NHL fans(PHX Coyotes) offered free tickets to tennis tourney

[Champ]

Associated Press
Feb. 18, 2005 03:23 PM

NHL fans left on the sideboards can get the jump on a new game: tennis.

Hockey fans who show up for the first two days of next week's ATP Tour event in Scottsdale wearing Phoenix Coyotes hockey jerseys will be given free tickets for the tennis tournament.

"I'm a die-hard tennis nut, and I can imagine how difficult it must be for die-hard hockey fans right now," said Steve Bellamy, president of The Tennis Channel, which is buying the Scottsdale tournament and offering the free ducats.

The Tennis Channel announced Thursday its offer to hockey fans: The first 500 people wearing a Coyotes jersey to the day or night sessions at the tournament Monday and Tuesday can claim a free ticket at the will-call window.

"With their new free time, hockey fans can come see the spectacular athleticism, finesse and artistry happening right now in big-time tennis," Bellamy said in a statement.

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/0218Hockey-Tennis-ON.html

[Feathered Fish]

1. Now I don't know about hockey fans in the US

but up here, not many hockey fans are rabid tennis fans.

[Telly Savalas]

2. Tennis lost a lot of popularity in Canada...

when they put in the instigator rule. That took all the fun out of the game.