SF Bulls Hockey Team to Hold 'End of the World' Promotion Dec 21

Some say the world will end in fire, the San Francisco Bulls say on ice.

As anyone who has access to the Internet knows, the end of everything is coming on Dec. 21. (NPR, among others, says this isn't the case, but you know how they are.) Anyhoo, the San Francisco Bulls hockey team is taking advantage of the big finale that night with an "It's the End of the World As We Know It" game at the Cow Palace against the Ontario Reign.

"A bunch of us were sitting around the other day," says Bulls media director and broadcaster Jason Lockhart, "and we just thought, since everyone has been talking about how Friday is going to be the end of the world, we should have a little fun with it."

The team has issued a press release about the event complete with deadpan quotes from president and head coach Pat Curcio. “There is a lot of pressure to win the game on Friday because it could be the last,” he said.

Fans can enter a contest to win one month's supply of emergency food and 10 tickets to the game by posting the reason they want to spend their last day on earth with the Bulls. The team is also encouraging attendees to dress appropriately.

"Whether it's zombies, aliens, or dressed in Mayan garb," Lockhart said. "People who come in costume will get two ticket vouchers for the December 28 game at the Cow Palace -- assuming the end of the world doesn't occur, of course."

Another team in the ECHL, the league in which the Bulls play, had an irreverent promotion backfire earlier in the season. The Bakersfield Condors had to back out of holding an "Our City Isn't Bankrupt Night" against the Stockton Thunder when Stockton residents complained about the mockery of their city's financial crisis.

The Bulls' other promotions so far have been mainstream giveaways like hats, T-shirts, jerseys and rally towels.  Lockhart says overall ticket sales for the season are ahead of forecasts. It probably doesn't hurt that the San Jose Sharks are not playing their scheduled fall games because of an NHL labor dispute. That has left the Bulls as the only hockey game in town.

For the Bulls, it's just the end of the world; for the Sharks and other NHL teams who have yet to play a game this year, it could be much worse: the end of the entire season.