2017/02 Business-Minded Junior Hockey Fan

Ideas for Improvement to Kitchener Rangers Brand, Game Atmosphere (Email Letter to Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club Staff)

Written: 2017/02

Although the Rangers are one of the most high-class and successful organizations in junior hockey in many ways (staff, fans, history, arena, online presence, etc), I don’t think it’s a secret that it’s been a bit of a struggle to fill all 7200 seats of The Aud for every home regular season and playoff game the past few years.

A championship-contending team would likely solve this problem in the short-term, but since that can’t be counted on every year, I think something more needs to be done off the ice.

Also, if you asked people in different places in Canada and around the world what team comes to mind when they hear “junior hockey”, I don’t think many would say “Kitchener Rangers”. Many would likely respond with teams such as the London Knights, Erie Otters, and Windsor Spitfires.

This is mostly because of their consistent on-ice success recently and all the high-profile players now playing in the NHL who played for these teams but I believe there are non-hockey related things that could be done to make the Kitchener Rangers more well-known outside of Waterloo Region which would give Rangers fans more pride in being committed to following their team.

The following are some ideas that I’ve thought about over the years while attending games and talking to other fans. I think making some of these changes could help strengthen the Kitchener Rangers brand and improve the game-day experience, giving people more reasons to keep coming to games:

1. New Away Jersey (And Possibly New Logo)

Source: sportslogos.net

Although I wouldn’t say there’s anything bad about the Rangers’ current white away jersey (home jersey for first half of the year), there’s a few things about it that I think should be changed to help improve the team’s brand.

One of the most annoying things about being a Kitchener Rangers fan is that obviously it’s not the only team in sports, or in hockey for that matter called the “Rangers”. Always being confused and overshadowed by the more well-known New York Rangers (and even the MLB Texas Rangers) is not good for growing the brand and strengthening team pride.

It doesn’t help that Kitchener has the exact same jerseys and practically the exact same logo as New York. Of course, this was because the Kitchener Rangers were originally owned by the New York Rangers.

Although I don’t think it would make sense to change the name because it’s part of the team’s history and it’s been their identify for over 50 years, a change at least could be made to a jersey or the logo to differentiate them more.

The Rangers’ blue jersey is probably their most recognizable and highest-selling jersey so I don’t think it would be good to mess with that one.

The red alternate is pretty nice-looking as well and is also unique to Kitchener. Personally, I would never buy one though because, to be blunt, in my opinion the soldier logo is more a glorification of war than an honour to anyone and I don’t think it’s a good symbol for our community (but that’s another topic altogether).

The white Rangers jersey on the other hand, is not one you see too many people walking around which is why I think it would be the one to change.

Although I’m no professional graphic designer by any means, below are a few basic designs I came up with to replace the white jersey using previous jersey templates (from sportslogos.net). I think it’s important that one of the jerseys says “Kitchener” on it to represent the city and community (especially if the jerseys don’t have any other symbol on it than wordmarks).

I really liked the unique, crème-coloured look of the 2008 Memorial Cup jerseys so I used that for these as well. I’m sure there’s someone that could design an even better-looking version of one of the following, but in my opinion, I think one of these would work well as their primary away jersey (I already own a blue one but I would definitely buy another jersey if one of these were available):

2. New (Real) Goal Horn

The most exciting part of watching a hockey game is obviously when your team scores a goal, whether that be the opening goal to a game, a highlight-reel play, a garbage goal, or a championship-winning overtime goal. In most of these situations the goal-scoring itself is objectively what makes it so exciting to watch.

There are other things that go along with a goal though that add to the excitement such as the roar of the crowd, and the goal light because they stimulate other senses which make fans experience more heightened feelings of joy, excitement, and adrenaline-rushes. The one thing that helps me get most fired up after a goal when attending a game or even watching on TV, is the loud blare of the goal horn.

Although the Rangers do play one after each goal, followed by the “Whoa, Let’s Go Rangers” song, to me the horn itself is too subtle and dull to make me feel the same emotions I do when I hear other ones. I’m not sure if this has ever been looked into before and I don’t know if this would pass a cost-benefit analysis or would even work logistically inside the Dom Cardillo Arena, but I think the teams with the best goal horns are ones that use real physical horns.

All 30 NHL teams use physical horns except for two teams who use audio recordings, the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers (which the Kitchener Rangers horn/song is based off of), according to goalhorns.frozenfacoff.net (which has some good information about how each team’s goal horn works). I think there are a number of OHL teams who also have physical goal horns in their arena (the Niagara Icedogs I know for sure).

So, I think having a real goal horn that’s loud, unique, and adds even more energy to the building would improve the game atmosphere at Rangers games which could have a positive effect on ticket sales.

