Why The Nhl Should Stop Wooing America

[SueNJ97]

The source for this is Slate Magazine, so those of you who despise any article from the New York Times should just stop reading now.

I don't agree with everything he says, but I do agree that not every expansion market was a great choice and this expectation that somehow America is going to love the NHL is just a fantasy. It isn't going to happen. He doesn't mention that they continue to try to remove the physical elements from the game in a vain hope that it will apeal to the American sports fan who uses it as an excuse when then they never intend to watch the game, EVER, and in doing so, they just insult their loyal fans.

http://www.slate.com/id/2143315/

sports nut

Ice Guys Finish Last

Why the NHL should stop wooing America.

By Chris Shott

June 8, 2006

Manhattan's Atomic Wings at the Blue Room seems like a pretty sweet spot to catch Game 1 of the NHL Finals. There are five televisions, and the bar is well-stocked with Labatt Blue, the "Official Beer Sponsor of the Stanley Cup Playoffs." Still, no one cheers during the Carolina Hurricanes' stunning comeback. That's because no one (except me) is even watching. Just one TV set is showing the cable channel OLN's hockey coverage, and you have to turn your bar stool backward to see it.

Then again, finding any tube tuned to hockey is a Miracle on Ice. This intrepid puckhead had to hike 10 blocks along pub-lined Second Avenue to find a place that had the game on. All the other screens are showing the Yankees and Red Sox. "Is that even important?" one bar-going sports watcher recently asked as I ogled Lord Stanley's Cup. "Sounds like some old Polish guy's used jock strap."

As a longtime hockey fan, I'm used to the abuse. Even in New York, one of the NHL's Original Six cities, nobody cares unless the local teams are playing. This year's playoff games on OLN have averaged a measly 0.4 rating. Not only has the NHL failed to fulfill Commissioner Gary Bettman's pipe dream of becoming the nation's fourth-favorite sport (behind football, baseball, and basketball), it's now dropped below less obvious competitors such as NASCAR, professional wrestling, bowling, and poker. I say that's nothing to be ashamed of. It's time for NHL executives and fans to embrace the game's position in the American sports landscape. Hockey is

Edited June 10, 2006 by SueNJ97

[sundstrom]

the sport will never be the big three, but that's actually ok. the new rules have helped the game as a whole. after a nuclear season, the league's revenues are higher than they were before the lockout.

OLN was a very new channel - had any of us watched it, or even knew it existed before it got hockey? I'm not the biggest fan of Betteman and I'll agree that he overexpanded the league by about 4 or 5 teams. But I can agree to have some patience with the league coming out of it's rebirth.

Betteman was right to take the sport to networks that care about it enough to promote it and treat it right. ESPN was not that place anymore. OLN will be in 3 times as many homes in September when it's rebranded as Versus. The sport is more cultish than mainstream MLB, NFL, or NBA, but that's ok. When you have revenues of over $2B, you're not minor league.

The sport's revenue is dominated by ticket sales and local TV deals. Concentrating on ratings (which any TV executive will tell you are ridiculously flawed in this day and age) simply does not tell the whole story.

[RowdyFan42]

I get the fact that Bettman-bashing and hockey-bashing ranks up there among the great national pastimes, but this perception that you shouldn't even be ALLOWED to watch hockey if you live in certain parts of the country has to go.

[Derek21]

Interesting article. They make many good points. But I hate to break it to them. But they're not going to do that.

They will never do ratings. So why even go nuts?

The product is good again. The league has been restored and should continue to improve. That's what us diehards wanted to see.

[Puddy]

I get the fact that Bettman-bashing and hockey-bashing ranks up there among the great national pastimes, but this perception that you shouldn't even be ALLOWED to watch hockey if you live in certain parts of the country has to go.

Did you even read the article? He's not saying that at all - he's saying that places like Raleigh and Nashville don't really deserve an NHL franchise when there's not enough people supporting it. Say what you will about Devils attendance and ratings, the fans show up when it matters and actually know the game, unlike most of the people down south who pay bargain basement prices to follow a game they may have a passing knowledge of.

Example #1- I could be the biggest Manchester United fan (I'm not; I don't really watch soccer all that much), but living in Brooklyn, the closest I'll get is the NY Red Bulls. Otherwise, it's off to a decent pub at 10AM on a Sunday - I'd have to work for my soccer fix. That's what he's saying hockey fans should have to do if they're not in an NHL city, and there are definitely some U.S. cities with NHL teams who are undeserving.

