NHL Off-Topic thread

[ImTellinTim]

They're just stopping the charade they've been keeping up for the last decade or so. Who cares?

[Majingir]

It seemed for a short time that maybe they were looking to repair their relationship with the NHL when they got the rights to broadcast the World Cup. Looks like everything just went in exact opposite direction.

Just sucks from NHLs perspective that they get very little respect from most major sports networks out there in the USA. NHL wants to grow the league, but doesn't help when domestically they're treated like a 2nd rate league on many networks.

[ImTellinTim]

They're treated that way because their ratings are 2nd rate.

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

ESPN laying off lots of people. Among those layoffs, seems like they're completely gutting their already limited hockey coverage. Would be surprising if ESPN even bothers with hockey anymore after this(not like they cared much about it in the first place). Among the notable NHL reporters fired was Pierre Lebrun. Not that he's gonna be out of a job for long. Probably just goes to NBC and also sticks around with his occasional TSN appearances too. I'll never get why ESPN doesn't care as much about hockey. I know ESPN doesn't have NHL rights anymore, but they put literally everything ahead of NHL. Golf, NASCAR, WNBA, College sports, E-Sports, Spelling Bees and everything get higher priority on ESPN than NHL. Surely if the media pushes and hypes up NHL more, it'd help the league wouldn't it? Instead, they're basically just buried by a network like ESPN and will be completely ignored now.

The NHL goes out of its way to make it unpopular.
You want more viewership? Make the game as fan friendly as the NBA and NFL.
You're not going to draw flies with low scoring and playoffs where muckers decide games.


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[Chrisksaint]

Low scoring maybe, idk that doesn't really seem to stop other sports tho. I'm sure it'd help some. I would disagree on the playoffs comment tho, pretty much everyone I've ever watched NHL playoffs has said how awesome it is.

It's just not a popular sport and I'm not sure you really pinpoint an exact reason

[slickdtc]

It's played on ice. I don't think it's any more complicated then that.

Why learn to skate, buy all the necessary equipment, when you can pick up a ball and head down to the nearest basketball court or field.

The NHL doesn't help themselves often, but I don't think even if they did everything right it would be more popular then the other three major sports.


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[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by slickdtc

It's played on ice. I don't think it's any more complicated then that. Why learn to skate, buy all the necessary equipment, when you can pick up a ball and head down to the nearest basketball court or field. The NHL doesn't help themselves often, but I don't think even if they did everything right it would be more popular then the other three major sports. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Most likely.
But it'll never be popular until they make the game exciting enough to gain national interest.
Nobody is watching out of market games.
NBA and NFL fans will watch any game regardless if it features their favorite team.
That's never going to happen with the NHL as long as you have low scoring and not enough creativity.

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[Money99]

If hockey fans don't care, fine.
Just don't complain when major sports entities like ESPN ignore the sport.

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