Now, let’s start off with hockey. When I was in my teens my Grandmother came to visit from New York. She asked me if I wanted anything, and this being a bit before the internets, asked her to get me a New Jersey Nets jersey. When she arrived without the jersey she told me she asked the salesman about the jersey and he said they didn’t carry Nets stuff because New Jersey sucked. This is the reason why the Devils get zero respect from the NHL or any of it’s related moneyed interests. Not because they suck, but because they’re not sexy. When it comes down to it the teams in any sport need to be sexy to be marketable. The name New Jersey only invokes a couple things like the Sopranos and Chris Christie and this guy:
But, on the other hand teams like New York and Los Angeles and Chicago bring about a lot of revenue. You see, most people don’t live in these cities and fewer have actually visited these places. But in order to bring in revenue sports organizations have to tap into the inner imaginings of these fine folk. So when you think of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles you think of glitz and glamour. And when you think of that you think of the great legendary sports teams like the Knicks, the Lakers and the Bears. It’s much easier to market these teams to someone in say, Arkansas, than teams like the Pacers, the Devils or the Clippers. Plus, these cities cover large populations and give organizations and advertisers bigger revenue share. Look at the trends of championship teams across the four sports: Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago.
It doesn’t have to be the glitz and glamour narrative. It can be the blue collar, shower after work narrative that teams like the Steelers invoke. It can be the tradition narrative that teams like the Packers and Red Wings invoke. Or it can be the douche bag narrative that Philadelphia teams invoke.
Now you say, “Well that’s all good, but we’ve had small market teams win championships.”Aha, good point, but I’m talking about how organizations like the NBA, NHL, Comcast, MSG help bump the narrative in a favorable way they don’t necessarily shape the outcome. There have been the odd champions like the Houston Rockets, the Anaheim Ducks and the Baltimore Ravens.
So how do these moneyed interests shape the narrative? Well, broadcasting for starters. This season Stanley Cup was basically viewed as Los Angeles versus that other team in the media. The Kings were talked up like they were the second coming of the eighties Oilers. New Jersey on the other hand was only mentioned when they were in trouble or things weren’t going their way, which was most of the championship. Look at the New Jersey/NYR series. All people could talk about was how awesome and talented the Rangers were without ever bring up the fact that they were a step above putting 5 railorad ties in front of Henrik Lundqvist. The broadcasters talk about the L.A.s and New Yorks of the sports world and that gets the casual fan a bit more interested because well, LA and New York. Now, before you call bullsh!t on this last item let me point something out. I live in a town next to Albuquerque. We have no large sports contingent. If you’re not a fan of a team because of their geographical closeness to New Mexico then you’re a fan of the Steelers or Giants or Lakers or Bulls. I’ve seen it first hand. The names New York and LA make idiots in my neck of the woods think that that means their getting something trendy or of quality. I can’t drive down the street without seeing LA in front of some business’s name: LA Boxing, LA Subs, LA Hair, LA Nails. Furthermore, if you don’t advertise that you make real New York style pizza then your restaurant will fail. It’s even been done at the corporate level. Big New Yorker pizza anyone? That’s a good pizza, Spike Lee.
