First you said:
“1M spent on marketing a team that doesnt have any “real” talent to market, in my opinion, isnt going to net you a good ROI.”

And then:
“If they actually did some decent marketing and made it seem fun to the not so avid hockey fan, you would put “butt in seats”"

soooo…which is it?

As you say – right now we don’t have anyone worth marketing and we aren’t going to be able to afford one on the open market anytime soon. So my suggestion is rather than get more middling talent on the roster, use that money to start marketing the team effectively, let the team do what it will on the ice this year, and hope for a high draft pick next year. Of course this plan would have been best done last year when we could have had a shot at Stamkos, but it still may apply.

Or they could add one magic missing piece, get great chemistry, stay healthy for once and go deep into the playoffs and this all doesn’t apply.

It’s all speculation and tea leaves.

1M spent on marketing a team that doesnt have any "real" talent to market, in my opinion, isnt going to net you a good ROI.

& the "tank & get a 1st round draft pick" is nice a few years from now. That draft pick isnt going to play anytime soon.

And your comment about decent teams, making the playoffs, and not drawing a crowd? Come on man you know they havent even done a piss pour job of marketing this team. If they actually did some decent marketing and made it seem fun to the not so avid hockey fan, you would put "butt in seats"

& you just contradicted yourself here:

"What they need is someone that a marketing effort can use to get people into the seats while football season is in full swing."

that is my point, you need some players that can be marketed.

You can’t have an absolute bottom dweller, but the team doesn’t really have to be “good”. Just in that range at or below where the Preds have been the last few years.

I don’t think that i’d really want it to happen, but when you look at the history, it kinda makes you wonder if we’d have been better off tanking last year rather than barely making the playoffs. If we’d been a seller (saving money) at the trade deadline and gotten a big draft pick of our own…etc.

Just throwin’ ideas out there.

My real thesis that i do believe is that right now $1mil with this team is better spent in marketing than in player salary. Or better put: $5mil would bring more butts-in-seats if it was spent on a slam-bang marketing campaign than $5mil of salary (which still probably wouldn’t put this team into the second round).

As to the question of which makes a better draw, I’ll have to dig around for some evidence to be sure, but I believe it comes down conclusively towards a winning team over flashy stars. The exception might be for the truly great generational players like Yzerman, Lemieux, Gretzky, etc., but there’s no surefire route to finding those guys.

All told, I still go back to wishing the Preds had gotten better present-day value for trading Marek Zidlicky, perhaps packaging him with a high draft pick and a good prospect for a top-notch forward like Olli Jokinen, Marion Gaborik, or someone of that level.

those are both terrible ideas. I dont think the players payroll is tied to marketing in any way, perhaps I am wrong but that just seems out of whack.

You think the no namers that the Preds have now are going to put butts in seats? I dont care how much marketing you do, if you dont have a name people recognize (besides loyal Preds fans) you arent going to get butts in seats that werent already going.

You need a name, someone to hype, not young prospects. They havent done anything to hype, and the talent you have currently, sorry but they arent really hype worthy, outside of Nasvhille.

You want to sell tixs? Put a team on the ice that has a chance to win every nite, offer up ticket specials, and advertise advertise advertise.

I had a partial season ticket package last year, I went to the rally, I bought additional tickets outside of my package last year. I wont be buying any tickets except the 2 Sharks games this year. I even plan on travelling to St. Louis & Columbus to see Sharks games.

I am a hockey fan and a Sharks fan, in no particular order. But I wont be going to Preds games to watch hockey, just my team.

this guys $.02