Comments on: Flyers Pay For All-Star Votes!

By: Bob D

Bob D — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:36:50 +0000

Hey Ikki its called sarcasm.If you read some of the other articles about the Flyers cheap shots the first thing they say is they are being picked on.Thats what I was getting at.I did like the rest of your post though.I couldnt agree more.I vote for the guys doing the job not because they are on the team I like

By: IkkiTousen

IkkiTousen — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:06:54 +0000

“Now,now dont want to upset the Flyers fans.They will start whining that their beloved Flyers are being picked on again.So how about that great “clean” hit by Hartnell the other night?”

Nice to see a valid point that is totally relevant to the article.

Every team is campaigning for its players to be voted into the ASG. But the Flyers are going an extra step and offering more incentives. From a personal standpoint, it doesn’t sway me either way. In fact, I disregard the XM Radio junk when I vote on NHL.com. I just vote for the players who I feel should make it in and leave it at that.

I think the possibility of winning stuff (through the Flyers or the NHL) may make it more appealing for those who consider voting, but to be honest I don’t think it makes much of a difference. Either way, fans are going to vote for who they want, and I think that is first and foremost in their minds, not the possibility of entering some contest.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:30:54 +0000

On that link you can actually vote for anyone…The incentives hold for anyone you vote for.

By: The Man

The Man — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:23:22 +0000

What’s the problem? Their not asking fans to vote for Flyers to be entered, just to vote.

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:33:08 +0000

I agree it’s a farce. This reinforces my beliefs.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:03:13 +0000

Now,now dont want to upset the Flyers fans.They will start whining that their beloved Flyers are being picked on again.So how about that great “clean” hit by Hartnell the other night?

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:56:10 +0000

I’ve got issues with the whole fan voting thing in general. Combined with this, it makes the “All-Star” game a bit of a farce.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:06:31 +0000

FlyerFly,

It is one thing for the entire league to encourage fan balloting because there is no incentive to vote for a certain player or certain group of players.

The Flyers website indicated that they are offering “additional” prizes and incentives above those offered by the general league-wide contest. Such additional incentives definitely encourages votes for the Flyers’ players.

Marketing genius aside, it still muddies the already dirty water of the fan balloting system.

By: The FlyerFly

The FlyerFly — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 04:53:01 +0000

while there are plenty of reasons to think that this isnt appropriate, it is pretty clever. but why the Flyers would even be singled out for this is something im not even sure of.

the fact is that the entire All-Star balloting process is wrapped around an XM Radio & 2KSports sponsored contest that encourages fans to vote, and vote repeatedly for their favorite All-Star choices. prizes include memoribilia, as well as paid trips to the All-Star game in Atlanta.

http://fanballoting.nhl.com/

if you think about it, if a Flyers fan were to have only seen the NHL contest advertisements, who do you think they would repeatedly vote for to try to improve their chances for winning? Gagne, Briere, Biron, Richards, Timonen…who would a Lightning fan vote for? Lecavalier, Richards, St.Louis… Sens fans? Alfredsson, Gerber, Heatley…

the fact that the Flyers marketing department has been a bit more pro-active about getting their fans involved in the process isnt a bad thing…its a credit to them and part of the reason why Philadelphia is the most hard-core hockey town in the U.S.

that being said, i dont particularly like the fact that fans turn the All-Star balloting into a popularity contest, rather than a true reflection of the best NHL talent from that season. but it would be a mistake at this point of the NHL’s PR crisis to remove the fans from the process.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 04:03:22 +0000

Now that is just bush league. Excellent point about this situation Tyler. Like you said, supporting your teams players is one thing, but bribing fans to do so is another. I hope this situation leads to the whole “fan vote” being abolished. Let the players/coaches decide who goes. That way the players that deserve to go will go, not the ones who play for the teams who ante up the most to get the votes.