NHL lockout

[Rhymes]

I dont know if its abig issue in the US, but the overpaid NHL players are right now in a lock-out probably for the rest of the season.
In Montreal, its a major issue: Hockey is what makes the city live during winter!

I was wondering if it affected americans at all? How popular is hockey in the US?

 

[Tomoyo]

I only know one person who is affected by it:

My life is so empty without hockey now...

 

[Terrapin]

@Rhymes,

The importance of hockey in the US varies greatly by region and ethnicity. Hockey means nothing in the South and most of the Mid-West and West. The places where hockey has a following are in the big cities of the Northeast corridor and the upper mid-West. So in Boston, New York, Buffalo, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis, the loss of hockey is felt. For instance, I live near Philadelphia and many people are disappointed that there is no season. For now that disappointment is muted because the Eagles (US football) are undefeated, but when football is over, the Flyers will really be missed. This pattern actually holds even when the NHL is playing, i.e. fervor for hockey does not really grow until the Eagles are done playing.

It is worthwhile to know that even in the aforementioned cities, hockey is only popular among white people. African-Americans, in spite of ten years of NHL marketing directed at them, have essentially no interest in hockey. The same is true of Latinos, who follow soccer and baseball, sometimes basketball and football, but never hockey. This inability to draw non-white fans, combined with the fact that hockey has no meaningful presence in 3/4 of the country (For instance, Tampa Bay would not have sold out ANY games this year, even though they won the Stanley Cup), means that hockey will never be more than a niche sport in the US. On the other hand, among those who are fans, the enthusiasm is comparable even to Montreal. Flyers, Rangers, Bruins and Red Wings fans pass season tickets on to their children. The arenas are sold out every single night and the playoffs are considered a highlight of the sports year, even when the home team has been eliminated.

 

[Rhymes]

Interesting!!!!
In opposition, in Montreal, everybody is a fan, black, latinos, and especially Italians. The only ethnicity I dont see at Canadien games are asians. Here, even during the regular season, its almost impossible to have ticket to a game less then 2 weeks in advnace.

 

[Daniel Khan]

I just started to get interested in Hockey last season, and this strike is really hurting the non-major US markets.

 

[dgfred]

They are actually showing past Hurricane games (cup-run season) on tv
in my area . That's ridiculous .

 

[zeon252]

They've begun to show AHL games on the local stations. Also former Devils coach Pat Burns is volunteering his time for the Princeton college team, he must be bored out of his mind! At least we stil have high school hockey...

 

[Serutan]

Terrapin is right. I've lived in the South, West, and
Northeast, and the latter is the only place where anyone really
gives a hoot about hockey. Personally, I like international hockey
because they actually skate around and try to shoot goals. But I
detest the NHL, where the main purpose of the game is fighting
and smashing each other against the boards, with skating and
scoring taking a distinct back seat.

 

[pawpaw]

the players also don't practice what they preach, ed belfour own's a minor league/semi pro team--it has a salary cap--why--because eddie says he needs to make a profit---but HE states he will not play under one.

 

[Davidizer13]

I couldn't care less. About, what, 8 people actually watched hockey on a regular basis outside of Canada.

 

[Terrapin]

In Philly, the local Comcast Cable sports channel has been running a show called "Hungry for Hockey." It is hosted by (I think they are all hosts) former Avalanche and Flyer Keith Jones, ESPN Hockey reporter Al Morganti and well-fed Flyers Coach Ken Hitchcock. The show consists of a re-broadcast of a classic (read 'old') Flyers game interspersed with the hosts (rather patheticly) trying to cook a meal. While we are at it, Hitch has been seen coaching Princeton U's Hockey Club and has even been at a practice for Morganti's little league club.

I am interested in the fact that Hockey is popular among non-white canadians. It is a shame that spirit does not prevade here in the US. Here, hockey is the butt of many jokes in the black community. For instance, Eddie Murphy did a whole segment on hockey in one of his early stand-up videos. In "white Men Can't Jump" Wesley Snipes call's Woody Harrelson's character "Gretzky" when he walks asks to play pick-up basketball with Snipes' character and his friends.

 

[Rhymes]

Yeah, here to we have a show called something like "hall of famer games" that consist of old series, pretty boring in my opinion. Also, the Quebec NHL players have formed a league made out of 3 teams that play 4 on 4 games (that rocks) with the colaboration of McDonald's,.. to help out sick children or something. I think its all in their honor, and plus it offers a decent show.

 

[blindside]

Nobody really cares much for hockey here until the Devils get far into the playoffs.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

I guess that it's the Majority that don't care, but those that do like it really seemed to get behind it. The Hockey News did a report on Hoickey at Grass Roots level in the US in each of the 24 markets, and it shows that there is an increase in interest in the game, but not as much as Bettman assumed there would be. And the Lockout is hurting that interest because they don't have hockey to watch. Bettman says that there won't be any contraction. Maybe he's going to give in and accept the Luxury tax and we can be starting soon...

And a Hard Cap won't do squat. The superstars will still get their money. The price will be payed by the third and fourth line grinders and the 5/6 defencemen, and the backuop goalies that will have their salaries reduced to minimum and the big names will still be overpayed, and the teams in debt will still be in debt...

 

[El Duderino]

Hi, most of you haven't a clue who I am, but I live in Waterloo, Ontario, and I am an enormous fan of hockey. I wrote an essay about the lockout, and it is going to be in the local paper, the KW Record.

I though it might interest you guys, so here it is.

