Iced Tea
3-05-07, 11:26 PM
Bettman risking losing Canadian fans
Al Strachan / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 7 hours ago
Even though Toronto has major professional teams in baseball and basketball, the only truly international league in North America is the National Hockey League.
At first glance, that would seem to be a commendable state of affairs. With six teams in Canada and 24 in the United States, the NHL should have a sound base from which its popularity can be increased.
But in reality, that international grounding may be a problem that the NHL will find insurmountable. If the fans were of a like mind on both sides of the border, the NHL's outlook would be rosy. But that's certainly not the case.
In Canada, the NHL is a passion, a way of life. All six NHL teams sell out their buildings consistently.
In the United States, interest has sunk to its lowest level in more than 30 years.
For example, one of the major Web sites recently revealed that in the U.S., Britney Spears generated the greatest number of hits. In Canada, that honor goes to the NHL.
That tells you all you need to know about the two cultures. As far as hockey players are concerned, growing a playoff beard is good luck, whereas Britney is clearly a believer in a clean shave.
The NHL spin merchants keep telling everyone that attendance is up. What they don't tell you is that the numbers used for that assertion refer to "distributed tickets." In places like South Florida, those distributed tickets are given away in bars, schools and golf courses.
In Anaheim, you can buy a package of four game tickets, four hot dogs and four Pepsis for $46. In Toronto, they have the same deal — except for the Pepsis and game tickets.
But the problem goes far beyond perception and support. It affects the way the game is played and officiated.
In Canada, the fans are established. They care about hockey and they want it supervised, at all levels, in a manner that is good for the game. But in the United States, commissioner Gary Bettman decimated the fan base with his senseless and unnecessary decision to shut the game down for a year in order to increase the already substantial wealth of half a dozen of his owner buddies.
Now, he has to try to win back support in the United States, so decisions are made with an eye to increasing the fan base, not improving the game.
Here are some examples: In Canada, fans want the league to seriously examine the icing rule which causes far too many injuries to justify its presence as a crowd-pleasing chase for the puck.
But in the NHL head office, the bangs and crashes into the end boards are seen as a factor in attracting fans. Therefore, when the general managers met a couple of weeks ago to consider potential rule changes, the possibility of instituting no-touch icing wasn't even on the agenda.
Fighting is on the increase again and the league's biggest blowhard, Anaheim Ducks general manager Brian Burke, publicly announced his intention and said that any opponent had "better be ready to dance."
Not so much as a whisper emanated from the league office suggesting that this may not be the image the league wants to perpetuate.
Also, there's the recent matter of late hits causing injury. Both Chris Drury of the Buffalo Sabres and Tomas Kaberle of the Toronto Maple Leafs have suffered concussions as a result of hits absorbed after they had passed the puck.
In neither case was a penalty called. In the second instance, Cam Janssen of the New Jersey Devils received a three-game suspension, which in his case, wouldn't amount to much more playing time than one long shift for Kaberle, who is out indefinitely.
Even though there is no unanimity on the matter in Canada, there is considerable debate about those two incidents and at least a feeling that perhaps the league should examine the growing preponderance of head shots.
Except for the usual home-town outrage in Buffalo, which is almost Canada anyway, there is no concern in the United States.
In fact, the way the NHL hierarchy approaches both fighting and injury-causing hits, it's fairly clear that increased violence is part of the agenda. The league appears to have looked at the skyrocketing popularity of various extreme sports, especially ultimate fighting, and decided that if hockey is to reclaim a spot in the higher echelons of sports, it has to do so through violence. The good of the game, as manifested in the safety of quality players, doesn't enter into it.
In Canada, because of the fans' passion for the game, there is an affinity for the players. Their personal lives are a topic of conversation; they are recognized on the street; and their performances are examined minutely.
In the United States, even though there are hardcore fans in every city, most players tend to be nothing more than names or numbers.
If violence increases and players get hurt, it is of considerable concern to Canadian fans. In the United States, that's not the case.
So the NHL finds itself in the position of trying to balance the two sides. It wants to allow, or perhaps even encourage, a high level of violence to cater to the American psyche, but at the same time, it has to appease the Canadian fans who are vociferous and, for the time being at least, paying a highly disproportionate amount of the league's costs.
Perhaps being an international league isn't such a good thing after all.http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/6530664
Dang good article from Strachan. Hard to believe Strachan could write something that good.
