Do you like the NHL being 4th in the 'Big 4' or do you wish it was more popular?

[HisIceness]

Wanted to see what everyones thoughts are on this, it's no secret among the big 4 NA leagues that the NHL is dead last in popularity. I'm torn on the matter and I'll explain why.

Pros:
-The fans are generally knowledgable, that isn't to say there are not bandwagoners but the ones who are, are nowhere near as annoying as NBA bandwagon fans are. I don't love when opposing fans take up half of PNC Arena but at least most of those guys know the game, and their own teams history,

-The players are generally regular guys through and through. They can go out and about and not be recognized nor looking for recognition.

-I appreciate how the Hockey media doesn't try to turn into TMZ like I feel ESPN and FS1 does with the NBA and sometimes the NFL. The topics are straight-forward and focus on whats going on the ice and not off of it. I also appreciate there are no 'Crosby vs Gretzky' debates a la Jordan vs LeBron like what the NBA media tries to spin every week it seems.

Cons:
-It's disappointing how little Hockey gets covered in the States. It's never been great but nowadays it never gets talked about. Last years playoffs saw 3 game 7's go to overtime, all 4 of the wild-card teams advance past round 1, and the eventual Stanley Cup Champion who was dead-last in the league at the beginning of the calendar year. Yet, all I heard on national sports radio and TV was non-stop LeBron and Lakers nonsense (Lakers didn't even make the playoffs in the NBA) and the drama surrounding Kevin Durant and his Golden State teammates. I don't care how popular the NBA is, I refuse to believe that most people wanted to listen to that crap everyday during the NBA/NHL playoffs, ask Portland Trail Blazers or Toronto Raptors fans if they cared about the latest LeBron gossip this past spring, chances are good most of them didn't care. This goes back to my earlier point, the Hockey media tends to focus on the 'now' and whats playing on the ice and not off of it.

-I live in a state where Hockey is very much a 'niche' sport. People assume I'm from Michigan or Boston or Canada when they find out I'm a Hockey fan. Some of thats because the Canes were irrelevant up until last season but even during the playoff run, I personally heard some snide comments about how Hockey is not a "Southern" game and how the Canes are "Raleighs team and no one else cares". It wasn't as bad as when they won the Cup but I still figured with none of the college Basketball teams in the Final Four, and the Hornets/Panthers not making the playoffs that the 'Bunch of Jerks' would have captured some interest around here, not as much as I would have hoped. It's similar to how the national sports media tends to treat the sport.

So I guess to conclude, I like how players and fans tend to love the game for the game, but I wish it got more respect.

What say you?

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[jetsforever]

I don't really mind, I agree that the other ones (e.g. NBA) can get a bit overhyped and I don't see what I'm missing in the NHL by it being 4th.

 

[MoeTheHobo]

Maybe hockey is an incredible boring sport and only idiots like us can enjoy it

 

[Hattrickkane88]

It sucks because we miss out on the best talent to far less superior sports. Guys like Allen Iverson would have been so fast and creative with the puck, Randy Moss would be fast explosive and strong while being 6'4. Then picture a athletic 6'9 Kevin Durant being one of the best offensive players in the game.

The players would enjoy hockey a lot more too.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Hockey is and always will be King in Canada so it doesn't make much difference to me what it's status is in the States.

I do wish it was on another network than NBC for national games. Don't think they do a particularly good job of showcasing the sport. It's a great game, the people who know that are fans for life. I do wonder how the NHL plans to reach some of the younger generation though, there's just so many more options for entertainment these days. The NHL in general struggles to attract new fans and doesn't really treat the ones it does have very well either. Not participating in the Olympics is just a terrible decision for the sport of Hockey.

 

[Hattrickkane88]

Maybe hockey is an incredible boring sport and only idiots like us can enjoy it

No, No.

90% of people can't afford hockey but any kid can go to the park and find somebody playing basketball, football and join in, they don't even need their own ball.
It's the same reason Soccer is so popular outside north america. They are so poor they can't even afford cement or basketball nets so they just play soccer.

 

[Dondini]

Hockey is number 1 in Canada and I love when new American fans are like whoa that hockey game is whack. Dose boyz are wild. (while this has never happened to me I feel like if I interacted with Americans more often this is what they would say lol)

 

[BringTheReign]

I wish it were bigger. If it were, we'd have more rinks, the cost to play would drop, and we would have more of our best natural athletes entering the sport instead of gravitating towards the other big three.

 

[Realgud]

I couldn't care less if the sport was more popular or not. It is popular enough in my opinion.

 

[Devonator]

I do wish it was bigger and I believe it deserves to be bigger....I still do not get the hype with the NBA....however who knows what the future holds....I would like to think one day Hockey will overtake one of the big three.

 

[Oneiro]

Nah, I love it the way it is here in the States. You go to games and can almost always have an in depth conversation with a die hard fan, expensive and cheap seats. Same goes for hockey-centric bars. The only "Wow, who likes hockey?!" mouthbreathing people are outside the rink/games who will shit on something because it's not the most popular. Hockey's like the Fugazi of sports - most people who know are usually for real and diehard.

