Article: The NHL Is On Thin Ice

Best NHL city: Buffalo
August 2, 2007

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=249329


Here's how good the hockey fans are in Buffalo: While TV ratings in the rest of the U.S. pushed to reach numbers posted by drunken drivers, the citizens of this mid-market media area were watching the Stanley Cup finals at five times the national rating.

And the Sabres weren't even in the finals.

Such is the passion for pucks in greater Buffalo. These fans even surpassed the Game 5 rating in the L.A. market, where the Ducks were winning the Cup.

There's no Disney Land in Buffalo; Niagara, Ontario, is nice but you can only see Ripley's so many time. There's no surf in Buffalo; the closest thing is where the Niagara River goes downhill real fast. Goat Island will never be confused with Long Beach.

So, OK, there aren't the distractions in Buffalo there are in Anaheim, where the Cup landed. Other than hockey, the only thing these cities have in common is James Cameron. The Titanic man is from an Ontario burg on the north shore of the Niagara.

And although both cities have hockey, Buffalo's passion for it is unsurpassed. Anywhere.

America's Best Sports City, NHL category, even loves its team when it loses. Example: Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, won by the Senators to eliminate the Sabres, drew a 28.4 rating for NBC. And games 1-4, all on Versus, drew ratings between 21.9 and 27.6.

Now chew on this: NBC's three games in the finals had a rating of ... 1.6. Repeat: 1.6.

Anomaly? Not considering Buffalo's rating for the All-Star Game was 7.1, while the next-best market number was Pittsburgh's 2.8.

If the NHL posted numbers one-tenth as good across the U.S. as it does in Buffalo it would be giddy. Gary Bettman would Riverdance from Erie to Ontario.

And these folks aren't staying home, either. Every Sabres home game last season was a sellout. That's 18,690 for 41 nights at HSBC Center. And of course, with Cup hopes sky-high, every playoff game was a sellout, too.

There was such demand for the playoffs, Time Warner Cable added Versus HD to its lineup.

'Nuff said. Buffalo, you rule.

Don Wassall said:

I read today that the NHL salary cap is expected to rise to $48 to $50 million per team for the '07-'08 season.  The NBA salary cap for the season that just ended was $53.135 million, or just a few million dollars more than the NHL's. 


What that means is that the league the Caste media loves to denigrate as a "niche sport" and "minor league" generates damn near as much revenue as the NBA in order to pay those salaries, despite getting a tiny fraction of the PR, hype, and individual corporate endorsements that the NBA and its players do. 

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The NHL delivers an honest product, and its fan base is completely ... fanatic, totally reliable. The NHL's salary cap close to the NBA's? Well now. Just a few years back, before the cap, many NHL teams were paying out 75 to 100 million dollars in annual salary. Superior indeed to the NBA.

The NBA is a dying sport, the NHL a growing white powerhouse. I say THANK GOD that ESPN has frozen themselves out of pro hockey in North America. They will be begging to get back in in a few years.

Blast, it's a hot dry summer! Can't wait for the NHL to resume play! And poo on the NFL and its criminals. We should chronicle and document the Caste system, as CasteFootball does so well. But I've lost all interest in the criminal NFL, with its Black sociopaths on the field, its Jewish pol-correct and greedy owners, and wimpy Caste-loving coaches. October Five, NHL season starts. Let's get going!

Realgeorge said:

QUOTE]


I say THANK GOD that ESPN has frozen themselves out of pro hockey in North America. They will be begging to get back in in a few years.

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It was revealed this past week that the NHL and ESPN are in preliminary talks about the sport returning to the network after next season. It's probably because NBC isn't likely to take an option to extend its contract with the NHL. In the coming season they're only going to have one game each Saturday shown nationally instead of two or three regional games. They've also done away with the "studio" at Rockefeller Plaza. It''l be a bare bones operation at NBC next season

C Darwin said:

Best NHL city: Buffalo
August 2, 2007

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=249329


Here's how good the hockey fans are in Buffalo: While TV ratings in the rest of the U.S. pushed to reach numbers posted by drunken drivers, the citizens of this mid-market media area were watching the Stanley Cup finals at five times the national rating.

And the Sabres weren't even in the finals.

Such is the passion for pucks in greater Buffalo. These fans even surpassed the Game 5 rating in the L.A. market, where the Ducks were winning the Cup.

