Ramblings of the Mad Cow

Wow, first the use of the replay, and now there’s technology so advanced the NHL feels it doesn’t really need goal judges. And of course, if the NHL says that teams don’t have to provide seats behind the goals for judges, the money makers are going to capitalize!

From FanNation

Changes for NHL goal judges
Posted: Sunday August 26, 2007 08:57AM ET

Visitors to NHL games around the league this season likely will notice a significant change in the stands behind each net. Teams have been granted permission by the league to relocate the two goal judges’ positions, opening up some prime seat locations in the loge. But the displaced judges won’t be out of work. Most of them will move, plungers in hand, to the press box. If that takes them too far from the action, they’ll be positioned elsewhere in the building, perhaps at the Zamboni entrance.

And from Waiting for Stanley

Goal judges going the way of the dinosaur
I guess the goal judge can press a button from a remote from the press box to turn the light on after a goal is scored, but really, the goal light may as well go extinct as well, unless it is flashed after a video review shows a goal. But the refs and video make the calls now for the most part.

And according to the Philedelphia Inquirer, looks like the Flyers are definitely going to jump on this opportunity.

NHL verdict goes against goal judges
Luxury seats for fans will displace them at the Wachovia Center.
By Tim Panaccio
Inquirer Staff Writer
When the NHL instituted video replay in the 1991-92 season, the idea was to help the referees determine whether a goal had been scored.

Few probably considered that it might make goal judges all but obsolete. Yet improvements in technology have achieved just that.

This season, all goal judges – who used to sit directly behind the goals – will be moved to the press box or similar locations depending on arena configurations.

The Flyers, like many clubs, are about to capitalize financially on the relocation by converting the goal judges’ boxes into luxury seating.

Work crews have redesigned the boxes at the Wachovia Center into 12 “goal judge seats” that consist of two rows of three seats behind each goal.

The new leather seats are deeper than other seats and have waiter or waitress service.

But there’s a hitch. The seats are packaged with the lease of a suite for both Flyers and Sixers games. A midlevel suite and six goal-judge seats would cost $225,000, according to Shawn Tilger, vice president of marketing and communications for the Flyers.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 7:41 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.