Why do people say that hockey is dying, when attendance is rising?

Question

I think hockey is so much better than it was before the strike, yet people say Bettman has ruined the game. The funny thing is more people are paying to see the so called crap that Bettman has created. I think the only thing that the new NHL has hurt are the TV viewers. I think for a short term deal having hockey on versus makes sense right now since they are paying more than greedy ESPN, but in the long term the NHL will lose new fans.

Carolina has great attendance. People go to ECU and State just to play hockey. We just dont have a bunch of season ticket holders. We got more people that like to buy individual tickets. I think people need to get their head examined, because it appears people take stereotypes in this country to the extreme.

Canes will continue to beat the Habs in every playoff series. Sorry Bud.

Answer 1

it is hurting the avg. attendance in places like Carolina, Anaheim, San Jose, Phoenix, Florida, Columbus, Nashville and even the NY Islanders are way below average attendance and these are teams that don't deserve teams in the NHL. during the lookout that's when ESPN tore up there contract and with Versus was a terrible idea and most of American viewers can't even catch a game on TV and that really hurts this game. yes the NHL has made more money last year and that's why the salary cap went up this year from $38 to $44 million. Bettman has ruined this beautiful game if you know NHL in the late 80's and early 90's was doing better then the NBA and pretty close to MLB and then Bettman was sent by the NBA president to the NHL to become the first NHL Commissioner and boom right off the bat the NHL went straight to a strike and then that's when the game went down the tubes. then he brought in way to many teams in the NHL from 24 to 30 and that spread the talent to much. and then thats when the scoring went down from your average of about close to 10 players scoring 50 goals a season to maybe 2, then we went a few years without a 50 goals scorer. Gary Bettman is trying to sell the game which is a good thing but hes moving these teams in the wrong places only where the money is and he jumps on that city which is not good for hockey. allot of people will get mad at what im about to say mostly the Hurricanes fans but they know it and most of you that follow hockey well the NHL last year must of hurd that you could go buy playoff tickets in Carolina on game day, now you tell me if hockey has been sold to the Carolina people, and the answer is NO.


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

Answer 2

First it wasn't a strike it was a lockout that being said I move on.

The reason people say the sport is dying is because in pro sports the TV and AD revenue is everything. The money from the gate is just "icing on the cake". In the NFL for example the TV contract is so large that a team could go an entire season and NEVER sell a ticket and still make millions in profit because of the TV contract. With the VS network only being available in a few million homes the ratings which were low to begin with are even lower now. The all star game failed to even pull 500,000 viewers in the US. With regard to the games no longer being broadcast on ESPN they also no longer show NHL Tonight and if they do show highlights it is only for about 5 minutes per night on sportscenter and is never in depth analysis. I hope in the very near future an agreement can be reached to return the NHL to ESPN.

The other major issue is the scheduling. The league markets Crosby and Ovechkin but teams in the western conference (some of the teams that need the most help I might add) are only able to see these great players once every 3 years. And are playing the same team 8 times a year. For some fans that means the Coyotes 8 times, others its the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Answer 3

I have been a hockey fan since 1993. I remember the three events that made me a hockey fan for life. First, I am an Army kid with much family in New Jersey, specifically around Brendan Byrne Arena and I saw on SportsCenter a spot about the New Jersey whatevers, I was eight I did not care about the name, I enjoyed that and enjoyed that my parents let me stay up and watch games or give me notes about games or did not complain as I watched the magnificent Islanders/Penguins playoff series that year, and finally my Dad took me to a Kansas City Blades game for my birthday I was forever a fan. Now saying this, I have been a fan for a while and LOVE hockey. I feel that a lot of "older" fans feel the sport is dying becuase of several reasons. The lockout hurt, but the actions afterword hurt more. Versus is OK with me, a lot of the talent from ESPN plus new people came over, but the marketing schemes really insulted fans. It was as if we were being treated as Canadian bumkins with anger issues. I think Bettman's biggest mistake was not listening to the fans. Not throwing the fans a bone if you will. As for rule changes, I question people to remember the 80's (I try to be a bit of an historian) and the high scoring, people clamored for the old days of low scoring tight games when every team had a Hall of Famer between the pipes. Also, with overexpansion, things will even out, every sport that expands, especially quickly goes through this period. Most people are just angry that the game is changing, with little respect to the fans that supported it until this point. The game was going to change eventually, us fans just wish that there was a little more care for what we hold dear and sacred to the game.

