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the pathetic state of hockey in america


donnybrook

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has hockey intrest really gotten this low in this country. on ESPN (american) they have a MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER game of the week, but no NHL game of the week? so what this says to me is that soccer is now more popular in america than hockey. wow, thats sad. opinions?

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Guest Wags13

In America, what sells advertising rules. More advertisers want to make a presence in the emerging markets, the major emerging market being Latino. Latino's adore soccer and are becoming a larger presence in the US as a whole. While there is no doubt that hockey is a greater game to both play and watch than soccer- ESPN will not air it for free.

With the presence of young stars like Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, etc. the NHL will be back, but it will take a few more years.

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In America, what sells advertising rules. More advertisers want to make a presence in the emerging markets, the major emerging market being Latino. Latino's adore soccer and are becoming a larger presence in the US as a whole. While there is no doubt that hockey is a greater game to both play and watch than soccer- ESPN will not air it for free.

I honestly think the NHL is doing well outside the Sun Belt markets (even in Columbus, not so much in Nashville). The problem isn't ESPN - the games are on Versus and on NBC and some of the games this year have had fairly good ratings for hockey. Being able to watch a game in HD is amazing as well - 'specially because you can see the puck without having one of those FOX All-Star Game puck tracker thingies.

Soccer is an emerging market, but not because of the Latino community. If that was the case Miami would have gotten into the league before Portland or Vancouver. I base the relative success on the MLS here largely on the newfound availability of European games on TV and the internet, this helps build awareness here and lets people with an MLS team go and support soccer in their community. Hockey's problem is that you need to find ways to get people to appreciate it by having them go to watch a hockey game. That in itself is a great experience, but if you're in an arena without any atmosphere you might not get hooked by the experience. For instance, the Windsor Spitfires' arena is by far a much more entertaining place to watch a hockey game than is the Coyotes' Jobing.com arena.

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I honestly think the NHL is doing well outside the Sun Belt markets (even in Columbus, not so much in Nashville). The problem isn't ESPN - the games are on Versus and on NBC and some of the games this year have had fairly good ratings for hockey. Being able to watch a game in HD is amazing as well - 'specially because you can see the puck without having one of those FOX All-Star Game puck tracker thingies.

Soccer is an emerging market, but not because of the Latino community. If that was the case Miami would have gotten into the league before Portland or Vancouver. I base the relative success on the MLS here largely on the newfound availability of European games on TV and the internet, this helps build awareness here and lets people with an MLS team go and support soccer in their community. Hockey's problem is that you need to find ways to get people to appreciate it by having them go to watch a hockey game. That in itself is a great experience, but if you're in an arena without any atmosphere you might not get hooked by the experience. For instance, the Windsor Spitfires' arena is by far a much more entertaining place to watch a hockey game than is the Coyotes' Jobing.com arena.

Lol Tracking the puck? Is it that difficult jeeez!? And yeah we all know coyotes=s**t. Yesterday i watched a BC vs BU game... man was that boring. Seriously, your college hockey sux, all grinders and bums exept 2 or 3, Junior Hockey is really better than college.

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Personally, I wish the NHL would quit trying to appeal to new audiences and appriciate and embrace it's current fanbase. Once they do that, maybe they can improve the game. Unfortunately, I think the game is reverting back to its pre-lockout form. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*edit: Nice avatar donnybrook, I'm a big Descendents fan, unfortunately I am also a big fan of NHL 95 too!

Edited by Sabre Dance
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Lol Tracking the puck? Is it that difficult jeeez!? And yeah we all know coyotes=s**t. Yesterday i watched a BC vs BU game... man was that boring. Seriously, your college hockey sux, all grinders and bums exept 2 or 3, Junior Hockey is really better than college.

i watched that game too. it is what it is, a bunch of amateur hockey players. i enjoyed it, mainly because im from boston and it has a certin intrest to me.

Personally, I wish the NHL would quit trying to appeal to new audiences and appriciate and embrace it's current fanbase. Once they do that, maybe they can improve the game. Unfortunately, I think the game is reverting back to its pre-lockout form. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

*edit: Nice avatar donnybrook, I'm a big Descendents fan, unfortunately I am also a big fan of NHL 95 too!

i agree i wish the nhl would stop trying to appeal to new audiences, but that will never happen because its all about the $$$. the NHL will never be like it was. sadly.

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i watched that game too. it is what it is, a bunch of amateur hockey players. i enjoyed it, mainly because im from boston and it has a certin intrest to me.

I think they would actually get theyre ass kicked by a Junior Major team, and they got 23 years olds.... The Boarding call was a joke, that was a legal check, didn't even owned a penalty, and wtf? why does everyone has full cage? Aren't you allowed to use the semi-visor at 18?

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