[quotes=]
Hockey may be a great sport, but americans don't watch it on TV. If I remember correctly the ratings for Hockey were awful when espn had them on regularly.
<!-- / message -->Bingo.ESPN doesn't extensively cover it on TV, because thats what the US sports market aks.People are probably going to the games...but don't you guys remember the news that bowling matches were drawing bigger ratings than hockey games on ESPN?NBA TV ratings have been suprisingly very good over the past few years. Hence, why it gets more coverage. The live in-game attendance is a counter point, but the TV ratings are more accurate of a gauge.[/quote]
Bowling not hockey would be popular with the retired crowd as far
as TV is concerned. Over 65 folks aren't using the internet where
ESPN gives good hockey coverage.
Hockey may be a great sport, but americans don't watch it on TV. If I remember correctly the ratings for Hockey were awful when espn had them on regularly.
<!-- / message -->Bingo.ESPN doesn't extensively cover it on TV, because thats what the US sports market aks.People are probably going to the games...but don't you guys remember the news that bowling matches were drawing bigger ratings than hockey games on ESPN?NBA TV ratings have been suprisingly very good over the past few years. Hence, why it gets more coverage. The live in-game attendance is a counter point, but the TV ratings are more accurate of a gauge.[/quote]
Bowling not hockey would be popular with the retired crowd as far
as TV is concerned. Over 65 folks aren't using the internet where
ESPN gives good hockey coverage.
"The deal with OLN, which will bring the league at least $65 million for each of the first two seasons, has been the most criticized.
From a financial perspective, it seemed like a no-brainer when the deal was struck. ESPN, which had broadcast NHL games regularly since 1992, declined its one-year, $60 million option after the canceled season, when replacement programming such as "Bowling Night" and "Stump The Schwab" drew ratings that were at least comparable to its hockey broadcasts of a year earlier."
From a financial perspective, it seemed like a no-brainer when the deal was struck. ESPN, which had broadcast NHL games regularly since 1992, declined its one-year, $60 million option after the canceled season, when replacement programming such as "Bowling Night" and "Stump The Schwab" drew ratings that were at least comparable to its hockey broadcasts of a year earlier."
Not only the Pistons-Pacers incident, but let's not forget the incident with the player (forget his name) "allegedly" pointing a gun at another teams bus after a game.
Also, the attendance figures only give Buffalo credit for a regular home sellout that game, not 70000.
I'm going to say it's a TON closer than you think.
[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=622
What do you make of this poll where in 2005 more people preferred pro hockey than pro basketball? Also, notice the precipitous drop in people saying the NBA was their favorite sport. A lot closer than you think.
[/FONT]
To fight ignorance and you asked the question at the start of the thread? What a ridiculously ignorant statement to bring up attendances. Attendance in local markets for an exciting "live" sport has absolutely nothing to do with what sport people care about nationally. It is beyond comprehension how retarted this argument is. Are you really that dumb? I didn't think so. In case you were wondering very few give a fuck about the sport any longer just like I said before!! That is why they can't even put it on a TV channel besides Versus. Comical how far the sport has fallen.
That is the stupidest post I have ever read on this site because you actually think you are fighting ignorance. Dumber than anything Newlywed, Mr. Riggs, etc. ever wrote and you are usually a smart person. Jesus Christ dude.
hockey players the real thugs?? ...haha.. I had a good laugh over that one, not so much.... Every once in a while each league seems to go through an ugly incident like the Bertuzzi incident in the NHL, or the Pistons/Pacers brawl, but as far as being role models in the community and staying out of trouble with the law, you don't hear of any NHL players getting accused of murder or accused or raping girls, let along the league MVP. The last NHL players to get in trouble was when the some of the Staal brothers got caught under age drinking at their brothers Stag party before his wedding. Love this article from Woody Paige of the Denver Post a few years back.
