Flashback …

I’m at the All-Star Game in Dallas last January, sitting in the press box, an hour before the puck gets dropped.

To my right is Boo _ that’s the nickname Bruce Garrioch (Ottawa Sun) goes under. To my left is a much older gentlemen and he’s holding the button for the “red” light which is on the ice, behind the goal.

“So, you’ve been moved?” I said.

He was sweating pucks, he was so nervous. He wasn’t happy, either.

“How we gonna see a goal on the line from up here?” he asked me.

That has long been one of my pet peeves about covering hockey from these new arenas where the press box is high into the rafters, approximately 180 feet diagonally from the ice. You sometimes don’t see pucks cross the line.

The removal of the goal judges becomes official across the NHL this season. Some clubs began doing it last season. Most clubs will move the goal judges to the press box. It all depends upon arena configuration.

Let’s be honest here. Video replay has made the goal judges all but obsolete.

What was that song from the Buggles in 1979? Video killed the radio star … and now the NHL goal judges, too.

“Certainly, with respect to some of their more traditional duties, the video goal judge (and the entire video review procedure), in combination with the two referee system, have lessened the responsibilities and clearly minimized the number of times in a season goal judges are consulted in making ‘goal/no goal’ decisions,” wrote NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly in an email to the Inquirer about moving the goal judges recently.

(http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/20070824_NHL_verdict_goes_against_goal_judges.html)

Some fans will see this as the natural progression in the game of hockey. I see it more as a way for clubs to make $$$.

In the new NHL, it's part of the new math curriculum.

Truth is, you read the rule book (Rules 37, 39), the referees and video replay booth are the two deciding factors in goal/no goal decisions. The goal judge’s only responsibility now is to turn the red light on when a goal is scored.

When was the last time you saw the on-ice officials chatting at length with a goal judge after a disputed goal? They don’t. They almost always go right to replay. Sometimes, the replay booth calls them.

The Flyers have found a way to capitalize financially on the goal judges losing their hallowed boxes behind the net. I will bet my four-year-old Benz that 29 other teams have the same vision.

Again, depending on arena configuration, not everyone will be able to do the same things, but the idea of “selling” the goal judge box will catch on quickly.

The Flyers have turned the boxes into luxury seats. Work crews have redesigned the two goal judge boxes at the Wachovia Center into 12 “Goal Judge Seats” _ two rows of three seats behind each goal.

Now you sit your fanny on leather seats which are deeper and wider and come with waiter/waitress service. No Ice Babe service. Sorry.

Just one small asterisk to all this … You can’t just go out and buy these seats at Ticketmaster. Not yet, anyway. They’re packaged with leasing a suite for both Flyers and Sixers’ games.

That runs $225,000, according to Shawn Tilger, vice-president of marketing and communications for the Flyers.

“The majority of our suites are sold,” Tilger told me. “What was intriguing to us was you could entertain clients in your suite then rotate back and forth to the goal judge seats.”

As I pointed out in today in the Inquirer, the goal judge seats affect the fewest fans in the arena, yet will be the most obvious to the naked eye.

The Flyers are sending out notices to season ticket holders shortly about a number of changes that they hope will make fans’ lives easier inside the building.

I blogged about one of these changes recently and now I have the full details. I think the most popular option is going to be their “Stored Valued Ticket.”

It’s not a swipe card as I had mistakenly reported earlier. Season ticket holders will now have a bar code on their ticket stub that carries additional “credit” to their account. The ticket can be used for concessions and merchandise via a “fast” lane specifically for them.

“We did research all last season and found the No. 1 reason people did not purchase or renew season tickets was their budget and lifestyle,” Tilger said. “We wanted to create ways to benefit our season ticket holders in those areas.”

Anyone opting to use this option automatically gets a $50 credit on their account to get them started.

Having stood in long lines (I sit in the stands sometimes at games I don’t cover, just to get the “feel” from the fans’ point of view since we are sooooo far from the ice), this is a going to bring genuine relief to fans wanting to get through concessions which move as slowly as security lines in airports.

There’s some other new twists the Flyers are introducing. You can read about them in the Inquirer.

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