[Checkerboard]

The Toronto Maple Leafs sell all of their tickets corporately,
win or lose. I think this creates an air of complacency that
has them kind of resting on their laurels. After years of putting up with Harold Ballard's 'dictatorship' it was supposed to be promising to get a group of directors in there and everyone was optimistically looking forward to better times
and maybe even a Stanley Cup. They play flashy in spurts, but they're never going to get anywhere serious IMO as long as the organizations remains structured as it is.

[Hulu]

You are right on the money here. I went to my first Leafs game ever last week (got free tix from work) and was surprised at the crowd. It was full as expected but quieter than your average library. The platinum seats were all completely empty after each intermission for about the first 6-8 mins of the period. The place was like a morgue. When the 'fans' did return to the pricey seats they were all corporate types in suits. Probably the worst sports crowd I have ever experienced. The only actual fans were seated up in the nosebleeds like myself. On the train home I picked up a newspaper that had an article in which some of the players were openly critical of the fans, saying that its a real downer to come out from intermission and have the lower half of the arena 50% empty.

The Leafs management has hit upon a very profitable strategy...build a team that's competitive but not dominant in order to retain the corporate support but don't actually spend the money required to build a serious contender because there isn't any profit in it. I feel bad for the die hard Leafs fans who keep waiting patiently for another cup that management isn't interested in.

The only shot the buds have at a cup is if one of these 'decent but not great' teams they put together gets hot at the right time and goes for a run in the playoffs. Until people stop forking their hard earned money over for planned mediocrity, nothing is gonna change.