Sports apparel store Clubhouse is taking heat from Ottawa fans
The owner of an Ottawa sports apparel store is on the defensive after he posted a picture of the shop’s new sports cap with the words “Sens Suck” online, infuriating fans of the home team.
The hoopla came after a photo of the “Sens Suck” hat, next to a “Leafs Suck” cap also made by Clubhouse, went online on Feb. 24, the day after the Senators defeated their Ontario rivals 3-2.
Clubhouse owner and manager Chris Torti says the caps are not for sale and were only meant to be a lighthearted poke at the rivalry between the Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“It was game day, and we had four caps. It was a gag and we ended up giving them to a couple of kids,” Torti says. “(The backlash) was totally blown out of proportion.”
Some sports bloggers criticized Clubhouse for selling products that insulted the home team. Steven Smith of Senstown.com wrote that cashing in on this rivalry in such a distasteful way was “unacceptable.”
Several Senators fans went on Clubhouse’s Twitter page to criticize the company, writing they would never use the store again. Red Scarf Union, a support group of diehard Senators fans, linked Clubhouse’s customer feedback page in their tweet, encouraging upset fans to voice their concern.
Torti says that Clubhouse, which has four locations in the Ottawa area including one by Scotiabank Place, sells more Leafs-related gear than Senators apparel. He credits this disparity to a local market saturated with low-price Senators merchandise.
“There are a lot of fans of opposing teams in the city and I don’t really have a problem with it,” says Jared Crozier, senior editor of Senshot and a diehard Senators fan. “I wouldn’t buy (a ‘Leafs Suck’ hat) myself. It’s not their responsibility to just sell something that is only Sens-related because they are in the city.”
The online outcry came just two weeks after the Senators organization launched a “Take Back the Bank” initiative, which encouraged Ottawa fans to buy tickets for home games at a discount to keep Maple Leafs supporters away from Scotiabank Place.
The Senators offered season ticket holders the chance to purchase additional tickets to Leafs games at a 20 per cent discount, as long as they did not sell those seats to Toronto fans.
The idea for the initative came from team season ticket holders who said that they did not enjoy watching matches against the Maple Leafs due to the hostile atmosphere during the games, says Jeff Kyle, the Senators’ vice-president of marketing.
“You should be able to cheer for whatever team in a respectable way,” Kyle says. “We also took the initiative to have added security. Sometimes, when you’re at those games, people either have had a little too much fun before the game . . . or think that the action is sometimes off the ice, and they can get carried away.”
The healthy contingent of Toronto fans around the province and the exorbitant prices at the Air Canada Centre have spawned a large number of out-of-towners visiting Scotiabank Place for Senators games.
“There’s no reason why we should discourage fans to come down but if you’re going to give prime seats and great rates, it should go to your home team first,” says Mika Oehling, an Ottawa writer and sports blogger. “(Leafs fans) start a lot of fights. They’re an aggressive bunch of people.”
However, Oehling says she did not have a problem with Clubhouse’s cap concept.
“It’s part of the rivalry, part of the fun,” she says. “I want one of the ‘Leafs Suck’ ones.”
Torti, meanwhile, says he does not think that the online derision is loud enough to harm his business.
“I think that most people really see it for what it is,” he says.