Has hockey gained popularity since scoring levels increased?

[Machinehead]

That is fair, if you also account for the massive population of people my age (b 1980) that have abandoned basketball as a spectator sport in the last decade. Between the Donaghy scandal, players dictating rosters, the rise of boring “all 3s” offense, a truly loathsome Face of the league (lbj), and unnecessary political activism (simping for china), generation x is largely out on basketball.

I like LeBron

 

[HolyHagelin]

I like LeBron

People disliked Jordan in the moment because he dominated. People dislike lbj because he wines, flops, plays gm (terribly), and says hateful, unjustifiable, crazy shit on social all the time while also acting like a victim.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

People disliked Jordan in the moment because he dominated. People dislike lbj because he wines, flops, plays gm (terribly), and says hateful, unjustifiable, crazy shit on social all the time while also acting like a victim.

And if social media was around during MJ's time he would get completely ripped for his on court and off court antics , goes both ways , that said I agree with you that the product is unwatchable.

 

[Spirits]

even if you live in Flagstaff.

Thankfully, I don't.

 

[pekka55]

And if social media was around during MJ's time he would get completely ripped for his on court and off court antics , goes both ways , that said I agree with you that the product is unwatchable.

Not necessarily. People were different back then. People weren't as winy and entitled and mentally fragile as they are today.

 

[Machinehead]

People disliked Jordan in the moment because he dominated. People dislike lbj because he wines, flops, plays gm (terribly), and says hateful, unjustifiable, crazy shit on social all the time while also acting like a victim.

Nah, MJ is just kind of a f***in prick, let's be honest.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Not necessarily. People were different back then. People weren't as winy and entitled and mentally fragile as they are today.

Yes they were they just weren't on social media to cry about it

 

[pekka55]

Yes they were they just weren't on social media to cry about it

Nah, social media destroyed society in about a decade. Good luck with that.

 

[HolyHagelin]

And if social media was around during MJ's time he would get completely ripped for his on court and off court antics , goes both ways , that said I agree with you that the product is unwatchable.

When they asked MJ to say political stuff, his response? Republicans buy sneakers too.

He was too busy being homicidally competitive to get into that in public.

 

[GrumpyKoala]

It's true!

And I'm fine with it.

Yes they do.

I know it's cool to bash basketball on this site but absolutely every country in the world watches basketball. FIBA has 211 members. The IIHF has 57.

Ask random ass people how they feel about KD. Most of them will have a response.

I thought there where more to him when he got drafted by Chicago, but desprite the injury and only 2 games played in Montreal this year I am still hopeful for him to develop into a solid regular top 6. Heal soon KD!!

 

[Jeune Poulet]

Hockey just isn't a TV friendly sport

What? Why?

How would other sports like soccer, baseball, etc... be more TV-friendly?

 

[Grinner]

What? Why?

How would other sports like soccer, baseball, etc... be more TV-friendly?

The speed and pace of the game. Trying to follow/ watch/ keeping trackof the puck.
If one was to design a game tailor made for TV. Football would be the perfect sport.
Tv commercials not withstanding.

 

[coooldude]

What? Why?

How would other sports like soccer, baseball, etc... be more TV-friendly?

Yeah, I will probably regret wading into this thread, but it's pretty well established that hockey is really hard to follow on TV especially for people who aren't experienced doing so.

So many folks say things like "I went to a hockey game live and I loved it, I just can't follow it on TV."

The puck is small, the game moves quickly, the camera isn't always great at keeping up, you can't see the play develop as well as in other sports. I thought this was well established.

 

[jigglysquishy]

Locally, hockey is the least popular it's been in 100 years. Basketball and football have skyrocketed in popularity.

I've noticed far fewer kids at the ODR and they've decreased the amount of teams in kid leagues.

 

[ThatGuy22]

My suggestion would be to try to make high-school hockey a thing. Would make it more affordable to everyone.

You can't really. Wouldn't be able to fill the teams, and school districts outside of MN where there is a history won't pay for it.

If your not skating or playing hockey by 8 to 10 years old, you are never going to catch up. Regardless of how athletic you are.

Skating needs to be as second nature as walking.

If I recall, the latest an NHLer started playing hockey was Jovinoski who started at 11.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Yeah, I will probably regret wading into this thread, but it's pretty well established that hockey is really hard to follow on TV especially for people who aren't experienced doing so.

So many folks say things like "I went to a hockey game live and I loved it, I just can't follow it on TV."

The puck is small, the game moves quickly, the camera isn't always great at keeping up, you can't see the play develop as well as in other sports. I thought this was well established.

It has got infinitely better in the last 20byears with HD TV and the giant increase in screen size.

People make fun of the foxtrack from the 90s, but they were certainly trying to solve a problem.

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

If you went to 95% of the countries on Earth, they wouldn't know what hockey is. North America and select countries in Europe are the only places where it's a top 5 sport.

