Judd Sirott with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
Judd chats with the Commissioner before the first game in Shenzhen
Judd chats with the Commissioner before the first game in Shenzhen
Bettman on NHL going to China
- Thread starter Fenway
- Start date
Llama19
Registered User
Beijing or bust? Bettman says NHL's efforts in China won't be defined by Olympic participation in 2022
To quote:
"“What we’re committed to doing here in China is about growing the game, and you can have a long debate over whether or not our participation over two weeks in 2022 is going to make a difference in that regard,” Bettman said prior to Saturday’s exhibition between the Flames and Bruins at Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre.
“The fact of the matter is that going to the Olympics is terribly disruptive to our season. No other sport does it or would do it — among professional sport in North America — and the opportunities to promote the fact we’re a part of the Games are non-existent because of the way the IOC treats our participation."
Source: calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/calgary-flames/beijing-or-bust-bettman-says-nhls-efforts-in-china-wont-be-defined-by-olympic-participation-in-2022
To quote:
"“What we’re committed to doing here in China is about growing the game, and you can have a long debate over whether or not our participation over two weeks in 2022 is going to make a difference in that regard,” Bettman said prior to Saturday’s exhibition between the Flames and Bruins at Shenzhen Universiade Sports Centre.
“The fact of the matter is that going to the Olympics is terribly disruptive to our season. No other sport does it or would do it — among professional sport in North America — and the opportunities to promote the fact we’re a part of the Games are non-existent because of the way the IOC treats our participation."
Source: calgarysun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/calgary-flames/beijing-or-bust-bettman-says-nhls-efforts-in-china-wont-be-defined-by-olympic-participation-in-2022
Story in a Beijing newspaper
Skating into Chinese mainstream - People's Daily Online
Cheered by an announced crowd of 12,933 on Wednesday, the Bruins completed a sweep of the China trip with a 3-1 win over the Flames. And even though thousands of fans left after the second period－presumably believing it was a two-half game－the remainder cheered loudly whenever there was a big hit, a scoring opportunity or a great save.
According to Tencent, NHL's digital media partner in China, the number of simultaneous online viewers for Wednesday's game reached 300,000 in the third period, up from 65,000 during last year's Beijing matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings.
Skating into Chinese mainstream - People's Daily Online
Cheered by an announced crowd of 12,933 on Wednesday, the Bruins completed a sweep of the China trip with a 3-1 win over the Flames. And even though thousands of fans left after the second period－presumably believing it was a two-half game－the remainder cheered loudly whenever there was a big hit, a scoring opportunity or a great save.
According to Tencent, NHL's digital media partner in China, the number of simultaneous online viewers for Wednesday's game reached 300,000 in the third period, up from 65,000 during last year's Beijing matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings.
lawrence
Registered User
- May 19, 2012
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heres the thing, with China, they have the population, growing middle class, even if they can get 300 000 people to view it, it's a win, grow viewer ship, with hopes of people in their country subscribing to NHL.TV that being said, there is a huge time zone issue.
China 1.379 billion
USA 325.7 million
Russia 144.3 million
Canada 36.29 million
Czech Republic 10.56 million
Sweden 9.903 million
Finland 5.495 million
Slovakia 5.429 million
It is almost impossible to grasp the population in China.
SupremeNachos
Registered User
Judd Sirott with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
Judd chats with the Commissioner before the first game in Shenzhen
Bruins president Cam Neely said there's still a steep learning curve when it comes to selling the NHL to new fans in China
WaitingForThatCab
#1 Nick Cousins Fan Account
- Mar 11, 2017
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The idea of selling the NHL in China the way the NBA has been sold is laughable. Bettman needs his head examined. Big difference between the two sports, and it's pretty important in that market.
The "1.4 billion people!" argument is laughable. About half of them don't even have access to a sewage system. Hockey is a sport that requires 12 people to have specialized equipment and knowledge of a lot of different rules. It's simply not going to take off at the youth level. Hell, prep schools in North America can't even get their Chinese cash cows to play lacrosse.
Most Chinese can't even swim. The number who can ice skate is basically nil. And I don't say this with any judgment whatsoever. It's just true. There's no background of that being taught to kids. Not as a survival skill, not for pleasure, nothing. It's just not part of the cultural background.
This whole thing is just funny as hell. Instead of spending time and money trying to export hockey to China, Bettman should focus his efforts on doing things to improve the quality of the game for people who love the sport.
The "1.4 billion people!" argument is laughable. About half of them don't even have access to a sewage system. Hockey is a sport that requires 12 people to have specialized equipment and knowledge of a lot of different rules. It's simply not going to take off at the youth level. Hell, prep schools in North America can't even get their Chinese cash cows to play lacrosse.
Most Chinese can't even swim. The number who can ice skate is basically nil. And I don't say this with any judgment whatsoever. It's just true. There's no background of that being taught to kids. Not as a survival skill, not for pleasure, nothing. It's just not part of the cultural background.
