“nobody really cares about hockey… it’s not one of the 4 major team sports” pic.twitter.com/5rD89ebx8D. The dictator handed over to his Philly friend the NHL national TV contract, through NBC, which was owned by Snyder through Comcast. Nobody watches boxing anymore except boxing fans and max kellerman. I can go on and on. Hockey peaked in 1994 when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. This number is a lot less impressive however when you look at the other major sports in the U.S. Hockey is one of the four major sports in North America and yet still struggles to gain the same amount of popularity that the other three (NFL, MLB, NBA) have in the U.S. The NFL has risen to staggering popularity in part because of the fact that sitting down on your couch to watch the games on Sunday might be more enjoyable that actually watching from the stands. He knew nothing about hockey being a Georgia boy but we had to go to Tampa for a case so it worked out. 6th in world according to Wikipedia. If you ask someone in the U.S. to name the biggest athletes in the world, it'll take a while for them to mention a hockey player. It’s not a popularity contest, I watch hockey because I love it, not because other people don’t love it. Hockey was fine until Mr Dumba$$ and friends knelt for the US National Anthem but stood for Oh Canada. It was nice to see though that someone added the footnote that you were wrong by giving the bottom line. During the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, viewership of the games was only 6-13% minorities. The NHL is often referred to as the No. While Max K can go eff himself, the fact of the matter is that the business of NHL hockey is awful. Some even believe the MLS will eventually surpass hockey in the big four. It has been with sharp interest that we have followed the return of professional sports over the past month. ESPN is the biggest sports network in the world and unfortunately does not pay much attention to hockey. The stuff about goons and fighting is just plain wrong. The typical NHL fan is less likely to be a convicted felon. Hockey was never part of the big 4, idiot. The game earned a 1.3/3 in New York and a 7.8/17 in Detroit. Fans often note that Olympic hockey is drastically more entertaining, in part because of the amount of skill on every team but also because of the focus on more of an offensive, attacking style of play. Hockey is losing popularity because of the joke television deal they have with Versus. It had a big market team ending a curse. But from a hockey standpoint, just unbelievable hockey. Thoughts about the future of Hockey as a sport? Hockey is the best sport there is, the only sport I care about, and I’ll take quality over quantity any day. As for your question of weather or not hockey is losing popularity in the US because of it, I do not believe that that is the case. World of difference. Players like LeBron, Peyton Manning or Bryce Harper are stars of their league and the public would be able to pick them out of line, which isn't likely the case for someone like Sidney Crosby. Becoming a fan of a sport often happens during your youth and if hockey wants to increase its popularity it will need to find a way to get more kids skating in parts of the U.S. that aren't usually hot-beds for cold weather sports. Popularity of Stanley Cup Finals on TV. The NBA? Please log in again. Her also forgot about ther Vegas golden knights which had huge tv ratings. Hockey certainly had great moments, but the overall product was boring. The NHL has often survived despite its weaker popularity in the US because its audience reflects the fact that this is a rich man's game, and advertisers are okay with the smaller viewership knowing that the audience of the Stanley Cup Final was the most affluent. I think hockey is the only sport televised where it’s normal to see the backside of the ref every now and then. Many still remain divided on whether the expansion into the sun belt, in markets such as Anaheim, Arizona, Dallas, Florida were good for the game in terms of growth, or if the game would be better served by having more teams in traditional hockey markets. Yup! The on-ice product led to ESPN shifting them to ESPN2 due to lack of ratings. I’d like them to get more national broadcast exposure than they have. In basketball you pretty much watch the game from the side but you see the shot attempt and if it is successful. One game, seven weeks into the season, and then no more games until five weeks later. There is only so much time in a day and fans make have to make decisions about which games to watch. Ottawa Senators owner Melnyk losing popularity with both fans and politicians. The following are the American sports in the order of TV popularity. It’s to bad a small % of people really watch it. With the sport losing popularity, it's no wonder that some Little League teams and high schools are struggling to recruit enough players. They gave, basically, absolute power to Bettman, needing an over 75% vote of the owners to override him, in exchange for Bettman getting them the salary cap in the league. It seems counter-intuitive to suggest that the NHL try remove fighting from hockey but you need to look no further than the NFL or NBA to see what promoting skill over physicality can do for popularity. Hockey is also televised in more different ways than any other sport. It was a fast paced series. Unfortunately