NHL possibly getting bumped for a WNBA game

[BB79]

final copy-paste spam (sorry, i find this shit fascinating)

for anyone who wants to argue it's just about hockey being too expensive, a cold country sport, etc. let's look at the best american nhl player in the biggest american market, the best american player in the league, the aforementioned wnba mvp - breanna stewart, who is a non-household name - and... tiktok boy trevor zegras

View attachment 853929

this is on the NHL to market players better

Correct me if I read this wrong, she was more searched in the summer months when WNBA plays, then dropped off a cliff when summer ended and the hockey players were more searched during hockey season? Except for Adam Fox, apparently few people look him up?

We won’t have to worry ads in the jerseys at least since they will off

Players will get checked and ads will go flying off of their jerseys

 

[joelef]

Yeah, Fanatics really dropped the ball on their MLB uniforms. No doubt they'll b even worse 4 the NHL. Nike should have done the rpoduction themselves instead of licensing there name 2 a crap company.

They probably didn’t want to pay the amount the nhl wanted and when your league get playoff games bumped for. Women’s basketball you wouldn’t want to pay them that much.

 

[SmytheKing]

This is no hate, but can someone explain how she’s so popular? Is it literally just the sport or is she present on social media and other places that I’ve just not noticed?


Has she displaced more personality than I’ve noticed? It’s not a knock I know the internet is huge, but ive only seen games and post game interviews of her and people always say NHL players issue with marketing is nobody knows who they are as people

My honest opinion is that it's two fold.

One, she broke the all-time college scoring record this year which is a tremendous feat and she's deserving of all the accolades and attention.

Two, and I think this is where the momentum for her started, last year there was a huge game between Iowa and LSU where LSU won and their star player (Angel Reese) talked some trash to her at the end of the game by basically doing what Clark did at the end of her previous one. People came after Reese HARD and the discussion started about why the Black girl was getting laid into for doing the same thing the white girl was being celebrated for just a few days prior.

You combine those two things and there's a story that can get names into people's heads. Clark's story had been going all season long this year but it really picked up steam as she approached the record. Then it really hit an apex when they matched up against LSU again. Right place, right time mixed with an incredible accomplishment more than an individuals particular personality.

 

[Chips]

Clark could very well be what helps the WNBA grow, by drawing more attention to it. What she’s done is legit amazing and I’m not knocking that


But this is a sort of interesting case about the hype machine in the US. Narratives and other draws can build more interest than the actual product or game in itself.


eg the Stanley cups everyone was going nuts for, camping out and fighting. It’s literally just a cup but it survived a car fire or some shit. A situation almost nobody will get in but it got “decided” as cool.

Or Popeyes chicken sandwich’s. I’m sure it’s tasty but there’s absolutely no way it was worth the hype. Guaranteed every city has multiple restaurants with equal or better food that don’t have camps or gunshot because nobody decided it’s hype.

Ditto In n Out. I forgot what city it just opened up in a few months ago but it was the same shit.


Similar in music. Taylor Swift is legit really talented, but not because she’s particularly innovative. She’s largely perfected existing sounds with pop flavor. But she’s good at hit. A lot of her albums are just pretty good with some great hits, but the marketing around her is insanse and her fans believe her new album is a masterpiece before it drops.

Kanye. Travis Scott ahead of Utopia walking around everywhere with a suitcase (with the masters I guess) entirely unnecessarily cuffed to his wrist because it looks cool. Fans “knew” it deserved a Grammy before they heard anything lol.



There’s no need to get insecure about women’s sports in general, but this is more about Clark’s hype than the WNBA. Almost nobody cared about women’s basketball before, if I’m not mistaken the women’s NCAA games the year prior got millions fewer views

People often dismissed women’s sports because they were less capable than men and people arbitrarily decided that was a negative*, but the girl-Jordan narrative hype started and took off


* (even though competition just needs to be relative imo. Women’s hockey or men’s NCAA hockey against a bad NHL team would suck to watch, but against their own respective leagues they’re fun)

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Hockey fans, like hockey owners, are woefully out of touch.

 

[Armourboy]

That's one outcome. The other outcome is she grows the game like Curry did to the NBA. The valuations of NBA franchises in the last 10-15years have skyrocketed, and so much can be tied back to that man. While players like Lebron and Wemby are genetic freaks who are fun to watch and also draw in views, a relatable superstar who just buries 3's and changes the pace of the game is very different from a casual viewership standpoint, because people can more realistically see themselves being that player.

