Hockey is no longer a major sport in the US

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
That lockout was a great idea.

I thought you hated organized labor.

[Drake Tungsten]

Organized labor hasn't been of much importance during my lifetime, which is probably why I have no strong feelings either way about it.

The same applies to hockey. And Canada.

[chequita guevara]

Take that Canada!

[MikeH]

Re: Hockey is no longer a major sport in the US

Originally posted by Ming
It seems like there is just a small select hardcore group of fans out there, and that's about it.

Canadians living in the US?

[Colonâ„¢]

I didn't realise football is considered to be a major sport in the US.

[Harry Tuttle]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
I didn't realise football is considered to be a major sport in the US.

American Football.

[Drake Tungsten]

100-0

[DanS]

OLN (hockey, TdF) isn't in the basic cable package for me. It's in digital cable, for which you have to pay extra. ESPN/2/N/C (softball) are all on basic cable.

Ming: What do soccer's ratings look like? What are the expectations for the World Cup on ABC/ESPN/ESPN 2?

[Sava]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
We'd actually really appreciate it if you guys stopped watching hockey altogether.

Just be sure to give us back the Jets and the Nordiques before you go.

Good. Then we can start our own professional league, let you Canadians have your own league. Then we can create a better league from scratch... do it right, and not worry about whiny Canadians messing things up.

BTW, all the great players are going to come to play in America... where the money is.

Let the NHL die.

You guys can have a CHL or equivalent... Calgary, Quebec, Montreal... yay

BTW, 4 of the original 6 teams were American.

The league is in decline because American fans aren't watching. The league is supported by the American dollar... all the European players come over to play because it's supposedly the best league. But if you guys want to let the league continue to decline, that's fine.

Someone will start a new one. America is the largest market. New York, Chicago, LA... sure, fan interest is down... but that's only because moronic leadership has been ruining the game for years.

Finally... what do we get? A lockout... And then new rules... which really didn't do much. And then the Stanley Cup Finals... Edmonton vs Carolina... No wonder nobody is watching.

NOBODY CARES!!!

Also, the games are on a ****ty network hardly anyone can get. That doesn't help either.

Bettman is a tool. He needs to go if the NHL is to be saved.


BTW, Canada isn't the problem, most of my ranting was just a troll.

But having hockey in places where nobody cares is a problem. The NHL needs to generate fan interest in the major markets. Also, the league is too watered down. I'd start by contracting teams:

Nashville, Columbus, Carolina, and either Tampa Bay or Florida.

Then, change the playoff format to 6 teams... one wild card round... a first round bye for the best team in each conference, perhaps. 3-5-5 format...

Also, get rid of rewarding a team for overtime losses. A loss is a loss. The standings should be ranked only by wins. That's what counts. Teams that consistently lose in overtime, like Edmonton, don't deserve to be ranked higher than other teams that might have more wins, but aren't lucky enough to have their losses not be in overtime. This year, we saw such a scenario occur.

The NHL would be wise to learn from other sports... like say... the NFL.

Maybe the playoff idea isn't practicle... I'm not sure. But something needs to be done... or else, the league is going to continue to fade into obscurity. If that happens, the top players aren't going to be coming to play here anymore. Especially the Europeans. They are going to stay in Europe.

And really... can you blame them?

Why leave just to come and play for a Columbus or a Nashville?

Or worse...


CALGARY

[Ming]

Yep... OLN is a second rate network. These numbers are a tad old (last year) but they put things in perspective. OLN can be viewed in only 61 million homes in the US. ESPN2 can be viewed in 88.1 million, while ESPN is pretty typical of a cable network at 89.3 million.

[Kontiki]

While I don't necessarily disagree with some of your "fixes" for the league, Sava, they aren't going to generate any interest in the game in the US. American's aren't ignoring the NHL because Edmonton had fewer wins than Vancouver but made the playoffs, they're ignoring it because they'd rather watch barely literate southerners drive a car around an oval 3000 times in the hope that someone might die in a firey crash.

[Sava]

Well, I think the number of homes where OLN is available is misleading. OLN is one of those weird networks that is part of most cable and satelite packages as a premium channel... at least it is for me. I have Dish Network and I can only get it if I subscribe to the America's Top 180, which is the most expensive package. Or else, I could try to get it individually, but that costs more than if it were part of a regular package. And I'm not about to do that just for NHL games.

Most basic cable packages don't contain OLN. So it's not really accurate to say it can be viewed in all those homes.

I even bought the NHL Center Ice package, but Dish Network wouldn't let me watch any of the games that were broadcast on OLN because they wanted me to buy the channel.

Which, btw, included pretty much all of the playoff games in the later rounds. So even if I wanted to watch some of the series' with Edmonton and Carolina (in the conference finals against their respective opponents), I couldn't.

The whole thing stinks. The NHL really screwed up with the deals they made. They made it hard for their fans to tune in.

[Drake Tungsten]

they'd rather watch barely literate southerners drive a car around an oval 3000 times in the hope that someone might die in a firey crash.

Your contempt is noted, but honestly, how's that any worse than watching barely literate Russkies/Canucks skating up and down a sheet of ice in the hope that some of them will fight?

[Sava]

Originally posted by Kontiki
While I don't necessarily disagree with some of your "fixes" for the league, Sava, they aren't going to generate any interest in the game in the US. American's aren't ignoring the NHL because Edmonton had fewer wins than Vancouver but made the playoffs, they're ignoring it because they'd rather watch barely literate southerners drive a car around an oval 3000 times in the hope that someone might die in a firey crash.

Well, it's important to seperate the major "fixes" from the minor ones.

Most people are intelligent enough to know which ones would be more significant to overall fan interest than others. But if you want to worry about the standings scoring system rather than the health of the franchises in the major markets... be my guest.

I'm not going to waste my time arguing with people who can't see such obvious differences. I'll say this once. I'm not going write an essay detailing how to fix the NHL. I'm just listing some complaints I have, in no particular order. Do I have to specify how each one is significant to "fixing" the league? Or are you intelligent enough to figure it out on your own?

[mactbone]

I remember the glitch in '93 where you could get the goalie stuck on the bottom net if you looped behind him. Hockey's a pretty fun creation - I wonder if people play it for real?