[Sports] You are the commissioner of NHL Hockey: How do you save the sport?

If you took over the National Hockey League and had the chance to save it and revive the ratings & popularity, what would you do?

I am not a long-time watcher like others but I think the sport would be watched more if the following was implemented:

1. Bring back fighting. Allow fights to go on for a couple minutes instead of having refs break them up all the time.

2. Have the oldest teams play each other a minimum of three times each season. Everybody's best memories of the sport revolve around the oldest teams facing each other back in the day.

3. Put as many games on national TV as possible.

4. Market the games in a storyline-like manner with heavy emphasis on the star player versus the opponent star player.

What are your opinions?

So basically you want professional wrestling on ice.

Obvious answer: move all the teams north.

I kinda don't think the league needs any saving.

Just wait a couple of years.

Whalers vs Jets.

I didn't even realize hockey was still around. Since the strike and their move to some outdoor channel, I haven't seen a game. The only reason I knew it was still going was that they actually had a game on NBC.

Hockey is a northern sport, go south of Minnesota and interest wanes incredibly.

I expect no less from a fucking Yankee fan.

Originally Posted by Denicalis

I expect no less from a fucking Yankee fan apologist.

I'm glad we've so quickly run the gamut of attitudes towards the NHL in 4 posts.

Originally Posted by Borg1982

If you took over the National Hockey League and had the chance to save it and revive the ratings & popularity, what would you do?

I am not a long-time watcher like others but I think the sport would be watched more if the following was implemented:

1. Bring back fighting. Allow fights to go on for a couple minutes instead of having refs break them up all the time.

What do you mean "bring back fighting"? Fighting has always been a part of the sport. Sure, it may not be encouraged, but they don't mind if someone drops the gloves now and again. And after half a minute of fighing in heavy gear while struggling to keep their balance on the ice, they get tired really quickly, and the fight turns in to a gay jersey grabbing session. They stop it only to keep the flow of the game going, not because they don't want it to happen in the first place.

I agree with knkwzrd. Hockey's a canadian sport, so why the fuck let the Americans take all the glory. Just look at the attendance and intensity of the crowd at Calgary and Vancouver games compared to the lack of interest in Nashville.

Originally Posted by Borg1982

3. Put as many games on national TV as possible.

Get the sport back on channels like ESPN and Fox, but keep it on Vs. and NBC as well. It'll gain some popularity back and will be one more step towards saving the sport.

As for the fights while there weren't many one-on-one fights, I recall seeing many players on the ice almost getting into it recently in the playoffs. That was entertainment right there and kept my attention. Keep that up.

Fighting was actually up this year, but it always goes down in the playoffs because bruisers don't play as much/at all and you can't afford the penalty.

The NHL gave NBC the lowest ratings in basically the entire history of broadcast television and people think fighting would have fixed that?

Most Americans who would watch hockey but don't are turned off by a perception that all they do is fight, even in the playoffs. Hockey needs a Michael Jordan, another Wayne Gretzky, right now, but it needs much more than that. The feeling is that it is filled with thugs and the games are boring. I mean, I don't know if the NHL can ever get out of MLS status in the US, not now. There would need to be a major overhaul of basically everything and I doubt the league/Canadians would allow it.

Originally Posted by Borg1982

3. Put as many games on national TV as possible.

How? No one wants to put the NHL on the air because it gets zero ratings.

Originally Posted by Fiddlegoof

Hockey's a canadian sport, so why the fuck let the Americans take all the glory.

Because someone has to pay all these player salaries. When the players struck, they were asking for salaries that you get when you are extremely popular in America, not extremely popular in Canada.

Which means if you don't get the Americans to watch, then the next time a CBA is up, either the players are going to have to accept even less money or things even more drastic (another strike, franchises folding, etc.).

They have a new Wayne Gretzky. In fact, they have a couple.

There are two problems with that statement:

1) To be Michael, there can't be another Michael. Why do you think the NBA is pushing LeBron so hard right now? Duncan is probably the best player in the game these NBA playoffs, but LeBron gets the press.