She's going to be everywhere in ads, and have NBA players wearing her shoes sooner than later. It remains to be seen if she just ends up being an athlete everyone knows in a niche league/sport like the Williams sisters and Jeff Gordon, or truly grows the league

No offense but the values of all professional sports franchises have skyrocketed over that time period, Curry or not it was going to happen. I mean even NHL franchises have increased dramatically and I don't think anyone believes the NHL has done any great marketing.

I have no doubt the WNBA, and womens basketball across the board will grow from it, but that just means you are hopefully making a league that self sustaining. The WNBA still requires a large chunk of money from the NBA to even stay afloat.

Also Gordon didn't grow NASCAR, he just happened to hit right as it was hitting its peak. Earnhardt, Petty, Elliot, Waltrip, the Allisons grew NASCAR.

 

[kingpest19]

Fanatics is in charge of production for MLB uniforms, even though they're still officially Nike uniforms.

I don't follow MLB closely, but it seems to have been a disaster even if it's not clear where exactly to assign the blame - baseball pants are tearing on slides...



...and are see-thru...



...sweat seeps through the jerseys...



...and the new design with smaller names/numbers has just been awful - plus the quality has gone way down with iron on patches versus sewn-in.


View attachment 853848

So the hugely popular MLB is having major issues with their jerseys/uniforms as well.

The blame should all fall on Nike. There weren't any issues the last six or seven years Fanatics has been making them under Majestic and Nike. The changes are from Nike going to a different material and designs. Fanatics does have a well earned rep for cheap stuff but this falls on Nike

 

[LuckyDay]

NHL fans think there’s some sort of prestige by being on ESPN and not ESPN2.

Bettman does. That was one of the sticking points over leaving the first time.

 

[lakeshirts37]

You mean like how no one care about the nhl once in a generation player?

You mean 'was'.

A year or too into the WNBA no one will care anymore.

Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, has talked about what is the biggest problem of the WNBA. It attracts men over the age of 60 years old, because professional women's basketball resembles how the game used to be played in the 70s stylistically, families, and the LGBTQ. The biggest issue was that they are unknown to their peers, thus were not able to grow the game... Now that multiple women have become recognizable in the last few years, the tides are changing, so the opportunity is there to grow revenue. They are generating a ton of discussion, and are now part of the cultural fabric, so the sky is the limit from here on in.

Idk Ill believe it when I see it. I think the interest will fade over time like every other wnba “star”

 

[LuckyDay]

Probably get pre-empted for the WNBA

 

[Mike C]

It may be depressing to all of us, but Caitlin Clark is a much bigger sports star than Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, or any other hockey player.

Many more Americans know who Caitlin Clark is.

And therein lies the problem!

She is the best college player ever, points wise

Only because the Pistol played in an era well before the 3 point line . Otherwise, he would have set the single most unbreakable record in any sport forever

 

[Mattb124]

The media props her up b/c she's a white girl succeding in a predominantly Black sport and is acceptable to mainstream Murica.

Or perhaps because she is the highest scoring woman in NCAA history?

But you are probably right, it is totally race-based.

 

[zombie kopitar]

No offense but the values of all professional sports franchises have skyrocketed over that time period, Curry or not it was going to happen. I mean even NHL franchises have increased dramatically and I don't think anyone believes the NHL has done any great marketing.

I have no doubt the WNBA, and womens basketball across the board will grow from it, but that just means you are hopefully making a league that self sustaining. The WNBA still requires a large chunk of money from the NBA to even stay afloat.

Also Gordon didn't grow NASCAR, he just happened to hit right as it was hitting its peak. Earnhardt, Petty, Elliot, Waltrip, the Allisons grew NASCAR.

I never said Gordon grew NASCAR , just that he was a household name, I don't know enough about it to speak about it other than seeing him everywhere as a kid

But GSW went from a bottom half NBA valuation to the 2nd most valuable sports franchise in the world since Curry has joined. The TV deals are correlated to him, especially in Asia (well they love Klay too). Listen to Lebron talk about his impact and how he was more important to the growth of the game than even himself
His impact was beyond that of 'sports franchises increased valuations in general', it's just common knowledge if you follow/understand sports business and it is flat out impossible to not correlate. 2011 had 1 out of 4 teams were actually losing valuation on their teams One Out Of Every 4 NBA Teams Has Lost Value Under Current CBA

But yes sports tv deals are the only thing keeping networks alive, so sure I won't disagree valuations would still be going up without GSW/Curry and the Lebron finals showdowns with them, but it was a ratings dream nonetheless and kind of impossible to project any other alternate timelines

 

[dukedukowski]

Or perhaps because she is the highest scoring woman in NCAA history?