Anyways, everyone should read it.
Al Strachan / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 7 hours ago
Even though Toronto has major professional teams in baseball and basketball, the only truly international league in North America is the National Hockey League.
At first glance, that would seem to be a commendable state of affairs. With six teams in Canada and 24 in the United States, the NHL should have a sound base from which its popularity can be increased.
But in reality, that international grounding may be a problem that the NHL will find insurmountable. If the fans were of a like mind on both sides of the border, the NHL's outlook would be rosy. But that's certainly not the case.
In Canada, the NHL is a passion, a way of life. All six NHL teams sell out their buildings consistently.
In the United States, interest has sunk to its lowest level in more than 30 years.
For example, one of the major Web sites recently revealed that in the U.S., Britney Spears generated the greatest number of hits. In Canada, that honor goes to the NHL.
That tells you all you need to know about the two cultures. As far as hockey players are concerned, growing a playoff beard is good luck, whereas Britney is clearly a believer in a clean shave.
The NHL spin merchants keep telling everyone that attendance is up. What they don't tell you is that the numbers used for that assertion refer to "distributed tickets." In places like South Florida, those distributed tickets are given away in bars, schools and golf courses.
In Anaheim, you can buy a package of four game tickets, four hot dogs and four Pepsis for $46. In Toronto, they have the same deal — except for the Pepsis and game tickets.
But the problem goes far beyond perception and support. It affects the way the game is played and officiated.
In Canada, the fans are established. They care about hockey and they want it supervised, at all levels, in a manner that is good for the game. But in the United States, commissioner Gary Bettman decimated the fan base with his senseless and unnecessary decision to shut the game down for a year in order to increase the already substantial wealth of half a dozen of his owner buddies.
Now, he has to try to win back support in the United States, so decisions are made with an eye to increasing the fan base, not improving the game.
Here are some examples: In Canada, fans want the league to seriously examine the icing rule which causes far too many injuries to justify its presence as a crowd-pleasing chase for the puck.
But in the NHL head office, the bangs and crashes into the end boards are seen as a factor in attracting fans. Therefore, when the general managers met a couple of weeks ago to consider potential rule changes, the possibility of instituting no-touch icing wasn't even on the agenda.
Fighting is on the increase again and the league's biggest blowhard, Anaheim Ducks general manager Brian Burke, publicly announced his intention and said that any opponent had "better be ready to dance."
Not so much as a whisper emanated from the league office suggesting that this may not be the image the league wants to perpetuate.
Also, there's the recent matter of late hits causing injury. Both Chris Drury of the Buffalo Sabres and Tomas Kaberle of the Toronto Maple Leafs have suffered concussions as a result of hits absorbed after they had passed the puck.
In neither case was a penalty called. In the second instance, Cam Janssen of the New Jersey Devils received a three-game suspension, which in his case, wouldn't amount to much more playing time than one long shift for Kaberle, who is out indefinitely.
Even though there is no unanimity on the matter in Canada, there is considerable debate about those two incidents and at least a feeling that perhaps the league should examine the growing preponderance of head shots.
Except for the usual home-town outrage in Buffalo, which is almost Canada anyway, there is no concern in the United States.
In fact, the way the NHL hierarchy approaches both fighting and injury-causing hits, it's fairly clear that increased violence is part of the agenda. The league appears to have looked at the skyrocketing popularity of various extreme sports, especially ultimate fighting, and decided that if hockey is to reclaim a spot in the higher echelons of sports, it has to do so through violence. The good of the game, as manifested in the safety of quality players, doesn't enter into it.
In Canada, because of the fans' passion for the game, there is an affinity for the players. Their personal lives are a topic of conversation; they are recognized on the street; and their performances are examined minutely.
In the United States, even though there are hardcore fans in every city, most players tend to be nothing more than names or numbers.
If violence increases and players get hurt, it is of considerable concern to Canadian fans. In the United States, that's not the case.
So the NHL finds itself in the position of trying to balance the two sides. It wants to allow, or perhaps even encourage, a high level of violence to cater to the American psyche, but at the same time, it has to appease the Canadian fans who are vociferous and, for the time being at least, paying a highly disproportionate amount of the league's costs.
Perhaps being an international league isn't such a good thing after all.http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/6530664
Dang good article from Strachan. Hard to believe Strachan could write something that good.
Anyways, everyone should read it.