for the NHL they had their TV contract in place with NBC which does reach a large audience but isn't considered a sports channel in the same way that ESPN is. Hockey is in a difficult spot as players wear helmets and it cant be difficult to distinguish who is who on the rink. The NHL ratings are excellent and have been growing every year. Buy why? No, they’re oranges. ... Not only did the Golden Knights lose in a Game 7 in overtime but Vegas also squandered a 3-1 series lead and lost a … Despite the continued popularity of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States, more broadly gridiron football is in an era of rapid … Most telling is the Cup has been won exclusively by American teams since the Habs' win in 1993. And the Stanley Cup playoffs is the best tournament going. One might be conventional and show the game from center ice, allowing the viewer to see the play such as passing the puck and basically just following the play. Max Kellerman made his living covering a dying sport, now just talks out his keister for a living. How many “games” does NASCAR or Golf play in a year? This is a difficult concern to assess but many fans have complained about how the TV experience of watching hockey doesn't live up to the experience of seeing the game in person. I don’t care if they don’t like hockey. Will Cain and Jalen Rose debates which sport is more popular after the NBA Christmas Day viewership spiked. He came away enthralled with the game, the noise, the speed and the crowd. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Max Kellerman. But to play hockey, you first need to learn how to skate. It all seams made up. There are currently 30 teams in the NHL, around the same number as the MLB, NBA and NFL, but it's unlikely the NHL should be trying to sustain this amount of teams. The outdoor games, international games, and within towns I see more hockey being played. Hockey has its roots on the rink your dad built in the backyard when you were growing up, and for much of the U.S., they don't have the weather to even make a rink. “nobody really cares about hockey… it’s not one of the 4 major team sports” pic.twitter.com/5rD89ebx8D — NHL News (@puck_report2) June 3, 2020 Yikes. The cost to play the game is what leads to difficulties in attracting youth to play the sport when they are young, which is what will grow the league's popularity. If the U.S. can continue to close the gap on Canada and the rest of the world in its ability to develop talent, the sport's popularity will likely rise along with it. I think the author missed on this one, Wow. Yikes. The U.S. is continually becoming a more diverse population and the league would be smart to support stars like P.K. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. The U.S, more so that other nations, loves being the best at things, especially sports. Even in hockey's peak months of May and June, as we get closer to deciding the Stanley Cup winner, hockey coverage is constantly superseded in the U.S by NFL coverage, be it the draft fallout or offseason storylines, by the NBA playoffs and early season MLB stories all seem to push hockey aside. Then the glow puck fiasco happened. The Stanley Cup Final wrapped up this past week with the Chicago Blackhawks defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. For comparison, the NBA Finals had an audience were minorities accounted for 55-61% of the viewers. NBC earned a 1.5/3 overnight Nielsen rating for its first week of NHL action in the 2005–2006 season.The regional coverage was down 11.8% from a 1.7/4 for the first week of NHL on ABC in 2004.NBC's regional coverage of New York Rangers-Detroit Red Wings to 35% of the country earned a 1.4/3 overnight rating. Since the peak in 1994, the NHL has seen three lockouts that amount to two full lost seasons, TV ratings tank, gone from ESPN, to the Outdoor Life Network, and an exclusive deal with NBC that really doesn’t even start airing games until the second half of the season. Cement Head wasn’t a goon. Enough for the occasional expansion. More and more clutch and grab led to more goons on the ice instead of players with actual talent. It was the new rules put in by the NHL after that. I took a friend of mine from my office from here in Georgia to see the Rangers play the Lightening in Tampa a couple of years ago. In its attempt to spread its popularity in new markets, the NHL put teams in places that don't seem interested, such as Phoenix, Carolina and South Florida. Youth Hockey is bigger than ever, in cities like Miami and Ft Lauderdale. So the dictator masks the lack of real annual revenue growth by adding more teams, in a league that doesn’t need more teams, to the tune of $500M per new team added. How is that a viable route to growing the game? Kellerman was recently on with Stephen A. Smith and he pretty much gutted hockey’s popularity in the US. Again though, the Stanley Cups are won by teams in America, comprised mostly of Canadian and European players. No one would channel surf, see hockey, and take a pause. Smith likely thinks a blue line is a bunch of cops protecting a protest. Major League Baseball and its fans have raised alarms in recent years over a perceived decline in the popularity of baseball in the United States. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The great Edmonton teams played a goon on their first line to protect Gretzky. Take them to a live game? Perhaps if they brought back good ok fashioned hockey fights I might be willing to pay for a cable bill again just for that. Most organizations will give out scholarships, and reduced tuition. Baseball is too slow for a generation of kids raised on TV and video games. Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point (21) gets the puck past Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) to score a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey … Smith and those morons deserve each other. Is Hockey growing or is it starting to be less popular? The popularity of the NHL would be well-served by getting a few commentators on ESPN discusses the league's action on a regular basis. Fri., ... Melnyk was visibly tickled to own an NHL … The owners killed half of the 1994-1995 season, losing all momentum following the huge Rangers win. Colin Kaepernick. They have progressively declined over the years, mot increased. The NHL has been trying to expand its popularity for years and has seen some gains but still struggles in many of its markets. See a pattern? Games are just better with fights. Haven’t had cable for years. If you look at USA hockey registration numbers over the 20 years 1998–2018, the increase is at 36.8%. Facing unprecedented competition, NHL playoff ratings are in the tank The NHL's return to play has been wildly successful, but people are not watching the playoffs. What a ride that was. If the NHL can continue to make strides in the diversity of both its players and audience by broadening its reach to minority fans, the sport would have tons of rooms to grow in the U.S. USA hockey still has a growing base of kids, ratings are up and the people in the building would only add a quarter point to the ratings(I looked.). Oh God yes, nothing beats a live hockey game …. Kellerman is a total hack. According to polls in 2018 by Ranker and a Gallup, the NFL is the leading choice for favorite sport by fans. Your opinion is slanted towards the tv coverage… Not the feeling of the fans… There are MANY NHL/ college hockey fans who don’t care for American football or MLB… And WE WILL follow hockey, find it wherever they “hide it” .. Take the easy route here but avoided they actual bottom line. Then came the lost season. Sports writer, Patriots fan, Russell Westbrook enthusiast and defender of the decision to go for it on fourth and 1. Football. The DVR for 5 minutes of highlights and no ads, maybe. Subban and Dustin Byfuglien. In general I think we're steadily growing in popularity. If you were wondering why no one cares about hockey, this is it. Potential Rangers trade target: Gabriel Landeskog, Around the Farm: Eric Ciccolini’s season ends in OT loss in B1G semis, Revisiting the NY Rangers five keys to a success in 2021, The Rangers 2021 first round pick should be traded for immediate needs this offseason, Rangers manage a point, but lose more ground to Flyers in OT, NY Rangers Game 26 Open Thread: Need points now, Adam Fox, Pavel Buchnevich in COVID protocol, Around the Farm: Zac Jones scores; UMass ousts Riley Hughes’ Northeastern, Rangers cancel morning skate; Phil Di Giuseppe in COVID protocol. Hockey fans can be pretty hard on the commissioner, especially at the NHL® Draft, but when I take a long look at what he has done while leading the sport, I have to admit he has been good for the NHL® and for the popularity of hockey in America. While the NHL may be one of the four major professional sports leagues, its popularity isn't in the top four because of the popularity of college sports. Well, considering that Kellerman follows boxing, and Stephen A.Smith is a complete idiot……. Hockey fans in the U.S. take what we can get when it comes to validation of our sport's popularity. Hockey is not a Big Four sport in this country anymore. It was a great Cup Final. Tobias Rieder and Jeff Skinner both netted goals, Jonas Johansson stopped 24 of 27 shots , but fell short against the Devils losing 3-2 Hockey also seems to be a sport stuck in a culture of being stoic, team-based and frowns on people who give strong opinions, or show any touch of flair. actually fighting peaked in the 2008-2009 season. Saying no one cares about hockey and its 7th worldwide says different. In Canada though, hockey is king and part of its national identity but in the U.S. it's often an afterthought in many markets. Speed and skill went to the wayside for fighting and cheap shots. The league effectively lost an entire generation of hockey fans. … Hockey is probably one of the most expensive sports to get into, and i guess football/soccer is starting to get way bigger in the USA aswell. How many in Canada . it is still 4th in the US. It had everything. Too funny. We know how popular Hockey is…and as a purist ..I do not wish to be considered in the ilk as the other sports…anyone gotta beer!!? Too ExpensiveIt's a difficult task to try and convince parents to put their kids in hockey, a sport that … Now i almost never watch it. [ 1] T Television viewership numbers are fairly static, however, the game is difficult to fully appreciate on TV. The dictator has taken the greatest sport in the world, and turned into a Mickey Mouse league. Why is America's favorite sport losing ground with American kids? Many of these franchises are suffering, and it brings down the quality of the league as a whole. The owners of these teams are in a tough position, if no one comes to their games they don't