Let's Hear It For The Good Guys
> By Woody Paige
> Denver Post Sports Columnist
>
> Feb. 3, 2003 - An exhaustive check of police records (and Interpol
> documents) reveals that none of the players participating in the NHL
> All-Star Game on Sunday was charged with murder on this weekend last year.
>
> Ray Bourque is not celebrating his 19th all-star appearance with the
> release
> of a new rap CD titled "Czech The Republics, Maim The Mothers."
>
> Mario doesn't have 18 tattoos up the Lemieux, and Teppo Numminen hasn't
> choked his coach.
>
> The all-stars will sign autographs, won't spit guttural and adjectival
> obscenities at the kids, will help little old ladies cross the street and
> won't beat up bridge dwellers in LoDo.
>
> Not one all-star is on trial for raping a teenager. Their numbers are
> 16,24, 39 and 77, not 16243977. They shoot pucks, not ex-wives and
> waiters.
>
> Hockey players are the last of the good guys.
>
> Even the Red Wings.
>
> You can actually feel good and proud cheering for them at the All-Star
> Game.
>
> These players are pros, not cons; heroes, not villains; fine fellows, not
> common felons.
>
> Peter Forsberg recently went to the hospital - not because of a gunshot
> wound or a drug addiction. He visited a young boy dying of cancer.
> Forsberg
> promised he would score a goal in the child's honor that night. He did.
>
> My hobby requires that I hang around NHL, NBA, NFL and Major League
> Baseball players. As a boy I happily idolized a lot of them. As a man I
> sadly loathe a lot of them.
>
> Except hockey players. Will Rogers never would meet a hockey player he
> didn't like.
>
> Take a goon to lunch. You'll like him.
>
> This is a broad generalization, but so many football, basketball and
> baseball players are jerks and creeps who act as if the world owes them
> fame, fortune, free cars and obeisance.
>
> Beware of false gods.
>
> On a street in Nagano, Japan, in 1998 I heard my name shouted above the
> crowd. Joe Sakic just wanted to say hello. (Most athletes would rather
> enter the witness protection plan than say hello to a press parasite.)
> Sakic would say hello to you. Probably has. The NHL's best player this
> season is a Regular Joe.
>
> So, why are hockey players a bunch of regular Joes and charming, courteous
> gentlemen you'd introduce to your pals, your parents, your pastor, your
> pet?
>
> Several of us were addressing the question in Tampa, Fla., last week right
> after a conversation with Ray Lewis - who had just compared himself to
> Jesus, then uttered an unChrist-like verb and a pronoun.
>
> I've theorized that a majority of the NHL players, born and raised in
> small
> Canadian towns, weren't coddled as youths, but instead were taken away
> from
> their families to play junior hockey and boarded in groups in basements of
> strange people's homes; they weren't worshiped as young men by the press
> and the public, and they developed strong moral values and quality traits.
>
> Not so true, says NHL vice president Frank Brown. They are treated like
> favored sons in hockey-crazy Canada. He claims hockey players "aren't
> featured in the first five minutes of ESPN's "SportsCenter.' They're not
> as
> well-known as other professional athletes, and they remain humble."
>
> My friend says youngsters who grow up in coldweather locales tend to be
> nicer and friendlier. She obviously hasn't been to Detroit.
>
> Another writer cites peer pressure. "Players in other sports learn from
> the
> veterans to distrust the press and dislike the fans. Hockey players are
> taught by older players to respect everyone."
>
> Mike Ricci, one of the most popular players when he was a member of the
> Colorado Avalanche, said the players feel fortunate to be playing a game.
> "My brother is a plumber. I know if I wasn't doing this, I'd be his
> helper.
>
> I never forget that."
>
> Money, says the NHL's Brown.
>
> "Players in hockey for years didn't get the big bucks that other athletes
> made. That's changing now, but the players haven't changed."
>
> Fabled Bobby Orr used to hide in the trainer's room after games - not to
> avoid the media, but to allow his teammates to be in the limelight, too.
