BladesofSTEELwFIRE
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- Feb 15, 2010
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Australia draws 20,000 for ice hockey! Amazing!
- Thread starter BladesofSTEELwFIRE
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Siamese Dream
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The Nottingham varsity hockey sold out and the game pulled 7k! University hockey must be huge in the UK!
And Nathan Walker gets drafted as the first Australian drafted into the NHL ever!
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=727141
Finally they can start playing a real sport and give up on that weird made-up football game of theirs!
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=727141
Finally they can start playing a real sport and give up on that weird made-up football game of theirs!
BladesofSTEELwFIRE
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- Feb 15, 2010
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Hockey originated in Europe and has been played there for many decades. It is completely alien down under so that's what makes it so newsworthy!
I knew the past couple of years a series of US vs Canada exhibition games (featuring for the most part minor league players) had been organized that sold out arenas in various cities and drew crowds upwards of 20,000, but I didn't realize ticket prices were $74-$230!
I wonder if the NHL has been paying attention and if so how long before a couple of teams start their season down under?
Selling out arenas across the country, a player getting drafted and landing a NHL contract, a seemingly viable semi-pro national league... It's only a matter of time before hockey takes over Australia and Australia takes over hockey!!!
Seriously though, it's neato seeing hockey carve out a niche in unlikely places.
I wonder if the NHL has been paying attention and if so how long before a couple of teams start their season down under?Selling out arenas across the country, a player getting drafted and landing a NHL contract, a seemingly viable semi-pro national league... It's only a matter of time before hockey takes over Australia and Australia takes over hockey!!!
Seriously though, it's neato seeing hockey carve out a niche in unlikely places.
n00bxQb
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- Jul 26, 2010
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I had a few guys from Australia/New Zealand in my GM Connected league in NHL 14. Seems like there are already a fair amount of hockey fans there, it's just not as big as it is here in North America.I knew the past couple of years a series of US vs Canada exhibition games (featuring for the most part minor league players) had been organized that sold out arenas in various cities and drew crowds upwards of 20,000, but I didn't realize ticket prices were $74-$230!
Selling out arenas across the country, a player getting drafted and landing a NHL contract, a seemingly viable semi-pro national league... It's only a matter of time before hockey takes over Australia and Australia takes over hockey!!!
Seriously though, it's neato seeing hockey carve out a niche in unlikely places.
Too bad they're so isolated from the rest of the hockey-playing world. If they ever rose to a higher level in the sport, they'd have to create an all-Australia league. They're a 9 hour flight from Japan, the closest Pro league I'm aware of, so that's not realistic at all.
BladesofSTEELwFIRE
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Hockey is bigger in Australia than anywhere else south of the equator. Plus they have a 1st world infrastructure and are a fairly wealthy country which really helps growth for an expensive game like ice hockey.
Let me ask you, if there was a baseball/american football game in Sweden that drew 50k spectators, would you say "Wow, <sport> really has a great future there!"?
If I was the grand ruler of baseball and over the past couple of years someone in Sweden took it upon themselves to organize multiple series of exhibition baseball games featuring minor leaguers from the US and Japan that managed to sell out several midsize to large venues (@ $74-$230/ticket) across Sweden it would certainly have my attention. I wouldn’t be delusional enough to think that baseball is destined to challenge soccer or hockey but I would think there might be a niche worth exploiting and certainly look into investing some time and money into the market. Perhaps the investment leads to the sport having a ‘great future“, and if it doesn’t it’s no big deal because with or without Sweden caring I am still running a multi billion $ industry.
It's semi-pro though, so it's not really a viable career option, and not going to draw in/allow for development of much. Simply put, Australian players that have any real talent and want to play hockey won't play there, they'll go somewhere else (see Nathan Walker!)
It's a good first step in building a foundation for liking, viewing and playing the game, but it's obviously pretty far from smaller pro leagues in Europe and Asia, and hugely behind the NHL/KHL/SHL/other top-tier hockey leagues.
Don't read too much into single games. Is it cool? Sure. Does it mean hockey will be a relevant sport in australia within the next 30 years? Hell no. It can grow, but chill for a bit.
Huh... I don't think anyone in this thread has said hockey is about to take Australia by storm and become front page news. People are just surprised the sport seems to have established a bit of a niche, think there is some potential for modest growth, and see perhaps an opportunity for the NHL(PA) to make a few $ (so they can fight over it later). So ya, chill for a bit.
Huh... I don't think anyone in this thread has said hockey is about to take Australia by storm and become front page news. People are just surprised the sport seems to have established a bit of a niche, think there is some potential for modest growth, and see perhaps an opportunity for the NHL(PA) to make a few $ (so they can fight over it later). So ya, chill for a bit.
A volleyboll game just had 62k spectators in Poland. Volleyball confirmed biggest sport in Poland?
TheCLAM
Registered User
Huh... I don't think anyone in this thread has said hockey is about to take Australia by storm and become front page news. People are just surprised the sport seems to have established a bit of a niche, think there is some potential for modest growth, and see perhaps an opportunity for the NHL(PA) to make a few $ (so they can fight over it later). So ya, chill for a bit.
It's going to sell out in Australia, it's something totally out of culture. I don't think they revenue is there at all, if we're basing this off one game. It's encouraging that many people partook in this event, but there's no modest growth considering there's a sample size of 1.
What do you mean it's a good opportunity for the NHLPA to make revenue?
J Murda
Registered User
I'm wondering if we are going to start seeing Aussies coming over to play in Canadian/American Junior A & B leagues more often.
I know the Banff Academy Junior B team in the Heritage Junior League has had a few Aussies. It would be interesting if this became a more common thing.
I know the Banff Academy Junior B team in the Heritage Junior League has had a few Aussies. It would be interesting if this became a more common thing.
I don't know... Has volleyball been confirmed as the biggest sport in Poland?
Seeing how neither I, nor anyone else in this thread, has said that because 20,000+ people in Sydney (or 15,000 in Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane) showed up for a hockey game that hockey is the biggest sport in Australia I'm not sure of what point you are trying to make... Do you even have one? what you're trying to say here.It hasn't been one game, it has been several over the past couple of years. I'm not saying that Australia is going to become a hockey hot bed or major cash cow for the NHL. All what I am saying is if a promoter in Australia has managed to get tens of thousands of people to pay upwards of $200+ to watch a bunch of career minor leaguers play a series of meaningless exhibition games than the NHL could very well be capable of doing the same for a couple of regular season games. The novelty of a couple of games in Sydney and/or Melbourne could very well generate more revenue than a couple of games in a number of current NHL markets.
BladesofSTEELwFIRE
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Look, at least the potential is there. I'm not saying it will take over Australia but maybe it can succeed as a niche sport.
Ya, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if a decade from now these games drawing 15-20 thousand are nothing but a distant memory (if remembered at all), but as it stands now there seems to be a niche willing to spend a fairly decent amount of money to watch a fairly low standard of hockey... If the current niche/curiosity is managed well maybe it can lead somewhere good for hockey in Australia.
First one have to ask, is there even plausible that it would show up that many to a game of one of those two sports. It would have to take something really special, and that is real NA pro athletes participating.
If there was a NFL game it could perhaps draw 50K. A game like that could help that sport to grow. Football in Sweden is far from unexisting. But it's not going to happen (the game).
Baseball...no chance of drawing 50k.
So my answer is if there WOULD be a baseball/football game in Sweden that drew 50k spectators, it would make the sport grow here.
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BladesofSTEELwFIRE
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