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Saturday's NHL on NBC fiasco

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Elliotte Friedman, May 21, 2007.

  1. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Curt Warner blew out his knee in that game and was never to be heard from again.
     
  2. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    I think that this is closer to the realization that the once-wonderful NASL faced 25 years ago.

    This sport ain't gonna make it in this country, unless everyone gets paid about half what they are now.

    And then, everyone worth a shit will play in Europe.
     
  3. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    That doesn't make any sense at all.

    What do players salaries have to do with hockey's popularity in the USA?

    Fact is, the NHL has been trying to make hockey popular down there for 40 years--and it's never worked other than as a niche sport.

    Why piss off your legitimate broadcast partner--CBC--who actually pays for their broadcast rights-- instead of sucking up to NBC--who pays nothing. I'll be interested in seeing CBC's viewership for that game. Two strikes against it: Saturday afternoon AND it was a long weekend here.

    And no player worth his shit will play in Europe. Alexander Daigle plays in the Swiss league and is in the top three in scoring. That's all you need to know.

    European hockey is below the AHL in quality --and infinitely more boring.
     
  4. Cansportschick

    Cansportschick Active Member

    There is no correlation between hockey salaries and popularity in the States. The NHL has failed to make inroads in the States with regards to broadcast rights deals. They would be better off expanding things here in Canada. If NHL is thinking expansion, I would look at Canada instead of the States. The NHL should have come up with a better way to market the game in the States too.

    As for NBC, why do you think they are fourth in the ratings race?
     
  5. Boomer7

    Boomer7 Active Member

    This sport has already "made it" in America in terms of attendance. The problem is that the NHL has never been able to capture the neutral observer. Once your local team is out, you just stop following the sport. At this point, I'm not sure they'll ever be able to crack that nut, but that doesn't mean the game can't flourish in most of the league's U.S. markets (obviously, they could stand to get rid of a few teams, for reasons financial, competitive and common-sensical).
     
  6. Jim Rockford

    Jim Rockford Member

    This isn't anything new when it comes to the networks and the NHL. Same thing sort of happened 27 years in 1980, remember it well. The Islanders-Flyers final was on cable, but the NHL decided to put Game 6 on a Saturday afternoon on CBS. Many affiliates, including mine in a hockey market, blacked it out. My station showed a really sorry football movie.

    At least there was a local "re-run" station also showing the games on tape delay late at night, so I was able to see the Islanders win the Cup in overtime. Few people had VCRs then, so it was either stay up until 3 a.m. to see it, or be SOL.
     
  7. Jim Rockford

    Jim Rockford Member

    Secondly, what kind of dummy makes a decision to start a game three-four hours before a Triple Crown race, knowing full well that if it goes into OT, you're dead horse meat on a platter?
     
  8. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    He came back the next year, played five more seasons. But he was never the same.
     
  9. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Tickets cost too much.
     
  10. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    They're far more expensive in some places than in others, but, point taken.
     
  11. Kritter47

    Kritter47 Member

    Player salaries have very, very little to do with ticket prices. Prices are set on market demand. Economics 101 - you set your product price at the level that will make you the most money given your market, end of sentence.

    Now, there small correlation is that the minimum revenue stream should ideally cover the expenses. However, organizations set ticket prices based upon what the market will bear. There's all sorts of complicated charts and graphs the business guys use to determine this. If player salaries drop, assuming all other factors remain the same (demand being the big one), the ticket prices should not drop. It's called maximizing your revenue.

    It was one of the main selling points the owners used in the lockouts, but it's bull. Owners sell it to you as their way of justifying how prices aren't their fault when in reality, it's simple economics. Teams with low recent demand have lower prices, teams with higher recent demand have higher prices no matter what their player salary is. Witness the disparity in ticket prices in this new, salary capped world of the NHL or take a look at the NFL's ticket price disparity.
     
  12. Mmac

    Mmac Guest

    Economic analysis aside, tickets do cost too much in the NHL. They're still operating under a pricing model that presumes their product to be a major league sport somewhat competitive with MLB, NFL, and NBA, but virtually no Americans see it that way anymore.

    If the NHL wants to rebuild a base in the U.S., they've got to do whatever it takes to pack their arenas with enthusiastic fans once again so people become aware and start talking about the league again. Have a hard time seeing them getting that done unless they bite the bullet and drop their ticket prices back to bring more middle-class Joes back into the arena.
     
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