When will THE NHL be popular with the AMERICANS?

Answer 1

Hockey is a expensive sport to play and very few and fortunate can afford to play it growing up. From that you have a very small following and fan base.

As for the NHL, once again it gets expensive.The same people that grew with it and played are the same ones attending the games.

Hockey is an acquired taste no matter how many times the NHL tries to change the rules to increase scoring. The fan base will remain the same.

Answer 2

It never will be.

The mainstream press still thinks that fights break out every 2 minutes on the ice and only covers the sport when something bad happens. Some of the best franchises in the U.S. (New Jersey, Anaheim) are playing to a bunch of empty seats. In addition, Gary Bettman is in such a state of denial about the NHL's prospects in the United States that he's holding the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that would flourish in ANY Canadian city, hostage in the United States just to prove a point.

The pecking order right now, and I type this objectively as a rabid American hockey fan, is the following:

NFL
NASCAR
NCAA Sports (football, basketball)
MLB
NBA
NHL

The NHL is a league with roughly 20% American player participation. There's not a chance in hell of changing this pecking order.

Answer 3

its been like this for years when will hockey be big in the U.S.A. well they don't dominate the sports like American football and basketball. i would say baseball which use to be considered the American sport is losing there fans cause the best players in baseball today aren't American players. hockey has been in the U.S for over 100 years same as football (soccer) but they don't dominate this sports so there's no interest for this games. hockey and football (soccer) are low scoring sports but loved throughout the world but why doesn't Americans like them cause they just don't dominate. you look at basketball the scores are high 98 to 102, baseball 9-7, football if it was only 1 point per touchdown then the score can easily be 3 to 1 which would change to 19 to 6 this is without the field goals so see the game needs high scores which the 2 biggest sports in the world doesn't have and another thing hockey and football (soccer) also have a system to play which is called defence which is not big in the American sports. they want the high scores and they want to dominate which will never happen, so we just have to hope for are young kids in the NHL today, like Sidney Crosby, Eric Staal, Evgeni Malkin, Cam Ward and some others to just try and sell the sport cause if most of them just gave hockey a try and not give up the first time they fall from skating then hockey can be #1 sport in the U.S.

AwesomeBi...>>>>>> in the U.S.A its about the money not the love of the game, thats why theres 24 teams in the U.S cause they have money thats it.

Georgie Peorgie A.K.A Winni the poo>>>>>> its a Canadian game not american.

foleycat>>>> if it wasnt for the europeans being better then most american players they would only still have 21 teams in the NHL. back before europeans started to join the NHL it was like 95% canadians and 5% americans.




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

Answer 4

I really don't understand why americans don't like hockey as much. It's a fast game with a lot of hitting. Hockey is really big in the Northern US. New York, Philly, Detroit, Boston, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Buffalo, Chicago (a bit) they all support their teams and fill the arena. Also Colorado and Dallas have good fan support. Its the teams like Florida and Phoenix that aren't even close to capacity, and this is reflected on the teams they put on the ice.

Another reason it's not big is you cant just go and play the game, you need a stick and a puck, you cant just go in the back and throw a ball around.

I think the main reason is the lack of Americans in the game. Most of the NHL is Canadian or European with only a small minority of US hockey players. They need another occurance like 1980 to happen to bring interest in the game. Names like Crosby and Ovechin and Malkin are definetly helping the game though.

They need to get big name Americans into the sport, and get time on TV. Then they'll start to progress into bringing the NHL back to life.

Answer 5

As a resident of Atlanta, GEORGIA and a huge fan of the Thrashers, I say the NHL is indeed popular with Americans. Whenever I go to games, the stadium is never lacking in fans. For all those that say it is only popular with northerners, I believe you are mistaken. The Thrashers are an amazing team along with the Red Wings, Rangers, Penguins, etc. Who needs the obnoxious fans of football to drunkenly stagger over to our hockey arenas??? Why does it sound like so many of you are bitter over the fact that one sport has a larger fanbase than another? I say, support the sport you LOVE, and if you just so happen to be a fan of the amazing game of Hockey, then more power to ya ;)

Answer 6

I think that it already is.

A lot of Americans (United States) love hockey. I know it's hard where I am from because everywhere I go it's football. There are at least 15 "Pittsburgh Sports" stores within a 10 mile radius of where I sit right now and I would bet that 2 might have some hockey stuff.

Come on Pittsburgh get over the Super Bowl it isn't going to happen again for a long long time.

Oh and M-A- Double T, you are a freaking moron. Ok Ok hockey is Canada's game but lay off the Iraq and Americans are bullies bull sh*t. Just because you are a flaming homosexual and you couldn't fight in a war if you had to doesn't mean you can talk junk on Americans like that. His answer may have been stupid but yours was out of line. Go back to your hole you freak.

Answer 7

My theory on the lack of fan popularity in the US (also known as no network TV contract in the NHL offices) has to do with the exposure young people are not getting to the game.

If you look at Canada, Canadian kids grow up playing hockey. They learn at a young age and grow up involved with the game. Their heroes are NHL players, and their goal is to play for their favorite team when they are older. The same is true in the US, except the exposure is to basketball, baseball and football. In school, the Americans rally around the baseball, football and basketball teams, but only rarely do they even have a hockey team. You need to expose the kids to hockey at that age, or lose them to another sport.

Lack of arenas in the US is part of the equation, but so is the parents. The dad played little league, or football and he takes his kid out to the park to throw a ball around, just as Canadian fathers take their kids to the arena to learn to skate. Try taking your kid to learn to skate in say LA, and be ready to pay large amounts for bad ice (although at one shopping mall, the small ice rink is jammed with people skating at $8/half hour time).

Some US based teams are taking aim at the young people (college age) by having game day unsold tickets selling for $10-$15 a seat just to fill the seat. This is a great plan, as the will hook teens and early 20's who will be wage earners and parents and get involved with the team long term.

The NHL has a long road to get the average American interested in Hockey, and they need to start with the younger crowd!!

Answer 8

Unfortenetly, hockey will never be popular with the African-Americans or Latinos, that takes away a large portion of the population. Its a great sport but the flashy superstars like LeBron, Carmello, D-Wade, T.O., Chad Johnson and so on are more appealing to the majority of the american public then Ovechkin and Crosby. It's a shame because these guys could bring the excitement back in the game like it was in the 90s.

Answer 9

The NHL is popular in America alright, or did you not notice the franchises leaving the likes of Winnipeg and Quebec for US cities? But for it to become more popular, the league needs to be run better. For one, the lockout was a huge turn off. I still watch some hockey, but I'm not anywhere near as interested in it as I was before a whole season was canceled. They need to stop changing the rules every ; I mean, pick a crease size and stay with it. Also, it wouldn't hurt for the clubs to put some money into the communities...MLB teams build diamonds for underprivileged kids, but I don't see too much stuff like that with the NHL.

Answer 10

It already is... There are a few players from the states in the NHL.