Example #2- My buddy's spending a few months in Berlin right now, he's a huge Yankee fan. He's many miles from the Bronx, but he's got his mlb.com pacakge, he's happy. MLB's not sending a team out to Germany for him in a vain attempt to convert a few people who don't care about the game, why should the NHL? I say cut 4-6 NHL teams and give their season ticket holders some comparable online package, tell them to follow a better supported team.

[Triumph]

Did you even read the article? He's not saying that at all - he's saying that places like Raleigh and Nashville don't really deserve an NHL franchise when there's not enough people supporting it. Say what you will about Devils attendance and ratings, the fans show up when it matters and actually know the game, unlike most of the people down south who pay bargain basement prices to follow a game they may have a passing knowledge of.

Example #1- I could be the biggest Manchester United fan (I'm not; I don't really watch soccer all that much), but living in Brooklyn, the closest I'll get is the NY Red Bulls. Otherwise, it's off to a decent pub at 10AM on a Sunday - I'd have to work for my soccer fix. That's what he's saying hockey fans should have to do if they're not in an NHL city, and there are definitely some U.S. cities with NHL teams who are undeserving.

Example #2- My buddy's spending a few months in Berlin right now, he's a huge Yankee fan. He's many miles from the Bronx, but he's got his mlb.com pacakge, he's happy. MLB's not sending a team out to Germany for him in a vain attempt to convert a few people who don't care about the game, why should the NHL? I say cut 4-6 NHL teams and give their season ticket holders some comparable online package, tell them to follow a better supported team.

You can't 'cut' teams - this is absurd. The owners of those franchises would have to be compensated for their assets, which makes it by far a losing proposition for the rest of the NHL.

Yes, you're right, Devils fans do show up when it matters - like the third round of the playoffs is about when they fill up the building. I know the arena is garbage and the location sucks but it's still ridiculous that fans from New Jersey can look down on teams from the South when their attendance isn't exactly setting records.

Bettman and the league's plan was ambitious - it hasn't quite worked, in part because of the failures of the particular franchises to succeed. Florida hasn't been good in a long time, and Atlanta has yet to make the playoffs. Still, the Cup Finals are on national TV and that's part of the whole scheme.

Don't compare apples to oranges - your friend in Berlin is nothing like people in the South. The NHL felt its game was strong enough to succeed in that area and convert new fans - now all of the sudden the league is stupid for being optimistic about the greatest sport on the planet?

[LucifersDog]

Considering tonight's game I would rather it was on OLN than NBC. There won't be a pre game or post game show. Hockey has hurt itself during Bettman's time.

The Devils are fortunate that they play the Flyers, Rangers and the Isles because that's when they fiil the house but it's filled with opposing fans. Some times the Canadian fans come down for a game when the Canadian teams are in town. IMO Newark won't help the attendance of the Devils. Maybe more opposing team fans will show but ticket prices will be very high in Newark. They are already one of the highest cost NHL teams to see a hockey game in an arena.

I am only using the Devils as an example because they are the one we know. Isles draw fams from Long Island and NY City. Philly draws fans from Philly, Delaware and NJ. Rangers draw fans from NY, NJ, Long Island . Then there is the Devils they draw from some parts of NJ not all of NJ. This will never change.

Most Ranger fans I know watch the game until the Rangers are out of it then they turn off hockey.

The NHL Hockey will never be 4th in market place for sport but I don't care as long as I have TV and I think OLN and hopefully Vs will do the job.

I don't expect many viewers for tonight's game 3 on NBC. Because there are only a few NHL hockey fans. There are many team fans but they fall out when their team falls out.

Edited June 10, 2006 by LucifersDog

[Don]

If they are going to drop 6 teams, they should drop the 6 with the lowest attendance. And that would of course be, the Islanders, Black Hawks, Capitals, Blues, Devils and Predators.

Carolina during the regular season drew 1,500 more per game than the Devils did!!! Florida drew 2,000 more than the Devils. NOBODY who is a fan of the Devils should be suggesting that the south-east teams should be cut. They've got a hell of a lot more fans than the Devils do.

And we're going to cut the Lightning? Who are SECOND IN THE NHL IN ATTENDANCE?!?!? WTH?!?!

I think the expansion experiment *HAS* worked and will continue to improve when the Preds, Thrashers, and Blue Jackets all get more playoff games under their belts.

