Could the NHL increase attendance by removing those bloody fights?

Question

If I'm a parent I do not want tohave to explain to my 6-year-old kid why grown men are fighting instead of playing hockey. Do you think NHL attendance could benefit from removing fights and marketing itself as a family-oriented sport like the NBA did?

Answer 1

I would feel bad for your sissy kid!

Good God, there is nothing more pathetic like sheltering people from reality.
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Answer 2

1st of all if you think fighting with fans in the stands and shootings every other week are family oriented I would hate to be part of your family. I have been a fan of hockey since I watched the USA beat the USSR in 1980. I love watching the game and the sport of it. I can deal with the fighting because is has been part of the NHL for a very long time. I could also do without the fighting. There is no fighting in Olympic Hockey, same players as the NHL. Why you ask, because the players would get suspended or removed from the team. The game would be just as good to me without the fighting. As for the rest of the fans, I'm sure you would lose a few fans but you would also gain a few. I think it would be a "Push".

Answer 3

Again, another sad statement. The NBA, family oriented, uhhhhh, yeah, right. There is more violence, in the crowd, and parking lots at an NBA game, than there is on the ice. Let alone, people like Carmello Anthony, that slap a player in a crowd, then run away to hide behind his coaches. Fighting is, and should always be a part of the game. The reason it has dropped so much, is mainly the smaller rosters teams can have now, thats how the league has decreased it. without eliminating it. the instigator rule,, as far as I know, has never been used, because you need 3 in a season, to get suspended, and it just doesnt happen. Now, the tool who said that fighting is the only reason the game is watched south of the Canadian border, you are a knob. Just because Canada, has lost 2 teams, to the fact they cant afford to keep them, is not the fault of the USA. I still believe that hockey is Canadas game, but now they only have 6 teams, to appreciate. The one who started this question, you might as well let your kid watch the fights, because if you want to keep babying him, he is going to see alot of them in life. Its will just be from the losing end.

Answer 4

I have been a fan of The Montreal Canadiens since the early sixties, when I first watched hockey. Fights have always been part of the game , and will continue to be part of the game. In a sport such as this, the action and fast pace along with the hard-hitting body checks, it is expected that tempers will flare on occasion, often resulting in a fight. Although the Big Bad Bruins, the Broad Street Bullies, and the games between the Montreal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordic had more than their share of fights, the only ones complaining were either sports writers or coaches that couldn't compete on the same level. Even today, when a fight does erupt, the reaction is the same as it always has been, the crowd is on it's feet, yelling for more. To sum it up, hockey fights are exiting to watch, pointe finale!

Answer 5

I used to hate the fights in hockey, but after some players explained to me what that was all about, I guess I understand. Personally, I think the violence EVERYWHERE (hockey, basketball, football, movies, etc.) is appalling. But, the "enforcer" in hockey does have a role in the game. If you didn't have a guy such as Parros on the Ducks team, then guys like Selanne and McDonald would be beaten up and probably injured most of the time. Put the tough guy on the ice to send a message. You mess with our stars, we're not gonna take it lightly.

As far as attendance goes, hockey only gets a small part of its money from attendance. Its the merchandising and advertising that brings in the bucks. Hockey is the worst marketed sport EVUH!!! Hockey needs to be marketed to Americans. Sorry, to all the Canadians, but you don't need to be convinced to watch hockey. You are born with a hockey gene. Americans like pretty faces and good personalities. I think they have done a little better by showing Sid the Kid and Ovechkin, but those commercials are only on hockey channels.

And the guys on TSN and Versus just plain SUCK!!!

Answer 6

The NHL doesn't want to be the NBA, and any true hockey fan wouldn't ever want that either. Fighting is a part of the game, and it should be. Fights can change the entire momentum of a hockey game, and that is great! Its cheap hits and sucker punches that need to leave, but not fighting as a whole. I would considered hockey players among the most professional of pro-athletes as a whole. Those guys show a lot of class.

I just wish people would stop trying to change our game. The NHL will most likely never have the market size of NBA, but we will always have a better game.

Answer 7

hockey isnt about fighting..fighting is just a side effect of grown men playing a game that they get paid a hell of alot to play. The game gets so intense that occasionally a fight breaks out....fighting was first allowed for that very reason ..back in the league before the 69-70 expansion especially the players got bonuses for the further they made it in the play offs. im sure they still do .but the size of the bonus compared to the regular salary back then made it a hell of a big deal..worth fighting for. now a days players are paid way too much. the bonuses amount to what they pay to heat their indoor pool for a month....hockey is the fastest game people play without the aid of a machine...they shoot a puck close to a hundred miles an hour..they slide around on two steel blades risking life and limb...so yes....they sometimes get angry when b.s. happens..and they fight...explain to your child that some things are worth fighting for....they punch each other a few times....and sometimes someone bleeds....that happens in the schoolyard too....do we not allow recess because of horseplay?...back to reality yall....ive been watching hockey for 35 years....ive only seen the players go after the fans once or twice maybe.......can the nba make the same claim?..nope.

Answer 8

Maybe... I know some people, who are curious about hockey but who have kids and won't consider taking them to a hockey game. Personally, I am usually bored by the fighting... a lot of sliding and grappling and missed punches, a cartoon of Popeye is much more violent.
(I'll get a lot of negative flags for that, I'm sure)

All sports (except baseball) has some element of violence in them. The only problem with fighting in the NHL is that it interrupts the game and that interruption is sanctioned. There is a argument that the "fighting" looks chaotic and wrongly gives the NHL the impression that it is part sport and part WWF. The league is very concerned of this impression turning off prospective fans (prospective fans means more money and more money means teams can afford their rosters)... for that reason the league HAS to consider banning (or lessening) fights. The league has to make a decision: do they want the NHL to be a cult in the USA? or do they want it to be expected as a serious and a major sport in the USA?

Personally, I am indifferent to fighting... I like some of them and I am indifferent to most of them. I could take them or leave them. I'll always love hockey, its the greatest sport ever.

My only problem with the NHL is the ticket prices. If banning fights would generate more fans which would lead to more television contracts in America thus decreasing season ticket prices.... then yeah, I'm all for it. But only then.

Answer 9

Just wondering how you would explain to your child the incident between Latrell Sprewell and PJ Carlesimo? An NBA player tries to STRANGLE his coach and then, when threatened with legal action, threatens to sue....everyone, when threatened with suspension, starts complaining about his rights? Family Oriented? Since when? On what planet?

I'm not saying that there haven't been incidents. And I'm NOT including Marty's stick to the head of St. Donald of the Washing Machine (send me an e-mail if you want the whole story on that one). But, for the most part, fighting in the NHL isn't just random violence. It DOES serve a purpose.

Learn more of the wonderful history of the game. Educate your child. We need all the die hard fans we can get.

Answer 10

I'm going to have to agree with almost everyone on here that answered, I think the fights are one of the best things of the NHL and for some people (not all) it's one of the reasons why people still go to hockey games.

Answer 11

Personally I think the fighting is down in the NHL based on years prior. Teams are needing to roll with 3-4 lines of offenese to keep up with the likes of Buffalo, but Buffalo does have a few players ready to drop the gloves and go a couple of rounds just as Ottawa.