Are they trying to make changes to the NHL at all?

Question

Like trying to find more ways to make it a big sport again and like making it so that people can watch it on tv without having to pay.

Answer 1

Yea first I would fire Bettman because he has made too many bad decisions for the game. I like how he is making it more offensive but it obviously hasnt helped any. I think the NHL screwed themself when they left ESPN. I mean half the people I know dont even know what the VERSUS channel even is. I think they also need to run more commercials on TV to help people realize that hockey is still a great game. I like how they brought in the shootout and got rid of the two-line pass. Just give it some time the NHL will turn it around. However another lockout is the worse possible thing that could happen. The lockout really hurt the diehard fans of the NHL.

Answer 2

I agree about Gary Bettman, the commissioner. The guy is an empty suit. A lightweight. He should have been fired years ago. Both lockouts were his idea and the owners went along with it.

Bettman was a deputy commissioner under David Stern with the NBA before the NHL came-a-callin'. The NHL owners had hoped Bettman would bring some of the NBA magic with him. It hasn't happened.

During the lockout season; nobody cared there wasn't any NHL hockey; other than for hard core hockey fans of course. But for the average sports fan, there was no mad reaction to there being no NHL hockey.

Some of the post-lockout rules changes have helped to speed up the game and I really like it that there are no more tie games since the shootout was instituted last season.

The NHL needs a new television deal, desperately. Right now with the exception of a few games being put on NBC nationwide; each team has to fend for itself with regional cable television and radio contracts.

The NHL's real problem is that attending a game has long since become much the corporate perk. The average price of an NHL ticket these days is in the $75 range for a fair to decent seat. Some teams charge upwards of $150-$200 for front row seats. It's gotten so ridiculously expensive that the average family of four has simply been priced out of attending the games. Even a nosebleed seat in most arenas costs around the $15 to $25 range.

The reason for the sky high ticket prices again has to do with the lack of television revenue. Therefore, each team has to rely on gate receipts for the bulk of its revenue. NHL teams do have corporate sponsors, oftentimes control the arena signage, revenue from private suite rentals, and other minor streams of revenue. But the lion's share of an NHL team's income comes from single-game ticket sales and season ticket sales.

But to answeryour question, "Are they trying to make changes to the NHL at all?" Well, the NHL like any sport is always changing. Always trying to keep up with the times. It's just that the NHL has been on the bottom rung of the ladder for so long; it's going to take a lot more than they're doing now to pull themselves up. Though no one in an official capacity wants to go on record to confirm this, it's pretty well known that the lockout nearly bankrupted the league. While the fans have come back; they're not back as strong as they were in some cities. Take St. Louis for example. What was once a great hockey town; the Blues barely draw 9,000 fans a game these days at home.

Answer 3

The NHL seems to have the wrong state of mind when it comes to improving the game.

If American sports have taught us anything, the game itself has almost nothing to do with its popularity because most people who watch sports don't really 'Watch' it.

Changes in the game to increase scoring and make sure a game always has a resolution is a reasonable change, though some people disagree with messing with the purity of the game, but these things will not actually increase viewership.

Selling sports in the US is about the Pre-Game show, the player's personalities and the in-Game analysis.

Canadians don't see what's wrong with it because Canadians understand it, we can follow the puck, we know the positions, know the flow of the game can appreciate more subtleties, doesn't have to be explained to us.

But Americans Love explaination, over and over from 8 different guys and 20 different angles, they like speculation on things that might happen and they like to be told what to look for ahead of time.

A lot of changes to Hockey have been designed to increase the pace and speed of the game, but if we looks at Baseball and Football, these games have terrible pace, they stop constantly and announcers use that time to explain the game to everyone, tell people statistics and trivia and predict what will happen next.
People know you only need to watch when there's people on base or if the right batter is up or it your team is on the 20 yard line. There's a build-up to scoring and a suspense before it.

People know the players, their stats, they know who's on the field and when and what to expect.

In hockey they don't know, things happen by suprise and it takes time to get used to following the play, and you can't just be told 'ok watch this part'

The real improvement in the game will come not from the game itself, but in the broadcasting of it and in-game commentary and presentation and that will come as people come up with new graphics and ways to present things that keep people interested.

NBC has added the Shift Clock, so you know when Crosby, or Ovechkin or someone is on the ice, a little clock appears counting the time of their shift.
More time is being spent associating player's name with their numbers since it it probably the most difficult sport to identify individual players by sight and position.
Some channels are now shifting to a 'Power Play Camera' View, actually changing the angle so you can see out from the goal during a power play, emphasizing that 'This is the time something is most likely to occur'
Emphasis is now placed on other stats that people didn't used to track..Hits, Faceoff wins, Time of Possesion, Total Shift Time etc..
And some of the commentary on American stations are now beginning to show more replays with the intent of explaining player positioning and what types of plays there are.

When watching something like SportsCentre, Its usually fairly obvious what the best Highlights are...in baseball its 1) Someone running and catching a ball while diving or 2) A guy swinging a bat and the the ball goes far... exciting, huh?
In Football its Either a Good run, A good Catch or a Good hit. certainly better than baseball.. and in Basketball it's either a Dunk, No Look pass or a Half court buzzer beating shot.

In Hockey there's a lot more you could show, they happen at higher speeds and always look more intricate. You can show amazing shots, a player going by every defender, Hits, Saves, Fights, shoot-outs etc.. The play is a lot more open and faster than other sports, and makes for excellent highlights, you've just got to get people to care about the context.

The reason Soccer will never catch on in North America is because the highlights look slow, stupid, boring and unimpressive. A guy kicks a ball into a net 90 feet wide... so what?

In Conclussion, the sport itself is perfectly fine, They need to focus on the Marketing of the sport to add context and education to the game. That's what the US audience responds to.

Answer 4

Best way to get the NHL back on track is to FIRE BETTMAN! ESPN will pick it back up in the US and attendance will come up again. Players will play because they want to and not try to hang on a few more years hoping to make more money under a flawed CBA that hurts the NHL and the players.

Answer 5

They keep trying to tweak the game to make it more exciting, higher scoring, the are talking about making nets bigger, but are worried that it will effect past records being broken because of it.

Answer 6

Yeah, unfortunately they are trying some bad ideas to bring the game to people who don't like it the way it is. Against some of this stuff, I have to tell you.

Answer 7

i think you will get changes after this season like the schedule for one.