But attendance isn't the problem with the NHL. The gate is doing very, very well (except of course in Jersey). The problem is with TV ratings which requires more than a hardcore following. It's easy getting 15,000 people out to a game. It's much harder to get 450,000 to watch on TV. It's just not going to happen. There is nothing that anyone, including anyone in the NHL head office, can do to fix that. People said that if we fixed the hooking and holding, that would improve ratings. Done and zip. People said that if we increased scoring, that would improve ratings. Done and zip. People said that if we dumped ESPN who routinely denegrated their own product rather than promoting it ratings would go up. Done and zip. You can't convert 100,000,000 football fans into hockey fans overnight. Versus getting into more homes is a baby step.

[Masked Fan]

The product is good again. The league has been restored and should continue to improve. That's what us diehards wanted to see.

All except that bogus delay of game 2-minute penalty. Face off in the offensive circle, quit the PP. sheesh.

And let the D clear the crease, damnit!

[RowdyFan42]

Did you even read the article?

I did. Did you? Let's review:

And that's the way it should be. Residents of Omaha, Neb., don't have the inalienable right to watch Australian rules football, and a guy in West Virginia

[aylbert]

OLN is becoming more mainstream every year. I find it completely absurd that people think just because OLN isnt ESPN now, that it will always be a mistake. ESPN is an old product and a station I hardly ever watch anymore. I stop in for sportscenter, but thats about it.

OLN has plenty of hockey on, and is getting away from the whole outdoors theme, hence the change to "Verses".

The south is taking hockey. The south isnt Canada though, don't expect it to be. The fact is: the south draws better than 3 of the atlantic division teams (pens, isles, devs). It wasnt a mistake.

I dont see the point of these articles. All they do is say how crappy the NHL is and how unless its cold outside where you live, you shouldnt watch it.

[NJDevs26]

One of the many problems with the NHL is that if the mainstream media flat-out ignored it the NHL would get better ratings. Instead for reasons that are beyond me, the media continues to trash hockey which in turn influences viewership. Other sports get their share of ripping, but it's always chic to rip and laugh at hockey for reasons that escape me other than the fact that the sport is not American. The only time hockey ever gets any press at all is when something negative happens. Hell, there was flat-out glee by some of the local talk show hosts when they reported that these games might be the lowest-rated weekend prime-time shows ever.

There are other reasons that people don't watch hockey - it's not an American sport (unlike the big three and NASCAR, which is gaining popularity by the moment). It doesn't always translate well to TV. There aren't many minorities in the sport which automatically is a turnoff for a big chunk of Americans. It hasn't always had the best television coverage - given ESPN's apathy and OLN's current obscurity. The NHL has been its own worst enemy in some cases, like the '95 lockout which came off the heels of a season where for once the media had finally gotten off the NHL's back while they were trashing the NBA. The '04 shutdown was a neccesary evil but that certainly wasn't going to help TV ratings, having a sport shut down for a year. Plus I don't get who thinks taking out physical play is going to create more fans, hell the most violent sports out there in football and boxing have millions of fans. And yes, markets factor in because basically two-thirds of NHL markets are either in Canada, the south and west or other small markets, and a lot of the big markets have been afterthoughts (Rangers, Kings, Blackhawks) in recent years.

[Don]

What do you mean by "physical play"? Checking? Clutching and grabbing? Fighting?

[Triumph]

If they are going to drop 6 teams, they should drop the 6 with the lowest attendance. And that would of course be, the Islanders, Black Hawks, Capitals, Blues, Devils and Predators.

Carolina during the regular season drew 1,500 more per game than the Devils did!!! Florida drew 2,000 more than the Devils. NOBODY who is a fan of the Devils should be suggesting that the south-east teams should be cut. They've got a hell of a lot more fans than the Devils do.

And we're going to cut the Lightning? Who are SECOND IN THE NHL IN ATTENDANCE?!?!? WTH?!?!

I think the expansion experiment *HAS* worked and will continue to improve when the Preds, Thrashers, and Blue Jackets all get more playoff games under their belts.

But attendance isn't the problem with the NHL. The gate is doing very, very well (except of course in Jersey). The problem is with TV ratings which requires more than a hardcore following. It's easy getting 15,000 people out to a game. It's much harder to get 450,000 to watch on TV. It's just not going to happen. There is nothing that anyone, including anyone in the NHL head office, can do to fix that. People said that if we fixed the hooking and holding, that would improve ratings. Done and zip. People said that if we increased scoring, that would improve ratings. Done and zip. People said that if we dumped ESPN who routinely denegrated their own product rather than promoting it ratings would go up. Done and zip. You can't convert 100,000,000 football fans into hockey fans overnight. Versus getting into more homes is a baby step.

