Interesting Editorial Article

[Screamin'Weasel]

Didn't see this one posted yet.

 

Link

 

Nothing like a little blood on the ice to get people to start paying attention to hockey again.

 

Chris Drury left some of his there the other night in Buffalo, his forehead split open after a blindside cheap shot from Ottawa's Chris Neil. Buffalo's leading scorer got more than 20 stitches and a concussion that will keep him off his skates for a while.

 

Neil got nothing, not even some penalty time. Actually, he got indignant when it was suggested the hit might have been out of line.

Amen , brother.

 

This one floored me:

With television ratings sinking faster than Britney Spears' Q rating, this is a league that needs all the help it can get.

 

It's All-Star game last month on a channel named Versus drew a paltry 691,000 households, about a tenth of what the game got 11 years ago when it was televised on Fox. A lacrosse game drew more viewers one night a few weeks ago in New York than the Islanders did.

 

And, while 18,136 fans watched in person in Florida last month, only 736 out of nearly 7.4 million households in the New York area tuned in to see the Devils play the Panthers.

 

736?! That is unreal! The NHL is never going to get ESPN back as a national broadcasting partner (or even a coverage outlet) with these numbers. How can this possibly be fixxed?

 

The author of the linked article says fights, but that is not the solution. If fights happened every game, people would lose interest quickly. One reason big-time fights like the Buffalo/Ottawa one drew so much attention is because they are rare.

 

Look at us, for example: Peter's fights are kinda "ho-hum" because we see them all the time. New viewers around the country may enjoy it for a while, but it will wear off.

 

The answer to declining ratings is deffinately marketing, but I really don't know what they can do to get to new fans.

 

Thoughts on the article and/or ideas on how to fix deplorable low ratings? please, discuss...

[connee]

I don't think there is anything the NHL can do to improve the ratings. They have been trying for about 35 years now. One day they will again realize that hockey is a regional sport. And there is nothing wrong with that. I don't even know why NY has 3 teams, or LA 2, or Miami any team at all. I guess it's just a coincidence that the Cup has been won by southern teams twice in a row, while the NHL is desparate to make the game feasible there. I've always been against this dream of making it a national game.

[drnkirishone]

one thing they could do is use roller hockey for marketing. I'd imagine it's alot easier for a kid in Miami or Pheonix to play some roller hockey then it is to play some ice hockey. That might get the youth interested in the southern cities. As for TV ratings. I really think they have to work on finding some good new camera angles to show off the speed and checking of hte game. The net cam I thought was great it gave some amazing tv shots of saves and some goals. But this game wants to and has to market it's skaters, so find some new angles.

 

 

I thought that camera on the top of the glass was kind of cool at the all-star game. Not sure how good that would work in a real game with checking thou lol

[Kristian]

Or maybe they should take strides to remove themselves from being an absolute bush league.

 

Getting rid of Bettman and Colin Campbell would be a nice start.

 

Tar them and feather them, run them out of town. I guarantee you ESPN would be up for THAT event.

[niagara66]

one thing they could do is use roller hockey for marketing. I'd imagine it's alot easier for a kid in Miami or Pheonix to play some roller hockey then it is to play some ice hockey. That might get the youth interested in the southern cities. As for TV ratings. I really think they have to work on finding some good new camera angles to show off the speed and checking of hte game.

 

As far as camera angles, I don't think that will do much although it will enhance our viewing enjoyment. The angles in use are similar to those used in soccer, the world's most popular game.

 

Hockey requires ice and snow and people who enjoy playing in it and is therefore limited by latitude and season (yes I know arenas can be built and ice can be made indoors, but how many kids in Phoenix do you think go to open skate instead of, say, baseball practice). It also costs $$.

 

My impression having lived in several southern states is NHL Hockey in the south depends on northern transplants and bandwagonners in the middle of a playoff run. The locals don't understand the game and a lot of them don't want to understand that Yankee sport. ECHL or similar leagues seem to do all right with lower tix $$, family atmosphere, gimmicks, etc. and generally catch a solid (2-3,000 strong) core of regular fans along with transplants and a steady flow of the curious.

 

As for those ridiculously low NJ numbers, maybe market saturation? I don't know. Like the poster above said, Hockey is regional and there's nothing wrong with that, is there?