If you went to any hobunk state in the US that isn't a hockey market or doesn't have a big city, they don't watch hockey.

The concept of a hockey market is definitely a thing. There's no such thing as a basketball market or a soccer market. It's everywhere. In North America, there's no such thing as a football market.

Hmm, I wonder if we're talking across one another. If we're talking about the whole world, then yes, hockey is obviously niche, but then again, it's probably only really soccer that isn't.

If we're talking about the NHL's main market of the USA and Canada, then I don't think it is -- unless every sport besides American football is.

But I think that's where I have a problem. If all sports except American football are niche in NA, or all sports aisde from soccer (and if you wanted to, throw in basketball as well) in the world are niche, then pretty much all sports are niche. So what is the point of using the term niche? It seems, to me anyway, that the term becomes so broad it becomes meaningless. And hockey (and basketball and baseball) is much larger and more mainstream than say lacrosse or snooker in NA, so it doesn't make sense to me to use the term niche so broadly.

And for the record, in my original post I was talking about hockey as not being niche in NA, not in the world. Not sure who would argue hockey is not a niche sport viewed worldwide, but it won't be me

 

[pekka55]

Hockey used to be a cool sport. It's not that anymore. Rappers wore a lot of hockey jerseys in their music videos in the 90's and early 2000's. That was great free publicity.

Now there's very little the league does to promote itself to younger audiences. There's no social media presence.

The official NHL youtube channel has 2.1 million subscribers. NBA has 21.5 million. Even MLB has 4.97 million.

The NHL also still lives in the 720p days. Why? All their videos are 720p, they're not even in full hd days yet.

 

[joelef]

Hockey used to be a cool sport. It's not that anymore. Rappers wore a lot of hockey jerseys in their music videos in the 90's and early 2000's. That was great free publicity.

Now there's very little the league does to promote itself to younger audiences. There's no social media presence.

The official NHL youtube channel has 2.1 million subscribers. NBA has 21.5 million. Even MLB has 4.97 million.

The NHL also still lives in the 720p days. Why? All their videos are 720p, they're not even in full hd days yet.

People on here are ignoring the elephant in the room. Hockey isn’t seen as cool and hip like the nba.

 

[Golden_Jet]

The NHL also still lives in the 720p days. Why? All their videos are 720p, they're not even in full hd days yet.

Depends how you watch it I guess, I’ve watched the playoffs in 4K.

 

[Juxta Position]

This should be a very short thread, but it's not and I think I just learned a lot about society as a whole reading this thread.

There are many people on here saying "No, it hasn't gained in popularity because I don't like current version of it" when the metrics used to determine it's popularity like TV numbers, merchandise sales and overall League revenue is the highest it's ever been, which would suggest that, yes, absolutely the NHL has gained in popularity.

So that leads me to the conclusion that most people have an inherently egocentric viewpoint about subjects and believe that their individual opinion, no matter if all the data says otherwise, is the correct opinion.

Apparently we've entered the "This is what I believe, so that means it has to be right" generation.

Thanks for the quick study in sociology HF!

 

[Golden_Jet]

This should be a very short thread, but it's not and I think I just learned a lot about society as a whole reading this thread.

There are many people on here saying "No, it hasn't gained in popularity because I don't like current version of it" when the metrics used to determine it's popularity like TV numbers, merchandise sales and overall League revenue is the highest it's ever been, which would suggest that, yes, absolutely the NHL has gained in popularity.

So that leads me to the conclusion that most people have an inherently egocentric viewpoint about subjects and believe that their individual opinion, no matter if all the data says otherwise, is the correct opinion.

Apparently we've entered the "This is what I believe, so that means it has to be right" generation.

Thanks for the quick study in sociology HF!

Ya agree, but none of those provide any data or reasoning, other than ‘cause’.

 

[WayTooCold]

Hockey just isn't cool these days.
It's summer now. Hockey season drags on and on. I'm not gonna bother w/ winter sports anymore. So I'm checking out.

USA vs Canada women WCH final was great. Other than that. Not interested.

 

[Ezekial]

This should be a very short thread, but it's not and I think I just learned a lot about society as a whole reading this thread.

There are many people on here saying "No, it hasn't gained in popularity because I don't like current version of it" when the metrics used to determine it's popularity like TV numbers, merchandise sales and overall League revenue is the highest it's ever been, which would suggest that, yes, absolutely the NHL has gained in popularity.

So that leads me to the conclusion that most people have an inherently egocentric viewpoint about subjects and believe that their individual opinion, no matter if all the data says otherwise, is the correct opinion.

Apparently we've entered the "This is what I believe, so that means it has to be right" generation.

Thanks for the quick study in sociology HF!

Also I love the people whining about other people being whiny due to social media.

Putting their whines out in the open on an internet forum, the caveman social media.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

What is this obsession with growing the fanbase?

Who cares.

Hockey is fine as the niche sport it is. Those that love it REALLY f***ing love it.