Why is an American in charge of the NHL...

[PeteRoseJR]

This Gary Bettman guy is a jerk-off. His hidden agenda is driving me crazy.

Hes trying so hard for the game to catch on in the states, but at the same time he's ruining the game for Canadians.

Nothing against Americans but can you imagine if a Canadian guy was running the MLB...

Bettman just has to realize that MOST Americans could give a rats ass about hockey.

Lastly how didnt Jarome Iginla win the HArt trophy as league MVP?

What has he done:

Potential Strike ?
Shitty TV deal ?

Gee thanks for everything Bettman.

 

[Fishhead]

Sick Gambler and myself should be co-commissioners of the NHL.

 

[buddyboy]

I think it has something to do with the fact that in the NHL there are only 5 or 6 teams from canada and the other 24- 25 teams are in the USA.

nothing against canada... but not many people live there.

 

[TheGeneral+]

LOL Fishhead

 

[PeteRoseJR]

I m not meaning for this to be a Canada-USA thing but I think we should at LEAST have someone in charge who has played the game and has some background.

Fishhead good idea. You and SG as co-commissioners. Too bad Sick is going to get his clock cleaned at the Espn Zone.

 

[sickgambler]

petey boy, i have some very disturbing news for you and winkydinky.

I just came back from taking shots at some targets in my driveway, and in the first 12 minutes, I was missing over 50%.. But as I got warmed up and got the feel of my Victoriaville hockey stick, I was knocking those targets one by one. I was on fire in the last 10 minutes hitting over 80% of them..

You are both in trouble boys. Sick Gambler will WIN the 2004 RX hockey challenge in Las Vegas..

 

[PeteRoseJR]

Sickie,


Victoriaville Stick, I used to use one of those.....When I was 8 playing Novice Houseleague...
You'd better hope you go 4/4 or else it ll be over in a hurry.

Rx Hockey Challenge winner --- Pete Rose JR 4/4
2nd Place --- Sick Gambler 4/7
3rd Place --- WinkyDuck 4/8

Good Luck.....You have no idea who you are up against....

 

[JJF]

I think Gary Bettman has done a great job for the NHL in the past 10 years or so.
<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Revising the conference/division structure has made the league a lot better and he was behind a lot of that.<LI>I also think the league would not have had as much expansion team-wise or national TV deals like they obtained in that time without him.<LI>And the Stanley Cup playoffs are more exciting than ever before. Not like it was a long time ago when 4 out of every 5 teams would make the playoffs and you got the same matchups year after year.[/list]

 

[WildBill]

If Bettman was a CEO he would be fired. The league gets next to nothing from TV. They allowed the salaries and costs to get so outrageous now that the worst seats in many buildings are $30 and season tickets for the good seats could buy you a nice car. Worst of all the league got greedy and far over-expanded. I don't question all the markets they went to, but I do question the sheer number of teams and the clear questionable markets they did get into, namely Carolina and Nashville. Not to mention letting a team go to Phoenix where there wasn't a suitable arena. Many issues that show a lack of strategy and discipline all because this guy had a vision of being like the NBA. Hockey is a great sport and its core of fans love it so much and spend so much on it that it still has life in spite of itself. If only the league looked at its core strengths could it regain its footing. Most fans in sports other than football are far more casual. After all why is it that when the Lakers are in town every stadium is full while the Clippers play in half-empty stadiums for most of their road games? You don't see that too much in the NHL and that is a testament to the core of fans that exist even in the mediocre markets so they need to get a leader who sees this and develops strategies to please the core and forget about worrying about the other masses. The sport will slowly bring on fans just due to its entertainment value alone, but you can't be basing your growth on it being the next NBA because that just won't happen.

 

[wilheim]

The real problem with hockey is that for the casual fan it is simply not TV friendly. Without huge TV revenue that the other majors enjoy the NHL cannot pay huge salaries and still be finacially competitive.


wil.

 

[PeteRoseJR]

Great post WILDBILL. Very informative.

 

[WildBill]

What I would do if I was in charge:

1. I would stop emphasizing national TV so much. The ratings are poor because it is always the same teams on. Put on maybe two games a week nationally and let the local cable guys take care of the rest.
2. Put the paid package on the internet. International sport should have international reach. MLB does it, why not hockey? If a fan wants to follow an out of market team give him options to do it at a reasonable price, but definitely try to build up the local teams because in all these new markets half the fans are still chanting "lets go Red Wings" (or Rangers/Flyers).
3. Do something about the salaries like the NBA. Doesn't have to be a cap, but should be a "we win, you win" deal with a percentage cut. And salaries of players should be slotted like the NBA has now with right of first refusal. Hockey could do wonders for itself if it could engender local heroes, guys like Iginla who play most or all their careers in one town.
4. Find a way to make the regular season more meaningful. Granted hockey needs the long playoffs for the ticket sales, but maybe go to a 5 games home ice if a series goes 7 games to the higher seed. In hockey home ice isn't that important anyways, but why not do something to get the higher seeds some benefit from playing better over the regular season.

Those would just be a start. Key would be my motto of keeping close to the core of fans. I mean look at those attendance numbers, very healthy in all but a few markets. And the average ticket prices are higher than anything but NFL. There is indeed plenty of interest in the game on both sides of the border and the average hockey fan is a very desirable demographic for advertisers. Keeping this all in mind and sticking to what works best is what the NHL needs to do once they clean up this mess they are getting themselves into.

 

[TheFunkMonkey]

I've heard several people SWEAR that HDTV will make hockey a great TV sport. I think it will help every sport, but hockey has the most room for TV-ratings improvement (whereas sports like football can't get much higher).

But will the NHL survive until HDTV becomes commonplace?

 

[TheGeneral+]

I like the way you made suggestions Bill. It's one thing to complain, but another to make constructive suggestions to improve. Very nice.