The “Let’s Go Rangers” song could still be played after the horn blast with the current horn part of the audio being cut off (which I remember being done when a different horn was used for a few seasons a number of years ago).

For me I think a high-pitched goal horn (like the Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, or Ottawa Senators) would be the most likely to give me the chills after a big goal, but the exact sound of the horn could be debated.

3. More Innovative Technology For In-Game Entertainment

Although the current in-game entertainment is pretty impressive (the graphics, videos on the jumbotron, the on-ice video projections and effects, the home opener light show, the t-shirt tosses, the bobblehead races, etc) which likely tops many other teams in the CHL, AHL, and even NHL, I think with the team being located in such a tech-savvy community, the “Silicon Valley of Canada” in Waterloo Region, it would be cool if this could be showcased more at Rangers’ games.

What put this idea in my head was an article that I read a few years ago that reported that there was going to be a new technology called “blueRover” that was going to be tested out at Kitchener Rangers games, although I’m pretty sure this never happened (here’s the article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/why-waterloo-ont-is-set-to-dominate-the-internet-of-things-market-1.3056868).

I’m not sure why this idea didn’t work out because I think having all these engaging features such as allowing fans to participate in contests, play games on the jumbotron, guess the three stars, and order food and merchandise - all on their own smartphones - would have been revolutionary, and a genius way to get casual fans to keep coming back to games and to really put Kitchener on the map.

It would be interesting for me to know why this project fell through, but in any case, I think it would be cool if the Rangers tried to connect with the many tech firms in the region to produce more innovative in-game entertainment. Not only would it attract fans, but I’m sure the media would be all over it if the Rangers were the first to implement some new high-tech idea.

4. More Giveaways/Theme Nights

I’m not sure if the Rangers are at a point where giveaways nights would help the bottom line or not but maybe it would help make sure the arena is full on lower-demand dates such as Sunday afternoons against teams in the lower half of the Eastern Conference. Either way, many sports fans love giveaways such as t-shirts, or hats, or bobbleheads, or mini-sticks.

Although it’s more common in baseball where they play games every day, there are teams in the NHL and OHL who I know have bobblehead giveaways (through browsing online and attending games I have accumulated a Jeff Skinner Hurricanes bobblehead, a Michael McLeod Steelheads bobblehead, and an Anthony Cirelli Generals bobblehead).

I know the Rangers did make a number of bobbleheads of players from their 2003 Memorial Cup team, as I have a few of these in my collection but I don’t know if these were giveaways or just sold in the team store. To me it would be cool to see the Rangers have actual giveaways at games (the clappers help create a good atmosphere but what do you do with them when you go home?) but again I don’t know it would be worth the cost or not.

For special events/theme nights, I know the Rangers do have some every year such as the Remembrance Day jersey game, and the Teddy Bear Toss and although they are good traditions, to me they’ve kind of lost their lustre in a way because so many other teams in the league now have the same traditions. So I think having more nights like these, with more creative themes would be refreshing and exciting for fans.

5. More Signs/Banners On The Exterior of The Aud

I’m not sure how much of this is in the Rangers’ control since I know the Memorial Auditorium is owned by the City of Kitchener, but I’ve always wondered how many people pass by The Aud on Ottawa St, or the Conestoga Parkway, or Stirling Ave who don’t even know the name of the team that plays inside or that there’s even a hockey team at all.

Other than the Rangers sign above the offices that are hidden behind a few pillars that you might be able to see if you look closely while on Ottawa St, and the two billboards with game advertisements, there’s nothing else on the exterior of the building that would give a naïve resident or visitor any indication that a hockey team called the Kitchener Rangers play at this location.

Once you step inside the building, it’s pretty obvious what happens there and it’s amazing how much team pride and history is on display as you walk around the concourse of the arena but I think to attract new fans and to get people to start thinking about the Rangers as they’re walking or driving by The Aud on their way home from work, it would be good if some of this was brought to the outside of the building.

As you can see in the photos, Oshawa and London are two good examples of how I think this could be done. Since Kitchener hasn’t won a championship recently it might not make sense to put images of some of their championship teams on the side of the building, but they could at least have their team logo and a sign that says, “Home of the Kitchener Rangers” along with pictures of a few current players.

As well, there could be more signs along the surrounding streets with Kitchener Rangers logos and maybe even the wall of the expressway. Again, I don’t know if this would pass a cost-benefit analysis, especially since the arena is in a residential area, but it’s just an idea that has often crossed my mind.

5. Conclusion

Thanks for reading through this long paper, and for thinking through some of these ideas of mine. I understand if you don’t go ahead with any of these proposals since obviously I’m not working for the organization so I don’t know what the priorities are or what resources you currently have but I just wanted to give my suggestions to try to help the team that’s been so important to me for basically my whole life in any way I could.

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