how come know one talks about hockey?

Question

i mean shows like around the horn, PTI, cold pizza, 1st and 10, mike and mike in the morning, they never talk about how crosby is leading the lead, peter forsberg being traded, whos the favorite to win the cup, things like this. they talk about everything else but hockey even britney spears shaving her head. is this because they dont like hockey, hockey isnt a big enough sport, the lockout year changed alot of things whats the reaseon? thx all replies acceptable

Answer 1

I agree not a lot of people talk about hockey but i think that there may be 2 reasons for that i don't know but i think part of it is it's not that popular compared to other sports

But face it a lot gave up on hockey after that nhl lockout it was so stupid and that hurt it quite a bit lots not just gave up on it but when it did come back a lot didn't come back with it

They got fed up with the stupidity of it all


So did i I mean i liked hockey wasn't my favourite sport but i didn't mind watching it but after that nhl thing i just never went back to it that was beyond stupidity

Answer 2

the casual sports fan mainly watched hockey because there was a chance of seeing Wayne Gretzky doing something AMAZING. But once he was traded for around the league and finally retiring, there was no one to really fill his shoes (to the casual sports fan).

then the lock-out happened and people just kind of forgot about hockey all together. The US is addicted to football, baseball, and prep-sports, there just isn't any room for hockey to grow in today's market.

Gary Bettman also gave the television contract to OLN (now Versus), which isn't carried by all Cable and Sattelite providers, instead of ESPN. ESPN felt dissed about this, so the only time they ever talk about hockey is on Sportscenter for about 45 seconds late in the show (generally within the last 15 minutes). Their mentality is basically "you f'ed with us? we'll F with you...".

Now NBC shows the occasional "Game of the Week" but the games are generally sleepers. Casual fans watch hockey for hard hits and fights. For much the same reason casual fans watch NASCAR; for the crashes. Think about it... all that NASCAR can offer is souped-up cars "making another left turn!" and yet, it's receiving better ratings then NHL.

How does the NHL fix this? Give a major network a better contract, redo the schedule-every team plays every other team atleast twice a year, 3 games per team in the conference, and 5 games per team in the division (or however you'd divvy it up for 82 games). Drop the instigator rule, narrow down the number of refs.

There are plenty of other things they can do as well, but this is getting a little wordy, so I'll leave it with this. The NHL front office needs to wake up and realize they're killing the sport, and unless they do something fast they're going to end up with a "steroid/sleepy basketball" dilemma of their own.

Answer 3

In my opinion the biggest reason is if you notice all of those shows are all on ESPN. Now that ESPN no longer has a television contract they give little to no coverage to the sport outside of the 30 second clips on sportscenter. This is why losing the TV contract with ESPN was so devastating not only are the games seen by fewer people on the bicycle network but outside of NHL Center Ice and websites there is no real way to see extensive hockey coverage from around the league. No NHL Tonight, no more than 30 seconds of NHL during sportscenter and unless its a scandal or MAYBE game 7 of playoff round the PTI, Around the Horn, First and 10s of the world treat it like a contagious disease because the network no longer gives a damn.

Answer 4

Hockey is about power, speed, and grace. the thing about hockey is that americans cant relate to it because they dont think it is our sport. world cup hockey 96 proves it is an american sport. Nationalism can be a problem. it is sad that britney's bald head gets more props then the athletes of the nhl.
I personally think the game is to fast for most people in this country. Like soccer.

Answer 5

It all has to do with contracts. The NHL did not sign a contract with ESPN to air games. Just about everyone has ESPN. If ESPN had the hockey contract they would air games and talk about it. But since Bettman decide to give the contract for Versus for more money, a channel which very few have, interest in the sport has dropped. Since ESPN does not air it, they do not care about it. They are kind of saying "You don;t need us we don't need you." Childish but when the NHL goes down the toilet in the next few years Bettman will beg ESPN to start covering it and give them the contract. Then the sport will pick up again and ESPN will talk about it.

Answer 6

Considered a niche sport; those of us who love it don't understand but the reality is that the sport can't keep a major national network; can't break out of ratings slump no matter what silly gimmicks (glowing puck anyone?) When a ladies softball game on espn beats the ratings for a Stanley Cup final game on nationwide television, you know you got problems.

Considering that American Football is lacking in creativity, Baseball is like watching the grass grow, and Hoops is nothing but a bunch of fouls and timeouts, it is odd how sports that involve imagination and creativity and great action/speed are neglected; but there it is.

Answer 7

Bettman and lack of exposure. I mean the All-Star game on a Wednesday night?? What the hell is Bettman thinking. A cooking show for god sake had higher ratings. And like others have said, not many people get Versus, and that is what channel 99% of the games are shown on. It's just lack of common sense and because Bettman is a complete buttplug.

Answer 8

because the commissioner (gary bettman) has ruined the NHL. since he became the boss the league has gone down hill, he because commissioner after working under david stern david recommended him to be the commish of the NHL because he knew gary was an idiot, the NHL was competing for ratings with the NBA, not anymore. less and less people are interested hockey. his latest great idea was moving the all-star game to the Versus channel. it's ratings were about a hundred times less than the year before. there is never hockey games on network TV anymore. it seems to only be getting worse.

Answer 9

well, when the lock-out occured the nhl lost espn's contract as well as alot of fair weather fans. i think its the most noble of any sport, but's its unpopularity began with the bettman era. not to mention it IS a regional sport. if it was more accepted by a wider group of ethnicity, it would get more attention. in closing, theres only been one japanese person to ever play in goal in the nhl and he started this year for the kings. basketball can be played almost everywhere! it is a racial sport. ask chris rock. its a combination of these factors.

Answer 10

i just think it's stupid. it's cause hockey isn't a big enough sport. it's not on any major network...like espn. it's on versus..which i have never heard of until this year...in canada it's huge and getting bigger..but in the usa..it's small and getting smaller..it's a shame..it's such a great sport