Maple Leafs announcer Joe Bowen calls out fans for ‘very disappointing’ crowd

There was a discernible lack of energy in Scotiabank Arena for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans during the team’s 4-2 loss to the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday. The lack of energy led to famed Leafs’ radio announcer Joe Bowen taking aim at the fanbase on X (formerly Twitter) for what he said was a “very disappointing crowd.”

The idea of going
To any sporting event
To support the home team is to
Be PRO ACTIVE!!!
Give the team energy when they need it Not sitting down waiting
To be REACTIVE. The players can’t say it but I will tonight’s crowd was VERY DISAPPOINTING

— Joe Bowen (@Bonsie1951) April 25, 2024

Bowen certainly has a point here. Comparing the atmosphere of a playoff game to that of a library is certainly a cause for concern, and in normal circumstances, he’d have a point. The whole idea of fandom is to get behind your favorite teams and give them a home-field advantage on arguably the game’s biggest point.

But when talking about why the arena was so empty, well, that’s a different story. There’s an important caveat here, one that Bowen left out. As many others pointed out in reaction to the Leafs’ announcer’s comments, the price tag of seats is well beyond what the average fan would be comfortable paying.

$427 per person is ridiculous. You’re already pricing out a good portion of your fanbase to begin with, mind you that this isn’t an elimination game either.

I brought this up while watching the game regarding how quiet it was.

But at the price tag of seats… one has to wonder who can afford to be in the arena ($427 per person)

‘Very disappointing’: Leafs announcer Joe Bowen slams fans for Game 3 showing https://t.co/tndxl14LmV

— Alanna Kelly (@AlannaKellyNews) April 25, 2024

It’s not like the Leafs had to fight to get fans in the doors during the regular season. According to Hockey Reference, the Leafs drew an average of 18,789 fans across 41 regular season games in 2023-24. Scotiabank Arena holds a capacity of 18,819 fans, so 99.8 percent capacity was filled throughout home games in Toronto.

And while you could argue about the energy during the regular season, that’s neither here nor there. The “very disappointing” crowd seems more to do with ticket prices than anything, especially considering that the Leafs don’t have a problem filling the arena across 41 home games.

And while Bowen may be “spitting out a hard truth,” there’s a failure to acknowledge that the reality of ticket prices keeps fans from piling in and filling out the arena with a surround sound of their vocality.

Leafs pxp Joe Bowen spitting a hard truth out. The reality of insane ticket prices keeping some of their most vocal fans out. https://t.co/LrTpk2UiJI

— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) April 25, 2024

As others have noted, the vocal portion of the fanbase may be getting priced out.

Lova ya Joe, but the Leafs ticket prices got them what they have – a quiet, sober, semi-engaged in-house fan.
EDM is right behind them. Game 2 crowd was only OK, and at $500-plus a seat — and rising — it will only grow more quiet. https://t.co/Daq47UvCRs

— Mark Spector🇨🇦🇺🇦 (@SportsnetSpec) April 25, 2024

There was energy in the building at points during this game, like when Ryan Reaves laid out Pavel Zacha with a huge hit.

Ryan Reaves just DRILLED Pavel Zacha 😳 pic.twitter.com/cp0SFAiw9w

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 24, 2024

But moments like those seemed to be few and far between.

Bowen has every right to address fan engagement, but sky-high ticket prices could significantly dampen the atmosphere. And failure to leave that out of the argument seems to insinuate that Leafs fans aren’t willing to come to the arena to support their team in the playoffs.

[Joe Bowen on X, The Leafs Nation]