Is the NHL doomed? And do any Forumites care?
- Thread starter Tonio
- Start date
Tonio
Asperger's Poster Child
I think pro hockey in the US has always been a cult sport, with a relatively small but fanatically devoted base of fans. To survive, I think the NHL will eventually devolve into its former state, with half the teams in Canada and half the teams in northern US cities.
I love going to hockey games.
Ponytail
New Member
cattitude said:I love hockey.Best sport to watch (in person).
I USED to say that... Until I went and watched box lacross once.
I'm a season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Wings, or at least I was when I lived there. I miss it. I really do. And so does my Mom. She LOVED going with me to those games.
Baltimore had a team in the early years of the league, but I see now that that team no longer exists. The closest venue for NLL to SOMD is Philly, and I have already been informed that trek just will not happen. Too bad. It's a hoot, and it's cheap compared to a hockey game, or anything else for that matter.
Ponytail
New Member
Now to answer the question.
I doubt, especially from Philadelphia's standpoint, that if the NHL lost a season, or two or even 3, once it comes back, the fan base in Philly will be as strong as ever.
It was next to impossible to get season tickets. Decent seats are available, but getting a pair was only a dream. It was a packed house for every game. Hockey is rooted deep in that town. I have friends and family that play, and wait till 3 and 4 am just to get ice time and that's usually in the middle of the week.
I highly doubt that the Flyers will notice a difference at all when it comes back. Sure, if it waits that long, the players will most likely be different cuz most of the favorites are nearing retirement. But teeam will be back, as will hopes for the Stanley Cup again. And the Flyers and NHL advertising units will undoubtedly spend millions on meet and greets and promotions. The seats will be filled again, no problem.
I doubt, especially from Philadelphia's standpoint, that if the NHL lost a season, or two or even 3, once it comes back, the fan base in Philly will be as strong as ever.
It was next to impossible to get season tickets. Decent seats are available, but getting a pair was only a dream. It was a packed house for every game. Hockey is rooted deep in that town. I have friends and family that play, and wait till 3 and 4 am just to get ice time and that's usually in the middle of the week.
I highly doubt that the Flyers will notice a difference at all when it comes back. Sure, if it waits that long, the players will most likely be different cuz most of the favorites are nearing retirement. But teeam will be back, as will hopes for the Stanley Cup again. And the Flyers and NHL advertising units will undoubtedly spend millions on meet and greets and promotions. The seats will be filled again, no problem.
Larry Gude
Strung Out
Nhl...
the NHL decided they just HAD to persue the model of the big three; football, baseball and basketball and expand, expand, expand.
So, naturally, the players, having money thrown at them in amounts similar to the other three leagues and seeing teams sprout up in Florida of all places, figured the owners MUST know what they are doing and, therefore, any attempts at contracting salaries was just a business ploy and a salary cap needed to be fought about, just like the other leagues, and then we'll see.
Well, the owners, like the other leagues, really don't know what they are doing but the other three have room for error; TV money. Big TV money.
The NHL thought it could attain that status by having teams all over the place which would allow them to command big TV bucks by virtue of being national, like the other leagues.
We buy into football and the merchandise.
We buy into basketball and the merchandise.
Same for baseball.
We just don't for hockey.
The sport has been schizophrenic; it said it wanted to appeal to the nation, which loves flash; slam dunks, long toughdown passes (the bomb) and home runs but it ran a game that appealed to it's base; tough, physical play where a goal, due to the tension built from clutching, grabbing and tight defense, is near euphoric. It's almost as bad as soccer, the scoring, without the crying everytime somebody gets kicked in the shin. Hockey players are the toughest people on the planet, next to mothers. But the game is harder to follow with less payoff.
What hockey SHOULD have done was build larger, international style rinks where the truly great skilled players would have room to show off their skill. As it is now, a goal happens, usually, so suddenly that casual fans have no idea where it came from. The game is a moving traffic jam filled with mediocre players who can play defense. Odd man rush? Go! STOP. Two line pass. Tweet.
You can see Michael Jordan going to the rack. You can see Randy Moss running deep. Nothing is more plain than a home run as it arcs majestically out of the park.
There are plenty of football fans who want to see a defensive slugfest, 3-0. There are plenty of baseball fans that relish a pitchers dual 1-0. There are plenty of basketball fans who love a tight defensive 1/2 court game. There are plenty of hockey fans that love a 2-1 mugfest.
But if you want to be big time you have to appeal to the casual fan as well. The die hards....die hard. They'll be there. Real fans can wait for jerseys to go on sale. Casual fans will buy one for $75 at the game. Real fans will watch you at 10pm on cable. Casual fans will spend all day and watch the Superbowl, 5 hour halftime and all. Hence TV add revenue.