2) Who, where are they? (Yes, I know Crosby is the one that gets the biggest push.) Americans liked Gretzky even before he went to the Kings. I never see any advertisements for hockey players, which amounts to paying for sorely-needed publicity. I never hear any players names on anything ever.

Case-in-point: I didn't watch either the NHL finals or the Super Bowl this year. But I can name several players and coaches who were in the Super Bowl. I can't think of the name, right now, of a single player in the NHL finals. And it's not like I hate hockey. I love sports and I used to watch the NHL playoffs every single year.

No one is watching hockey except hockey fans. Non-football fans watch the Super Bowl, non-basketball fans watch the NBA finals. There's got to be reasons for that and one is certainly the lack of star power. Players who may be good, may be great, sure, but no stars.

Maybe not to you, but hockey is the best it's been in years. Of course, living in the fucking desert, you wouldn't hear to much about that, would you?

Plain and simple: Hockey is a northern-centered sport. No one in the south gives a fuck about the sport, that much is evident by the empty seats plaguing a lot of southern playoff franchises. Up here, though, just on the very tip of hockey's fanbase, support is the best I've seen in my life. The Penguins are playing exciting hockey, and the whole city is enthralled.

It's a shame to say it, but I think it's about time the NHL retreated back into the frozem confines of the north. The south was given their chance, and it nearly cost the rest of us a fine league. Time to pack it up and come back home, to where the real fans are.

Exactly, Capo. Spread out to more northern cities. You know, where cheerleaders and rap music aren't necessary to have a decent sport.

P.S.

I didn't watch the NBA finals. Call me when its less mad niggerish.

Again:

If you move to the north, then the NHL is basically giving up on the possibilities that American television contracts can provide. If the players never struck, they'd still enjoy the money that ESPN brings, they'd still have ratings above the 2 pm Sunday horror flick. Considering that the money was available yeas ago, why would the NHL want to give up on that?

And I never said that I didn't think the NHL wasn't putting out a good product. The perception is that it is a boring piece of crap that we Americans would almost rather watch soccer than. It carries the stigma that boxing carries, unfairly or not, which has been dying a similar death for years.

Arena ticket sales or not, the money is in television. When have you ever seen a baseball stadium even half-full outside of the playoffs or a Yankees/Red Sox series? Baseball players make their money off television and off the Internet.

Originally Posted by Capo

Of course, living in the fucking desert, you wouldn't hear to much about that, would you?

I watch ESPN, which is a national channel. I watch national news programs and listen to NPR all the time. These aren't things that are centered in Arizona. I rarely watch news or the sports stuff produced locally. I visit SI.com several times a day and ESPN.com several times a week. What the hell, do you think this is 1981 or something?

The fact is that I have to go out of my way to hear about hockey. So does basically every American in a state that doesn't border Canada. Hell, I live a half-day's drive from the current NHL champions living in this here desert and I still never hear anything at all. Oh, and my own state has a hockey team.

Originally Posted by Borg1982

3. Put as many games on national TV as possible.

No, because the announcers for NBC and VS suck so bad.

I couldn't stand watching games when they weren't on the local channel because the other commentators suck shit so bad. I was wondering why they were talking about what each and every player had for dinner the night before rather than you know, talking about the game that's currently in progress.

I'd also say interest in the NHL has been up since the strike, but that's because I live in Buffalo, you know, one of those "hockey towns."

Hockey needs saving? Why? Because it's not popular on US Broadcast television? The sport is fine. Also, Deni is right, there are a few Wayne's playing these days.

I'm amazed this exciting sport isn't big just from the fact of how good it is. Perhaps people cannot follow the puck well?
This sport has the fewest time outs in gameplay and it ends in just 2.5 hours.
Since it has the fewest time outs in the periods, the action keeps going and the clock keeps running. Eventually, tension builds around the net and if nothing happens on an attempt, the tension builds more because each second that ticks away means the arena is closer to a goal. The goal is the climax of all the hard work. Pretty simple.