NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

Staurdays's NHL broadcast received a 1 rating on NBC. One of the worst ever for that evening. Week before they cut out of an Overtime game to show a pre broadcast of a horse race.

Bettman wake up and smell the coffee. Most Americans dont care about the NHL. Stop trying to force it on them. Drop NBC and go back to ESPN 2 as you will probaly get more viewers. Let teams that fail move to Hamilton or Winnipeg.
Also if you want a viable US city go to Vegas. First pro team to go there will get a sweatheart deal. Beat The NBA to the punch. Hockey still has its hot beds in Detroit and New York and a few other cities. Nashville and Atlanta are doomed to fail.

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

Why would you get more viewers on cable than regular tv?
And hockey sucks they should get rid of half the teams in the US and add some canadian teams because no one here cares.

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

I doubt ESPN wants them at this point.

I also doubt this increases ratings in a measurable number but I really think the NHL could help itself out at least a little if they can bring back a "NHL Tonight" type highlight show every day, even if it's on Versus. Anyone know if they have any plans to do that?

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

[ QUOTE ]
Why would you get more viewers on cable than regular tv?
And hockey sucks they should get rid of half the teams in the US and add some canadian teams because no one here cares.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most NHL fans tune to ESPN already. Plus you would add bars and lounges in the mix. I agree to the add more NHL teams and to most Americans Hockey sucks. Thats why we should stop trying to convert them Its like soccer it is a loosing battle.

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

I think the fact that ESPN didn't renew it's NHL agreement because WSOP reruns got better ratings than NHL games speaks volumes.

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

It was probably more on the NHL side wanting the same kind of huge contract it was used to receiving. Obviously the NHL should have took a huge drop on their side of the contract just to promote the league, but it just looks like a huge mistake now.

Also, I hate the Nelson ratings.....

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

Meh, hockey in the US will ALWAYS be a regional sport. Bettman needs to stop trying to force hockey in baseball/NASCAR/football areas that dont even have ice rinks.

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

They need to contract Florida, Columbus, Nashville and Atlanta at the very least.

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

Bring back (more) fighting.. this kid glove NHL is for the birds.

Re: NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC
 

I kind of like hockey and would watch it on ESPN when surfing around and saw a game on.

I watched very little of the playoffs this year because I just kept forgetting about the games.
I just didn't surf past NBC (it's just not typically in my regular rotation of channels to check) and missed a lot of the games on VS.


Since I've been kind of out of it hockey-wise for awhile this may sound pretty ignorant, but I'm surprised that people are in favor of contracting the team in Nashville.
I thought they were fairly popular pretty quickly in that city.
Did the novelty factor wear off THAT fast and people just stopped going?

In Sept I saw that Nash/Col were playing an NHL exhibition game in Memphis. First ever NHL game here.
We went to it. Boring as hell. The attendance was probably in the 1,000 range.
Kind of hard to get people interested in non-hockey markets.


Someone mentioned Las Vegas for a team which I think woud be worth looking into.
Another more unusual market for an NHL team might be Oklahoma City. They have a great facility in the Ford Center and their minor-league hockey team that plays there is wildly popular.
They average around 10k fans per game in a league that averages 3k or so.
Obviously they really supported their NBA team.
From what I gather it seems like a really good sports-city.
NHL needs to take chances. Instead of forcing teams into markets like Miami, Carolina, etc where almost anyone could guess they would be doomed to struggle they could try smaller markets that might actually be passionate about their team.

Then again, that smaller-market-with-passion strategy didn't seem to work so hot for Hartford, Quebec and Winnipeg.