You want to know why hockey is Dying?

Question

Its really not. I cant understand why most of the NHL arenas get filled to capacity everynight but the then Neilson ratings say no one is watching. To me its bull. Neilson still does there ratings the same way they did in the 50's. I believe its inaccurate. Then the negative press comes in. All the freakin time cause they look at the ratings and say oh no one cares. theres millions of americans that do. I havent watched ESPN since they stopped NHL games. Why? Because Mostly everything else is boring except for the occasional football or baseball game. Thye hardly show hockey on sportscenter, and no offense to Canadians but Barry Melrose should go to TSN. Hes not appealing to Americans and if the Sport needs to be done right, start with the little things. Get rid of Melrose and his mullet. Anyways, Another reason is the Marketing job the NHL has done. Horrible. I anm the most dedicated NHL Fan but I still dont know when games are on national TV. Why dont they advertise on myspace?

Answer 1

To rebut the first post…
LOL… The Lockout only made people show up more when hockey started back up. It’s a proven fact by the ticket sales and season ticket holders increased in the majority of the cities…. The violence? Oh, did I enter a soccer game in the UK or Mexico… Oh wait.. That’s only the fans… Diversity? DUH.. Most of the players are FOREIGN BORN. Russia, Finland, Sweden, Canada, USA, Germany. Oh.. You are talking about people of other colour, how racist…… There are Mexicans, blacks, whites, even Koreans and Japanese.. Hmmmm.. The NBA can’t state such facts… It is a FACT that the NHL has MORE DIVERSITY than most other sports.

The NHL needs to take a look at what the Dallas area did to increase hockey awareness. Where there was nothing, the Stars created a mass marketing campaign of meet and greets along with autograph sessions. Getting to the local school systems and incorporating hockey programs. In 92 there wasn’t one player in High School playing hockey, now there are over 10,000 students JUST in the schools. This doesn’t count the other organizations out of schools.

The owner of the Stars even bought a TV Station for local access and increased the publicity. Created a AAA team in Dallas.

300 million people in the USA –VS- 37 million in Canada… If 13% of the USA watches a hockey game then that means more people watch hockey in the USA than the entire population of Canada.

I really don’t care if more people watch the NHL in the USA. It is popular with the real fans that love the game…..

Answer 2

Hockey is alleged to be a hard sport to capture on TV. I think this will change with the bigger, wider screens coming out. I know when I got a bigger screen I was able to follow the line changes better - often recognizing them before the play-by-play guy mentioned them.

Also some people, mostly in the south, are resistant to the sport because they are unfamiliar with the rules.

But help is on the horizon, there are now more professional hockey teams in the state of Texas than there are in Canada. And they are being financially supported - it won't be long before the kids following their local clubs will become NHL fans. I'm sure this is true of other southern state, too. Texas just has more teams because it's big.

ESPN dropped hockey because it's cheaper to film and show poker - which was growing in popularity at the time. When TV rating start going up in 10 years or so - BOOM - hockey will explode in popularity and lots of stations will start carrying it.

I believe.

Answer 3

I think HOCKEY is one of the greatest TEAM sports ever.One person doesn't carry a team like (basketball,football,baseball etc..)it's entire team effort to get that goal.I do think the venue issue should be looked at. A "SOUTHERN MAN" does not grow up playing Hockey in the park or back yard.The skills are also a factor no one is born with the ability to do the things needed to be done with what amounts to knife blade on their feet and on a sheet of ice.Every one has the ability to RUN, JUMP,and THROW. Most southern sports fans have never even seen snow or ice until they're grown and just can't comprehend what is going on out there.I don't think it's dieing but I do think the NHL had better look at why there are TWO teams in Florida, one in Nevada,Three in California, One in Texas, but none in Wisconsin ,Nebraska ,Washington St. ETC..Put the teams where the fan base is the strongest and the revenue will follow.

Answer 4

I love the game of hockey. I played it when I was younger and I appreciate the strategy of the game. However, I think the problem is more of an out of sight, out of mind problem. The NHL's decision to choose the outdoor network (or whatever backwards network that nobody gets) to be the primary conduit for their games was probably the worst decision in sports marketing history. The NHL was struggling for viewership when it was on major networks...it's not going to get any better when you switch to one that many people don't even get.

Also, I think some of the earlier responses hi light why the game isn't popular in the U.S. People that grew up playing hockey love watching it because they appreciate the game and understand it. The conception that there is too much violence in hockey is ridiculous. Yes, there is fighting...big deal. It's part of the game. Unless people understand why the coach is sending a certain line out or why they are pulling the goal tender, they are likely to just change the channel because they don't understand why they are walking.