Answer 4

If you followed hockey in the early days you would understand. I've been a die hard fan since i was 6 years old. However the new rules and to see that everything is a penalty it makes me wonder if I'm watching hockey or basketball. When a fight were to break out in the old days the refs would stand off to the side and let the men settle there differences. Now all you see is little cheap shots after the whistle just cheap garbage that don't belong in the game. The newest thing in the last 4 years that really gets to me is to see the players dive or fall on purpose to draw a penalty. That is not hockey what ever happened to pride all i see now are glorified actors with hockey sticks in there hands. They have also did there best in the NHL to stop the fighting. Now with that being said if anybody reads this they will agree when a fight does break out in hockey all the fans stand up to see it and they love it. I miss old time hockey when men were men.

Answer 5

Our commissioner is a buffoon who has no prior experience in hockey. A lot was resolved in the strike, but only at the cost of losing tons of fans during the lay off. Bettman is a tool of the owners, and hardly lends any support to the players or fans in return. For instance, instead of making clever market campaigns to increase fans he is instead trying to improve scoring by widening the nets. That's foolish - take away the skill involved in scoring, and it's just a wide open shootout. Already scoring is up, he has to stop what he is doing. Instead of trying to find easy solutions to make the game "more exciting" he should research marketing strategies with people who KNOW the game already. The All Star jerseys he so proudly presented this year are already getting feedback from fans that they are too tight. The Versus package cost the All Star game the lowest ratings in years. Attendance is up, but attendance alone doesn't make the game turn. There needs to be sales and television, and Gary Bettman will be the death of our beloved league. We have to remove this cancer.

Answer 6

The hockey is dying because the marketing of the NHL don't work. There are lot of problems and big mistakes about the strategy. Of course points are good, like the two lines pass, but for example why make the net more bigger? And like that question are a lot of more like why the NHL want to stop with the fights. The problem with the TV is something who can't happen, like the poor rating of the All Star game who is a joke. The answer to this question we can find in the commissioner.

Answer 7

"it is hurting the avg. attendance in places like Nashville are way below average attendance and these are teams that don't deserve teams in the NHL."

Nashville has more actual fans in the seats and is a louder arena than almost anywhere else in the NHL, especially among American teams. We get very low corporate support, as regular fans are about 80% of the ticket base as compared to a league average of just under 50%. These people are real hockey fans, and make the GEC one of the loudest places in the league. If we could get anywhere near average corporate support, we would sell out every night.

Furthermore, in the Nashville area, hockey is quite possibly the most popular youth sport of all. The youth leagues are very full, and if you walk around our neighborhoods, you will see more kids playing roller hockey than baseball, basketball, or football.

Don't talk about things you don't know. Nashville deserves a hockey team as much as anywhere else.

Answer 8

The people who say hockey is boring and hockey is not a sport don't know what the heck they are talking about. Hockey is one of the most popular sports in the northern states and canada, even europe its just hard to reach the southern fan because they have never skated on ice before, they just can't related to a sport like this.

Answer 9

Most people that dont like Hockey do not understand it. It's also much better in person then on TV. I must say Versus in HD and the games on HD Net TV in the states do a really good job. I think Hockey will be fine!

Answer 10

Where'd you get this idea that attendance is rising? The way Bettman counts the tickets are how many were bought/given away through promos. He doesn't even count the ones that actually went through the gates; those are the ones who are physically in their seats, watching the game.

And Bettman IS killing our game. All of these superstars he's trying to promote are in the Eastern Conference, but the west doesn't even see them. How's that marketing?