The Caps to play the Pens in the 2011 Winter Classic

Awwww. Ain't it cute when his Canadian pride gets bruised?

Like it or not, it is smart business to go after the audience you don't already have. Yes, the NHL takes its Canadian audience for granted. You know why? Because they can.

 

It has nothing to do with Canadian pride.

Of course you go after your untapped markets but not at the expense of your best customers.

 

The "untapped market" argument is fucking hilarious.

This strategy---and I use the term generously---has been around since the days of black and white TV when Clarence Campbell was running the league.

But, this strategy is now coming from a Commish who, as JJ said, referred to the Olympic hockey tournament as a "mixed bag". and a league who moved the awards ceremony from Toronto to, of all places, Las Vegas and brought in Chaka Khan as a headliner, supposedly, I guess, to attract "the casual fan".

As they say, you can't make this shit up.

This league is run by marketing geniuses who know squat about, well, marketing.

This entire Southern Strategy reminds me of the CFL's attempt under that packaged goods whizz Larry Smith to "grow the game" and expand into the US. At least the CFL was smart enough after about three seasons to realise it was the dumbest idea since the Maginot Line and smartly cut their losses and got the hell out of Dodge.

Right now the CFL is doing quite nicely and the NHL has regained the title of "Dumbest Professional Sports League"

 

40 per cent of the revenue.....40 per cent, damnit!



All you're doing is proving the NHL's point: They can take Canadian customers for granted. They'll always be there, no matter what.

So Canada is the proverbial gimme, and they choose to chase other business.

 

Here's another thing though. I've seen people in this thread argue for the star power to catch the casual fan, and I've also heard people say that the winter classic is often about as exciting as pond hockey because of the ice conditions, etc. - and it's true, the ice usually gets bad.

So if you're marketing Crosby and Ovechkin to those casual fans, wouldn't you want to market them in a place where they can actually show off their skills instead of a place where people can say "the outdoor thing was great, but even with your big stars, hockey sucks?"

These are one-time television ratings and merchandising. Instead of drawing the same horses out, why not spread it to other markets and create some buzz and demand over less popular franchises who could be marketable with a little bit of a push. Market your other stars like the Rick Nash or the Zach Parise (one of the best Americans in the game today) - whether the game is worth a damn -and build their profile too?

That way, you're reaching more of the casual fans who actually give a shit about hockey. Going head-to-head against a bowl game, you're probably not going to win over a fan unless they're already interested in that game.

 

And while I'm at it, on the playoff team argument, in the NHL these days it's not always a given that a non-playoff team now is going to be one in the near future. Okay, there are some teams who are truly inept, but under this CBA there's been a lot of parity and fluctuations in the standings.

It's not too long ago we were all saying the Philadelphia Flyers could build a big, tough team, but the days of the Broad Street Bullies were behind them as they couldn't win with that. And how long ago was it we were all saying Bill Wirtz has screwed up the Blackhawks beyond repair? I don't buy that some teams are unmarketable because of one season's record.

 

Because you're not going to attract casual fans if they have to learn who the stars you're pushing are in any given Winter Classic, whether it be players' names or team names. But if they know Crosby and Ovechkin and Ryan Miller, or the Blackhawks and Red Wings, or the Bruins and Flyers, that's one foot in the door already.

Oh, and promoting Parise and the Devils might not work. Traps don't make for good TV and might bore those casual fans away from the game. And promoting a non-playoff team like the Blue Jackets probably wouldn't be a smart business decision.

 

Like we don't have a good idea how teams are going to be when the season begins.

The Bruins were coming off a season where they were the No. 1 team in the East, and the Flyers were a sexy preseason pick to make the Stanley Cup final out of the Eastern Conference. Both advanced in the playoffs.

The Red Wings were reigning Stanley Cup champions and well on their way to another deep postseason run. The Blackhawks were on their way up, and the Winter Classic certainly gave them a nice push in exposure. Those teams worked.

The Penguins had Sidney Crosby and a team primed for postseason success, as the last two years have shown. The Sabres had Ryan Miller, who soon became an American Olympic hero, and a die-hard fan base. Those teams worked.

All in all, it's hard to argue with the NHL's selections for the Winter Classic. All of the teams picked have had some combination of star power and team success that led to deep postseason runs -- which pays dividends when it comes time to ratings for the Stanley Cup playoffs. No one wants to watch the Clippers and Wizards on Christmas day in the NBA. No one wants to watch the Lions and Raiders on Thanksgiving in the NFL. So why would a Blue Jackets-Thrashers game attract casual fans, when similar matchups in other sports won't?

 

And that post reminds me what ridiculous comparisons some posters here are willing to draw when they can't make their point with facts. The CFL is a small-time league that made a big-time mistake, one that doesn't compare at all with what the NHL is doing here.

We're talking about the NHL focusing its marketing efforts on its two biggest stars, something that has worked for sports leagues in the past. Specifically, we are talking about using a showcase event, the Winter Classic, to give them a big audience.

That is a hell of a lot smaller deal than putting a CFL expansion franchise in San Antonio, which was doomed to failure from day one. Hell, they couldn't even sell the USFL down there, which offered much better talent than the CFL does.

Also, there isn't a vastly-superior hockey league in the United States for the NHL to compete against. Yet another difference from the CFL, which looks like the inferior product that it is when compared to the NFL.

 

Please stay with the tour.

The CFL's expansion into the US had squat to do with competing with the NFL. Where in God's name did you come up with that?

The CFL was adopting an ill-fated marketing strategy of introducing CFL Football into the US in hopes of finding a niche market.

Does that sound familiar to the NHL's Southern Strategy? The CFL made a one time big mistake. The NHL continues to make the same mistake over and over again

And I'm always amused when Americans constantly belittle the CFL as an "inferior product" when the two games have little to do with each other.

Yes, the NFL has better players and yes, it's better in the same way that NHL hockey is better than the Swedish Elite League in hockey.

And the USFL argument is is irrelevant . The league lasted three years.

This marketing focusing on Sid and OV in a big event like the Winter Classic on the way to sell the game is lazy and stupid. What if both of them are injured and can't play? How do you sell the game to Bubba who's never heard of a Staal?

The "Big Event" idea is so shortsighted that it defies logic.

 

Of course the CFL didn't intend to compete with the NFL, but the NFL existed as an example of far superior football. That is a problem the NHL doesn't have to deal with. Sorry if that was too complex for you to follow.

I'm not belittling the CFL. I'm calling it what it is -- inferior. Just because the rules have been tweaked a bit doesn't mean it isn't still football. And it is football played by men who, for the most part, do not have the ability to play in the NFL.

And the USFL argument just shows that putting an expansion team in San Antonio was particularly stupid. Some cities did at least give the USFL a chance. San Antonio did not.

 

Jesus, do you know anything about the history of professional football in North America? Seriously

The CFL didn't "tweak" the rules. They were in place before the NFL even existed

The Grey Cup has been around since 1909 and until the late 80's, both leagues were in the running for top US college players.

And Warren Moon played up here for five years because racist owners decided a black American QB couldn't play in the NFL. Not about ability.

Yes, the CFL is not at the same level as the NFL but there are a lot of American players in the league who were genuine NFL players and prospects but were released for all sorts of reasons. Ability is often a secondary factory