While yes, this is definitely a football state, its not like the CBJ are competing for attention with the Browns, Bengals, or Buckeyes in the time period it would take to win a cup. There's plenty of room. If for instance the Buckeyes won the playoff, they'd be competing directly with the Browns/Bengals if they were in a playoff run. Ohio State would rule the headlines for a bit, but if the Browns/Bengals won the SB they would immediately take center stage (at least in the respective cities, still maybe not in Columbus if its the Bengals). The CBJ would be hypothetically winning a cup in June, with everybody paying attention. The CBJ success over the past few years shows this state can be hockey crazy too, its not exclusive to one sport.
The virus got pushed to the back because everyone is tired of hearing about it. The NFL draft was something new and exciting, a call back to normalcy. It was the most watched draft in NFL history and it wasn't close. People wanted something new to watch, which is also why the Bulls/MJ documentary is doing major numbers as well on ESPN. If the NHL draft was conducted last week, I am sure it would have had record breaking numbers as well and dominated headlines, although obviously not nearly the same numbers as the NFL.
Will hockey always be second (or third) fiddle to football? Yes. But there's plenty of people in Ohio to spread the fandom around. The CBJ should fight for every set of eyes they can. You don't need to compete with the Browns, Bengals, or Buckeyes. You literally have the whole months of January onward to yourself.
You make some good points. The draft here though isn't new and exciting. The sports radio has been talking draft ever since last season when it was obvious the Browns weren't going anywhere. Actually, the NFL draft is the sport here January through April, who are the Browns going to pick? Depending on the players in the draft, it will be more popular than the Indians, even if they start good. The pecking order is Browns, Buckeyes, Indians, Cavs, high school football, MMA, WWE, waiting for spring, then maybe hockey. We have two sports talk stations. Hockey isn't even mentioned at all on the one station. The other one mentions the Monsters scores, but the Blue Jackets only get a mention when they make the playoffs. They have had Torts and Maetzold on the radio, but I will bet most people stopped paying attention. The next time I hear a caller want to talk hockey will be the first time. I am sure there are people here that have no idea the CBJ exists, and don't care. Me and my girlfriend have ubered to Monster games, and the drivers either thought we were going to see monster trucks, or they asked us when Cleveland got a hockey team, and this was after they won the Calder Cup. If the NHL draft was on last week, I doubt anyone here, other than hockey fans, would have watched it. Heck, I don't even watch it. To me, drafts are boring to watch. When they had the Joe Thomas bobblehead give away, we were seeing people get their bobblehead, and then turn around and leave. It may be minor league, but it is still good hockey a lot of the time. They are playing the Calder Cup championship game 4 tomorrow night on FSO. This was by far the best and most exciting hockey game I have ever seen, but other than Monster fans, it will go mostly unwatched. I can still remember arena workers laughing at us when it looked like the one game was going to be moved to Columbus, and pouting after they won the cup because at that time it looked like the Cavs were going to lose again. They didn't even care enough to get excited that a team actually won a championship. Actually here, they give that MMA guy more credit than the hockey team. As far as the Pens go, they are in the same city as the Steelers, with the hockey team in 2 hours away in Columbus, Cleveland fans just don't care. There are some Pens fans here, but they are most likely Steeler fans also, and they will likely make the trip to Pittsburgh for hockey before Columbus, unless the Pens are in Columbus. There are Monster fans that go to Columbus games, and they did have a couple of bus trips to go there, but one was cancelled because there weren't enough people going.
