How big is Hockey in the UK?

[flames12]

Title says all.

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[Urbanskog]

I heard it's the fastest growing indoor sport in Scotland.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Not very.

The EIHL is a joke goon league. No TV coverage for that or the NHL on mainstream TV channels. Hockey only gets news coverage when there has been a brawl.

Hockey is way down the pecking order for participation, very few rinks are able to fill their junior program. In universities that have a rink and a team, participation is again way down the pecking order and is eclipsed by other non-traditional sports like lacrosse, most of the players in university hockey are foreign students.

 

[J17 Vs Proclamation]

To put into perspective, relative to mainstream popularity, it is far behind American football. NFL is niche itself, but has traction with key demographics. Very few and far between hockey fans. Most would be from families with a tradition of hockey or randomly enamoured (myself) through chance.

If there is a sport in the future that has potential, it's basketball.

The market is dominated by soccer. Won't happen in the short-term, but the EPL financial bubble will burst, and with trends leaning towards the slow demise of non elite teams, i do think there is room in the future for growth of other sports, whatever they may be.

 

[Siamese Dream]

To put into perspective, relative to mainstream popularity, it is far behind American football. NFL is niche itself, but has traction with key demographics. Very few and far between hockey fans. Most would be from families with a tradition of hockey or randomly enamoured (myself) through chance.

If there is a sport in the future that has potential, it's basketball.

The market is dominated by soccer. Won't happen in the short-term, but the EPL financial bubble will burst, and with trends leaning towards the slow demise of non elite teams, i do think there is room in the future for growth of other sports, whatever they may be.

It also helps the NFL that it's bigger than hockey in America as well. Most American culture finds its way over here and people become more aware of it.

There's also the fact that the Superbowl is so much easier to market. A one-game final with big name acts for half-time shows is a much easier sell to casual fans than a 7-game final series.

I would say that hockey has a bigger "hardcore" fanbase due to the amount and size of domestic hockey teams we have over here compared to American Football, but the NFL is much more popular among the casuals.

 

[J17 Vs Proclamation]

It also helps the NFL that it's bigger than hockey in America as well. Most American culture finds its way over here and people become more aware of it.

There's also the fact that the Superbowl is so much easier to market. A one-game final with big name acts for half-time shows is a much easier sell to casual fans than a 7-game final series.

I would say that hockey has a bigger "hardcore" fanbase due to the amount and size of domestic hockey teams we have over here compared to American Football, but the NFL is much more popular among the casuals.

NFL fan support is probably pretty casual, though measuring firm fans of both sports in the UK against one another is difficult.

The barrier to American football growth is at the grass roots level, as far as i'm aware, it's still unorganised, minimal and University orientated. Hockey has this, but it's mainstream market pennetration from the top has far less potential than the NFL, for reasons you cited. Basketball has both working for it, and is the only team sport i see with considerable growth potential in this country at all levels.

When the bottom falls out of the EPL, i am interested to see if any other sports can gain traction.

 

[frank16]

I heard it's the fastest growing indoor sport in Scotland.

Ice Hockey is the best supported indoor sport in the whole of the UK, not just Scotland but in Scotland its arguably the 2nd best supported pro sport behind football and in front of rugby.

The EIHL has stabilised a lot over the past few years, crowds and standard are as high as they have ever been in the EIHL era. The majority of imports in the EIHL this year (and there are a lot of them) have played in at least the AHL.

 

[Siamese Dream]

In Scotland its arguably the 2nd best supported pro sport behind football and in front of rugby.

No.

Each of the Scottish teams in the Pro12 have a higher average attendance than Fife Flyers, Dundee Stars and Edinburgh Capitals combined.

 

[frank16]

No.

Each of the Scottish teams in the Pro12 have a higher average attendance than Fife Flyers, Dundee Stars and Edinburgh Capitals combined.

Ermm, no they don't. The average attendance of the 4 Scottish teams combined in the EIHL is over 7,000 (and growing). Neither club in the pro 12 average that amount. Glasgow will average about 5-5,500 for the pro 12 season and Edinburgh will average around 3,500 - 4,500 over the season. The argument was made from what I read in that each team in the EIHL will play about 30 home games a season, while a team in the pro 12 plays 11. You look at it that way (not saying I agree with it) and the amount of people who attend a pro ice hockey league game will be much higher than the amount of people who attend a pro rugby league game


P.s: Just noticed that you left out Braehead Clan for some reason

 

[Siamese Dream]

Ermm, no they don't. The average attendance of the 4 Scottish teams combined in the EIHL is over 7,000 (and growing). Neither club in the pro 12 average that amount. Glasgow will average about 5-5,500 for the pro 12 season and Edinburgh will average around 3,500 - 4,500 over the season. The argument was made from what I read in that each team in the EIHL will play about 30 home games a season, while a team in the pro 12 plays 11. You look at it that way (not saying I agree with it) and the amount of people who attend a pro ice hockey league game will be much higher than the amount of people who attend a pro rugby league game


