The Chicago Blackhawks will break out some new bells and whistles for fans at the home opener Thursday night against the San Jose Sharks.
Some of the programming the Hawks roll out this season at the United Center will include a new hype video and a “crypto” machine during goal celebrations.
“The first new thing that a lot of our fans will see is that … our studio is going to be alive in the atrium,” said Jaime Faulkner, Hawks president of business operations. “It’s going to add to the energy of our pregame. We’ve got a lot of fun guests we’ve lined up to be on our pregame and intermission shows in the studio, and our fans can be a part of it.
“So (we’re) hoping to recreate what’s so popular and fun about (ESPN’s) College GameDay.”
Thursday’s festivities begin with the city shutting off Madison Street to traffic for a street party featuring a live DJ, live music featuring the Gold Coast All Stars, outdoor bars and fans lining the red carpet, all of which begins at 3:30 p.m. Parking lots open at 3 p.m.
Hawks players and other VIPs will walk the red carpet starting at 5 p.m.
“We’re just excited to get home,” Hawks star forward Connor Bedard said. “We enjoyed the road trip, and I think it was good for us off the ice as well to get to know each other and whatnot. We’ve got 11 new guys here, so it was a fun trip. We’re excited to … get in front of our fans.”
The Hawks went 1-2-1 on the opening trip, which ended Tuesday with a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
The UC’s East Atrium opens at 5:30 p.m. (earlier if rain forces the red carpet inside), and fans can mingle, post selfies with the Michael Jordan statue or watch the Chicago Sports Network pregame show from outside the remodeled Atrium studio.
For some fans — given stalled negotiations between CHSN and Comcast as well as other pay-TV providers — that could be the only way to see a local Hawks broadcast.
The game begins at 7:30 p.m.
Two seasons ago, the Hawks marketing campaign featured a “Ready To Work” tagline and accompanying pregame video featuring coach Luke Richardson, Chicago pro wrestler CM Punk and Hawks players juxtaposed with working-class Chicagoans.
This season’s pregame video will highlight players working on and off the ice, including several new faces the Hawks acquired during free agency.
The game also will be the first regular-season broadcast for Rick Ball, the play-by-play announcer the Hawks lured from the Calgary Flames. He replaces Chris Vosters, who was fired after two seasons of mixed feedback from fans.
“People still think it was Darren (Pang, Vosters’ former booth partner). It was driven by the fact our fans were letting us know that we needed to make a change,” Faulkner said. “We think they’re going to love Rick once they can hear him.”
Faulkner said her department constantly seeks feedback from fans through surveys and other traditional marketing methods, “but we also spend a lot of time doing what’s called social listening — so monitoring what people are saying in social media, on the blogs — so that we have an understanding of the things they care about the most, things they like the most, things they’re angry about the most.
“I would say there’s two things we are seeing the most right now on social: One is our fans’ excitement to see this new roster, coupled with their high levels of frustration that they can’t actually see the roster since we started.”
She said she had no update on the status of contract negotiations.
CHSN is “leading all the work to get the distribution deals in place,” she said.
Starting in December, the Hawks will introduce beer hockey sticks, inspired by “beer bats” popular with Cubs fans.
“The Cubs had such success with the beer bats, and we have a lot of crossover in our fan base,” Faulkner said. “People were asking when or if we would ever do a hockey beer stick. So we went out and found somebody who could do a hockey beer stick, and we are bringing that to to the United Center for the holidays.”
Later that month, the Hawks plan to reveal the jersey designs for the Dec. 31 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.
Meanwhile, the United Center, which is observing its 30th anniversary, added new items to the menu.