> "No matter how great you are as a player, you're only on the ice 45
> seconds," says an NHL executive. "The whole game is shared by all the
> players, and everybody cares about one another."
> Maybe hockey players unleash all their hostilities, aggression and ill
> manners on the ice.
>
> The NHL is not without the random problem, but, according to the league,
> there have been fewer than 10 off-ice criminal incidents in the past six
> years.
>
> Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy was cleared this week of cross-checking two
> French doors at his house, and a few U.S. Olympic hockey team players
> attacked their dorm rooms in Nagano - reportedly in retaliation for Pearl
> Harbor.
>
> But, overall, hockey players are upstanding citizens of places from
> Saskatchewan (God bless you) to Latvia.
>
> They're the last of the good guys, but these good guys don't finish last.
>
> Copyright 2003 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
Let's Hear It For The Good Guys
> By Woody Paige
> Denver Post Sports Columnist
>
> Feb. 3, 2003 - An exhaustive check of police records (and Interpol
> documents) reveals that none of the players participating in the NHL
> All-Star Game on Sunday was charged with murder on this weekend last year.
>
> Ray Bourque is not celebrating his 19th all-star appearance with the
> release
> of a new rap CD titled "Czech The Republics, Maim The Mothers."
>
> Mario doesn't have 18 tattoos up the Lemieux, and Teppo Numminen hasn't
> choked his coach.
>
> The all-stars will sign autographs, won't spit guttural and adjectival
> obscenities at the kids, will help little old ladies cross the street and
> won't beat up bridge dwellers in LoDo.
>
> Not one all-star is on trial for raping a teenager. Their numbers are
> 16,24, 39 and 77, not 16243977. They shoot pucks, not ex-wives and
> waiters.
>
> Hockey players are the last of the good guys.
>
> Even the Red Wings.
>
> You can actually feel good and proud cheering for them at the All-Star
> Game.
>
> These players are pros, not cons; heroes, not villains; fine fellows, not
> common felons.
>
> Peter Forsberg recently went to the hospital - not because of a gunshot
> wound or a drug addiction. He visited a young boy dying of cancer.
> Forsberg
> promised he would score a goal in the child's honor that night. He did.
>
> My hobby requires that I hang around NHL, NBA, NFL and Major League
> Baseball players. As a boy I happily idolized a lot of them. As a man I
> sadly loathe a lot of them.
>
> Except hockey players. Will Rogers never would meet a hockey player he
> didn't like.
>
> Take a goon to lunch. You'll like him.
>
> This is a broad generalization, but so many football, basketball and
> baseball players are jerks and creeps who act as if the world owes them
> fame, fortune, free cars and obeisance.
>
> Beware of false gods.
>
> On a street in Nagano, Japan, in 1998 I heard my name shouted above the
> crowd. Joe Sakic just wanted to say hello. (Most athletes would rather
> enter the witness protection plan than say hello to a press parasite.)
> Sakic would say hello to you. Probably has. The NHL's best player this
> season is a Regular Joe.
>
> So, why are hockey players a bunch of regular Joes and charming, courteous
> gentlemen you'd introduce to your pals, your parents, your pastor, your
> pet?
>
> Several of us were addressing the question in Tampa, Fla., last week right
> after a conversation with Ray Lewis - who had just compared himself to
> Jesus, then uttered an unChrist-like verb and a pronoun.
>
> I've theorized that a majority of the NHL players, born and raised in
> small
> Canadian towns, weren't coddled as youths, but instead were taken away
> from
> their families to play junior hockey and boarded in groups in basements of
> strange people's homes; they weren't worshiped as young men by the press
> and the public, and they developed strong moral values and quality traits.
>
> Not so true, says NHL vice president Frank Brown. They are treated like
> favored sons in hockey-crazy Canada. He claims hockey players "aren't
> featured in the first five minutes of ESPN's "SportsCenter.' They're not
> as
> well-known as other professional athletes, and they remain humble."
