NHL Worst ever ratings on NBC

[samjjones]

Good execution with the lockout, Bettman.

[lozen]

Pictures from Anaheims Stanley Cup Parade are in

Stanley Cup Parade

[Triumph36]

[ QUOTE ]
Good execution with the lockout, Bettman.

[/ QUOTE ]

had the owners not gone behind bettman's back in 95, it's possible a lockout could've been avoided in 2004-05. hockey's economics are much better now than they were pre-lockout.

[DonkeyKongSr]

[ QUOTE ]
Pictures from Anaheims Stanley Cup Parade are in

Stanley Cup Parade

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL. I have to admit, that was pretty funny.

For actual photos, with actual people, here they are.

OC Register
LA Times

Looks like a lot of fun. Too bad I was out of town or I would have been there.

[MinRaise]

[ QUOTE ]
Hockey was just starting to take off in Columbus as well. When I started playing hockey we had 1 ice rink in the city and I was 9 years old playing with 14 year olds (the league wasn't affiliated with USA Hockey).

In high school we got to practice on their practice ice and played states on the real ice in the arena which was awesome.

When I started, 1 high school in the city had a team (happened to be mine). By the time I graduated high school 9 years later (and CBJ's second year in existence) I think 5 schools had varsity teams and a few more had club teams.

It seemed to be a kind of synergy, people got excited about hockey because of the team, then they got excited about the team because of hockey. Not sure what the state of HS hockey is in Columbus right now but I can only imagine it's improved even more.

[/ QUOTE ]

I graduated from Gahanna in 2001. One of my best friends was captain of the team. I can't comment on the current state, but I know most of the suburban schools have teams. OSU's hockey team has also had success the past few years. This is certainly one thing the Jackets have done well with.

[ QUOTE ]
The Blue Jackets still sell out a ton of games. Doug MacLean has just made bone-headed move after bone-headed move. I don't think playoffs in 09 should be their goal - these sorts of goals have already screwed them up enough.

The team just cannot draft anyone aside from 1st round picks who are successful - and even their 1st round picks haven't lived up to expectations, aside from Rick Nash, who had a terrible year last year.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree that they shouldn't just have an ironclad goal of making the playoffs or bust. They just need to compete. The fan apathy was mostly in the closing weeks of the season, but I think getting a new GM will do wonders to fix that in the short term.

I mentioned this earlier, but McLean never had any accountability for any of his failed moves. He would often refuse to elaborate on moves he made in the paper or his call-in show citing "hockey reasons". This flew for a couple of years with a fan base that was getting accustomed to hockey, but in year six, it did little more than belittle fans. Calls for his firing were nearly unanimous from the local columnists who were also tired of this treatment.

Columbus also has a number of transplants from nearby hockey markets. Games against Detroit and Pittsburgh always draw well. Some improvement, and many of these fans will show up to cheer on the Jackets vs. other teams in my opinion.

[Equal]

I agree with one above poster... the ONLY way the NHL is going to develop a fan base in non-traditional markets is buying funding NHL-branded ice rinks, youth leagues, street-hockey tournaments, and using them as a sort of loss-leader or non-profit business to give children and parents affordable exposure to the game. Out of the big 4 sports, hockey is probably 10 times as expensive.

It's a multi-generational long term thing, you arent going to make a football or NASCAR town into rabid, dedicated hockey fans overnight just because Bettman thinks he is blessing the city with the NHL's presence.

There are some current markets that are dying, but yet some possible replacements cities that may do well... obviously Southern Ontario could support one, even TWO more teams but the leafs will take issue with that (say Hamilton and Kitchner), Las Vegas, Kansas City, and Oklahoma City would be very good possibilities, even Portland or Seattle. Even Vancouver could support a second NHL team in a nearby suburb.

Developing a grass-roots system to give kids the chance to actually play and enjoy hockey, coupled with improvements in other areas would go a long way.

Making every game available in HD is a priority but also drastically improving the lighting in a lot of arenas is a MUST.

It blows me away when I watch highlights from many American cities... the footage is so dark and subpar compared to highlights from a Canadian city... the lighting is awful.

There's no excuse for things like this... these are realitively inexpensive improvements that will help a lot.

Hockey, as many mentioned, on TV doesnt do the game any justice - I've witnessed this first hand as I have taken non-hockey fans to games live and most have been blown away by the speed and spectacle of the game - including a rabid NFL fan who'd never seen a game before live. Watching one game live made him a hockey fan.

[kylephilly]

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

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This is the most important aspect of hockey, it needs to come back.

And also, drop the league down to about 12 teams, any city that doesn't receive snow on a fairly normal basis should be eliminated if they aren't dallas (i hear hockey is big there).

[Triumph36]

the reason why the NHL will never really begin developing things at the youth level (they do already, but not that much) is because aside from television ratings, the NHL is doing quite well. a long-term strategy like that doesn't seem like it will pay off - moving the ratings up from .3 to .5 isn't worth that.

portland, seattle, outside vancouver, vegas, the kitchener/waterloo area are all places the nhl should want to avoid if at all possible.

[lozen]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with one above poster... the ONLY way the NHL is going to develop a fan base in non-traditional markets is buying funding NHL-branded ice rinks, youth leagues, street-hockey tournaments, and using them as a sort of loss-leader or non-profit business to give children and parents affordable exposure to the game. Out of the big 4 sports, hockey is probably 10 times as expensive.


[/ QUOTE ]

Disagree with all of you making this point. Soccer is played by tons of kids and cheap to get into. Though it is not fairing well on TV. Here in Canada more kids play soccer than hockey we cant sell soccer here either. Its just a fcat Americans do not care for soccer or hockey. Accept it take advantage of the markets that do and get yur ass in Vegas while its cheap.

[MicroBob]

Yeah, I'm not too keen on the idea of pushing youth-hockey leagues as the way to make watching it on TV or attending live more popular.

I just don't buy it.

I think lots of people who watch on TV or attend live can't even skate.
And there are lots of people who play youth or rec-league who just don't care about watching it on TV. I just don't envision youth-programs making a huge dent although I don't think there's anything wrong with them either.