And I love how it's not always in my face like the NFL is. The NFL is the biggest scam ever put over on the American public. Such a lame sport.

 

[valet]

I don't wish for anything in life, I just put my head down and work

 

[82Ninety42011]

I don't care tickets would just be harder to get and even more expensive.

 

[Bobby Terrance]

It sucks because we miss out on the best talent to far less superior sports. Guys like Allen Iverson would have been so fast and creative with the puck, Randy Moss would be fast explosive and strong while being 6'4. Then picture a athletic 6'9 Kevin Durant being one of the best offensive players in the game.

The players would enjoy hockey a lot more too.

Yeah, but it's a rich mans game. All those guys came from nothing to become what they are now. There's a reason hockey isn't very diverse. I'm not trying to make some sort of statement here,just simply saying hockey costs a lot of money so naturally people drift towards sports that you can enter and play for much less.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

The other 3 are far easier to play in terms of money.

Of the 3, hockey is the fastest. I remember reading that football really only has 11 minutes of play (on average) in their games ?

Basketball is the closest with flow, but it usually doesn't go too long.

Baseball is pretty slow, too.

I feel like a lot of people don't even care about basketball, they go because it's popular and the diehard fans who love basketball can't afford to go because some of the ticket prices make hockey seem cheap.

 

[Albatros]

Increasingly 5th in the Big 5.

 

[Long Live Lyle]

I do wish it was bigger overall. I’m a fan of all sports, but hockey’s my favorite professional sport. It’s much easier to have a random conversation with a friend/acquaintance about the other sports than hockey, and I wish that wasn’t the case. (I live in Chicago, but am not a Hawks fan. Their recent fall isn’t helping, but even if they were good, I think it’d be tough to talk about what’s happening in the NHL league-wide with people compared to NFL/NBA/college football.)

With that said, it’s certainly not “small” and I’m thankful it’s reasonably easy to find coverage/content if you want to.

 

[Long Live Lyle]

Increasingly 5th in the Big 5.

Yeah... that’s not true.

 

[JerseyMike34]

Don't care, not my job.

Lots of people making 6 figures trying to get it to 3 of 4. And failing.

 

[blankall]

It'd be better if hockey was more popular.

The fans also are not very knowledgeable. When I do to NFL games I'm blown away with the fans knowledge and enthusiasm.

 

[Amazinmets73]

The sport has little interest from non-whites who comprise roughly 40% of the sports target market. Tough to compete with sports that garner interest from all demographics.

 

[Hattrickkane88]

Yeah, but it's a rich mans game. All those guys came from nothing to become what they are now. There's a reason hockey isn't very diverse. I'm not trying to make some sort of statement here,just simply saying hockey costs a lot of money so naturally people drift towards sports that you can enter and play for much less.

yeah i know i literally said that in a post before you quoted me

 

[Cotton]

It sucks because we miss out on the best talent to far less superior sports. Guys like Allen Iverson would have been so fast and creative with the puck, Randy Moss would be fast explosive and strong while being 6'4. Then picture a athletic 6'9 Kevin Durant being one of the best offensive players in the game.

The players would enjoy hockey a lot more too.

It doesn't work that way, skill doesn't necessarily translate over from one sport to another, nor is talent developed so that it can be applied universally. And athleticism is no indicator of success, if it were guys like Roman Polak would be winning Norris trophies.

 

[HisIceness]

The other 3 are far easier to play in terms of money.

Of the 3, hockey is the fastest. I remember reading that football really only has 11 minutes of play (on average) in their games ?

Basketball is the closest with flow, but it usually doesn't go too long.

Baseball is pretty slow, too.

I feel like a lot of people don't even care about basketball, they go because it's popular and the diehard fans who love basketball can't afford to go because some of the ticket prices make hockey seem cheap.

I'm a former Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets season-ticket holder and still go at least once a season. This is accurate at least for this market, although it didn't used to be. In the 90's almost everyone wore some kind of Hornets attire. But ever since the franchise came back in 2004, you can tell who is and isn't a season-ticket holder, the ones who are wear the jerseys and whatnot, everyone else is dressed in designer clothes with their dates, or are there with a corporate group. I gave up my tickets the first-season after the franchise re-branded itself, it simply became too expensive. It also wasn't fun when LeBron and Kobe came to town and brought their "fans" with them, and they would arrogantly pop their jerseys in my face all-game long while telling me I suck for supporting a "loser team".

 

[HugoSimon]

Increasingly 5th in the Big 5.

I don't want hockey to be more popular I just want it to get more respect for being an Elite sport.

Nobody doubts that Soccer is an elite sport that has real relevance in the world.

My problem with Americans is often time they treat the NHL as if its just a more violent version of ball hockey.

Soccer has the image of being a foreign elite sport.

The NHL exists one step above Ball Hockey and Indoor Soccer.

NHL doesn't get any of the privileges of being foreign and it gets none of the privileges of being an American sport.