Proof that nobody cares about hockey

[KeithE4]

Atlanta is the fifth-largest TV market, if I'm not mistaken, and the NHL has tried and failed twice there. I live in Carolina Hurricanes country, and they're a big social event, especially among high-school kids on the eastern end of the county, about 35 miles from Raleigh.

Atlanta is Market #9.

As far as the Raleigh-Durham market is concerned, I can't comment (never been there) but I have a question: Is much of the fan base transplants from the northeast and/or midwest, what with the colleges and hi-tech industries there?

In his book about the history of televised sports, "In Its Own Image," Benjamin Rader points to three reasons hockey has never been a consistent national draw: (1) the game is not indigenous to the United States; (2) infrequent scoring; (3) inability to follow the puck. He points out that at one point in the '70s the NHL tried a red puck but the paint kept chipping off.

It has always been a regional draw - those regions being in the northeast and midwest for the most part. But it seems to be growing - I'm guessing that there are people like me that are fed up with the joke that is the NBA and watch hockey instead -, and northeast-centric NBC is the natural network for it. And it's been played professionally in the US almost as long as football, and much longer than basketball.

It's also a sport with little support from non-whites - some African-American support, but almost no interest from Hispanics and Asians. That makes a difference in the south and west, respectively.

 

[KeithE4]

USAToday is reporting that an agreement has been reached between the NHL and a group of investors to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes. Talks with the City of Glendale, which owns the Glendale Arena, will begin Tuesday.

Anyone who puts hundreds of millions of dollars into a hockey team that has zero chance of financial success if they remain on the west side should be locked up in a rubber room. The only way this team has a chance is to build a new arena in the Mesa area - you know, where hockey fans actually live.

 

[landtuna]

As far as the Raleigh-Durham market is concerned, I can't comment (never been there) but I have a question: Is much of the fan base transplants from the northeast and/or midwest, what with the colleges and hi-tech industries there?

In the 70's Atlanta had a big influx of northerners and in the 80's it was Raleigh-Durham. I haven't been to RDU in quite some time but think it couldn't have hurt. I lived in Richmond in the 70's and it had a thriving AHL team, as did Baltimore, for most of those years.

It's also a sport with little support from non-whites - some African-American support, but almost no interest from Hispanics and Asians. That makes a difference in the south and west, respectively.

Hockey is an expensive sport to play, especially for kids, and that explains why it was for a long time almost exclusively white. There are a dozen or so Black payers now in the game and creating a following and in the past players like Grant Fuhr was quite popular. Likewise there are a few players in the NHL now with Hispanic names although their game of choice remains soccer. Not too many players of Asian descent have made it into the bigs yet but there is a large Asian fan base in California - particularly in San Jose. These are the same people who were raised listening to the Beach Boys and could be found at custom car shows and on the beaches hanging ten just like the rest of the California youth of years past.

Looking at the very young kids now playing in the Phoenix area I am seeing many more kids of color and especially more girls. I suspect it will take time but these are probably the adult players and fans of tomorrow and their kids will eventually take over the game. Hockey is still one game where players of all sizes can participate - something that has eliminated the majority of us from football and basketball.

 

[KTU_Fan]

So going from ESPN's attendance numbers from this past regular season: Only 1 NBA team (Heat) had an overall attendance percentage of 100% or better, while the NHL had 6. Dropping down to 90% or better the NBA gives you 17 out of 30 and the NHL gives 28 out of 30. Going by just home attendance the NBA had 6 teams and the NHL had 16 teams out of 30 at 100% or better. So, it looks like more people are going to NHL games than NBA games, even if more people watch NBA on TV over the NHL.

Bottom line? PEOPLE CARE ABOUT HOCKEY

 

[Morgan Wick]

Dropping down to 90% or better the NBA gives you 17 out of 30 and the NHL gives 28 out of 30.

Wow, even in the sucky Southern markets? Of course, your next sentence suggests those southern markets might still be struggling where it counts...

So, it looks like more people are going to NHL games than NBA games, even if more people watch NBA on TV over the NHL.

Does anyone remember a while back when the president of ESPN claimed that while hockey had a lot of local passion, it "didn't translate well to a national discussion"? The ESPN-hating sports blogosphere gave him a lot of heat for that, but he may have been at least partly right. NBCSN's ratings doubled once the second round started and it got exclusivity for every game, and the night that started this thread, with simultaneous Original Six games on NBCSN and CNBC, produced NBCSN's most-watched game of the playoffs to that point, with the two networks combining for something like 3.3 million, when no single game on cable has attracted 1.8 million. That suggests a LOT of the viewership of these playoffs are local.

 

[bpatrick]

The Hurricanes draw mainly from northeastern and midwestern transplants;
the natives here in Chatham County are loyal to either Duke or Tar Heel
basketball, NASCAR, and hunting and fishing (and maybe the Atlanta Braves).
Interestingly, I never talk to anyone who has the slightest interest in Charlotte's
NBA team.

I reiterate what I said earlier about Atlanta: two NHL teams have tried and failed,
despite the influx of people from up north. But as pointed out, Atlanta is a football town
(Georgia, Georgia Tech, and the Falcons since they became perennial contenders)
and also a baseball town (since the '90s, when the Braves began fielding playoff-
caliber teams). As for the Hawks, I've talked to people who don't even know they
exist. (Along that line, and off-topic, Charlotte is going to change the name of its
NBA team back to the Hornets; I wonder if that will do anything to revive interest
in the NBA in the Queen City.)