Anthony Sullivan stars in a Tampa Bay Lightning infomercial

Written by Joe Lucia on 08 March 2013.

Hockey in Florida has never really been a good fit. The fact that the NHL has as many teams in Florida as the entire province of Ontario is one of the dumbfounding things about the NHL's southern expansion over the last 20 years. But despite the odd fit, the Tampa Bay Lightning are actually seventh in the NHL in attendance this year, mainly due to the massive seating capacity of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the team plays their home games.

In an effort to pack the house a little more, the Lightning have enlisted the help of famous infomercial pitchman Anthony Sullivan (known for shilling products like the Jupiter Jack, Sticky Buddy, and the Grater Plater), offering tickets to three different home games for $79....but if you act now, you can get the fourth game for free!

I'm actually a little surprised that more teams across all sports haven't gone the pitchman route with commercials for their promotions, but maybe they just figure it's easier, cheaper, and just as effective to use the same voiceover guy for every commercial. However, those commercials wouldn't exactly turn into the talk of the Internet community like this commercial with Sullivan has.

[Backhand Shelf]

8 comments

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Kelly Ciesielski

I was going to mention Billy Mays but I was beat to that one! YEAH!!!!

Andy Wunder

Thanks for starting with the word hockey in your post because then that let me go on to the next thing in my newsfeed

Christopher Kull

Tampa gets slagged for being a crappy hockey town which I find laughable. I've lived here for 10 years and I've found the fans here are very passionate about the team. The Lightning have finished in the top half of league attendance for most of the past 10 years including a couple of seasons where they finished in the top 5. The team is actively talked about on a daily basis by the sports radio stations during the season which doesn't happen in some US markets that have NHL teams. I'm a Wings fan through and through but I have a lot of respect for Lightning fans as they do know their team and are passionate about them.