When this lockout ends, the task of winning back the fans will begin. That’s something of that should be of equal concern to both players and owners, especially if players’ salaries are once again tied to hockey-related revenues.
“Obviously you think about that kind of stuff,” said Pittsburgh’s Brooks Orpik in a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report. “But the league, that‘s their side of things. They‘re the ones who need to worry about marketing. Our job is to play our best. We are the product. There is no league without us.”
Orpik added that the NHL’s public relations department will have plenty of work to do.
“The only way we can sell the game as players is to play as well as possible and to be accessible with the fans and media,” Orpik said. “But the rest is the league‘s job.”
Orpik ultimately thinks the Penguins will be fine, but he’s not as sure about non-traditional markets that enjoyed playoff runs like Phoenix and Florida.
“But it‘s not our job to worry about that,” Orpik concluded.