Cat's Lair

U.S. Nationals

St. Louis, MO
Jan. 8-16, 2006

• Spokane Will be a Ghost Town (18-Jan-2006 12:28 PM)

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• Nov. Ladies, Short & Free (10-Jan-2006 11:18 PM)
• Nov. Men's Free (13-Jan-2006 11:48 PM)
• Jr. Men's Free (17-Jan-2006 01:31 PM)
• Jr. Ladies' Short (17-Jan-2006 01:31 PM)
• Jr. Ladies' Free (24-Jan-2006 01:50 PM)

Spokane Will Be a Ghost Town

Spokane is in trouble. At least 200 regular Nationals goers have not bought tickets to 2007 Nationals. Spokane is advertising like crazy; with commercials on the jumbotron, flyers at our seats, and free gifts with purchase. I have never seen so much advertising at a Nationals before. Well when you treat fans like dirt you can pretty much expect the fans to go away. After all the "security" regulations that have nothing to do with security, the schedules that mean "All event" ticket holders can not see ALL the events, the lack of open food concessions while banning us from bringing in our own food, being searched and frisked and generally treated like criminals, sooner or later fans were bound to get fed up.

Let me give the folks at Spokane a hint as to why more and more fans are staying away. My friend bought coffee at Starbucks and headed to the arena to watch practices. When she got to the arena she was not allowed to bring in her coffee. But none of the concessions were open so they wouldn't let her have her coffee and they would not sell her any either. Talk about not having your cake or eating it too.

But the final straw on the camel's back was the way the Spokane tickets were ordered. We had to pay $495 NON REFUNDABLE deposit for who knows where seats. They would tell us later how much it would cost to up-grade. For $500 bucks we could have ended up with the upper bowl. That's twice as much money as I spent on tickets for my first Nationals and I knew I was in the lower bowl. Come on NO ONE fell for that, it was a scam right up there with the Nigerian lottery. This system was such a failure for Spokane that St. Paul decided they would try it too. Are you people mad? Why don't you just put up signs saying "fans stay away".

Oooops, Spokane found out the hard way that fans may be a nuisance but our money is necessary. So there they were begging for our money but still not willing to tell us where are seats are.

Well for the first time in 10 years I don't have tickets to next year's Nationals, or the Nationals after that. If anyone from St. Paul or Spokane wants the Catslair bucks, tell me exactly how much I must pay and exactly where my seats are, promise me events won't overlap, and I can bring the Catslair stuffed animal mascot into the arena without having to smuggle her in. Then I will think about it.

If I do return to Nationals it will be for the kids. The many I have had the honor to befriend and those I just have the privilege of watching in the stands. The kids work their rears off all year long, they make tremendous sacrifices dreaming of their day at Nationals. Some of the junior and novice skaters only make one trip to Nationals, they deserve to be treated royally. These kids deserve fans in the stands cheering them on. It is the regular National goers, not the casual local fans, that show up for the Junior and Novice events. It was a USFS representative who said "no one cares about novice." Well we do sir, we care a lot. It is the Junior and Novice skaters that will suffer most if the regular National goers stay away. That is the worst part of all of this.

Copyright © 2006, Antoinette M. Aubert & Richard M. Hartman