Comparing New Jersey's attendance to Carolina's just isn't fair. New Jersey never gives a ticket away and don't offer ludicrous discounts - I'm pretty sure Carolina does both. As a result of their horrendous deal with the state, the Devils can't discount tickets to get people in the seats.

The NHL isn't back on the national radar - not only is it coming off a lockout, but half the players switched teams and the other half no one knows about. Look at a club like the Rangers before and after the lockout - how much of their roster was there at the beginning of the 03-04 season? Almost no one. Markets need a little more time to develop familiarity and the league needs a big market team to make it to the Finals.

The league won't ever get anything resembling high television ratings. It just has to do better than it has done this post-season - it has to.

[LizDevil30]

And in most of those southern markets, the NHL is the only game in town. The Devils have competition all over the place.

[SueNJ97]

What do you mean by "physical play"? Checking? Clutching and grabbing? Fighting?

Fans of other sports have said they don't like the fighting but if asked, they will also say they don't like the hitting, body checking, the actual physical contact. When it is pointed out to them that the same thing happens in football they will say it doesn't happen at such a high speed, Then someone will point out that a receiver getting hit over the middle is the same thing. They deny it. They simply don't intend to watch the game and are using body checking, legal hitting, as an excuse.

People have no problem watching football, and don't care how many players are carted off the field. In fact, they glory in it. But they won't watch hockey because someone might get hurt while they are watching it. And the NHL has been trying to please them by giving out penalties for "hitting too hard" over the last several years while these people never intend to watch the game. EVER. They should just stop the nonsense and admit it. But they cling to the hope if they just turn it into the equivalent of touch football someone will finally tune in.

[MantaRay]

IMHO: The game is great and people have to discover that for themselves.

The NHL tries to force the game on people who haven't played it, consequently won't understand it, nor be able to follow it.

They should change their strategy by going after the younger audience. You do this by encouraging and investing in youth hockey in all hockey markets, rather than trying to force it on others.

NHL also has to offer families a better deal. The NHL has gone after the corporate luxury dollar audience as opposed to the family audience, currently priced out of the game.

A good product can sell itself....if people get familar with it.

[Have Another Donut]

IMHO: The game is great and people have to discover that for themselves.

The NHL tries to force the game on people who haven't played it, consequently won't understand it, nor be able to follow it.

They should change their strategy by going after the younger audience. You do this by encouraging and investing in youth hockey in all hockey markets, rather than trying to force it on others.

NHL also has to offer families a better deal. The NHL has gone after the corporate luxury dollar audience as opposed to the family audience, currently priced out of the game.

A good product can sell itself....if people get familar with it.

Exactly. The game now is faster and more exciting that ever. The plan is working -give it some time already. OLN as several of you have mentioned, is growing and hockey is it's showcase sport unlike at ESPN.

If this writer is supposedly a hockey fan, why is he so negative? Oh, maybe he'll get more assignments if

he jumps on the "it's trendy to rip hockey" bandwagon like 95% of all articles about the NHL do.

IMHO the future looks very bright.

Regarding the Southern markets. Hockey has thrived in the Southeast, Deep South, and Southwest

for years. CHL, ECHL, SPHL all have many teams in those areas and most are doing very well.

The main reason, the ticket prices are affordable for families. Also, the Southeast & Southwest are the fastest growing areas in the country and many of the people moving there are from the Northeast or North.

[RowdyFan42]

IMHO: The game is great and people have to discover that for themselves.

And how are people supposed to do that if the mainstream media either ignores the sport or bashes it and the league stops marketing itself outside of its "safe" territories as some in this thread are proposing?

The NHL tries to force the game on people who haven't played it, consequently won't understand it, nor be able to follow it.

This point always annoys me. Aside from countless hours on the Sega Genesis and the PC (and one and only one gym class in elementary school, which sticks out in my mind not only for its singularity but also because the idiot teacher tried to call me for cross-checking when I had my stick blade on the floor the entire time fighting for the puck in the folding chairs that lined the wall... and because I scored a goal just as the class was ending), I have never played hockey, and I'm still a fan.

They should change their strategy by going after the younger audience. You do this by encouraging and investing in youth hockey in all hockey markets, rather than trying to force it on others.

The NHL did that for a long time after the first lockout, didn't they? I don't know if they're still doing it, though, but you're right about that being a Good Thing.

[brodeurgirl30]

And that's the way it should be. Residents of Omaha, Neb., don't have the inalienable right to watch Australian rules football, and a guy in West Virginia

[MantaRay]

And how are people supposed to do that if the mainstream media either ignores the sport or bashes it and the league stops marketing itself outside of its "safe" territories as some in this thread are proposing?

