The Flyers have done nothing but disappoint the entire city of Philadelphia this season. They have sunk to seventh in the Metropolitan Division, and had multiple losing streaks of over ten games. So it only stands to reason they should give something back. 

They got a start on making things right by announcing this year’s winners of the Flyers Hometown Assist Award. The program was originally launched to help small businesses directly impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic back in 2020. Since then, they have made it an annual tradition to award $500,000 to deserving small businesses. This is much preferable to their other annual tradition, disappointing us all by losing.

This is great, congratulations to all of these businesses. If we’re being honest, it falls way short. This team has done some truly terrible things to Philadelphia over the years.

The Flyers have done nothing but disappoint for years.

They wasted the career of Claude Giroux. Not to mention allowed Sydney Crosby to own them so thoroughly he may as well have a personal suite at the Wells Fargo Center. They also unleashed Gritty on the fanbase. Don’t you all just love Gritty? He’s so wacky! Here’s a Gritty game! There’s no way he’s annoying or played out at all.

Fans deserve way more than a nice gesture. Look how their president of business operations described this team to the Inquirer:

“The Philadelphia Flyers are more than a hockey team — we’re an institution in this city — and we’re committed to giving back, especially during challenging times like the past two years,” said Valerie Camillo, the Flyers’ president of business operations.”

An institution in this city, that’s what they describe themselves as. That made me think, maybe the city should demand more back.

The Flyers owe every single fan reparations.

We’ve learned these past few years how important it is for institutions and people to reflect on their privilege. What’s more privileged than forcing people to pay to watch you lose hockey games? Think of the audacity.

The Orange privilege shown nightly at the Wells Fargo Center needs to be addressed. Every season ticket holder should be repaid at least half of what they’ve spent. If you can prove you purchased so much as a souvenir mug, you should be entitled to a $50 gift card to get a replacement item featuring a different, better team. That, or you can spend the $50 on booze to pour into the souvenir mug to help you wash away the terrible memories of whatever Flyers game you just witnessed.

Once again congratulations to the winners of this year’s Flyers Hometown Assist program. We don’t look to diminish their achievement. We just want this team to own up to their past of wasting their fans’ money.

Mandatory Credit: K. Huff for PHLCVB