But you are probably right, it is totally race-based.

Believe me. They have ways of making that happen. It's not hard with a billion bucks.
Stars are chosen. Not earned

 

[Hanji]

Or perhaps because she is the highest scoring woman in NCAA history?

But you are probably right, it is totally race-based.

You can’t exclude the influence of race. It adds to the novelty of the situation beyond her just being a freak of nature BB player. Very similar to Tiger Woods in golf, or the Williams sisters in tennis.

 

[BB79]

The media props her up b/c she's a white girl succeding in a predominantly Black sport and is acceptable to mainstream Murica.

I hope someday people will recognize Michael Jordan as the great player he was. If he looked like Larry Bird people would still be talking about him today. Who knows, he might even have his own line of highly sought after sneakers.

thanks for the laugh

 

[Dirty Dan]

Not that surprising, Caitlin Clark is a household name at this point. More popular than Ovechkin, McDavid, and Matthews combined.

No one knew a month ago, definitely not a forced topic.

Or perhaps because she is the highest scoring woman in NCAA history?

But you are probably right, it is totally race-based.

More Europeans are in the NBA than ever , but its never been more boring

 

[NYRfan85]

This shouldn't surprise us as NHL fans. I mean, TBS is airing the first round playoff games instead of TNT because of the NBA playoffs. (Doesn't matter either way for me, but it's funny how all season the games are on TNT, but come playoff time, TBS takes the bulk of them).

 

[MuckOG]

The media props her up b/c she's a white girl succeding in a predominantly Black sport and is acceptable to mainstream Murica.

No, the media props her for setting the all time College basketball scoring record.

This shouldn't surprise us as NHL fans. I mean, TBS is airing the first round playoff games instead of TNT because of the NBA playoffs. (Doesn't matter either way for me, but it's funny how all season the games are on TNT, but come playoff time, TBS takes the bulk of them).

It's logical that they would put the more watched game on the more watched channel, no?

 

[RooBicks]

No one knew a month ago, definitely not a forced topic.

Absolutely they did know who she was.

I'm a Canadian who lives in the US. There are way too many Canadians (and a few Europeans) who are making definitive statements about the prominence of Clark and women's college basketball in general without knowing the first thing about their place in the US media market. Clark has been talked about fairly continuously this season and last on American sports radio, including national broadcasts. The same goes for ESPN proper, on the television. The top stories in women's college basketball also receive more play from those venues than the NHL in all but a very few media markets in the Northeastern US.

You can say what you want about why she has become so well known - I would argue it's because she's arguably the greatest Women's NCAA player ever, who downed many dominant, big name programs to take a middling program to the final two years in a row, but perhaps some of you are correct and it's a grand conspiracy .

The point, however, is that you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. She has been a celebrity in the US for going on two years running now.

 

[danpantz]

Twice as many people watched her get drafted than watched any of the stadium series games this year.

More than the average viewership of the cup finals most years.

And that’s just the WNBA draft.

 

[SEALBound]

Caitlyn Clark is doing for the WNBA what Sid and Ovie did for the NHL in 05. It's not like a regular season WNBA game is bumping Game 7 of the SCFs.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

No one knew a month ago, definitely not a forced topic.

I do not follow the NBA, WNBA, or college baskeball of any kind and I'd heard of Caitlin Clark last year.

 

[Icarium]

It may be depressing to all of us, but Caitlin Clark is a much bigger sports star than Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, or any other hockey player.

Why would that be depressing? It's not professional hockey players are starving or anything like that. Call me weirdo but as long as hockey is popular enough to be shown on TV and its stars to make millions, I couldn't care less if it's behind [insert some other sport here] in popularity.

 

[Machinehead]

Why would that be depressing? It's not professional hockey players are starving or anything like that. Call me weirdo but as long as hockey is popular enough to be shown on TV and its stars to make millions, I couldn't care less if it's behind [insert some other sport here] in popularity.

Yeah, the desire to compete with other sports is strange to me.

I'm excited. I'm a WNBA fan and I already have my tickets for her first trip to Brooklyn. Granted, I was going to the Liberty home opener anyway, but this makes it much cooler.

If you're not a fan, why care? It's not a popularity contest.

While I think it's good that Clark is putting eyes on the league and it would be nice if it resulted in more tv money for the players, I'm perfectly happy for the WNBA to settle in where it is so tickets can remain reasonably priced.

The NHL being mega popular would turn every arena into MSG or Scotiabank. Trust me, you don't want it.