The National Hockey League (NHL) has never really been on the same level as the National Football League (NFL) or the National Basketball Association (NBA). When those two sporting entities both went into a lockout, fans were in a frenzy. The players, owners and commissioners all knew that a deadline was looming and a deal needed to be made. There was a sense of urgency – the sense that fans would lose out, and these precious sports might be lost for good.
Obviously, that’s not what happened. The NFL and NBA both managed to reach agreements with the teams and players. The NFL lost some practice time; the NBA lost a few early season games. These were losses that both could easily recover from, as diehard fans were prepared to buy all of the tickets they could, and the preseason was quickly forgotten in favor of bigger things.
This is not going to happen to the NHL. The NHL is in a different position than the other two associations. Where basketball players can potentially go overseas and play basketball elsewhere, the prestige comes from playing in the United States. Players want to be on a United States team, and the teams are composed of players that are generally from the USA. The NFL is the same; almost all of their options are in the United States, with a few minor league options at best. The NHL has real competition though – and its competition for players as well as viewers.
Many of the NHL’s best players come from other countries. Russia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland – all of these countries have players in the United States in the NHL. Look at the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, who won the Stanley Cup for a very American team and then went home to Canada to win them the gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Alexander Ovechkin is the same – one of the United States’ best players, a member of the Washington Capitals, and he’s from Russia.
Players have other options. The countries they come from have leagues that they can play in, and while they might not be in the United States, they’re playing on familiar ground. Even in the United States, other leagues exist, and these can easily be picked up and put on NBC for a “hockey day in America” like the NHL used to have. You don’t need the NHL to pull all of the stunts and marketing that the NHL did.
The people who are most hurt in this case are the NHL’s most diehard American fans, the people who love the Colorado Avalanche or the Tampa Bay Lightning and who can no longer watch their favorite team on a regular basis. These fans are not in bulk, not in the way the NFL or NBA has fans in bulk. They don’t have a lot of sway, and it’s foolish.
If the NHL disappears, those are the only people who will miss it. The NHL is alienating its true fans by not pursuing the best course of action for all of those involved. Does it mean relenting to pressure? Probably. Does it help your image? It might not seem like it, but it ultimately will. The fans are the ones who buy tickets, who buy merchandise, and who support the sponsors you’ve brought on board. If you hurt these fans enough and turn them away, what do you have to come back to? These people will start looking at the other leagues that can be carried, and they’ll follow their favorite players in their foreign countries.
The NHL is only hurting itself, and it’s hurt even worse by not acknowledging this.
Perhaps the two most glaring instances of failure are the cancellation of the Winter Classic and the All-Star Weekend. These are two of hockey’s biggest events within the United States, and these are events that support the cities that host them. The Winter Classic was to be held at Michigan Stadium, and Detroit is a city that certainly needs some revitalizing. A home win for the Red Wings could have given the city a much needed boost in such trying times.
They no longer have the chance.
The situation is the same for the All-Star Weekend, and this comes much closer to home. The 2013 All-Star Weekend was to be held in Columbus, Ohio, at Nationwide Arena. This would have been a huge event for Ohio in general, and any Ohio town can only benefit from the positive exposure. Ohio was recently rated among the worst states for small business – a bustling weekend like that in the state’s capital could have been an opportunity to turn that around and build a new image. Now, that won’t happen, and hockey fans are left alienated. Some of us really wanted to go down to Columbus, see our favorite players, and even volunteer to help in all of the events. Columbus Blue Jackets season ticket holders were given the option to purchase tickets early. Now, with the event canceled, season ticket holders are forgotten, and all of us planning on volunteering are left with nothing to do. No game to see, no nothing.
And it’s all because the NHL can’t come to an agreement.
It’s another instance of a major association not thinking of whom it’s really affecting – and that’s the fans, not the players. The players have other options, in some cases maybe even better options. The fans are alienated, and if they’re burned enough, they might not come back.
