NHL Marketing and Fighting

[BruinsBtn]

Stupid point to make, if Panarin got injured the ratings would be low.

We'll see who is stupid when the ratings are in.

 

[SotasicA]

You think Tom Wilson is afraid that someone fights him? He's a big dude and fights plenty. This seems like fantasy to me. There were more dirty players when fighting was more prevalent.

An enforcer occupies Tom Wilson. Kind of like Tom Wilson playing another Tom Wilson would. Two can play that game. Even if the other Tom Wilson has half the talent. The deterrent is that whatever you do, you get back double. And have a convincing character who is capable of it. If you get ejected body slamming Panarin, your team mates are free game. It really doesn't matter if it's Tom Wilson or one of his team mates at that point. So you kind of involve him in the decision of either a) fight this other less-talented Tom Wilson, b) have this other Tom Wilson do to your teammates what you do to his, c) keep cool and just play hockey.

 

[SotasicA]

Not really, we see players do dirty stuff and avoid fights anyway pretty regularly

didn’t dirty shit happen in the past anyway? They just fought after so okay you “answered for it”.. then it happens again, fight again... I feel like that just means more fights and not much else. It’s a really romanticized idea

More fights means a better product.

 

[The Expert]

MMA is probably the fastest growing sport for young people today. And you people want to grow hockey by removing fighting?

Lol.

The idea that people who say they don’t watch or like hockey because of fighting are going to turn into rabid fans if the NHL ever removes fighting is laughable at best.

 

[Chips]

More fights means a better product.

Purely subjective.

fighting has continually decreased the last decades, and the sport has grown. Not proof that fighting necessarily held the sport back but it is proof the fighting wasnt the main draw by any stretch, losing fighting likely hasn’t pissed off more fans than it attracted(/potential fans it didn’t push away)

 

[ItWasJustified]

Fighting has been around in hockey forever and it's an also ran sport. And if you can't tell the difference between side shows in a sport and sport actually centered around fighting I don't know what to say. Boxing and MMA are sports where fighting IS the sport. Much different from it being a side show. And if someone watches hockey due to the fighting because they like MMA fighting then they're probably watching a couple of games a year. It must be boring hating goals but watching just in case someone drops the gloves once every 5 games.

Have you played hockey? It's most likely the most frustrating sport to play out of all sports. There has to be some outlet for that frustration at the highest level.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

An enforcer occupies Tom Wilson. Kind of like Tom Wilson playing another Tom Wilson would. Two can play that game. Even if the other Tom Wilson has half the talent. The deterrent is that whatever you do, you get back double. And have a convincing character who is capable of it. If you get ejected body slamming Panarin, your team mates are free game. It really doesn't matter if it's Tom Wilson or one of his team mates at that point. So you kind of involve him in the decision of either a) fight this other less-talented Tom Wilson, b) have this other Tom Wilson do to your teammates what you do to his, c) keep cool and just play hockey.

Dirty players and dirty plays have happened for decades when enforcers were a thing. Tie Domi on Nidermeyer was I think in 2001, McSorley on Brashear was in I think 2000. You had Marchment probably going back to the 90s. Dirty players do dirty shit and the bigger problem is they get $5,000 fines rather than they're worried someone will punch them in the face a few times.

 

[BruinsBtn]

Purely subjective.

fighting has continually decreased the last decades, and the sport has grown. Not proof that fighting necessarily held the sport back but it is proof the fighting wasnt the main draw by any stretch, losing fighting likely hasn’t pissed off more fans than it attracted(/potential fans it didn’t push away)

Virtually every sport in the world has seen an enormous period of secular growth. We're in the era of sport-watching.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Have you played hockey? It's most likely the most frustrating sport to play out of all sports. There has to be some outlet for that frustration at the highest level.

Rap battle. People LOVE rap and it'll get their frustration out.

 

[ItWasJustified]

The idea that people who say they don’t watch or like hockey because of fighting are going to turn into rabid fans if the NHL ever removes fighting is laughable at best.

Who said anything about turning rabid? I'm talking about people losing interest in a sport that is already starting to look like floorball more and more for every year.

 

[Eisen]

MMA is probably the fastest growing sport for young people today. And you people want to grow hockey by removing fighting?

Lol.

Footy is the biggest sport in the world and will likely be for the next 100 years. No fights.