[drnkirishone]

I like how you bring up the camera angles in hockey are similiar to soccer funny how soccer isn't a big hit in the US either, that could be part of the problem ;)

[jerryg]

I like how you bring up the camera angles in hockey are similiar to soccer funny how soccer isn't a big hit in the US either, that could be part of the problem ;)

 

It's not camera angles, but I think the comparison to soccer is legitimate here. Despite the popularity of youth leagues, soccer has never caught on in a big way in the US. It's foreign to most of us, not in that it's some european import, but we didn't grow up watching and playing it. I don't like soccer. It bores me as much as baseball. But I DO understand all the subtleties and nuances and history of baseball, having grown up watching and playing it. I know soccer must take great skill, conditioning, coordination, but I just don't get it. I don't know the players, the history and unless it's blatatly obvious, I can't tell a well executed play from a poor one. Same thing with folks in the south and west and hockey. It's foreign to them, they didn't grow up watching it and playing it, they don't know the history of the teams and players. They don't get it and would rather watch something that they know.

[Screamin'Weasel]

It's not camera angles, but I think the comparison to soccer is legitimate here. Despite the popularity of youth leagues, soccer has never caught on in a big way in the US. It's foreign to most of us, not in that it's some european import, but we didn't grow up watching and playing it. I don't like soccer. It bores me as much as baseball. But I DO understand all the subtleties and nuances and history of baseball, having grown up watching and playing it. I know soccer must take great skill, conditioning, coordination, but I just don't get it. I don't know the players, the history and unless it's blatatly obvious, I can't tell a well executed play from a poor one. Same thing with folks in the south and west and hockey. It's foreign to them, they didn't grow up watching it and playing it, they don't know the history of the teams and players. They don't get it and would rather watch something that they know.

Another factor that may help cause such abyssmal numbers goes hand in hand with this, I think: season overlap. The hockey season overlaps almost the entire football season and is almost identical in timing and duration to the basketball season. Non-hockey markets will go with what they know and grew up with in thier regions: football and basketball.

 

There is no doubt in my mind that if the basketball season were to start in April and run until September, the ratings and popularity of hockey would be greatly increased. Basketball's wouldn't suffer any either as they would no longer overlap football except perhaps the playoffs which I think would garner more interest than early season football games. Of course, then basketball would completely overlap baseball's season.

 

However, I am sure some of the NHL's rationale behind southern teams was to go after northern hockey transplants in the large southern markets and have it "rub off" on the locals. Sounds like a good plan but they failed to see that tranplantitis doesn't effect locals. It does take time for this effect to take place, but when the product is a good, it will usually happen. The NHL needs to do more than just market marquee players. They need a grassroots media blitz. Pay Rome to have him spend an hour a week plugging hockey on his show instead of once a year when some big thing happens. Kiss ESPN's collective ass and pay for the publicity. Cave in and get celebrity/big name/draws to endorse the hell out of it. Sell it for what it is: the fastest, hard-hitting, action-packed, non-scripted sport there is. Face it, football is all set plays made long in advance. Baseball is one on one (pitcher vs batter) not a "true" team sport. Basketball is closest, but again relies on set plays for the most part. NASCAR is a friggin' oval, for crying out loud. Hockey is exciting, fast action (unless you are the GD trapping Devils) and spontaneous play borne out by only the few with true talent and skill. The "my NHL" campaign doesn't sell squat. All it does is (sorta) cater to those who are already fans. Marquee players are not household names except to existing fans. Make them household names first by selling the NHL, then use them to increase the ratings/sales/interest further.

 

Just my two pennies.

[hopeleslyobvious]

Maybe only 736 people watched the Devils because they are so boring.

[jerryg]

I remember when Jack Kent Cooke owend the LA Kings he said of their poor attendance "There are over a million Canadian transplats in Southern California. Who would have thought that none of them like hockey?"

[Sabre Dance]

One of the big reasons that the NHL never made it big in the US (outside of the usual hotbeds) is consistency and flexibility in rules. The NFL made a huge commitment years ago to reviewing rules annually and determining if changes would make the game better. Then, they were not afraid to actually implement them. We had the NHL wringing its hands over "removing" the red line for years. As it happens, it was one of the best moves they've made in decades. The other area is consistency in applying rules. How do you explain to Cletus Jones living in Springdale, Indiana that hitting a guy in the head from behind, knocking him out and leaving him bleeding on the ice gets NO penalty when later in the same game, dragging your stick along the elbow of an opposing player when he is skating through center ice is a minor hooking penalty? The NFL consistently reviews any hits that it deems dangerous, whether a penalty was assessed during the game or not. If there was ever a need for something like that, last Thursday night is vivid evidence.

 

In the past two seasons, I've seen some really borderline calls made by NHL officials. I sit, scratching my head wondering why one time it is a penalty, another it is not. How can you sell a game like that to someone who has next to no knowledge of hockey and expect them to understand what is going on?

