Would the NHL benefit from an NFL Lockout?

[Canucks LB]

Very simple question, debating this with a friend of mine.

Would the NHL benefit from an NFL Lockout?

I believe it will force ESPN to show more coverage of the NHL, while my friend says it would do nothing, just double the College football coverage.

Also would the NHL have a better chance to working out a TV DEAL with ESPN if the NFL had a lock out, or would that have no impact on it at all.

What do you all think?

Click to read more...

 

[SirQuacksALot]

With as over saturated as college and NBA coverages are, they would still likely increase. However, I think people who live and breathe NFL would probably start channel flipping and happen upon a hockey game or two. NHL ratings would probably increase a little bit, though not as much as College and NBA ratings.

 

[Gabriel Landeskog]

Well obviously it would get a small boost in ratings, however there won't be an NFL lockout.

 

[LadyStanley]

There's been a lot of discussion on the potential labor stoppage in this thread: http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=802388


(Consensus seems to be there would be more impact from a NBA lockout than a NFL one.)

 

[Badger36]

I doubt you would see the NHL benefit much because as soon as the lockout ended people would go right back to watching the NFL and not caring about hockey.
Especially in America people are so conditioned to watching football that even a strike/lockout isnt going to make them stop watching.

 

[Ogopogo*]

All of humanity will benefit from an NFL lockout.

But really, who cares if NFL fans watch hockey while their sport is stalled out? We don't need them so they need not bother.

 

[Crazy_Ike]

I believe it will force ESPN to show more coverage of the NHL, while my friend says it would do nothing, just double the College football coverage.

The time currently spent covering the NFL would simply be spent covering the NFL lockout instead. In fact it wouldn't shock me if, at least early on, they didn't spend MORE time on it.

"The Decision" showed that ESPN's idea of what is "sports" is getting closer to the WWE than anything else.

 

[thinkwild]

Well maybe the NHL would benefit, if they had a lot more Sunday afternoon and big Monday night games. Perhaps the northern cities could do a whole season of outdoor games in the empty football stadiums on Sunday afternoons in Nov and Dec culminating in an outdoor stadium record only Superbowl Sunday in Feb.

I know not many of my friends watched basketball during the hockey lockouts. I dont think many sports fans are going to change their tv watching habits based on this lockout. More importantly, even if there is a temporary bump from sports obsessed fans with no where else to park their converter channel, it is meaningless without a marketing strategy to convert and maintain them. Just hoping that out of boredom some new fans land on the channel and then stick around when their sport returns, hardly seems the important question.

 

[don28]

I would venture to guess not since NHL owners have shown the tendency in the past to continually drop the ball when it comes to taking the league to the next level.

As the phrase goes, "They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

 

[sctvman]

It would be a big opportunity, but only in the northern markets like New York and others. In the South and Midwest, college football talk would just replace the NFL.

 

[zapy]

No it wouldn't. They have done research that found that NFL viewers would not watch NHL as an alternative. Where will they go? Maybe to basketball or college football but not hockey.

Besides to the OP you're from Canada so I assume you don't know how big college football is in the United States.

 

[Alex The Loyal]

College Football is like a religion in the states, and its season links up with the NFL Season, so their ratings will increase plenty more. I'm sure NHL will benefit somewhat, but Nascar or NBA will probably pick up the slack more than the NHL. I know there is MLB but no one cares about Baseball 'till September/October so nothing will change there....

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

No it wouldn't. They have done research that found that NFL viewers would not watch NHL as an alternative. Where will they go? Maybe to basketball or college football but not hockey.

Besides to the OP you're from Canada so I assume you don't know how big college football is in the United States.

Link?

 

[Melrose Munch]

All of humanity will benefit from an NFL lockout.

But really, who cares if NFL fans watch hockey while their sport is stalled out? We don't need them so they need not bother.

That's right, hockey needs to stay 5th forever and not grow.

 

[Moobles]

Nerp. No I just wanted to say that: possible, but gains will be marginal. In cities with already high NHL attention that has to compete with Sunday NFL games, I imagine they'll be an increase in attention first to basketball than to hockey. These'll be places like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, etc. However most football fans will probably just turn to heavily increased college football coverage or other sports. In the south some teams (Nashville) might benefit from a pro-sports "drought" for the year and may see increased attention and interest- but again, the other two major sports will probably absorb most of it and then college football, etc.

 

[Thank You Based God]

An NFL lockout won't do much for the NHL anyway. The NBA lockout will since that coincides with the NHL season more than the NFL, and most NBA fans will turn to hockey. College football gets plenty of coverage, and will get plenty during the lockout, but after that if there's no NBA there won't be anything to talk but hockey till MLB starts up again.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I really don't think the NFL lockout will have much of any effect on the NHL...it may slightly raise interest in shared markets (which is the vast majority of them) but I doubt its much. The NFL is a once-a-week event sport. The NBA locking out would have a bigger effect if not for the fact that there is very little in terms of overlapping in terms of fans between the sports, as they both largely market to very different demographics.

It would lead to much more attention on SportsCenter, that is a given...but aside from that I'm not really sure how much the difference would be. College football would be the more likely outlet for the sports-hungry football fan. If the NBA locks out then expect to hear a lot more regular season college basketball next year than usual. Fans of the sport are going to find their outlet. Lord knows I didn't watch more basketball games in 2004-05 without the NHL playing, I just followed the QMJHL and AHL more than ever before/after.

 

[ebox99]

Currently:

NFL #1
NBA #2
MLB #3
NHL #4

If NFL and NBA lockout their season and when the MLB season is over.

The NHL will be #1 for the 1st time in US...lol

 

[BigEyedPhish]

The NBA has a good chance to go to lockout as well.. if both or either happened, I think it would help MUCH more with ticket sales than probably TV coverage (for lesser markets anyways) although NHL ratings WOULD go up..

I could certainly see people buying tickets to Thrashers/Tampa/Florida that otherwise would NOT have if the NBA or NFL were around.. Could this introduce people to hockey? certainly.

Either way, if either or both go to lockout the NHL should spend a fortune marketing itself because whether or not it is a big opportunity or not, it is still an opportunity they will most likely never get again.. When the NHL is the only active major league sport (during late fall/winter/early spring)..

It would be cool if NBC or something could fill it's Sunday football slots with hockey, but that will probably never happen,