 

[Chips]

The idea that people who say they don’t watch or like hockey because of fighting are going to turn into rabid fans if the NHL ever removes fighting is laughable at best.

Based on what? Genuinely asking, I haven’t studied people’s behavior

but one industry growing doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with fans of another industry

hockey isn’t primarily about fighting, it just happens sometimes but it’s not even 10% of the game so people who are into combat sports won’t automatically suddenly be drawn to hockey; and some people really aren’t into combat sports of violence in general and wouldn’t watch MMA, but might watch a team sport about basically anything else.. but may not appreciate fighting to varying extents


Then you got baseball fans, golf, tennis... all entirely different draws with different fans some who like multiple sports, and many who only care about one.

 

[The Expert]

Who said anything about turning rabid? I'm talking about people losing interest in a sport that is already starting to look like floorball more and more for every year.

I was agreeing with you, rabid fans doesn’t mean literally rabid. Hardcore fans.

 

[Chokingdogs]

Have you played hockey? It's most likely the most frustrating sport to play out of all sports. There has to be some outlet for that frustration at the highest level.

nonsense! You’ve clearly never played golf.

 

[Eisen]

Not really, we see players do dirty stuff and avoid fights anyway pretty regularly

didn’t dirty shit happen in the past anyway? They just fought after so okay you “answered for it”.. then it happens again, fight again... I feel like that just means more fights and not much else. It’s a really romanticized idea

And we hav seen it forever. This didn't just coincide with the instigator tule.

 

[chauron]

More fights means a better product.

The quality of the fights is so low and often the another one doesn’t even have a will to go, which makes it an assault. Pointless and dangerous stuff people haven’t even practiced to do, can lead to unnecessary injuries only.

 

[Eisen]

Have you played hockey? It's most likely the most frustrating sport to play out of all sports. There has to be some outlet for that frustration at the highest level.

Every sport is frustrating if you stink at it.

 

[Chips]

Virtually every sport in the world has seen an enormous period of secular growth. We're in the era of sport-watching.

More tv channels, internet, social media exposure / ease of finding sports, free time since the early 20th century, that makes sense.

but did all sports grow at the same rate, or different rates? At whatever rate any sport grew, was consistent over decades or did any/all fluctuate equally or differently etc. There’s tons of potential influences on the growth of sports that can happen simultaneously or not.

 

[Ronnie Residue]

I think it’s pretty rare to find people who don’t like hockey and only watch it for fighting. That premise is ridiculous they’d just watch ufc or boxing.
Massive majority of people who support fighting in hockey like it being apart of the sport, while still enjoying skills and high scoring.
What Wilson did doesn’t qualify, fights aren’t even crazy common anymore, I think just leave it as it is. We are experiencing highly skilled hockey with a mixture of physicality without employing a no talent goon on every team.
The mix is great.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I'm for fighting. However, good fights no longer happen; they're more like calculated wrestling matches. If that's the permanent direction fighting in the NHL is going to go, then get rid of it. There's a time and place for fighting, but it seems like players over the last 10 or so years have been incorrectly instructed; having some 50lbs winger immediately fighting after a clean hit for example.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Who said anything about turning rabid? I'm talking about people losing interest in a sport that is already starting to look like floorball more and more for every year.

Look at the NFL and MLB, the softest they've ever been. Still make the NHL look like a joke.

 

[Bust]

Rap battle. People LOVE rap and it'll get their frustration out.

you're not even here to have a discussion, just whine about the Wilson discipline (or lack of).

we get it, you’re hurt over what happened last night. Fans of other teams aren’t going to raise their pitchforks here with you.

move on...

 

[WeThreeKings]

We'll see who is stupid when the ratings are in.

They'll be lower than Football games, Soccer games, Basketball games and Baseball games.

All sports which feature no fighting.

 

[BruinsBtn]

More tv channels, internet, social media exposure / ease of finding sports, free time since the early 20th century, that makes sense.

but did all sports grow at the same rate, or different rates? At whatever rate any sport grew, was consistent over decades or did any/all fluctuate equally or differently etc. There’s tons of potential influences on the growth of sports that can happen simultaneously or not.

Looks like you've found yourself something to do....

 

[ItWasJustified]

Footy is the biggest sport in the world and will likely be for the next 100 years. No fights.

And extremely low scoring. Let's see how popular hockey is when there's no fighting, no hits and the majority of the games end 1-0 or 1-2. Especially in North America.