New Jersey Devils Could Have Done More To Help Metropolitan Riveters
Saturday night, the Metropolitan Riveters spent the better part of a day stuck in several different airports. Riveters goalie Kim Sass spent the better part of a day documenting their travel issues – the cliff notes include a canceled flight, a delayed takeoff, and a missed connecting flight. Here’s the entire thread.
The Metropolitan Riveters were heading to a playoff game, but ultimately had to postpone the game. How could the New Jersey Devils, the NHL partner of the Riveters, have helped?
Adding a team in Minnesota was already a bit of a hardship for a bussing league, but they found a way to make it work. Finding workarounds to travel issues is a big part of pro sports. When the league is made up entirely of player with outside jobs, they get even less wiggle room. It’s during times like this that the Devils – who again partner with the Riveters and keep trying to promote them, where they should step up.
Slight disclaimer before we get much further – we don’t know if/and what the league rules for charter flights are, and obviously the Devils obviously can’t control the weather. There’s also no guarantee that the Rivs would have been able to make it after all. That doesn’t change the fact that the Devils could have stepped up more.
The Devils were playing the Rangers that night and won’t be playing Calgary until Tuesday. They
absolutely had the time and resources to charter a plane. Two years ago, the Devils had a five hour delay going to Edmonton, but they still managed to make it.
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Having a private plane can’t stop the weather, but it can help compensate for missed connections and find workarounds. Even outside the obvious aspect of helping the team they hold ownership in, they could have spun it for great PR in a time when they have none. A pro team honoring its commitments and helping arrange private transportation for a smaller team – especially a team they own – would have gotten headlines around the hockey world.
Overall, the Devils have been far better about promoting the Riveters this year. They’ve been advertising at games and include players in pregame ceremonies and Zamboni rides. Their Twitter has been more engaging, the other day’s weird omission of their name from a tweet notwithstanding. But as important as promotion is, if the Rivs are truly part of the Devils organization, they should be treated as such in crisis.