Posted by Gayle Simone, Sun Staff
After reading all the comments added to Teddy's post, I had to change what I was going to write and by the way Teddy, my foot still hurts, LOL.
OK, first of all Bettman is not the only problem, what most people forget is there is a Board of Governors that vote on every change that happens in the NHL.
But, anyway, the problem with the NHL is not the game itself, it truly is the worst marketable sport for TV and the only reason for it is the speed.
Whenever I talk to anyone about hockey they say, "I love watching the game live in person, but I can't follow it on TV."
And even though I watch every game I can on TV, I agree. Even when the games were televised on ESPN the cameras could not follow the puck and the action of the game and even when they could they always seem to switch to the worst camera angle at the wrong time.
Most of the time fans were denied seeing the big hit or the great poke check because the camera was somewhere else. There were many occassions I've even seen them miss the great pass that led to a goal - very frustrating. And the casual fan can not handle that.
Networks tried to fix it by adding streaking colors to follow the puck and that was just plain and simply annoying.
The only good thing about ESPN covering the NHL was NHL Tonight, I still have the theme as a ring tone on my phone.
In keeping with dboisver comments on Teddy's post ... I agree the NHL could drop eight teams and the league would be better for it. I'd start with Atlanta, Columbus, Carolina, Florida, Nashville, Phoenix, Tampa Bay and LA.
As far as attendance goes, I can only speak for the hockey fans I know in and around New England.
The problem with the Bruins is the owners - they were not putting the product on the ice to compete at the level of some of the other teams and that caused a drop in attendance. They made a step in the right direction by firing MOC and hiring Peter Chiarelli and then signing Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard on the first day of free agency.
New England has the most fair weather - band wagon fans and please try and disagree.
When the Patriots weren't winning - prior to Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcels - the stadium was constantly not sold out and more than half of the home games weren't even televised. Once the team put a good product on the field people started buying tickets and low and behold they have a tremendous fan base. I would like to see what would happen if the team started dropping games left and right.
The Bruins owned the city of Boston in the 70s, 80s, all the way up into the early 90s and then they just weren't winning - so people stopped paying attention - it's funny how since the Patriots have won 3 Super Bowls they all of a sudden have the most news coverage but prior to the drafting of Bledsoe they weren't even on the map, much like the Bruins and Celtics now.
Time for you guys to tell me what you think about my thoughts...
Comments (3)
The NHL needs to make sure the majority of its games are broadcast in HD! When I watch the B's on the NESN HD channel it's amazing how much easier it is to follow the puck than on standard cable. I think this would make more "TV fans" of the game.
They *are* trying. Having the refs mic'ed so that you can hear the penalty calls at home is a step in the right direction.
The problem I have with the NHL is it seems they are making the most "to-do" about these new "Edge" uniforms that some guys in MIT found to create 9% less drag or something like that.
FIX the sport first- then worry about the unis.
I agree to most of your contraction candidates although I don't think Carolina belongs with those others- they have a pretty good fan base built up now. Would it survive the Canes' tanking for a year or two or would the fans go back to basketball? Who knows but at least they've proven they can support a good team. Nashville also seems to have some solid fan support. The NHL should have NEVER allowed a team to leave Winnipeg (where else can you get 10,000+ people to all wear white shirts in support of their team) and the NorthStars never should have left Minn.
Posted by dboisver | January 26, 2007 9:31 AM
Posted on January 26, 2007 09:31
The problem with HD and I agree the game is so much better on TV when you watch it in HD, is that not everyone owns a High Def TV so that is only helping part of the fan base...
The reason why I added Carolina to that list is because up until they won the Cup they didn't have the fan base and if they started to lose I don't think they would continue to support their team.
Posted by Lady Bruins Fan | January 26, 2007 10:38 AM
Posted on January 26, 2007 10:38
Gayle, that's what happens when 230 pounds step on your toes!
As for how to fix hockey...boy, that's a complicated discussion. You can't reverse decades of imcompetence overnight. It's going to take a long time and a lot of work, but I do think they're heading in the right direction with the way they've opened up the game.
I know this will tick off the hockey "purists," but the fighting and dirty stuff are what made hockey a fringe sport in the American psyche. Yes, the hardcore fans and especially the blue-collar guys love it. And if the goal is to return hockey to the that, then contract to about 20-teams and rollback the salaries to the 70's levels, because the financial/TV support for that kind of game doesn't exist in this day and age. That might not be such a bad solution, to be honest, but I'm sure the players don't want that...the financial genie's been let out of the bottle, so for better or worse, the new style game is here to stay.
That said, the style seems to work just fine in the Olympics. The same Canadian fans who lust after blood in the NHL, bring the country to a standstill when the national team plays for Olympic medals. Same for the rest of the world. Why? Because hockey at it's best, is an incredibly exciting sport filled with amazingly skilled and coordinated athletes. The Olympic/International format gives those skills a chance to shine...the NHL's version from the late 80's down to the lockout didn't.
That's why the game failed miserably after expansion. They expanded into markets that had no hockey roots, but the NHL gave them a lousy product, full of 2-1 games with no action and tons of chippiness and dirty play.
People pay to watch art/skill. They plod through their daily lives...they don't want to spend $50 a ticket to watch more plodding on ice. America didn't fall in love with Michael Jordan because he could hip check or fight...they fell in love with him because they realized he was a once-in-a lifetime athlete doing things we could only dream about.
Hockey is loaded with those types of athletes...now they have to figure out a why to get people to pay attention to them.
Posted by Teddy Panos | January 26, 2007 11:36 AM
Posted on January 26, 2007 11:36