Will Bigger Nets will increase US TV ratings?

jkrdevil

UnRegistered User
Apr 24, 2006
42,621
12,455
Miami
No rule changes don't bring fans into the game because the non-hockey fan usually doesn't know about the rule change. Marketing and promoting the sport which the NHL has never done will grow the sport and tv ratings. To be honest the actual product on the field has little to do with the popularity of a sport.
 

Fugu

Guest
However is this too much of a change, 4 inches on each side, and six more on top...

From the Strachan article:

Anticipating this development, the league is evaluating further changes that will improve the offensive aspect of the game. That is why the experiment with the larger nets is under way. They are eight inches wider than the standard six feet, and are six inches higher. That puts them at 4-feet-..

That extra six square feet should provide the scoring increase that most fans covet.


How did they come with these dimensions? And of course there is no guarantee that more scoring will increase hockey popularity. The kind of popularity needed to get a lucrative TV contract is another thing altogether.

Changing the net dimensions is really the only thing left as far as "opening up the game" to more offensive production. Last year when asked to comment on the rule changes, Scotty Bowman ran through the list of changes made to the game over the years he's been around and basically said the only thing left was the net. Will one of the size described here increase scoring? More than likely, it will, but it could also be overkill making goalies look like useless yo-yos and perhaps defeating the real intent of the change... an increase in entertainment value.
 

BuppY

xGoodwillx
Dec 24, 2003
16,324
9
relatednews.net
I don't really care if the score is 10-8 or 1-0. As long as the game is fast, good pace, not a lot of penalties, Action back and fourth, good saves, a lot of scoring chances, good passing, and good one on one play. That is what I want to see.
 

Blind Gardien

nexus of the crisis
Apr 2, 2004
20,537
0
Four Winds Bar
Whether bigger nets really would increase TV ratings or not isn't quite the point, IMO. The question is whether or not the NHL Marketing Geniuses might think that bigger nets really would increase TV ratings or not. And I'd be willing to bet that they would.

Of course, I mostly agree that nothing is very likely to make any difference in reality. But you just know these guys are going to keep screwing around indefinitely all the same, chasing rainbows. And frankly, I think changing the net size is one of the most harmless ways they can screw around. I've watched 6 games now with the bigger nets, and the end effect, even with inexperienced and unprepared goalies, is a lot less dramatic than you'd think.

Sure, we real fans don't care if the score is 0-0 or 7-5, as long as the game is exciting. At worst, I don't think the net size affects the excitement and flow one bit.

I've heard some theorists proclaim that teams would suddenly go back to button-down defenses to try to stop players from getting off shots against these big nets. But I don't see the logic in that. Defense has always tried to stop players getting off shots on net. It's not like these nets are so much bigger that random floaters from the blue line are suddenly going to catch the goalies napping. Good shooters now have something more to shoot at, and that could create some extra excitement too. Instead of dumping it off or cycling it around to set up a perfect play, maybe now there will be more guys wiring it on goal. Anyway, at worst it's a wash. There are a lot of ways the marketing geniuses can screw up the game worse than making the nets a little bigger, so I'm all for the bigger nets as a way of damage control if nothing else!
 

Transported Upstater

Guest
I don't really care if the score is 10-8 or 1-0. As long as the game is fast, good pace, not a lot of penalties, Action back and fourth, good saves, a lot of scoring chances, good passing, and good one on one play. That is what I want to see.

Amen to that.

I'd MUCH rather see a 1-0 game than a 5-2 one.

Edit: Except if that 5-2 game involves Toronto getting the 5 goals.
 

Laus723

Paradise hockey
Sponsor
Jan 27, 2006
31,450
5,140
Wellington, FL
no, they won't.

Soccer nets, yeah, that's the answer, they'll definitely watch then.

Dumbest idea ever! (well, close)
 

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