There's no Disney Land in Buffalo; Niagara, Ontario, is nice but you can only see Ripley's so many time. There's no surf in Buffalo; the closest thing is where the Niagara River goes downhill real fast. Goat Island will never be confused with Long Beach.

So, OK, there aren't the distractions in Buffalo there are in Anaheim, where the Cup landed. Other than hockey, the only thing these cities have in common is James Cameron. The Titanic man is from an Ontario burg on the north shore of the Niagara.

And although both cities have hockey, Buffalo's passion for it is unsurpassed. Anywhere.

America's Best Sports City, NHL category, even loves its team when it loses. Example: Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, won by the Senators to eliminate the Sabres, drew a 28.4 rating for NBC. And games 1-4, all on Versus, drew ratings between 21.9 and 27.6.

Now chew on this: NBC's three games in the finals had a rating of ... 1.6. Repeat: 1.6.

Anomaly? Not considering Buffalo's rating for the All-Star Game was 7.1, while the next-best market number was Pittsburgh's 2.8.

If the NHL posted numbers one-tenth as good across the U.S. as it does in Buffalo it would be giddy. Gary Bettman would Riverdance from Erie to Ontario.

And these folks aren't staying home, either. Every Sabres home game last season was a sellout. That's 18,690 for 41 nights at HSBC Center. And of course, with Cup hopes sky-high, every playoff game was a sellout, too.

There was such demand for the playoffs, Time Warner Cable added Versus HD to its lineup.

'Nuff said. Buffalo, you rule.

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This game sounds like a great way to showcase hockey fever in Buffalo and promote the NHL:
<H1>Penguins-Sabres reportedly to play outdoors </H1>
<H2>New Year's Day game at Bills' stadium to be dubbed Ice Bowl</H2>
What are your plans for New Year's Day? How about watching the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres play a matinee -- outdoors.
rest of article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20442722/

Pittsburgh columnist writes that the Penguins are well on the way to passing the Steelers in popularity in football-crazy Western Pennsylvania:
<DIV =story_line>Penguins' power on rise
<DIV =story_subline>Penguins bid for supremacy
<DIV =story_lastupdate>Friday, May 09, 2008
<DIV =story_byline>By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
<DIV =story_>


Right in front of our eyes, while almost no one is noticing, one of the greatest come-from-behind sagas in the history of Pittsburgh sports is unfolding. The Penguins, not all that far removed from bankruptcy and a string of four consecutive last-places finishes, are in the process of surpassing the Steelers as Pittsburgh's favorite sports team.


The Penguins haven't passed the Steelers -- yet -- but they're coming hard after having long ago whizzed by the Pirates.


Although some might think it is the height of foolishness to suggest the Penguins could supplant the Steelers, who have long been followed with a religious fervor, as the region's No. 1 team, it's not so crazy.


There are signs of the Penguins' gains everywhere -- from attendance, to television ratings, to media coverage.


Just last month, for example, the NFL draft, once an event that commanded the top of the sports page and the lead on the 11 o'clock sports news for days, found itself playing second banana to the Penguins. The draft was still a major event April 26, its first day. But the big story April 25 was the first Penguins-New York Rangers Stanley Cup playoff game. The big story April 27 was the second Penguins-Rangers game.


What's more, that trend will continue to grow. The Penguins have a firm grasp on the local under-30 crowd. These fans might like football and the Steelers, but they love hockey and the Penguins.


Nor are the Penguins about to allow that grip to loosen in the foreseeable future. The team is positioned to be a contender, if not a champion, for years to come. They have a stable full of young players who are both fan and media friendly. Of greater significance, most of the players, and virtually all the stars, are as wholesome as the boy next door. Some, in fact, are young enough to be the boy next door.


Parents looking for role models need look no further. The Penguins are thick with them. These guys aren't packing guns, they're not getting arrested, they're not being sought for child support payments, they're not demanding to be traded. They are the anti-modern day athlete, and no one exemplifies that more than the team's best player, Sidney Crosby.


Yeah, they're making a lot of money but, somehow, it's never the issue with these guys that it is in other sports. Crosby even gave the Penguins a hometown discount when he signed his first long-term contract.


These are the kinds of things that fans and non-fans don't forget. They are the kinds of things that bring outsiders to hockey and keep the hard-core close to it.


