Hockey and soccer have nothing to worry about. Neither will eliminate the other in the U.S. because they both have the same handicap: being "invented by some foreigner." Americans like America. I wish the NHL and MLS could both succeed bigtime, but it just won't happen so stick to liking what you like and we can at least break even.
Hockey is dying!!
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Well said. I used to be a season ticket holder for DC United. MLS will be fine trust me plenty of devoted fans. NHL same deal. NHL might have to adjust to some of its over exuberance to expand.
Sotnos
Registered User
As I thought, outside of the US game, most of the viewers were watching Univision. I still don't see how this is direct competition with hockey.
(As of June 27, which means before the Quarterfinals began)
Sometimes I think people just like to make up something to complain about.
JKP
Registered User
1) on soccer vs. hockey:
- I doubt soccer will ever really catch on in the US because it's lots of fun to play (esp. when you're a kid) but pretty dull to watch to the average person.
- A growing hispanic population base (which has over-taken afro-american as the largest visible minority in the US) may help soccer's chances.
- Hockey has a mcuh more exciting product to watch, but it's got a lot of work to do to ever break out of it's North Eastern (Boston), Minnesota and Michigan base. The recent rule changes should help, but there's a lot of work to do.
2) On global warming:
- This interesting series of articles in one of Canada's national newspapers presents some interesting scientists on the other side of the debate.
- Personally, I come from a point of view that I believe polluting is bad (I'm more concerned with the negative health side effects of smog), but I'm not sold on the stastical relevance of the Earth heating up a bit as a coming sign of the apocalypse (it is 4 billion years old, and we've only been precisely measuring temperature for a few hundred years. That's a pretty tiny sample size to be so definitive about something most weathermen can't predict accurately only 2 days into the future).
- And anyone that thinks the month of December being warm in some places this year is an indicator of global warming obviously flunked basic stats in school whn it comes to understanding sample sizes...
- I doubt soccer will ever really catch on in the US because it's lots of fun to play (esp. when you're a kid) but pretty dull to watch to the average person.
- A growing hispanic population base (which has over-taken afro-american as the largest visible minority in the US) may help soccer's chances.
- Hockey has a mcuh more exciting product to watch, but it's got a lot of work to do to ever break out of it's North Eastern (Boston), Minnesota and Michigan base. The recent rule changes should help, but there's a lot of work to do.
2) On global warming:
- This interesting series of articles in one of Canada's national newspapers presents some interesting scientists on the other side of the debate.
- Personally, I come from a point of view that I believe polluting is bad (I'm more concerned with the negative health side effects of smog), but I'm not sold on the stastical relevance of the Earth heating up a bit as a coming sign of the apocalypse (it is 4 billion years old, and we've only been precisely measuring temperature for a few hundred years. That's a pretty tiny sample size to be so definitive about something most weathermen can't predict accurately only 2 days into the future).
- And anyone that thinks the month of December being warm in some places this year is an indicator of global warming obviously flunked basic stats in school whn it comes to understanding sample sizes...
You are reading it wrong. According to the graph, 3 of the 5 games had more English language viewers than Spanish. Two games that drew more Hispanic viewers had the Mexican national team involved (as expected). The final game also had 12 million English lang. viewers, compared to 5 million on Univision. And, even if you take out the Hispanic viewers completely the numbers still easily beat anything NHL had to offer. Imagine a first round game between Ecuador and England or Australia and Brazil drawing more English language viewers in America than the average Stanly Cup final game. Who would have predicted it 20 years ago? One of the most important facts about these numbers is that they continue to increase with each event when the ratings for other sports are in decline. As a soccer fan I'm very excited to think what another 20 years will bring.
I have nothing against hockey. I used to be a huge fan, about 10 years ago. There were seasons I had not missed a single Rangers game. I still miss those Gretzky, LaFontain, Graves, Leetch days even though the team was usually struggling to make the playoffs. But for some reason my interest waned every year until 2 years ago when it stopped completely with the lockout. NHL probably has a lot of work to do to win former fans like me back.
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JKP
Registered User
Yeah... it was called "the trap" and all the clutching and grabbing. The sport absolutely sucked and was very difficult to watch.
Dude, just so you know they hardly determine global warming on mearsuring hundreds of years of temp. readings. Matter of fact thats doesn't have the consideration people think. Most of it comes from the here and now of science. What depletes Ozone and the why? The how much crap we produce? Short measures time wise realitive etc. etc. The global warming evidence comes from a lot of angles. It's very measureable and significant. I don't think anyone knows where well be with it in twenty years.
I like more than one sport. I watch hockey, nfl, nba and some football. I am sure other people do too. Just because football is taking over the world doesn't mean hockey can't exist.
ugrakarma
>/dev/null
I wonder how exactly is it taking over. Did the average attendance rate go above 2000?