Hockey players have taken the position that it is not their job to keep the owners from being stupid. The owners have taken the position that they are too stupid to help themselves.
It's probably to late to open up the game so, Hockey is going to contract or break the union. An owner has to rely on his gate, say 15,000 at $50 per or $750,000 a game or about $30,000,000 per year. That alone, for simplicities sake means there is only about $1,000,000 per player available.
Football gets $100,000,000 PER TEAM per season just from TV. That, simplified, means over $2,000,000 per player.
Basketball plays the same amount of games as hockey but is paying 12 guys, not 23. That means double. And TV money.
Baseball plays 3,582 games per year per team. Baseball players get paid $9 billion a year each, unless you work every 5th game, then you get $400 trillion and no one knows where it comes from. And TV money.
Also, a star in hockey who is not a goalie plays maybe a third of a game, MAYBE. He's a sub by definition.
Hockey made a bundle selling all these franchises. The owners are screwed unless salaries are capped and capped pretty low.
Even when it comes back it will still not do well in 'casual fan' areas like Florida. It's not that kind of sport.
And this totally leaves out how magnified the problem is in the Peoples Republic of Canada. They REALLY can't afford salaries.
Hockey is in big trouble right now.
Last thought; would we be talking this little about a strike in the other three sports?
the NHL decided they just HAD to persue the model of the big three; football, baseball and basketball and expand, expand, expand.
So, naturally, the players, having money thrown at them in amounts similar to the other three leagues and seeing teams sprout up in Florida of all places, figured the owners MUST know what they are doing and, therefore, any attempts at contracting salaries was just a business ploy and a salary cap needed to be fought about, just like the other leagues, and then we'll see.
Well, the owners, like the other leagues, really don't know what they are doing but the other three have room for error; TV money. Big TV money.
The NHL thought it could attain that status by having teams all over the place which would allow them to command big TV bucks by virtue of being national, like the other leagues.
We buy into football and the merchandise.
We buy into basketball and the merchandise.
Same for baseball.
We just don't for hockey.
The sport has been schizophrenic; it said it wanted to appeal to the nation, which loves flash; slam dunks, long toughdown passes (the bomb) and home runs but it ran a game that appealed to it's base; tough, physical play where a goal, due to the tension built from clutching, grabbing and tight defense, is near euphoric. It's almost as bad as soccer, the scoring, without the crying everytime somebody gets kicked in the shin. Hockey players are the toughest people on the planet, next to mothers. But the game is harder to follow with less payoff.
What hockey SHOULD have done was build larger, international style rinks where the truly great skilled players would have room to show off their skill. As it is now, a goal happens, usually, so suddenly that casual fans have no idea where it came from. The game is a moving traffic jam filled with mediocre players who can play defense. Odd man rush? Go! STOP. Two line pass. Tweet.
You can see Michael Jordan going to the rack. You can see Randy Moss running deep. Nothing is more plain than a home run as it arcs majestically out of the park.
There are plenty of football fans who want to see a defensive slugfest, 3-0. There are plenty of baseball fans that relish a pitchers dual 1-0. There are plenty of basketball fans who love a tight defensive 1/2 court game. There are plenty of hockey fans that love a 2-1 mugfest.
But if you want to be big time you have to appeal to the casual fan as well. The die hards....die hard. They'll be there. Real fans can wait for jerseys to go on sale. Casual fans will buy one for $75 at the game. Real fans will watch you at 10pm on cable. Casual fans will spend all day and watch the Superbowl, 5 hour halftime and all. Hence TV add revenue.
Hockey players have taken the position that it is not their job to keep the owners from being stupid. The owners have taken the position that they are too stupid to help themselves.
It's probably to late to open up the game so, Hockey is going to contract or break the union. An owner has to rely on his gate, say 15,000 at $50 per or $750,000 a game or about $30,000,000 per year. That alone, for simplicities sake means there is only about $1,000,000 per player available.
Football gets $100,000,000 PER TEAM per season just from TV. That, simplified, means over $2,000,000 per player.
Basketball plays the same amount of games as hockey but is paying 12 guys, not 23. That means double. And TV money.
Baseball plays 3,582 games per year per team. Baseball players get paid $9 billion a year each, unless you work every 5th game, then you get $400 trillion and no one knows where it comes from. And TV money.
Also, a star in hockey who is not a goalie plays maybe a third of a game, MAYBE. He's a sub by definition.
Hockey made a bundle selling all these franchises. The owners are screwed unless salaries are capped and capped pretty low.
Even when it comes back it will still not do well in 'casual fan' areas like Florida. It's not that kind of sport.
And this totally leaves out how magnified the problem is in the Peoples Republic of Canada. They REALLY can't afford salaries.
Hockey is in big trouble right now.
Last thought; would we be talking this little about a strike in the other three sports?
