was my hope - that some big media ompany like the Hockey News would grab this story and run with it. I had passed on my findings to my friends at THN and they found it interesting. But it looks like TSN beat them to it. Either way, the wheels seem to be in motion.

B)

[fzusher]

The Blackhawks response strikes me as very curious. The WWE raffles out tickets to its pay-per-views on a regular basis, and they are always open to \"Canadian residents outside Quebec\", as they put it. So there is a way to do it, at least outside Quebec. I\'ve always assumed Quebec was out for legal reasons, so maybe its Quebec that has this law at the provincial level and the \'Hawks just got it wrong?

[repenttokyo]

fzusher wrote:

The Blackhawks response strikes me as very curious. The WWE raffles out tickets to its pay-per-views on a regular basis, and they are always open to \"Canadian residents outside Quebec\", as they put it. So there is a way to do it, at least outside Quebec. I\'ve always assumed Quebec was out for legal reasons, so maybe its Quebec that has this law at the provincial level and the \'Hawks just got it wrong?

see the first page for my explanation of why lazy ass companies choose to exclude Quebec.

[hockeyislife]

One thing that I don\'t think we have to worry about is the Winter Classic not being a sell-out.

Firstly, Wrigley is not a large venue like Commonwealth Stadium or Riech Stadium. If there are more than 40000 seats available, I\'d be very much surprised.

Secondly, with it being between Chicago and Detroit, I would think that season ticket holders from both teams would have a shot at tickets. Even if you weren\'t planning on attending, you\'d be foolish not to grab a pair, and sell them later.

It is a bit odd that they don\'t have the lottery open to everyone, but it is what it is. Personally, I\'ll be much happier watching the game at home, on the couch in HD, than in Chicago with snot on my sleeve...

Just my $.02

[Zorro]

I just know I will be sipping on my rum and eggnog newyears day with my feet up watching the game on the bigscreen if i\'m not in MEXICO that is, HA!!

But this is a ridiculous way of selling tickets for the game. I\'m sure everyone has an American friend, just get them to buy some tickets and then sell them to you. That would work, NO??
Z..

[repenttokyo]

American friend is VERBOTEN!

[Dunnder]

It isnt the same as the Olympics because if you live in a country other than Canada, you can aquire tickets thru your own Olympic Commitee. Every country\'s olympic Commitee has access to a percentage of tickets that are unavailable in the Canadian lottery. That is how the \"Hawks should have handled it.

[repenttokyo]

Dunnder wrote:

It isnt the same as the Olympics because if you live in a country other than Canada, you can aquire tickets thru your own Olympic Commitee. Every country\'s olympic Commitee has access to a percentage of tickets that are unavailable in the Canadian lottery. That is how the \"Hawks should have handled it.

I think the IOC is busy enough as it is

[Chinny]

Thanks Dobber fo looking into this, would be great to see something get done for Canada

[lfchockey]

How successful would last year have been without Canadians???

Bettman at it again. As a huge Blackhawks fan, I\'d happily drive 13 hours to go to this game... in a heart beat. It\'s complete garbage that Canadians can\'t get tickets.

[repenttokyo]

lfchockey wrote:

How successful would last year have been without Canadians???

Chicago is the third largest city in the US with a population and hockey tradition that dwarfs Buffalo. They won\'t have any trouble selling out.

[JagrBomb]

what a STUPID rule. they want to make it fair so they do a draw...yet that excludes all non american countries. they should have said, we want to make it fair for more americans. i think they are just trying to promote hockey in the states more to increase revenue. that might be the same reason why pitssburgh (in america) \"randomly\" won the crosby sweepstakes.

[Screaming Jawa]

Dutch wrote:

I don\'t see a problem with it. It works the exact same way with Olympic games 2010 tickets, which initially is only open for Canadian residents. There is simply too much demand for an event like this, and therefore it would only make sense to do it in a way such as this. Unless you are willing to pay thousands on ebay for a ticket, this is a pretty fair way of doing things.

\"Initially\" is the key word. And that\'s only a fixed percentage of tickets.

With the hockey game, it\'s all of the tickets.