Who deserves the blame for ruining the NHL?
The NHL is perilously close to falling into history, and becoming something Grandparents will tell their grandchildren about many years from now. The following people must come together to fix the NHL and the problems it is facing. The players, together with Bob Goodenow, the owners, and the league’s commissioner, Gary Bettman, all deserve part of the blame for bringing the NHL to the brink of financial destruction. These three entities are all responsible for ruining the economics of the game.
The NHL players are deserving of some of the blame, although they deserve the smallest part of it. The players’ salaries, on average, comprise approximately seventy-five percent of the teams’ expenses, an excessive amount compared to other sports. The players have admitted there are financial problems that exist in the NHL, but they refuse to reduce their salaries by any significant amount. Bob Goodenow, the leader of the NHL Players’ Association, is also in agreement with the players, and he refuses to compromise with the NHL and Gary Bettman about a possible salary cap. A salary cap would propose to limit the total amount of money a team can spend on players’ salaries, thus creating what Bettman refers to as “cost certainty.” The players and Goodenow refuse to submit to this system, thus creating an impasse that will be very difficult for the league and the players to overcome.
The players also create public relations problems for the NHL, lowering interest in the sport. Mike Modano, a forward for the Dallas Stars, recently commented on AHL salaries, saying, “I could barely afford to feed my pets on $400 a week.” Such a misinformed comment causes public relations nightmares for the NHL, and has a detrimental effect on the league in general.
The owners of the NHL teams deserve some of the blame for the economic crisis facing the NHL. The owners have been whining for quite a while about the players and their demands for higher salaries. However, if the owners insist on offering the players enormous salaries, the players cannot be blamed for accepting the money. The owner could have become a force and refused to raise salaries above five million dollars a year for any specific player, and the owners could have refused to spend more than forty million dollars total on the team’s payroll. They caused the problem by spending more than they had to devote to player’s salaries. They created this monster, and now they must deal with the results. The owners must attempt to create a compromise with the Player’s Union, and restore the league to its former glory.
Gary Bettman has ruined the league by expanding into unreceptive markets in the United States. The World Series of Poker drew five times more television viewers than the United States vs. Russia game during the World Cup of Hockey. This lack of American interest clearly illustrates the problems resounding throughout the game. Twenty-four teams reside in American cities, and many of them are failing miserably. Bettman has added eight American teams to the NHL. According to the Globe and Mail, during the 2002-03 season, the NHL lost 273 million dollars, and 188 million dollars of that deficit came from six teams. Although the six teams who lost the most money were not mentioned, most people agree that recent additions to the league are among culprits for the worst fiscal losses. The recent rash of over-expansion into the United States is the biggest cause of the fiscal crisis the league is encountering.
The NHL is in abysmal shape. The Players’ Union and Gary Bettman must collaborate to create a new financial agreement, which can maintain the league’s excitement and make it a fiscally responsible league. The players must accept lower salaries. The owners must refuse to hand out massive salaries. The league must stop expanding, and even a contraction of teams would be a good thing. When these three things come together, the NHL can resume its normal schedule, and rediscover its lost allure. Until then, hockey is going nowhere but down, and the problems plaguing the league will not be solved.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

The owners ponied up huge sums because they were afraid that their competition would do it if they didn't...

The Players have made concessions everywhere they can. The owners themselves are the only place they can't ake concessions. It's time for the owners to take their share of the responsibility for this mess and fix the problem. If not then their 100M+ investments are worth nothing...

 

[dgfred]

I noticed D.Heatley got hit in the eye by a puck - possible eye
damage and broken orbital bone . He has had a rough yr or two?

 

[Terrapin]

Nice essay El Dude.... The expansion to so many US cities really is a problem for the league. The wierd thing is that the league expanded to so many secondary cities like Columbus! I can understand the league taking a shot at big cities such as Miami and LA even though they have no hockey culture or tradition. But if they were going to go into smaller cities, they would have been better off going to smaller cities in Canada or at least hockey loving parts of the US. Seriously columbus has a minor league baseball team. What marketing genius thought that a city where baseball, America's national passtime, has only a minor league presence could support a big league hockey club?

 

[Serutan]

@Terrapin - Not to mention Nashville. That's big time football
country; in the '60s there was a minor league team called
the Dixie Flyers, but they folded.

 

[Drewcifer]

Hockey is a big deal in Minnesota but it has never been just about the NHL. In addition to the Wild, both the University of Minnesota and St Cloud State have their games on broadcast tv in the Twin Cities, the University of Minnesota-Duluth is on cable. Every second of every game of the state high school tournament is on broadcast tv statewide and attendence for games is often over 20,000. The tournament is cool. It is the thrill of a lifetime for most of the kids in it and it's best players usually end up in the NHL.

Winter is really when we need to watch sports on tv to keep from going crazy being shut in by the cold and wind. Fortunately the Timberwolves are good and we still have the high school tournament and college hockey. The WCHA is the college hockey that people follow here (Hockey East, the ECAC and the CCHA are the other big conferences). The players are a bit slower and not as strong but the games are fun to watch with a lot of end to end action, good skills, and not nearly as much of the trap as you see in the NHL. Smaller players can thrive in a way that has become difficult in the NHL. The U of M vs UMD in the Frozen Four quarterfinals last year was one of the most thrilling hockey games I've seen in years.

I actually think that the lockout might be a blessing in disguise to those of us who live in places that actually care about hockey. There are too many teams now and in a bunch of silly markets. While contraction could be a catastrophy for a lot of third and fourth line players it could make the sport more interesting to watch for the rest of us.