Why Has (Ice) Hockey Never Taken Off in America??

Question

Ice hockey has everything. It combines the very best skills of all other sports: speed, agility, hand-eye coordination, quick-thinking, brute strength, stamina.

Also, it is the only team sport with no out-of-bounds area to run to. If a player's coming at you, you either get out of the way or you're nailed into the boards. It's also the only team sport where players regularily fight, which builds excitement. It's also an incredibly fast game with relatively few whistles and play stopages (compared to the NFL, for example).

You'd think that with all this excitement, ice hockey would be immensely popular in the U.S. But with the exception of a few places in America (Minnesota, New York state, Michigan, North Dakota, Wisconsin) it is considered to be an obscure sport with not a lot of fanfare.

Why do you think this is?

Answer 1

1. College and high school football are huge.
2. College and high school basketball are big.
3. High school and minor league baseball are popular.
4. College and minor league hockey are not huge. Most high schools do not have hockey programs.

Kids do not grow up playing hockey at an amateur level in the US.

It makes all the difference.

Hockey needs to be happy to be at the level of popularity it has. It can continue to be very big in Canada and northeastern cities, and selected other cities where there has been movement of people from colder climates (example: Dallas, which has lots of cold climate transplants who know hockey).

Answer 2

I think there are a few reasons why Hockey is the least popular major sport in the United States

1) The simple fact is Football and other sports are far better TV sports than hockey. Especially if you do not fully understand the rules of hockey. The puck gets lost in the corners or if the camera can't keep up you loose track of where it is. If you do not understand the rules you don't know why someone is offsides or what exactly icing is and the stopages of play can be annoying if you dont know the game.

2) Hockey is an extreamly expensive sport to play. Unlike basketball or football which can be played at almost any playground or open field hockey requires tons of equipment, an ice rink and in many states high school hockey isnt paid for by the school so the students and families have to pay for all of the equipment and rent ice time for practices and games.

3) Ticket prices are outragous. Because the NHL has a television contract so much lower than the NBA, NFL, or MLB they have to make up the difference in ticket sales. The Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars play at the same venue in Dallas the exact same seat in the exact same venue for a basketball game is only $48 for an NHL game that same seat is $69 per ticket.

I love hockey, and I want to see it grow but sadly with less and less exposure on television, fewer highlights shown on ESPN now that they no longer carry NHL games I dont think it is going in the right direction.

Answer 3

It's for the same reason soccer (known as football in most of the world) has never been really popular. Neither sport is dominated
by the USA on the male side of these sports. USA is among the best in women's ice hockey and soccer, but not so on the men's side. Sports is still a male-dominated area in the USA, even though women sports have made significant strides over the past few decades. The majority of the best players and teams aren't located in the USA. It's basically homerism. If the USA men's soccer team ever won the World Cup, it would be a bandwagon effect. Look what happened to ice hockey in the USA after the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid. There was a surge
in popularity, and there was an increase interest in the USA when
Wayne Gretzky got traded to the Kings, a non-hockey market if there was one. The places you mention in the USA are traditional
hockey states anyways, so these states would be following hockey for the most part anyways. USA won the World Cup of
Hockey in 1996, but I don't know if it did much for the game down there after that happened. In order for a sport to succeed down
there, it has to be dominated by Americans and/or made by
Americans. Poker would be much less popular in the USA than it is now, if there weren't dominant US players winning or placing well at the prestigious events in poker events around the planet
worldwide. If you want proof, tennis is a prime example of a sport
that goes up and down in popularity in the USA, depending on how the US men and women are doing. The Olympics, World
Cup of Hockey and IIHF World Championship tournament are
dominated by non-US teams. US-based teams have dominated
the Stanley Cup in the past 15 years or so, but the vast majority
of the significant players in the NHL are Canadian or European
(i.e. Russian, Swedish, Czech, Finn, Slovak). Why do you think
so many people in the USA bash soccer and hockey? A prime
example would the rec.sport.football.college group. Hockey is not the second most popular sport in the world, despite what that one person said. Basketball is #2, trailing soccer. Tennis is #3
worldwide. Hockey is clearly #4 among the major team sports in
North America.