P.s: Just noticed that you left out Braehead Clan for some reason

I left out Braehead because they're the anomaly and get much higher attendances than the rest. Their average attendance is still around half that of Glasgow rugby. You have to look at average attendances, it's unfair to compare seasons where one plays 30 home games and the other plays 11. Fact of the matter is, the combined average attendance of 2 Pro12 teams is significantly greater than the combined average attendance of 4 ice hockey teams

If you're going to talk about total attendances how about we include 6 nations and autumn international matches at Murrayfield? That wouldn't be very fair, would it?

 

[frank16]

I left out Braehead because they're the anomaly and get much higher attendances than the rest. Their average attendance is still around half that of Glasgow rugby. You have to look at average attendances, it's unfair to compare seasons where one plays 30 home games and the other plays 11. Fact of the matter is, the combined average attendance of 2 Pro12 teams is significantly greater than the combined average attendance of 4 ice hockey teams

If you're going to talk about total attendances how about we include 6 nations and autumn international matches at Murrayfield? That wouldn't be very fair, would it?

Think it was quite clear, we were looking at club level and professional leagues. Also Braehead are not an anomaly. They average close to 3,000 but Fife Flyers average around 2,500 as well. Braehead are starting to sell-out their 3,500 capacity arena quite regularly (after tomorrow 3 consecutive sell-outs). They are due to move to a new arena in a few years time with a capacity of around 7,000 - 8,000. It won't come as a surprise to many if they fill or get close to filling that arena as well. That would probably put them in the top 10 best attended sports clubs in Scotland

 

[Siamese Dream]

Think it was quite clear, we were looking at club level and professional leagues. Also Braehead are not an anomaly. They average close to 3,000 but Fife Flyers average around 2,500 as well. Braehead are starting to sell-out their 3,500 capacity arena quite regularly (after tomorrow 3 consecutive sell-outs). They are due to move to a new arena in a few years time with a capacity of around 7,000 - 8,000. It won't come as a surprise to many if they fill or get close to filling that arena as well. That would probably put them in the top 10 best attended sports clubs in Scotland

Another point is that ice hockey is extremely regional, depending on where the rinks are. If I wanted I could argue that ice hockey is huge in the UK using the fact that the Basingstoke Bison are the best attended sports team in the town. It's easy to cherrypick attendance statistics to suit your argument. Ice hockey is a participation as well as spectator sport, what are participation rates like compared to rugby and other sports? I think most Scottish people would laugh at you if you told them ice hockey was bigger than rugby there.

A few thousand people a week turning up to watch a bunch of Canadian journeymen float around for 60 minutes doesn't make ice hockey "big"

 

[frank16]

Another point is that ice hockey is extremely regional, depending on where the rinks are. If I wanted I could argue that ice hockey is huge in the UK using the fact that the Basingstoke Bison are the best attended sports team in the town. It's easy to cherrypick attendance statistics to suit your argument. Ice hockey is a participation as well as spectator sport, what are participation rates like compared to rugby and other sports? I think most Scottish people would laugh at you if you told them ice hockey was bigger than rugby there.

A few thousand people a week turning up to watch a bunch of Canadian journeymen float around for 60 minutes doesn't make ice hockey "big"

Ice Hockey isn't a bigger sport than rugby in Scotland. I was responding to a point from a previous poster and explaining where that argument came from, I didn't say I was agreeing with it.

Ice Hockey in the Uk though does do relatively well as a spectator sport but poorly as a participation sport. However there are numerous reasons for that (mainly a lack of facilities) but even still globally participation rates in ice hockey are very bad compared to other sports even in countries where the sport is clearly the most popular. The cost of playing ice hockey will always disadvantage it compared to playing football, rugby, basketball etc.

 

[Exarz]

NFL fan support is probably pretty casual, though measuring firm fans of both sports in the UK against one another is difficult.

The barrier to American football growth is at the grass roots level, as far as i'm aware, it's still unorganised, minimal and University orientated. Hockey has this, but it's mainstream market pennetration from the top has far less potential than the NFL, for reasons you cited. Basketball has both working for it, and is the only team sport i see with considerable growth potential in this country at all levels.

When the bottom falls out of the EPL, i am interested to see if any other sports can gain traction.

I've played American football and I'm catching up as much as possible about the international game. I haven't heard anything about British American football. In the European Championship of American Football, Great Britain ended 6th in 2010. They didn't participate in 2010 and won't do it in the pre-qualifier rounds in 2016 and 2017 to the tournament in 2018.

So yeah, it really is at the grass roots level