Sell a good product- you have it!
It has come to this. The two sides decided that is would be fun to play chicken. The entire National Hockey League is skating on thin is with hot blades. Most of the fans have long since surrendered the belief that the game would be played again, at least in the National Hockey League. If the hockey season gets cancelled now, it would be a crime of which both Gary Bettman (head of the league) and Bob Goodenow (head of the players union) are culprits and they should both lose their heads.
The National Hockey League used to be an organization of class. It may not have been big, but it was classy. I grew up when there were 22 teams and Buffalo and Winnipeg were regular playoff participants. It was not about the money for the players because it was not there. Now, the league has expanded and has been marketed marginally better. There is more money now but it is all concentrated in the major markets like New York and New Jersey. The cities that eat, sleep and breathe hockey during the winter like Buffalo, Montreal, and Vancouver are gasping for financial air. The players don’t care and the other owners don’t notice.
As these pigs fight over the distribution of a measly $12 million, their fans can barely afford to go to the games anymore. And the idea of bringing a family to a decent NHL game is a joke. If a fan in Buffalo wants to bring his wife and two kids to a Friday night game against a quality team and sit in better than bad seats, he will pay $164 for tickets. That is before he has paid for parking, sodas, hot dogs, programs, and the rest. But the new owners are aware of this predicament so they have prorated prices for lesser games. Same dad wants to take the same family to a Tuesday night game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Then he only has to spend $120 for tickets plus the rest. If he wants the worst seats in the house for the worst game of the season, it will only cost $40 for the whole gang; plus all of the other expenses.
Where am I going with this economic exploration? This league has priced itself out of the market. The NHL does not hold the appeal that football, basketball, baseball, curling, lawn darts, and algebra class holds. First, lets save the lemmings from blindly walking off the cliff. Then lets figure out a way to increase hockey’s popularity. We really offer the best, most challenging professional sport. But if the bickering continues, the fans will never come back.
I know I am assuming that the NHL will pull their butts out of the fire, consider me an “optimist”. But if the season is saved, the battle is just beginning. We cannot discuss popularity because it is gone, even within the hardest core fan. The older fans will eventually kiss and make up, that is what we do. Just save the cheesy “Game on” Wayne’s World campaign this time! The key to keeping this league alive is getting the young fans. Regeneration! If you do not go after the young fans that don’t live in Hamilton, Niagara Falls, and Minneapolis, you have killed yourselves. And simply slapping franchises in Miami, Dallas, and Anaheim will not make the product sell. You need to make the product translate to television- well. The glowpuck failed, fine. Don’t give up! Work to sell it. Come on NHL, you offer a great product. Now prove it to the rest of the world, but first get the season started.