Hockey game is tied (Fallout)

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Hard to believe that there is a sport that has done a worse job than horseracing in marketing their sport but the NHL has done it. I believe that the strike really hurt them as their relevance became marginalized. And in conjunction with that, ESPN's decision to drop all of their hockey coverage with the exception of Barry Melrose (who is probably under contract and they need him to do something) has taken the NHL out of sight and out of mind of the average sports fan. Remember ESPN is the major power broker in sports now and if horseracing wants to be relevant then we have to remain on the network as much as possible. Because when they drop you, then the sports world in general drops you too.

I believe the VS ratings are up pretty good this year and exceed what ESPN was getting in its final year. I think NBC's coverage this year is the first time hockey has been on network TV in 10+ years.

Hockey will never be the TV sport basketball is, at least in the U.S. In fact, compared to the live experience, hockey is by far the sport that translates most poorly to television. The live gate for the NHL is right there with that of the NBA.

I've heard it said that in every U.S. city there are 20,000 NHL fans and they all have season tickets. Maybe that's true.