Benmaller.com: LA Times to drop hockey road coverage for Ducks and Kings

In addition, HOFer Helene Elliot's column to be dropped.

http://www.benmaller.com/

The Los Angeles Times has slashed its National Hockey League coverage, according to a BenMaller.com print loving mole.

Southern California's largest newspaper will no longer send beat reporters on the road for most of the Kings and Ducks trips.

In addition, the NHL column, written by Hockey Hall of Famer Helene Elliott, has been whacked.

Developing...

 

That's too bad, but in SoCal, hockey is a distant 10th or so in sports people care about. It's a niche sport.

 

The average attendance for the Ducks this season was 15,000. For the Kings it was 17,800. That's a big-ass niche.

Just another reason for people to stop reading the newspaper. If this is really happening, it's very foolish.

 

AMEN, PC.

This is troubling, to say the least.

Helene Elliott's column was a must-read every week. And why would the Times cede coverage to the Daily News and Company on hockey?

That'll make for some lonely road trips and one less reason for me to pick up what once was an awesome section.

 

I did say it was too bad, but if you're Randy Harvey and you've been told to a) cut back on space on things in your section after it's already been gutted and b) cut back on your travel budget after it's already been cut, where do you go? Hockey. It's unfortunate. It's sad. But, again, if you're told to make major cuts and everything else is gone, the first "major" sport you go to is hockey. Blame it on Tribune. As I posted last week, I guess a company-wide $87 million profit for one quarter isn't enough.

 

I didn't watch a single hockey game this past season.

OTOH, I never missed reading Helene's columns since I moved to L.A. in '94.

Next thing you know, they're gonna start paying their sportswriters 25 cents per columnar inch and columnists a nickel per adverb.

 

And copy editors would demand a penny kickback not to edit out an adverb.

 

Just heard Helene Elliott on the FAN (Hi, Elliotte!).

This isn't just a hockey problem, this is also a newspaper problem. The paper has also dropped their tennis coverage.

The Dallas (sorry, forget the name) has just dropped their golf columnist.

The Detroit FP didn't send a beat writer to the Stanley Cup Finals, for heaven's sakes.

This is way beyond, "No one gives a shit about hockey"

 

sorry, PC, but this argument is bunk.

hockey does well here in south florida, too, measured by attendance at the arena. in a metro area the size of socal (or a smaller one like here in south florida), there are more than enough people to fill the arena. but the diehards go to the game and that's it. it's not like football or baseball where millions don't go to games but still care.

in two years of living in south florida i have never once met anyone who professes to care about the panthers. i've never overheard a conversation about hockey. i've never heard an interview with a panthers player on sports radio. i've never heard a sports talk radio host discuss hockey other than to give the score of the panthers games. i've never seen anyone wearing a panthers jersey. admittedly, these are unscientific ways to gauge fan interest but TV ratings bear this out. i'm guessing in an area like southern california, it's similar to the situation here.

 

That's fairly telling too, especially considering that fat bald headed fuck Karmanos has his company's world headquarters in the middle of downtown Detroit too.

 

Leo,
You may be right but as I pointed out (and JW did on his rogue thread) this is not an isolated hockey problem. It's also a newspaper problem.