have any revenue to go out and improve either their team or their arena, but if they don't improve those things, why would anyone come out to the games.? Perhaps a weekly Hockey Night in The USA? In the U.S. the NHL needs to distinguish itself from all its competition if it wants its popularity to rise. But in the latest Harris Poll, hockey comes in at No. The NHL has been slowly improving the diversity of its players which in turn should improve its popularity but it has a long way to go. The NHL’s popularity in the United States is largely due to the continual growth of media coverage. NBC tried to promote the NHL in the 1970s. It’s Goliath and America’s favorite sport. But i did watch it and I did go to Islanders games. The dictator hates Dolan, who sued Bettman and the NHL in the mid 2000s over league marketing rules. 6 … All that talk in the NFL about concussions, they thought they would be the next target. You can watch the viewership decline with those fights declining. No one could find OLN or Versus on their cable channels except for actual hockey fans. The worst idea ever. IT is there, but ask yourself how many people in America can even skate ? Hockey's immense popularity in Canada and northern European countries is largely because of this fact. 2018-2019 saw just 224. Man, I don’t know if you are old enough to remember, but the 1994 NJ and Vancouver series almost did me in, physically and mentally, lol. The biggest stars in the league are usually Canadian or European which can make the sport seem foreign even if it's played right in their hometown. The NHL is by far the least diverse of the four major sports and not surprising its fans represent that lack of diversity. Gallup shows an alarming decline in support of sports in general, and it is across the spectrum. The Blackhawks have now won three cups in six seasons, solidifying their status as a modern NHL dynasty. Fighting began to subsid from the mid-90s on,, so I’m not sure fighting was to blame for it’s falling popularity post the 94 Rangers win. * The Detroit/Colorado rivalry was great for the game in that stretch, but that again peaked with Ray Bourque winning the Cup. Quite frankly, I don’t care what the overweight former highschool athletes, old geezers, or delicate pansies like about football, baseball, and basketball. You just totally pulled that out of your ass, it’s the best sport in the world…and that’s good enough for me…. Sometime in the early 2000s, the owners sold their souls in exchange for getting a salary cap. Also they transitioned to growing the sport via investing in kids. But which NHL franchises are still glum in 2019-20? Same with baseball and the NFL. Live hockey is just so much fun. I read an article 2 weeks ago how viewership has tanked since they made the fighting more strict. These recent cup finals showcased two of the league's and USA's best players in Patrick Kane and Tyler Johnson. Update: Since there were some comments about revenue, hockey is still the fourth highest American sport in revenue (MLB, NBA, NFL) with revenue close to $5 billion. Hockey is great; fast-paced, exciting, physical and it should be more popular in the U.S. The U.S. have been playing better on international stages lately, finishing with the silver in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and 4th place in the 2014 games. News on all your favorite celebs, reality TV, and movies. 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John Cena Rivalry, Explained, Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley & 9 Other Great Barbed Wire Matches. Even today, NBC only airs one NHL game before the Winter Classic, and that’s the Black Friday game with the Rangers. they should give 2 tickets away for every game to people who have never seen a game live, I’m sure that would increase the fandom. Why is a sport that is so popular losing ratings at such an alarming rate? Kellerman is someone I typically find myself agreeing with but , what a joke this article is and so was the comments and option’s. This holds the sport back from reaching out to a new audience and grabbing some attention. The game then suffered immensely by effectively allowing clutch and grab hockey to take a *clears throat* hold on the game *pause for laughs. I wont even waste my time or anyone else’s by voicing my opion about NBA…..NFL and MLB. So not only do the owners get that little “bonus” they don’t have to share it with the players. The attack on hockey fights made me not attend anymore games. Unique lists featuring pop culture, entertainment and crazy facts. I have to say I am not a die hard fan. They are 7th worldwide (La Liga, Premier League). Then you have the other network with way too many close ups, showing the game from horrible camera angles- that thing that hangs over the glass at center ice comes to mind. Physical Ticket Sales. Sports fans on Twitter offered a variety of reasons for gap in popularity between the NHL and the NBA. In arena revenue drives hockey and TV revenue is improving at a rapid pace. The dictator wants hockey in non-hockey cities. The NHL suffers from a lack of star power, not because they don't have star-level talent but because the league does not do a great job at promoting these stars. Put simply, the NFL is losing popularity. Hockey fills it’s buildings at a higher percentage than the NBA and at a higher average ticket price. Luckily for the NHL in came high definition