[Fronz1103]

Maybe only 736 people watched the Devils because they are so boring.

 

 

Agreed!

 

New Jersey is a boring, but solid team this year, and not even a thousand fans tuning in to watch?? I mean they are in the race for the divison, the cup, and everything the sport has to offer!!!

My conclusion: watch everyone come outta hibernation for the play-offs.. its wierd..to some hockey markets (new jersey, southern teams) it seems like such a long season is too long and too much to ask of the fans. But to some markets (the Canadian teams, Buffalo, Colorado) its fine!

 

One thing i would like to see here in the states thoug.. would be them cool Mcdonalds toys (mini sticks) be offered to each city individually.. like for each canadian market give about five differnet mini sticks for each team.

for the buffalo market: offer to your Buffalo market mini sticks 0f (miller, pominville, drury, briere, afinigenov) now that would b a cool promotion.. now.. if it would increase interest in the game, or just interest in colllecting... either way i think it would work to benefit hockey and Mcdonalds.

I dunno bout you, but i would certainlly go nuts if that ever happened!!!

[JohnRobertEichel]

If the Penguins stay in Pittsburgh, I hope the NJ owner seriously considers returning the Devils to Kansas City next year. There's absolutely no excuse for the Devils getting TV ratings like that and failing to come close to selling out their home games. They have won 3 Stanley Cups, they're always playoff contenders, they're currently only 3 points behind the Sabres for best in the East, and they still can't get their fans to be passionate about the team?!

[SabresFan526]

I used to live in Dallas for many years. When we first moved there, there was only one rink where hockey was actually played. This was before the Stars got there. After the Stars moved, hockey started to pick up tremendously. By the time I moved out, Dr. Pepper and the Dallas Stars were able to build a really large hockey community and have done a tremendous amount to grow the game in Texas. There are close to 15-20 pure hockey rinks in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. I believe there are now 50 high schools in the Dallas area that field a full hockey squad. Also, they have built the infrastructure for many mite and pee wee teams in the major suburbs all over the area. There are also traveling/junior teams in the area, but obviously nothing like Canada. Since most of these guys are high school players, the best they can do is go on to play in college, since no team will draft them straight out of high school, and they are not from Canada Juniors. I do feel that we are actually getting very close to a hockey player raised in Dallas actually playing in the NHL. But, it's a remarkable success story for how hockey has grown and been incredibly successful in Texas. Just my two cents.

[Rock DJ]

If the Penguins stay in Pittsburgh, I hope the NJ owner seriously considers returning the Devils to Kansas City next year. There's absolutely no excuse for the Devils getting TV ratings like that and failing to come close to selling out their home games. They have won 3 Stanley Cups, they're always playoff contenders, they're currently only 3 points behind the Sabres for best in the East, and they still can't get their fans to be passionate about the team?!

 

Not a chance. They have a brand new rink to play in next year in downtown Newark that people without a car can actually get to. No more Meadowland swamps.

[will]

orbitz.com has a flash pop-up "shoot the puck" game. makes me wanna buy a ticket for the next bruins game. maybe when philly comes to town? just thinking out loud here.

[ExiledInIllinois]

one thing they could do is use roller hockey for marketing. I'd imagine it's alot easier for a kid in Miami or Pheonix to play some roller hockey then it is to play some ice hockey. That might get the youth interested in the southern cities. As for TV ratings. I really think they have to work on finding some good new camera angles to show off the speed and checking of hte game. The net cam I thought was great it gave some amazing tv shots of saves and some goals. But this game wants to and has to market it's skaters, so find some new angles.

I thought that camera on the top of the glass was kind of cool at the all-star game. Not sure how good that would work in a real game with checking thou lol

 

They do... I think the 'Hawks have something with roller hockey going and youth? I remember catching it in one of their game programs or something???...

 

IMO, won't help. Shoot me... But, ice hockey is an elitist game to many... Most people don't remotely associate with it because it is a skilled sport... Most people can't skate and hence can't relate, even from just a causal try at playing the game... It takes cash, $$$... Starting off young, growing feet, equipment, etc... Parents shell out some serious dough... Of course that cost is tolerated (maybe even lower the further north you go) mainly by the socio-ecomonic class that it is beloved by... Heck some rinks here in my area have a hard time staying above water (or the ice :D ) from a business end... Basically, the capital expenses (insurance, energy consumption, etc...) are huge...

 

The league needs to contract back above the Mason-Dixon line and concentrate on its Canadian and American northern base... And become a niche and regional sport...

 

Chicago is piss poor at marketing a great classic team and logo... Yet, you have a very good core base here and big one that is pushed "underground"...