This point always annoys me. Aside from countless hours on the Sega Genesis and the PC (and one and only one gym class in elementary school, which sticks out in my mind not only for its singularity but also because the idiot teacher tried to call me for cross-checking when I had my stick blade on the floor the entire time fighting for the puck in the folding chairs that lined the wall... and because I scored a goal just as the class was ending), I have never played hockey, and I'm still a fan.

The NHL did that for a long time after the first lockout, didn't they? I don't know if they're still doing it, though, but you're right about that being a Good Thing.

Courting the mainstream media is a lost cause, if you haven't noticed "sports journalists" will bash the game regardless. If you create a strong local market, i.e. create demand, the mainstream will follow...because they have to.

You are in the minority of people that can sense the passion without playing the game, I didn't say that you HAD to play the game, I said it made it EASIER to follow.

[NJD Jester]

First of all, I felt this article was sophomoric. But that's just me. Let's begin:

Manhattan's Atomic Wings at the Blue Room seems like a pretty sweet spot to catch Game 1 of the NHL Finals. There are five televisions, and the bar is well-stocked with Labatt Blue, the "Official Beer Sponsor of the Stanley Cup Playoffs." Still, no one cheers during the Carolina Hurricanes' stunning comeback. That's because no one (except me) is even watching. Just one TV set is showing the cable channel OLN's hockey coverage, and you have to turn your bar stool backward to see it.

Then again, finding any tube tuned to hockey is a Miracle on Ice. This intrepid puckhead had to hike 10 blocks along pub-lined Second Avenue to find a place that had the game on. All the other screens are showing the Yankees and Red Sox. "Is that even important?" one bar-going sports watcher recently asked as I ogled Lord Stanley's Cup. "Sounds like some old Polish guy's used jock strap."

I live in Washington, DC. It's not a hockey town; hell, it's nearly not even a baseball town. But I've been to four bars in the area during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and each one would gladly put on the game. They all "have the game on"; you just have to ask. It's really not a big fvcking deal.

As a longtime hockey fan, I'm used to the abuse. Even in New York, one of the NHL's Original Six cities, nobody cares unless the local teams are playing. This year's playoff games on OLN have averaged a measly 0.4 rating. Not only has the NHL failed to fulfill Commissioner Gary Bettman's pipe dream of becoming the nation's fourth-favorite sport (behind football, baseball, and basketball), it's now dropped below less obvious competitors such as NASCAR, professional wrestling, bowling, and poker.

It IS the fourth most popular team sport in America. It never hasn't been, unless you count the early 1990s when it appeared the NHL might pass the NBA...you know, before Bettman decided not to sell what actually sold.

Call me when bowling and poker can average over 15,000 fans during 41 home dates in the dead of winter. Ratings indicate one thing and one thing only -- that no one has figured out how to broadcast a hockey game in over 30 years.

The NHL has always gotten into trouble when it tries to go mainstream. Since taking over in 1993, Bettman has pushed to extend the league's reach into less naturally icy environs like Georgia and Tennessee. As the NHL expanded, so did the egos of both owners and skaters. Ticket prices and player salaries soared beyond what fledgling U.S. fandom could support.

I'm willing to slam Bettman for over-expansion, but let's be fair -- is Tampa a mistake? Was relocation to Dallas? How's San Jose doing these days? None could be considered a hockey market until the NHL proved they were.

The hockey brain trust got a reality check during last year's season-canceling lockout. Americans, it seems, can adjust pretty easily to life without the NHL. Most people don't realize the league has returned, post-lockout, with new rules that have sped up the game and increased scoring. How can you know that hockey's back if you didn't know that it had left in the first place?

I agree with him here, but if this writer was attempting anything more than a pinprick of the surface on this issue he could have talked about WHY fans didn't realize the NHL was back and better than ever...a conversation that begins with the word "Samuri."

And that's the way it should be. Residents of Omaha, Neb., don't have the inalienable right to watch Australian rules football, and a guy in West Virginia

[RowdyFan42]

I wrote a similar column, although I actually did a little research and didn't end it by contracting five teams that actually outdrew the Blackhawks and Islanders this season. You can find it here:

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/columnists/wyshynski.html

Jester, a Pearl Jam reference? Perhaps you're more like Buccigross than you're willing to admit.

[NJD Jester]

Jester, a Pearl Jam reference? Perhaps you're more like Buccigross than you're willing to admit.

Well, I should have seen that one coming...

<JESTER>

[Devilsdude530]

Pearl Jam's new album sucks. They look like emo kids now.