which has drastically improved the clarity of watching hockey games. Ottawa Senators owner Melnyk losing popularity with both fans and politicians Back to video “I used to think of the Canadian Tire Centre as my big, gigantic rec room,” Anwar says. Here’s the thing though: He’s right. The NFL and NBA have drastically changed their rules to promote more focus on offense and supported a wide-open flowing game. To me, the real issue is that casual hockey fans cannot follow the puck on TV. Did anyone even get to channel 247? I am mid forties, and was unable to afford it back in the 80’s. Nothing else to talk about other than bashing the NHL. I think that this has been the issue of mass appeal here. Overall, week 1 ratings, excluding Monday Night Football, fell 13% from 2016. I think he’s talking about the 90’s, when Philadelphia set the tone with the “Broad Street Bullies”. During the first eight years the NHL existed, teams played between 18 and 36 games in a season. While the U.S national hockey team always does fairly well in international competition, especially recently and the NHL is littered with outstanding American players, hockey is not a sport that the U.S. dominates. There was nothing exciting about those Devils teams that won three Cups. It’s never really been a TV game although with all the advances in technology I suspect in the future its day will come. But most casual fans do not get to a live game, so they get frustrated when they try to watch it on TV. If the NHL wants to increase its popularity it will need to take steps to make the sport more accessible to youth, especially lower-income families. To determine the teams losing the most fans, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 10-year percentage changes in average attendance at regular season home games in the NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL. Viewers are down because they took a fundamental part of the game out of it. Look at the internationally played nhl games. In football you see just about the whole game from the side and you watch the quarterback throw to a receiver or handoff the ball. Televised hockey has improved, but if they could somehow capture those aspects of the game better, it might be even better. I have literally seen just ice on the screen from that angle. . The NHL is one of five major sports leagues in North America and is … It speaks to the quick pace of the game, especially now. Max Kellerman became relevant in the hockey world this week, words I never thought I’d say. I have to disagree. Sports fans don't just like watching the games, they want to hear the debates surrounding them and this is where ESPN could help interject hockey into the national sports conversation. isn’t league revenue the main metric? Back then it was a sport played by upper middle class and above. Stuffing the owners’ pockets. Revenue for the sport has risen nearly two fold from just under 2 billion before the first work stoppage in 2004 to over 5 billion this year. The growth of the sport at the amateur level has been unprecedented. Then came leaving ESPN for the Outdoor Life Network, which eventually became Versus, then finally settled on NBC Sports. It lost momentum in the 1980s. Hockey is difficult for TV, as the puck is difficult to see at times and the overwhelming speed of the game doesn't translate as impressively to TV. In most countries, university and college athletics are not the enterprise that the NCAA is in the US. Is The NHL Losing Popularity? 4 league when it comes to ranking the popularity of North American professional team sports. What an awful article. Guaranteed far less people find Kellerman/and that show relevant. One thing that this author doesn’t mention is that the grassroots programs for children has exploded in those years between 1994 and now, in large part to the NHL. Five different players scored, as the Islanders defeat the Devils, 5-3, for their seventh consecutive win despite losing Anders Lee to injury A game is 8 minutes tops. The NHL faces steep competition in the U.S, especially with the popularity of sports like NASCAR or even sports entertainment like wrestling. Since the 1970’s, America transitioned to loving football more than baseball and its fans haven’t turned back. The NHL's problem is the widespread disparity in profits for its 30 teams. The NHL revenue stream has grown consistantly. They get hooked, for sure. I feel like The NHL and hockey has been growing nicely the last 10 years. Who would have thunk , WHA 10 TEAM EXPANSION OVERNIGHT ! He was Frankenstein’s Monster! That’s why hockey doesn’t do well in the TV ratings. For example (and I don’t know their numbers) is NASCAR or Golf an apple here? that was the fighting. The franchise fees, BTW, are not included in the calculation of the salary cap. The Blackhawks have now won three cups in six seasons, solidifying their sta. If the NHL can continue to improve the TV watching experience for hockey games, it'll benefit the game tremendously. And you want me to watch these clowns? Who exactly is #4? We estimated that 18 teams lost money during the 2010-11 season in our annual look at the business of hockey… DR. By David Reevely The Canadian Press. It's a difficult task to try and convince parents to put their kids in hockey, a sport that can cost unbelievable amounts of money for families, instead of basketball or soccer where all you need is a ball and some shoes.