I think the Galaxy are already getting a ton of press here in Southern California, not to mention Nationally, due to the signing of David Beckham. I think the day after he was signed the Galaxy sold 1000 more season tickets. That may sound like peanuts now but coupled with Beckham starring in that big Disney Ad campaign, his super bowl commercial and the exposure that comes from hanging around Tom Cruise and other celebs I think its safe to say that the Galaxy and the MLS will definitely get some added exposure. I spoke with Helene Elliott of the LA Times right after the signing and she said she'd be covering the Galaxy A LOT now with the signing of Beckham. The MLS is definitely headed in the right direction while the NHL seems to be headed in the wrong direction (in terms of exposure and ratings) The All Star game ratings were down 76%, the national contract with Versus gets a rating of just .2. The NHL definitely needs to promote itself better.
I never said that hockey is dying, because of football (soccer) is taking over in Finland.
Hockey is not dying (I used it my headline, because I wanted attention). Hockey is going to get smaller. USA, Finland, Slovakia and global warming combined (+ rise of soccer in those countries) are the reason why hockey is going to get smaller.
Finland is a small country population wise, but not hockey wise. Russia is a big country population wise, but we have more indoor rinks in Finland than in Russia and almost as many registered players.
Global warming isn't going to kill hockey, they play in arenas! The thing that might kill hockey is everyone involved in it.
We can only guess what global warming (how real is it?) is going to do hockey. There isn't many indoor rinks in places like Russia or Norway etc. If global warming is real and temperature is going to rise in the future. It definately going to affect number of hockey players. Quality of hockey players go down.
Soccer is 90 minutes of scoreless futility, punctuated by bad acting (to draw penalties).
Frank Deford has soccer just right and explains why it will never take over the North American sports scene.
http://www.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2001/07/04/deford/
Frank Deford has soccer just right and explains why it will never take over the North American sports scene.
http://www.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2001/07/04/deford/
Sorry, got the URL wrong. Here's the correct one (I hope).
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2001/07/04/deford/
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/cover/news/2001/07/04/deford/
Look I like hockey, but your are wrong. Soccer beats hockey in America in the future, because of:
- It's cheaper to play, than hockey
- It's less violent
- American population is changing (hispanic population is growing fast)
- Global warming (if global warming is not real. It's neutral, so at best hockey can break even)
Let's face it: hockey has been in America what 90 years? and it's not been very popular ever.
Bear of Bad News
Your Third or Fourth Favorite HFBoards Admin
- Sep 27, 2005
- 13,473
- 26,774
Troll or not, you keep beating the same drum and your points have been soundly refuted, either as false or irrelevant. Bring something new to the table, or get off the podium.
Soccer has been in the US for a long time, too, and it's one of the least popular major sports on the pro level.
I don't see soccer surpassing Hockey in popularity, at least not for a while. If it does, it will just be one niche sport passing the other. The notion that soccer is going to become one of the premier American sports is ridiculous. These gimmicks have been tried before, and they failed. Americans inherently like American sports. That's just the way it goes. Soccer does not fit the bill.
Though in the end, it doesn't matter. People are not only capable of liking multiple sports, it's common practice. Being a soccer fan does not mean you can't also be a fan of hockey, and vice versa. Also, MLS is a summer sport, while the NHL is a winter sport. The MLS runs from April until November. There is very little overlap with the NHL season.
This is a non issue.
JimEIV
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2003
- 66,012
- 28,332
In the U.S. Soccer will never be popular...I'm in my mid 30's and growing up we looked at soccer as sport girls played like field hockey....
In the U.S. Soccer is a Fall Scholastic sport and the Fall is ruled by American Football.....You'll never in your life time see 20-30,000 fans for a High School Soccer game like you do for a High School football games in places across the U.S.
In High Schools around the U.S. we treat American football players as Royalty...Heck in my High School the soccer team wasn't even allowed to play on the main field because they didn't want it chewed up for the game on Friday night.
In the U.S. Soccer is a Fall Scholastic sport and the Fall is ruled by American Football.....You'll never in your life time see 20-30,000 fans for a High School Soccer game like you do for a High School football games in places across the U.S.
In High Schools around the U.S. we treat American football players as Royalty...Heck in my High School the soccer team wasn't even allowed to play on the main field because they didn't want it chewed up for the game on Friday night.
I have never said that soccer is going to surpass american football, baseball, or basketball.
It's funny that you call me a troll, when almost all you have done is trolling. Look I respect your hockey goalie site and your hockey goalie trivia, but don't call me a troll, OK. I even helped your site and check out my WHA vs. Europe post (hockey history board) it take hours to write.
I'm a controversial poster, but I'm not a troll.
Please, tell me how hockey can keep soccer at bay in the future. I just want to know, because I don't really get how soccer is not going to win.
Please note that I have nothing againts hockey. I just want to know the truth. I'm tired to hear same useless BS over and over again.
Bear of Bad News
Your Third or Fourth Favorite HFBoards Admin
- Sep 27, 2005
- 13,473
- 26,774
I said "troll or not", meaning that whether you're trolling or you aren't, you still need to come up with something new.
1. It's not close. I'm not a troll.
2. I can't come up anything else, because what I wrote is what I think is going to happen period. I hope hockey does well, but I'm afraid it's not going to happen.
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