This whole thing is just funny as hell. Instead of spending time and money trying to export hockey to China, Bettman should focus his efforts on doing things to improve the quality of the game for people who love the sport.
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WaitingForThatCab
#1 Nick Cousins Fan Account
- Mar 11, 2017
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To take this a step further, it's just a big cultural divide where you're simply going to run into big obstacles trying to export this sport. Same thing with football. People grossly underestimate how the cultural differences as well as lack of youth organization / equipment dependence completely changes the ability to popularize a sport at an appreciable level.
Baseball is a rare example of a sport that has taken off a bit globally for various reasons. Baseball picked up popularity in Asia by way of Japan, and that's almost entirely due to the sport's overwhelming popularity in America at the turn of the century. After the Meiji restoration, there was an obsession in Japan with learning all things Western as an attempt to 'catch up' after a period of isolation. A lot of this was in economic and military reform, but there was also a period of fascination with western dress, western sport, etc. The result is that baseball is a very popular sport in Japan and found its way to Korea, too. You also have a couple of countries in the Caribbean where it's popular. And keep in mind with baseball that you only need one bat or stick, one ball (and it doesn't even matter what sort of ball it is), etc. But everyone knows how to swing a stick. Everyone knows how to run. Everyone knows how to catch a ball. These are things you figure out really quickly as a little boy. Very few of the Earth's 7 billion inhabitants know how to ice skate.
Sure, you can introduce someone to the game of hockey, and they can enjoy going to a hockey game, but is that going to make them a fan? I bring friends or clients from Latin America to Panthers games sometimes. They like it. It's cool. They post pictures on Facebook and have a great time. Do they go back to their home countries and buy jerseys? Order NHL Gamepass? No. Never.
Best you're going to be in these countries is a novelty, until you find some kind of cultural touchstone on which you can latch on and gain serious traction.
Oh, and one last thing: that "300,000" number was reported by whom? Tencent? Lol. Yeah, ask Hollywood how reliable those numbers are.
Baseball is a rare example of a sport that has taken off a bit globally for various reasons. Baseball picked up popularity in Asia by way of Japan, and that's almost entirely due to the sport's overwhelming popularity in America at the turn of the century. After the Meiji restoration, there was an obsession in Japan with learning all things Western as an attempt to 'catch up' after a period of isolation. A lot of this was in economic and military reform, but there was also a period of fascination with western dress, western sport, etc. The result is that baseball is a very popular sport in Japan and found its way to Korea, too. You also have a couple of countries in the Caribbean where it's popular. And keep in mind with baseball that you only need one bat or stick, one ball (and it doesn't even matter what sort of ball it is), etc. But everyone knows how to swing a stick. Everyone knows how to run. Everyone knows how to catch a ball. These are things you figure out really quickly as a little boy. Very few of the Earth's 7 billion inhabitants know how to ice skate.
Sure, you can introduce someone to the game of hockey, and they can enjoy going to a hockey game, but is that going to make them a fan? I bring friends or clients from Latin America to Panthers games sometimes. They like it. It's cool. They post pictures on Facebook and have a great time. Do they go back to their home countries and buy jerseys? Order NHL Gamepass? No. Never.
Best you're going to be in these countries is a novelty, until you find some kind of cultural touchstone on which you can latch on and gain serious traction.
Oh, and one last thing: that "300,000" number was reported by whom? Tencent? Lol. Yeah, ask Hollywood how reliable those numbers are.
Skallagrim
Registered User
While I agree that NHL to China is nothing but a cash grab and will face much greater challenge than the NBA, what you said here is pure ignorance. I've gotten to know thousands of Chinese people over the years and maybe a handful that can't swim. Also, there are more people in China that can skate than population of all major hockey powers sans US and Russia.
I've said it in an earlier post, NHL won't become a popular sports in China, however it can be of worthy investment purely for money reason. Rich urban Chinese families consider hockey a status symbol. They are willing to spend tons of money sending kids to "hockey schools/trips", which is really glorified vacations.
On the contrary, I'm quite sure the NHL was under no illusion that they were ever somehow exclusive relative to the NBA in that market. I get the impression people on here who seem to 'hate' the NHL also seem to turn a blind eye to the probability that the league and the NBA have a lot of common interests, and cooperation can be just as lucrative as competition.
I agree with the point that you can't just use 1.4B as it's true a large portion don't have the means to seen the games. But also that it isnt about viewers only. There's a lot of potential investment.
And really there are 4 or 5 populous and business centers that cover 10% Or so of that 1.4B.
Shanghai 34m, Guangzhou 25m, Beijing 25m, Shenzehn 23m and Hong Kong 7m. That's all the people and money you need.
And really there are 4 or 5 populous and business centers that cover 10% Or so of that 1.4B.
Shanghai 34m, Guangzhou 25m, Beijing 25m, Shenzehn 23m and Hong Kong 7m. That's all the people and money you need.
