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St. Louis Blues Cite Strong Support Despite Calls For Change

By Kate Cimini

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In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Blues owner Tom Stillman tackled the tough subjects of fan perception versus fan support, specifically referencing the calls for change that rang out among Blues blogs, messageboards and fansites (including this one) after St. Louis once again pulled a top-notch regular season out of its players and then failed out of the postseason in a rather spectacular fashion.

He said that although the fans were agitating for massive change, a more moderate approach like the one he called for in May, was a more realistic choice, not just because the Blues are a strong, stacked team, but also due to the harsh realities of the salary cap.

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“You always want to be aware of the fans’ views and be sensitive to them,” Stillman said. “At the same time,” he continued, “you can’t make decisions on the makeup of your team based on whether a group of fans wants you to do this or do that, just for the sake of doing something. It’s a balance, but in the end, we’re going to do what we think is going to give us the best chance of being successful. I guess there are some that want wholesale changes and massive turnover of the roster.”

“That just is not something that is do-able,” he told the Post-Dispatch. “The practicalities of the salary cap prevent it.”

And Stillman is correct. It would be nearly impossible to rid St. Louis of an entire roster by divvying its players among the remaining NHL teams and flooding the market with its players would be seen as insane.

However, there was room for some more-than modest change that Stillman dismissed, focusing, instead on the positives.

“It’s hard to see where massively changing the roster makes sense when that roster has, by all accounts, been one of the strongest teams in the National Hockey League the past three or four years,” Stillman said.

“I understand it’s regular season vs. the playoffs, but how much are you going to discount making the playoffs? How much are you going to decide — we’re obviously a very strong team — without massive changes we’re not going to succeed in the playoffs?

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“The third thing is,” he continued, “while on chatboards and other comment areas people want massive changes, what we’re seeing among our supporters is really strong support. Really strong season-ticket renewals, a big uptick in new season tickets, more interest in suites and our other offerings this year. We’re not seeing this downturn in support.”

As long as the support is there, the ownership group and front office management staff will be more likely to stick with what is bringing in dollars, even if it isn’t necessarily bringing in Cups as well.

Cups would be great to have, and with them the fanbase explosion along with merchandise deals, sell-outs, fast-food franchises wanting to buy space in the Scottrade Center and more. However, Stillman and the other owners understand that hockey is a business, and businesses are only succeeding when they’re growing.

While legendary teams come and go, unstable financial decisions can affect a franchise forever. At the end of the day, slow and steady growth from solid financial decisions are pretty much exactly what Blues ownership wants to see.

“[Financially] we’re much more stable than we were two years ago,” Stillman said. “We have to continue to grow that for a few reasons. One of them is the salary cap is going to continue to be the rabbit we’re chasing. It’s going to continue to move, we have to continue to grow, to keep up so we can put a really competitive team on the ice.”

While Stillman’s approach may work in the short term, without a Cup win the Blues may find it hard to make money hand over fist after about a century. Or maybe not – just look at the Chicago Cubs.

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