Answer 4

The NHL is everywhere. But, I think on the local high school level, the sport is limited by the fact that it cost a lot of money to equip a player and a small fortune to equip a team. Add the cost of making a suitable playing surface and the sport becomes difficult for most schools to justify having a team. Then without being exposed to the game plus the fact most people are not familiar with the rules, the sport becomes very regionalized.

Answer 5

Because the Americans don't dominate the sport of hockey, that's why. its the same as football (soccer) this 2 sports are the biggest in the world but the Americans don't dominate and once they start then you will see change but football (soccer) and Hockey will never become big cause the Americans will never dominate this two great sports. Hockey number 1.


Travis W>>>> he gave a great point about the final scores of the games, Americans like to see high scoring games but if you look at basketball 2pts, and 3pts for baskets and the scores are like 100 to 98 but no real defence in the game and baseball the scores are like 8-6 no defence either, the American football if the teams scored 3 touchdowns and the other score 2 and counting the field goals after the touchdown the score would be 21-14 they add 6 points for a touchdown but the score would only be 3-2. its funny the two biggest sports in the world Football (soccer) and Hockey are low scoring games and have a system and have defence.but Americans don't like these sports as much cause they simply don't dominate.




GO HABS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Answer 6

People like a sport they can play. Hockey has high costs. You would need SKATES a RINK to play on STICKS and a NET. Notice how teh costs are building up already? Now take Football, the true American Pasttime now and most popular sport in the US, what do you need? A BALL. You could say well you need the uprights, come on most play simple pick-up games where touchdowns are 7 and you don't mess with the extra points. So all you need is a ball and you can have a pick-up game. You can play anywhere that easily. Baseball is pretty similar where you just need gloves and a bat and ball. You just throw anything down for bases in that sense. You specify Ice Hockey though and you need to be able to skate, need skates and somewhere to skate. That is just a START for the pick up game.

Answer 7

Im a minnesotan and I do not know what I would do without hockey. I believe that because all of the states in popular in have lakes and it is cold 6 months out of the year, you can practice inside or out. And, its like waterpolo in california. You say that here and it would be like talking in a different lanugage, its only warm here 4 months out of the year, and its just a regional thing. Hockey in those states you said, and I know especialy here is just a long great fun tradtition, every state has one of those, and hokcey just became ours. I feel like people have never tried it and alot of the southern states barely have ice arenas. I like the fact its only a nothern/NE people thing. Just like im sure the people in the south enjoy there uniqe to the area sports.

OH YAH and to that guy who said there are 50 rinks in the dallas city limits. you come to minnesota. it doesnt even compare. Theres one around every street corner and outdoor/indoor ones in every neighborhood. I believe we have as many ice rinks as we do lakes. and no im not exagerating. and nhl hockey is amazing, however if you had all minnesotans playing for the wild (formaly known as the northstars until it was moved for many dumb reasons) they would be like the yankess are to american baseball, b/c thats how the mn gophers are when it comes to hockey. Hm ever heard of a man called herb brooks? or a little thing called miracle on ice? yah... i thought so.





OH AND BY THE WAY MINNESOTA HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE STATE OF HOCKEY. AND THATS NOT CHANGING.

Answer 8

oh i am telling you hockey has not taken over america[yet]. But it has deffinitly spread throughout the states. girls and boys hockey is blooming everyone. Hockey is such a great sport and i think it is a sport that everyone should take interest in. I ve been playing for about 3-4 years now and ive taken a great interest in it. i think in the near future hockey will take control in america!

Answer 9

Maybe it's just in the north US, but here in Buffalo we LOVE hockey.. I think it's just the south where it hasn't caught on..

Maybe they just can't appreciate it there because they don't have cold weather or anything. Going to a hockey game in a hoodie with the leaves changing and all, and then the snow outside in the winter I think are all part of the hockey atmosphere.

I am part Canadian though, and I was raised on hockey. Maybe it's just in our blood! Maybe a nationalistic thing..

Answer 10

It is expensive to get the right equipment. Not to mention you need ice. For example, basketball simply needs a ball and hoop. Soccer just needs a ball. Same goes for footballl. In baseball, you don't need much. Not to mention, hockey is the most difficult sport to play! Not just anyone can pick it up.