>
> My friend says youngsters who grow up in coldweather locales tend to be
> nicer and friendlier. She obviously hasn't been to Detroit.
>
> Another writer cites peer pressure. "Players in other sports learn from
> the
> veterans to distrust the press and dislike the fans. Hockey players are
> taught by older players to respect everyone."
>
> Mike Ricci, one of the most popular players when he was a member of the
> Colorado Avalanche, said the players feel fortunate to be playing a game.
> "My brother is a plumber. I know if I wasn't doing this, I'd be his
> helper.
>
> I never forget that."
>
> Money, says the NHL's Brown.
>
> "Players in hockey for years didn't get the big bucks that other athletes
> made. That's changing now, but the players haven't changed."
>
> Fabled Bobby Orr used to hide in the trainer's room after games - not to
> avoid the media, but to allow his teammates to be in the limelight, too.
> "No matter how great you are as a player, you're only on the ice 45
> seconds," says an NHL executive. "The whole game is shared by all the
> players, and everybody cares about one another."
> Maybe hockey players unleash all their hostilities, aggression and ill
> manners on the ice.
>
> The NHL is not without the random problem, but, according to the league,
> there have been fewer than 10 off-ice criminal incidents in the past six
> years.
>
> Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy was cleared this week of cross-checking two
> French doors at his house, and a few U.S. Olympic hockey team players
> attacked their dorm rooms in Nagano - reportedly in retaliation for Pearl
> Harbor.
>
> But, overall, hockey players are upstanding citizens of places from
> Saskatchewan (God bless you) to Latvia.
>
> They're the last of the good guys, but these good guys don't finish last.
>
> Copyright 2003 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
To fight ignorance and you asked the question at the start of the thread? What a ridiculously ignorant statement to bring up attendances. Attendance in local markets for an exciting "live" sport has absolutely nothing to do with what sport people care about nationally. It is beyond comprehension how retarted this argument is. Are you really that dumb? I didn't think so. In case you were wondering very few give a fuck about the sport any longer just like I said before!! That is why they can't even put it on a TV channel besides Versus. Comical how far the sport has fallen.
royalfan-
Sorry about the 'ignorance' comment. That was sort of dickish.
My only argument with you is that you claim there was a time when hockey was a lot more popular than it is right now. When was that time? I don't see the move from ESPN to Versus as a big deal because (as is cited in this thread) nobody was watching on ESPN either. I'm not saying that hockey is popular nationally, or big on TV, or anywhere near the NBA in terms of popularity. I just disagree that the NHL has ever been a lot more popular than right now.
:toast:
Total attendance of 21,236,255 and the per-game average of 17,265 set records in each category and marked the third consecutive season of growth.
For the purposes of calculation, the Buffalo Sabres were credited with a normal regular-season sellout (18,690) for the Winter Classic against the Pittsburgh Penguins on New Year’s Day at Ralph Wilson Stadium; including the full Winter Classic attendance of 71,217, the aggregate NHL attendance increases to 21,288,782, and the per-game increases to 17,302.
also the attendance numbers are high because the tickets are dirt cheap which is a reflection on the product. like it or not, nba tickets are more expensive because its a better environment and a better product. the mn lacrosse team sells out every game because alot of the times the agents are outside handing out free tickets or 1 dollar tickets to people on the streets! they will then report it being sold out.
there is no demand for the game, no interest for the game which is why it gets no publicity or no major network. the game should just stay in canada. the game also has limited global appeal compared to basketball.
there is no demand for the game, no interest for the game which is why it gets no publicity or no major network. the game should just stay in canada. the game also has limited global appeal compared to basketball.
The average NHL ticket is $0.11 cheaper than the average NBA ticket.
http://www.teammarketing.com/fancost/
Give me a break man.
You were wrong about the attendance, and you're wrong about the ticket prices. You seem to have your mind made up, but you don't have a clue what the fuck you're talking about.