Regarding your comment about the arenas being full, I don't think this translates into mass popularity. Hockey is a spectacular spectator sport in person. My father and best friends don't know the first thing about hockey, but they absolutely love going to games with me. You probably couldn't pay them to watch one on TV, but get a few beers in them at the arena and they will be screaming their lungs out. The arenas are packed full of these casual fans as well as the core number of hardcore fans. Think about it, most arenas only hold about 50K people. This constitutes such a small percentage of the population in most major metropolitan areas and is not nearly enough people to carry the amount of ratings that are necessary to justify time on networks. When ESPN lowballed its offer to the NHL it did so because re-runs of poker were beating live NHL games...seriously.

I think it's unfortunate that it has come to this point with hockey, but I think the sport is moving in the right direction. With some of the changes they have made, they simply need to start getting some more national exposure in order to become popular. I mean really, I don't think anyone would argue that golf is more fun to watch than hockey yet golf is on national television every weekend for one reason...it has a national following.

Answer 5

The comments of hockey dying is a good example how the American sports fan thinks that everything they like is the only thing worth watching. It is flawed logic that if no ratings are low then nobody likes it. Certainly there are less people watching hockey than basketball across the U.S. However, what do the ratings look like in Houston compared to Minneapolis or Detroit?

This is what annoys me the most. The idea that because Americans don't watch hockey means that hockey is not worth watching and there for not a real sport. This is ethnocentric to the max.

Answer 6

I still think Hockey is the best sport out of all the majors... Baseball (slow, drawn out and boring), Football (tedious, repetitive and boring), Basketball (up and down, back and forth, boring), golf (yawn), Soccer (1-0 after 90 minutes of boredom...boring),( Nascar(Round and round in circles...boring).

Have I called enough sports down and said boring enough times? :)

Well I grew up with Hockey and it's spoiled me for all the other sports which can't hold a candle to the action of hockey... especially playoff hockey. That being said the lockout was a major downer for the sport and I'm not surprised at all that so many fans walked away from the sport and it's greed in disgust.

All the teams and players in all sports are out to make a buck.. it's a capitalistic system and that's just a fact. It's all about putting a product on the field/ice/pitch/track/course etc that appeals to enough people to get them excited and interested enough to part them from their hard earned money... it's only when you see the open squabbling and vulture-like fights over who gets which sized piece of the money pie that fans of the various sports shell out that it becomes so off-putting that fans start to walk away.

The NHL needs to get the game back on network TV so people can see the action and the "sport" of the game and realize that there is more to the game than money.. unfortunately fewer of the players or owners feel that way any more and the game has suffered because of it. I am myself a more casual fan of the game than I used to be. I know all the rules and history of the game as I've watched and grown up with the game for close to 30 years but even as a long time fan I'm less enthusiastic about the game than I used to be in the 80's and 90's.

I doubt hockey will ever be as popular and have a fan base as deep and passionate at the same level it used to have years ago... but I will always be a fan of the game even if the best
years in the sport are likely behind us.

Answer 7

I agree. The NHL players continue to put a good product on the ice even if the NHL front office continues to try and screw things up. As far as the players go, they go out here every night and try. you don't here them say things like "I only play when I want to", to the best of my knowledge, there has been no steroid scandal to have hit, no one is taking it easy until the last part of the season when the playoffs start and finally no big league hockey player is running off to make a recording album rather than playing his chosen sport. There are no superstars that have locker room space for their "posse" either. The NHL has it's problems, but the character of it's players--WITH MINOR EXCEPTION--Mr. Bertuzzi--is not one of them. The Commish is screwing things up though. And some of the owners have been less than desirable.

Answer 8

hockeys ratings have always been lower than that of other sports, a big factor in this is geography. yes there may be nhl teams in places such as florida, texas, arizona, and so on, but the concentration of hockey fans are only in a few regions, such as the midwest, the northeast, and the northwest. the people that grow up in these areas, also grew up with hockey. and like a few answered peviously, many people dont understand the game itself, they like the checking and the fights, but could care less about the rules and such........i never really thought of hockey as being less popular than other sports simply because i grew up in the Upper peninsula of michigan were hockey is second nature to just about every body here.......a good way to see the concentration of fans is by looking at college hockey, mainly division 1, where are all the teams located, well most are in the midwest and northeast, also where are the majoraty of mite through midget leagues located, i'm sure i dont have to tell you by now.

Answer 9

Some valid points. A sports bar packed with people watching a game doesn't figure into the old rating system. Nor do viewers under 21.
For those who watch the game, they will never stop being fans. The game is so full of action.
The NHL's biggest issue is a smurf named Bettman running it. He can't even skate. What kind of a commissioner is that?

Answer 10

i have to agree... i mean hockey isnt as popular as it has been but it still has a large fanbase. I know that i love watching it. and the occasional fights make the games just that more entertaining. and lack of diversity???? so then why isnt basketball on the decline or golf or tennis? lol to say that hockey is the only sport lacking diversity is crazy.