The Penguins have sold out every game this year, despite ticket prices that are, by far, the most expensive in town. Playoff tickets are ridiculously expensive, more than $200 for some seats, but, even in these hard economic times, they are gobbled up.


This dramatic increase in interest has come at a time when the Penguins are playing in the oldest and probably least fan-friendly arena in the NHL. Ground is set to be broken this summer on a new arena. When it opens, hockey in Pittsburgh will receive almost as big a jolt as the day the Penguins won the Crosby lottery.


The Penguins are so big that they've already, after only two rounds of the playoffs, surpassed the interest level that prevailed when the franchise won consecutive Stanley Cups in 1991 and '92.


Some of that has to do with a general ratcheting up of sports interest all across the country. Almost every team has more interest in it than it did 15 to 20 years ago as sports have become a national obsession. But a lot of this upsurge of interest is of a generational nature. Fans who were introduced to hockey by Mario Lemieux and those championship teams of the early '90s have stuck around and raised their kids to be hockey fans.


And some of those kids are playing hockey. The hockey boom in the area, originally generated by Lemieux, continues as the number of leagues and teams grow every years. A new miniboom, spawned by Crosby's arrival, is under way.


If any further proof of how much hockey has grown in this area is needed, just check the ice tonight when the Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers open play at Mellon Arena in the Eastern Conference final. Ryan Malone of Upper St. Clair and R. J. Umberger of Plum are key players for their respective teams.


There are more on the way with close to two dozen Western Pennsylvania players in Division I hockey.


The Penguins are pulling Steelers-like television ratings for their games and even their postgame shows. After the game Sunday against the New York Rangers, WPXI's postgame show averaged a 16 rating, a previously unheard-of number for hockey.


No, the Penguins don't draw Pittsburgh crowds on the road like the Steelers do. But there's a good reason for that. The Steelers Nation is composed greatly of displaced Pittsburghers. They're not traveling to those road games, they're already there. The Penguins' youthful fan base still is primarily in Pittsburgh.


One of these years, sooner than later, disgruntled Pirates fans, tired in mid-June of watching another losing team, won't so much be looking ahead to the start of Steelers camp in July but rather to the start of Penguins camp in September.


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08130/880449-61.stm

Bottom line -- the sporting media in general would like for the NHL to die because there's no way that they can lie, cajole, buy, or cheat their way into fooling the world into thinking that black people should dominate it.

Any "homie" trying to pull that ghetto "act hard" crap on the ice would be on the receiving end of a 100 mph stick in his grill about two seconds after.

Just upgraded my cable to finally get the Versus network so I can watch hockey again like I used to when I lived in Dallas. How can a premier all sports Network like ESPN not carry the NHL but they will carry poker tournaments? Just ridiculous. The Versus channel's production of the hockey games has been first rate so far and they carry alot of MMA too. The Stars are in a hole being down a couple of games to the Red Wings but I am rooting for them and the very exciting Penguins to make it to the finals.

guest301 said:

The Versus channel's production of the hockey games has been first rate so far and they carry alot of MMA too.

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I agree. Versus does a better job than ESPN did with hockey. And so far at least, no mandatory black head announcer for the pre-game and between periods shows.


Versus and the NHL have both been widely ridiculed. I'd like to see the relationship greatly benefit both as it appears to have the potential to do. Who knows, maybe Versus can eventually be a challenger to the monopoly position of ESPN.

Don Wassall said:

guest301 said:

The Versus channel's production of the hockey games has been first rate so far and they carry alot of MMA too.

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I agree.  Versus does a better job than ESPN did with hockey.  And so far at least, no mandatory black head announcer for the pre-game and between periods shows. 

Versus and the NHL have both been widely ridiculed.  I'd like to see the relationship greatly benefit both as it appears to have the potential to do.  Who knows, maybe Versus can eventually be a challenger to the monopoly position of ESPN. 

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That would be indeed good news if they can compete with ESPN on equal footing one day. Right now I think Versus is a cross between ESPN and Spike TV. Everything in their programming that I have seen this week is male oriented and mostly white male oriented with some of their outdoor and wildlife programming.

Hockey is ALIVE and WELL!


Yesterday's game went by pretty quickly. It wasn't "tedious" like today's NBA!


