I'm opening myself up to attacks here because this will be an anti-fighting thread and hockey fans clutch their pearls anytime someone dares question the holy practice of hockey fighting.
There are two problems with fighting from a marketing standpoint:
1) It's this super quirky part of a beautiful sport that defines the sport for many people. Some people who aren't fans like it (only thing I like about hockey is fighting), but they're not serious fans. But overall it makes the league not look serious. Every other sport there are real repercussions when it comes to fighting. As is it makes the league look bush league. It's like your friend that says silly things all the time. He's lovable but no one takes him seriously.
2) 99% of fighting is clean and these guys respect each other. That said when you promote fighting it creates a culture of violence where dirty plays end up being overlooked because it's not that much of a leap to dirty play. Kind of like in politics things tend to go into extremes more and more, even if they start center left or center right. And that's what creates the DOPS giving a guy a $5k fine for dangerous actions. Once again bad marketing, makes the league look completely bush league.
Oh and fighting doesn't deter anything, these guys that are dirty fight for a living, what will it actually do if they fight and even lose a fight. They've done that their entire lives.
If you want the NHL to grow you need to get rid of unnecessary violence and promote tough physical forechecking hockey instead. Because that's actually part of the game.
Flame away...
There are two problems with fighting from a marketing standpoint:
1) It's this super quirky part of a beautiful sport that defines the sport for many people. Some people who aren't fans like it (only thing I like about hockey is fighting), but they're not serious fans. But overall it makes the league not look serious. Every other sport there are real repercussions when it comes to fighting. As is it makes the league look bush league. It's like your friend that says silly things all the time. He's lovable but no one takes him seriously.
2) 99% of fighting is clean and these guys respect each other. That said when you promote fighting it creates a culture of violence where dirty plays end up being overlooked because it's not that much of a leap to dirty play. Kind of like in politics things tend to go into extremes more and more, even if they start center left or center right. And that's what creates the DOPS giving a guy a $5k fine for dangerous actions. Once again bad marketing, makes the league look completely bush league.
Oh and fighting doesn't deter anything, these guys that are dirty fight for a living, what will it actually do if they fight and even lose a fight. They've done that their entire lives.
If you want the NHL to grow you need to get rid of unnecessary violence and promote tough physical forechecking hockey instead. Because that's actually part of the game.
Flame away...
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