NHL
It's been a real slow day at work today, so I found myself reading John Buccigross's column on the NHL and thought this was particularly interesting:
"Will more goals mean better ratings? Maybe. At this point, the NHL has to continue to put on a better show. In a New York Times article from Feb. 2, Richard Sandomir reported that 736 people watched the Jan. 27 Devils-Panthers game on MSG ... 736. Here are other numbers from Sandomir's column:
• The Devils average 13,206 households for their televised games.
• The Islanders average just 7,336.
• The Rangers average 36,834.
• Of all Fox Sports Net regional channels, the Red Wings lead all NHL teams (average 96,915).
• This season's All-Star Game drew 691,000 viewers.
• 2.7 million watched in 2004.
• 6.5 million watched in 1996."
736 people!! Holy shit! This is a professional sport? Those are some pretty staggering statistics.
"Will more goals mean better ratings? Maybe. At this point, the NHL has to continue to put on a better show. In a New York Times article from Feb. 2, Richard Sandomir reported that 736 people watched the Jan. 27 Devils-Panthers game on MSG ... 736. Here are other numbers from Sandomir's column:
• The Devils average 13,206 households for their televised games.
• The Islanders average just 7,336.
• The Rangers average 36,834.
• Of all Fox Sports Net regional channels, the Red Wings lead all NHL teams (average 96,915).
• This season's All-Star Game drew 691,000 viewers.
• 2.7 million watched in 2004.
• 6.5 million watched in 1996."
736 people!! Holy shit! This is a professional sport? Those are some pretty staggering statistics.
posted by Speckled Trout at
4:24 PM
6 Comments:
I am actually not surprised by those numbers. We are both big sports fans, but neither of us could give two shits about a midseason NHL game. I've watched two full Islander games this year - I never watched every game, but five years ago, I'd watch at least one per week. I used to know at least half the roster, their strengths and weaknesses, stats for star players, salaries, etc. I even got into the playoffs every year, watching Red Wings-Blues second round action out West. While interest of the casual hockey fan has waned, ticket prices have gone up (at least at the Coliseum). Cheap seats for an Isles game are around 30 bucks. So, not only will I choose to watch a replay of a St. John's hoops game from earlier in the week over a live Islanders game, but I refuse to pay full price for the least expensive ticket at an arena that's less than five miles from my home town. Who cares how many goals or shootouts or fights there are? I am just not interested in the sport anymore.
There is just no way a professional sports league can flourish with a business model that alienates a good portion of its potential fan base by overcharging for an inferior product.
Maybe they need to contract a few teams. Maybe they need to scrap the current setup altogether. What about an Olympics-like country versus country tournament? 10 teams, play everyone 3 times. Top 8 make the playoffs. 3 game series. Canada wins every other season. Done. The entire season/post-season would be half the time and the talent would be more consolidated. At least this way the NHL can get international fan support (WHL?). It would make the Olympics completely useless, and it would never work with the owners (not that the NHLPA would let it happen). But are you going to tell me that Gary Bettman hasn't thought about something similar?
I'm not really a hockey fan, but wouldn't be able to watch a game if I wanted too. The NHL did well in rebuilding the league into a niche sport after the strike last year. However, showing games on the Versus network isn't going to attrach any extra viewers and holding an All-Star game mid-week isn't going to do anything to help make the league more relevant. They need to broadcast in HD, and enter into a contract to get them on a more widely viewed network. Call the Worldwide Leader...
I dont know if i believe that ticket prices are up. Nassau is probably on its own with that one (if that's even true). Places like Denver and Tampa have pretty cheap tickets and run tons of specials for group deals, package deals, etc, and those are decent hockey towns (Tampa since they won the Cup a few years back). i think actual attendance is still kinda good, with the lowest attendance averages being around 12000-14000 per game (incidentally, the islanders are right there near the bottom every year)and the majority of the league still around 17000-18000. the thing they are more struggling with is tv viewers, like ricks was saying. maybe, like with soccer, its just time to realize that the sport does not translate that well on tv - or well enough to capture casual viewers.
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/a/SO_011807.asp
A 24/7 Islanders TV network? Ridiculous as it sounds, this may actually help build the fan base back up (I'm not even sure what channel the Islanders are regularly broadcasted on - MSG, I think). Is this the kind of TV solutions you guys are looking for? Not sure I could handle YES, MSG, SNY, Isles TV and Devils TV (gotta be happening sooner or later). Thank god the Whalers left.
2 responses:
- I verified that the cheapest seats for an Isles game costs 29.95.
- While the Islanders are definitely low on that attendance list, the Coliseum does not seat that many people. I bet they fill half the seats, on average.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2007
looks like they fill 3/4 of the arena. not bad. this also further supports my point that attendance is not really an issue.
i dont think there is a tv response. i dont think americans find hockey on tv compelling anymore.
I'll admit that I was one of the few who found the versus channel and watched some (about 10 minutes) of the NHL skills comp and all star game. I consider myself an above average hockey fan and I just don’t feel like the game needs to change at all. I think the reason hockey is a failure is because of the players. There are simply too many international players trying to advertise a sport in America and they cannot even speak a lick of English. How is any American fan supposed to get involved when they cannot even understand the players. Listening to the All Star game lineup I would be lucky to be able to pronounce 50% of the players names, let alone remember the names and who they play for. After watching an interview with Alexander Ovechkin at the skills competition I realized that one of the most talented and high profile players in the league has a personality equal to a rock and has trouble speaking simple sentences. Now how can any league exec sell that? Jagr has been in the league 10+ years and still has trouble with his English. My beliefs are that eventually the salaries will outpace the TV revenue and the league will be forced to contract. Maybe some ESL classes are what the NHL needs.
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