Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

[yankeesgiants]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

The thing they need to do is get NBCSN onto a more basic cable/satellite package.

I had to upgrade our satellite (DirecTV) in order to watch the playoffs. Casual fans aren't doing that.

Why would rival competitors help out another rival competitor (Comcast) by giving their channel (NBCSN) more market penetration?

[gopher_guy]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

Why would rival competitors help out another rival competitor (Comcast) by giving their channel (NBCSN) more market penetration?

<object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IRGDcux4GEw?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IRGDcux4GEw?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>


signed,
Never taken an economics class :wink:

But yeah, I don't really know who owns who in the TV business, so that's probably why I don't understand why certain channels are placed where they are.

[goh]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

I'm more curious as to why it's not more popular in England,Italy and other soccer heavy areas. Ask what sports are popular in England and I'd say soccer,boxing/mma and racing. You'd think an area that likes soccer and boxing/mma would rather enjoy hockey.

[Storm12]

I'm more curious as to why it's not more popular in England,Italy and other soccer heavy areas. Ask what sports are popular in England and I'd say soccer,boxing/mma and racing. You'd think an area that likes soccer and boxing/mma would rather enjoy hockey.

I'd think they would like hockey because it's kind of like soccer (In my opinion). And as far as I know... Great Britain, and Italy have ice hockey teams.

[MrChainsaw]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

I come from an area that doesn't really care for hockey at all and I love it. It's not my favorite sport but I follow it somewhat loosely, moreso during this time of year when playoffs are going on.

For me the NBA is the one "big four" league I just can't really get into.

[DrJones]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

I'm more curious as to why it's not more popular in England,Italy and other soccer heavy areas. Ask what sports are popular in England and I'd say soccer,boxing/mma and racing. You'd think an area that likes soccer and boxing/mma would rather enjoy hockey.

You'd think that an area that likes baseball would rather enjoy cricket (and vice versa).

Some combination of climate, culture, accessibility, and sports saturation is usually the answer to these questions.

[DrJones]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

And as far as I know... Great Britain, and Italy have ice hockey teams.

So do Mexico and Turkey!

[DrJones]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

But yeah, I don't really know who owns who in the TV business, so that's probably why I don't understand why certain channels are placed where they are.

It seems strange, but it's much easier to be a sports fan in Canada than the US. TSN and Sportsnet get the rights to pretty much everything that's split among ESPN, TNT, NBCSN, NFL Network, Tennis Channel, you name it. Plus Seattle and Detroit ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX stations. Plus all 162 Blue Jays games, and about 350 out-of-town games (about 2 a night), usually featuring the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, or Giants, although in September Sportsnet will just show whatever's most relevant to a pennant race. In addition to wall-to-wall hockey, of course. It's pretty sweet to be a general sports fan up here.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

Yes. I also don't agree with the notion that hockey and soccer are all that similar. I suppose at a very, very base level they are similar. It's just that in hockey, those kind of things (positional battles, creating advantageous offensive situations, tactical plans/adjustments) happen much faster, more often, and with a higher degree of luck. Not to mention over a much smaller area.

[DrJones]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

Interesting (long) article that addresses many of the issues in this thread.

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/why-cant-canada-win-the-stanley-cup/?smid=tw-fivethirtyeight&seid=auto

[IlliniM1ke]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

For me the NBA is the one "big four" league I just can't really get into.

Agree 100% there, I can watch the Celtics and that's about it, after that I follow certain players but I doubt I even watched 5 NBA games all season.

[DrJones]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

Agree 100% there, I can watch the Celtics and that's about it, after that I follow certain players but I doubt I even watched 5 NBA games all season.

I'd like the NBA a whole lot more if they drastically reduced the ridiculous number of timeouts. They just kill the flow at the end of games.

[gopher_guy]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

Same on the NBA, haven't watched a full NBA game in a LONG time.

College basketball I can watch, mainly because I follow the Gophers out of school pride, which makes me just more interested in the league as a whole, and obviously March Madness.

The clock stoppages at the end of a basketball game are just unbearable. One of the MSP sports talk guys was saying that after the NBA Draft Lottery:
"Why don't they just show the ping pong balls being picked? I'm told it's because it's a long tedious process that takes 7-10 minutes. Hello! You are describing the last 20 seconds of every single NBA game! I think fans would sit through 7-10 minutes to see the balls getting picked!"

[jyoung]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

I'd like the NBA a whole lot more if they drastically reduced the ridiculous number of timeouts. They just kill the flow at the end of games.

Not just the insane number of timeouts, but also the fact that timeouts allow teams to advance the ball all the way up to the offensive end of the court.

That rule is only in the NBA and it is garbage.

[Amoo316]

Re: Why don't people (especially Americans) like hockey?

It got sent to OLN/Versus, which made it a legitimate network now known as NBC Sports, and NBC, and I don't think many would consider NBC a "crappy" channel. You make it sound like it got sent to Spike and Lifetime or something. It also eventually led to the NHL Network. That probably would have happened any way, but getting off ESPN I would say is probably a good thing.

Like I said earlier, we got at least one nationally televised game every day of the season, except for 2 days. If it were still on ESPN, Monday and Wednesday are baseball in April, Wednesday and Friday are Basketball for the entire NHL season, and then playoffs they show games almost nightly then. So let's say they stay on ESPN so you don't "lose interest".

You'd get 1-2 games a week on Thursday night. Maybe a game a week on Tuesday night, maybe. ABC showed games for maybe a month (Wiki says 4-5 weeks in January and February). In 11-12, NBC showed weekend games from January through the playoffs. Let's throw in the NHL Network and maybe you pick up a game on Tuesday and Friday. ESPN and ABC just don't have the space. They have MLB, NBA, NASCAR, and Monday Night Football. Not to mention all the other sports they show. At the time, not being on ESPN may look bad, but now? I'd say they are better off. Sure, people could watch the 30 second highlights ESPN half asses for all sports, but you'd hardly see any games during the week.

I'm not exactly saying NBC Sports is crappy, but I am saying most people didn't know Versus even existed. The casual fan wasn't going to go searching for it. I enjoy watching the Women's College Softball World Series every year, I wouldn't have started watching it if it didn't get the national exposure it does because of ESPN. I certainly would not go seek out Oxygen if it moved to there or something like that.

Because it is no longer on ESPN, while it's great for the hardcore fan that may get to see more games on a weekly basis the casual fan loses out on those one or two games a week. We won't even get into how ESPN has turned hockey into an after thought on SportsCenter itself.

Look at TBS for example. They used to carry Braves games every night of the week almost (split with Sports South). I watched nightly growing up in North Florida. During that time the team was good and games were sold out. I now live in South West Georgia, about 4 hours from Atlanta. The teams are still good, but I just don't care as much anymore because I don't get to see them play on a consistent basis and even though the teams are good, the stadium isn't selling out. So now I live closer, but because of crappy attendance and exposure I get blacked out.

All I'm saying is Bettman pissed off ESPN, and ESPN has given a big FU to the NHL ever since. Like it or not ESPN controls the majority of the sports info the casual sports fan gets.