My Theory
Why the ratings suck for the NHL...
The NHL has not lost fans by any means, but they haven't been able to gain more.
It is all about marketing. The NHL has the worst marketing skills of any sport. How many times do you see MLB, NFL, Nascar, NBA, even now MLS/FIFA promotions on TV? All the time. I never see NHL ones. You rarely see NHL players in advertisement. You're telling me you can market a guy driving in a circle for 10 hours, but you can't market hockey?
Now, it seems kids don't want to sit down with their dad and watch a NHL game, but rather college hoops, or a baseball game. Every little kid plays baseball and basketball, which is why the revenue is so good, but a lot of kids don't play football, but love to watch it. So hockey should be in the same boat.
The NHL needs to find a way to make hockey marketable. It isn't that the game now sucks or that no one cares about hockey, it is just that when I watch TV and see all these promotions for other sports, I forget about the NHL. And Versus is not helping either. Put the ESPN game once a week like 5 years ago and some NBC game. Versus is a joke. The NHL needs to market. People want to see huge hits and fights. Hockey is an exciting sport. Ovechkin and Crosby are more marketable than any sports figure, so use that to your advantage.
Hockey has not become forgotten, but if the NHL can't gain younger fans, it will be.
The NHL has not lost fans by any means, but they haven't been able to gain more.
It is all about marketing. The NHL has the worst marketing skills of any sport. How many times do you see MLB, NFL, Nascar, NBA, even now MLS/FIFA promotions on TV? All the time. I never see NHL ones. You rarely see NHL players in advertisement. You're telling me you can market a guy driving in a circle for 10 hours, but you can't market hockey?
Now, it seems kids don't want to sit down with their dad and watch a NHL game, but rather college hoops, or a baseball game. Every little kid plays baseball and basketball, which is why the revenue is so good, but a lot of kids don't play football, but love to watch it. So hockey should be in the same boat.
The NHL needs to find a way to make hockey marketable. It isn't that the game now sucks or that no one cares about hockey, it is just that when I watch TV and see all these promotions for other sports, I forget about the NHL. And Versus is not helping either. Put the ESPN game once a week like 5 years ago and some NBC game. Versus is a joke. The NHL needs to market. People want to see huge hits and fights. Hockey is an exciting sport. Ovechkin and Crosby are more marketable than any sports figure, so use that to your advantage.
Hockey has not become forgotten, but if the NHL can't gain younger fans, it will be.
posted by Matt at 10:53 AM
3 Comments:
Only in America. Americans watch more paintball than they do hockey. In Canada we give a ton of coverage to the NHL. A good example of this is on Sunday July 1st (Canada Day) TSN (our version of ESPN) is showing a 6 hour show starting at 11am covering all the free agent signings. ESPN would never give any kind of attention towards the NHL free agent frenzy. Which is too bad because I know, like yourself Matt, there are a lot of big NHL fans in the States.
See, that's what I mean. In America, I would KILL to watch that TSN show. If the NHL was smart, they would have their own station like football does. The NHL network and show shows like that. Unlucky for me, I am hitting F5 on the computer on TSN.ca and typing away on this blog.
OMG, I'd kill to be able to see TSN in the states. Anyway, a certain WEEI visitor who used to be on local Tv and loves the ponies, suggested the removal of helmets, so people can see the players. Why not? Gordie Howe never wore a helmet. The Rocket never wore one, nor did Orr, Espo, Bobby Clarke and so on.
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