Stanley Cup Finals Game 5 play

[EE94]

Where I think sports sections fail is the tendency to put the same thing on the front too often.

EE, this general kind of thinking really bothers me, too.

Just because you're doing something different doesn't mean you're doing something right.

And just because we're following trends doesn't mean we're doing something wrong.

My point was about risk. The world will not end if hindsight proves what you put on the front on Day X was the wrong call, especially in Sports.
The best sportswriting involves human interest.
My former outfit sends a person to the Cup final and he crafts a piece on brother handing Cup to brother (the Niedermayers). Those moments, properly spun, can generate as much broad-based interest as Bob Barker retiring.
Or the fact that six players on the Ducks had played at least 12 seasons before winning a Cup, most notably Teemu Selanne, a talented, decent, intelligent, articulate athlete who said after winning that its likely he'll retire because he wants to go out on top.
Hell, if the guy did a good enough job and I was ME, I'd consider throwing it on A1, assuming nothing huge had happened that day (and by that I don't mean another climate debate at the G8)
I'm not saying replace the usual content you need for your readership. But geez, don't be afraid to mix it up.
Readers crave good news stories. Sit in enough focus-marketing meetings and that's the No. 1 response. (That and better crosswords).
Journalists are often too self-important and forget that their readers are just that, readers. They like to read, and good stories are worth reading.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

Page 13B

Main headline: If it quacks like a cup ...

 

[Left_Coast]

The L.A. Daily News has Bob Barker as the A1 centerpiece with a Stanley Cup tease at the top of the rail. Sad.

Why? His last show on CBS in a couple of weeks will get triple or more the ratings last night's game got -- and that's on in late morning.

More people care about Bob Barker than the Stanley Cup finals. That fact is undeniable.

 

[RedCanuck]

So if Bob Barker's last show is in a couple weeks, and not today, why run that piece today when you could run something about a local team winning a famed trophy? It seems like a feature on Bob Barker could go any day, and may even be a good piece to attract readers to a Saturday or Sunday paper.

Even if hockey isn't popular in the States, the Stanley Cup has gained some visibility. It has appeared a couple times on the Simpsons, and players have taken it on shows like Leno and Letterman before. As much as there are people who don't care for this sport, I think there is something interesting about the Stanley Cup, especially when it's in your own market.

 

[Bob Slydell]

We did absolutely nothing for it. It was on our website with the rest of the AP stories.

 

[Left_Coast]

So if Bob Barker's last show is in a couple weeks, and not today, why run that piece today when you could run something about a local team winning a famed trophy? It seems like a feature on Bob Barker could go any day, and may even be a good piece to attract readers to a Saturday or Sunday paper.

Even if hockey isn't popular in the States, the Stanley Cup has gained some visibility. It has appeared a couple times on the Simpsons, and players have taken it on shows like Leno and Letterman before. As much as there are people who don't care for this sport, I think there is something interesting about the Stanley Cup, especially when it's in your own market.

Because he taped the show yesterday, so that's when the news happened.
I understand the history behind the NHL and the Stanley Cup. It's been around many decades. But the fact is, the vast, vast, vast majority of people don't care and weren't watching/following it.

 

[Left_Coast]

Something you don't see every day:
The Daily News had the same headline as the L.A. Times

 

[D-Backs Hack]

C1 photo teaser, bottom left of the page.

I live in an NHL market.

 

[Left_Coast]

Final ratings on NBC: 1.6 with a 3 share. The clincher drew a robust 1.8/3.

 

[Gold]

If it was such a big event, then why did the New York Times not staff it until Game 5, and that was only because Lee Jenkins was already in SoCal doing a piece on the Chatsworth High School baseball team.

There were seven major metro newspapers outside of SoCal that staffed the thing from beginning to end: Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe, Denver Post, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, New York Daily News, Rocky Mountain News and the Buffalo News

Neither paper in "Hockeytown" was there.

It's a niche sport.

This was a unique year because you had a Canadian team not even a major market playing a team which really is pretty much not even an LA team but an Orange County team. However, except for Buffalo on that list, all the cities are major cities. The fact that nobody from Detroit or New York covered it says more about those papers than the NHL. Chicago interest is probably down because the Black Hawks have been so poor, but these are major cities, not a couple of cities where hockey is.

Maybe it's just NASCAR and SEC football where you are. I understand what you are saying, but the point I'm making is that there is a bigger world.

 

[Left_Coast]

The vast majority of television viewers say otherwise.

 

[ondeadline]

A couple of posters questioned me for saying that it's sad that, in the market of the team that wins the Stanley Cup, Bob Barker gets better play on A1 than the Ducks. A lot of that comes from me being a hockey fan. But, my god, a team wins a Stanley Cup in their back yard, I would hope it would be a huge story.

I understand that the TV ratings stink. I think that's sad as well.

Barker may be the right call, but I don't have to like it.

 

[JR]

Unless Jesus comes back to play goal for the Rangers, ratings in the United States will never be other than pathetic.

Fact is though, the 6 Canadian teams contribute approximately 40% of the league non-ticket sales revenues

So, if I'm Gary the Weasel, where should I be focusing my efforts on growing the game?

The Stanley Cup is the most famous and most iconic trophy in all of professional sports.

Build on that.

 

[Gold]

Bettman has been a disaster for the NHL. The effort to expand to the Sunbelt has been misguided. Yes, there should be an NHL team in Atlanta because it is a major city. There was no effort during Bettman's tenure to try to get Canadian teams on a more even footing. The television contract has been a disaster, getting a cable network called Outdoor Life. I mean, getting on ESPN 2 was better than that.

And yet, with all of that, the teams generally draw over 15,000 people at least 40 times a year in 30 different cities. That's why it is the fourth major sport. And I suppose my ultimate proof that hockey is a great sport is that it manages to survive bad commissioners.

 

[crimsonace]

So, if I'm Gary the Weasel, where should I be focusing my efforts on growing the game?

Well, to try to get inside Gary the Weasel's mind, I'm sure it's thinking ...

"Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma don't have any major-league sports teams yet. We need to expand there first and grow the game."

Quebec, Winnipeg, Hartford ... all on his watch.

 

[JR]

The saving grace for Canadian based teams right now is the loonie. It's around 95 cents to the Usd and is getting stronger.

Canadian teams were screwed when the Canadian dollar was 65 cents because the revenues were in our currency but the payables were all in US bucks.

Gold is right about one thing. The league survives despite itself.

The NHL has been around as long as MLB (or about the same length of time).

It's the cockroach of professional sports.

 

[accguy]

EE,
Here's my question for you (fyi, we took wire for the sports cover), you talk about putting a brother handing off the cup to a brother on A1. Are you really going to rip your A1 cover for that on deadline. This was also an event you didn't know for sure would happen. It's not like a Game 7 or some sort of playoff when you knew you would have a final conclusion.

This was very much a deadline event that you didn't know for sure would occur. I would guess mamny papers had already pushed one edition before the game was over or shortly thereafter. That's tough planning right there.

 

[SoCalDude]

The people who work at particular papers know what is best for their paper. I don't think others should rip them for not including something based on our perceived interest. We went through this on Buerhle's no-hitter with some guys saying your paper is **** if you didn't have it on the cover.
Also, Bob Barker is a huge story here, but just because it got big play doesn't mean the Ducks didn't also get big play. The Times had the Ducks on A1 with a photo and column. The Register wrapped the whole paper with a special section. I wouldn't expect papers in Phoenix or St. Louis or Mississippi or Alabama to do so.