With the excitement surrounding the announcement of the San Jose Sharks hosting the Los Angeles Kings in a Stadium Series game in February, chief operating officer John Tortora held a press conference to address questions and concerns surrounding the game.
My favorite quote of the video is as follows:
"“It’s very important to us because we wanted to celebrate the game of hockey with our fan base. We’ve been here for 23 years in San Jose, and for much of the population 23 years ago, not many people knew about hockey. But hockey has grown here, our fan base has become very strong, very loyal and very passionate. And they’ve stayed with us through thick and thin. We want to use this opportunity and this game as a way to celebrate our fans. To give them something to show the rest of the hockey world as to how passionate and in to this sport they are.”"
Tortora has it right when he mentions that Northern California has grown exponentially in terms of a hockey fan base. People around the nation don’t believe California is as excited about hockey as say, the East coast is. But this will prove that those of us loyal fans here in the Bay Area are just as enthusiastic as others around the U.S. and Canada.
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The question of rain was my biggest concern and fortunately one of the reporters present brought this concern up to Tortora. He admitted that rain is a big problem as it would destroy the ice and postpone the game. Tortora confirmed that if it does indeed rain, the game will be moved to a different date. Sunday, February 22 is being considered an alternate date. A last option would to bring the game back to the SAP Center.
What I found incredibly interesting from a business standpoint is how the NHL goes about controlling the game. The league buys the Sharks out of their home game against the Kings and then takes control of the event. All ticket revenue will go straight to the league to be distributed throughout all franchises.
Here’s the entire video with Tortora posted on the Sharks website: