By David Pollak
Mercury News
September 4, 2002
Inside Compaq Center, the protective nets behind each goal and in the corners will drop vertically, like shower curtains, from the rafters to the glass. They will be black, not white.
And after a little while, the Sharks and NHL are hoping, you won't notice they're there.
Prodded by the death of a 13-year-old girl who was struck in the head by a puck last season, the NHL is making the most significant change in the way fans watch hockey in decades. By ordering all 30 teams to put netting in place this season, the league is trying to lower the odds of anyone else being seriously hurt or killed by a three-inch disc of frozen rubber.
"I'm sure with some people there's a concern about what the nets are going to look like, what it's going to feel like," said Sharks president and CEO Greg Jamison. "But we firmly believe it won't be a problem in watching a game."
The Sharks say they already have heard from about 35 to 40 concerned season ticket holders. Most have been willing to wait until they see the nets in place before trying to relocate, said vice president for sales and marketing Kent Russell. They'll get their first view Sept. 24 at the team practice open to them.
The number of worried fans could grow, if results of an online survey conducted this week by the NHL Fan Association at the request of the Mercury News prove accurate.
The non-scientific poll drew 1,458 responses and showed that 56 percent agreed with the league decision to install the nets and 61 percent said they would have little or no problem adjusting to them. But 37 percent said they would be very upset and do what they could to avoid seats behind them.
Brittanie Cecil was hit by a puck at a Columbus Blue Jackets game March 16 and died of complications two days later. For the next three months, the NHL set out to find a way to make sure its first fan fatality would be its last.
"This was the proper and most professional way to take care of this situation and move forward in a way that is still fan friendly," Jamison said of the June 20 decision to put nets in place.
The NHL says protective netting is simply the right thing to do for its fans, dismissing the idea that it was primarily a matter of legal liability -- that, without nets, injured fans could make a strong case that preventive action could have been taken.
The league provided some specifications -- the material must be fire retardant, for example, and that ruled out monofilament -- but each team was given latitude in picking the color and height of the nets.
Here's what the Sharks decided to do:
- The nets -- nylon, with a 1 3/4-inch mesh -- will follow the curve of the boards from section 103 to section 113 at one end, from 117 to 127 at the other.
- With the white ice backdrop, black may seem an unlikely choice. But it is the color the NHL recommended after testing for impact on spectators and TV cameras. And it is the one virtually all teams have chosen.
"Black is more passive and absorbs the light," said David Battel, president of
Athletica, the Minneapolis company that is supplying the nets for 11 NHL teams, though not the Sharks. "In brightly lit buildings, white tends to reflect the light and can be more of a distraction."
Frank Albin, the Sharks' director of broadcasting, said he didn't think the nets would interfere much with TV views. "The cameras have a fair distance from the actual net," he said. "By the time you zoom in, it softens and you don't notice it's there."
- The Sharks could have suspended the nets so that fans in the upper bowl would not be looking through them. But that meant the 10-inch deep, ladder-style truss used would be a significant barrier to some views, officials said.
"I think people will appreciate the fact we got it out of the way," said Rich Sotelo, vice president of building operations.
Still, that puts the Sharks in the minority -- about two-thirds of the NHL teams plan to protect the lower bowl only.
- The nets will be raised and lowered by a newly installed chain-motor system. The cost of the project is between $100,000 and $150,000, Jamison said.
Season ticket holders looking to move may not have a lot of options. The Sharks had a 93.6 percent renewal rate and have sold more than 14,100 seats. Another 1,000 are held by suite owners. That leaves about 2,400 available for individual games -- and the vast majority of them are in areas behind the nets.
Jim Boone, president of the Ottawa, Ontario-based NHL Fan Association, said he understood why many people who have a hard time seeing the puck and identifying players would feel the netting will further obstruct their views.
But having watched Quebec junior league games through a net, he said he did not find it a distraction. Said Boone: "If this saves a few bonks on the head or even saves a life, I'm all for it."
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