Hockey and Soccer are two sports that I under-appreciated when I was young and dumb, but I recognize their greatness today!

Don noted the fact that hockey goalies aren't 400 pounds. That's one reason hockey is exciting! The same can be said for soccer.

Last night's game drew a 2.8 national rating compared to 5.3 for the Celtics-Pistons. Very impressive, especially considering that the NBA gets about 25 times the media hype that the NHL does.
<H1>Stanley Cup's Game 3 beat NBA conference finals in Detroit ratings</H1>


PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins' first victory over the Detroit Red Wings on NBC drew the best overnight rating for a third game of the Stanley Cup finals in six years.


Pittsburgh's 3-2 win on Wednesday night earned a 2.8 national rating and an 18.2 rating in Detroit, beating out the 15.9 rating for the Pistons' matchup with the Boston Celtics.


Game 5 of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals drew a 5.3 national rating.


The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned into the broadcast among those households with TVs on at the time.


The combination of Games 1, 2 and 3 have made this the highest-rated and most-watched opening games of the Stanley Cup finals since Detroit faced Carolina in 2002.


The rating for Wednesday night's game represented an 87-percent increase over last year's Game 3 between Anaheim and Ottawa.


Copyright 2008 Associated Press.

Outstanding TV ratings for the RedWings vs. Penguins. Particularly sweet that it tops the NBA games by a wide margin.

From the Washingtonpost:

"NBC says ratings for Game 3 were up 87-percent over last year's Game 3, and that more people in Detroit watched the Red Wings than the Pistons.

Last night's Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on NBC earned a 2.8 overnight rating and a 5 share, the best overnight rating for a Game 3 in six years (2002 - Carolina-Detroit, 3.8/8). The Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings garnered an 18.2/28 in Detroit, trouncing the Detroit Pistons-Boston Celtics NBA Eastern Conference Final head-to-head by more than 14 percent in "Hockeytown" (15.9/24)."

Also it should be noted that the NBA games are on network TV for FREE while the NHL games are on an obscure cable station. That fact alone shows how the hockey audience dwarfs the basketball audience.

That's awesome news about the ratings. I am rooting for the Penguins but I hope the sereis goes seven games with a few overtimes thrown in it to increase the drama. I would like to see the resurgance of hockey in this country and with young stars like Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin, maybe we will see just that.

PS. I also agree with you Deadlift about what you said about appreciating hockey and soccer more as a adult.Edited by: guest301

Heard the ESPN "Big Four" on "Around the Horn" the other day [I only watch a few minutes because it's blaring from a TV in the locker room of my favorite workout club] bemoaning the popularity of the NHL, promising that it's a "flash in the pan" and that pro hockey popularity will "level off" in next few years.

Any bets? I bet the NHL will flourish and expand over next five years. Only a Bettman-orchestrated major strike or lockout could torpedo the NHL's rise to prominence.

Hockey's future may be in doubt. Please do everything in your
power not to vote for Barack Obama. Otherwise ice hockey may be
denounced as racist and cancelled for having too few Black players and too
many White players. Hope that we don't have a Black U.S. President who
would likely ban ice hockey if we could. The November Presidential election
could decide the future of the National Hockey League!

I think I have referred to this before, but I will mention it again. Back in the 1960's, sportswriters would complain that the NHL was outdrawing the NBA in some cities. Some writers would accuse the fans of racism for preferring ice hockey to pro basketball. This is a long-time preoccupation with some sports media types.

jaxvid said:

Also it should be noted that the NBA games are on network TV for FREE while the NHL games are on an obscure cable station. That fact alone shows how the hockey audience dwarfs the basketball audience.

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I love hockey and actively am engaged in the "numbers" to see the viewing ratings and such. But I don't think the hockey audience dwarfs the NBA, at least not in TV ratings, as much as I wish it were true. But we're making progress, have a LONG way to go.
Of course, the NHL will find a way to screw it up. Always happens.

McCain's running mate is a woman who has been
involved with ice hockey. If you elect McCain instead of Obama, then ice
hockey will more likely survive because the vice president in that case will
be a woman who likes ice hockey and will not consider it racist. She is
unlikely to pander to Black athletes and will enjoy the contributions of White
athletes on the ice. Vote McCain and keep the National Hockey League alive!