Memo to NHL Marketing Dept: Hockey Is the Best Game Going

Date: March 5, 2008 

To: NHL Marketing Dept.

From: Tim Parent

SUBJECT: The Selling of the Sport

As a fan of hockey, I have to tell you I'm pleased with the current state of the game.  Still, after years of toiling at the bottom of the list of North American big league sports, it's time we start climbing the professional sports league ladder and leave both the Canadian AND Arena Football Leagues in our ice shavings. 

Now is the time to strike—while the skate blade is hot.

KEY POINTS 

1) Let's talk ratings.

Sunday's NHL on NBC had one its biggest audiences ever, securing a 1.1 ratings share.  That means more than a million homes were watching the Philadelphia Flyers battle the New York Rangers. 

Does it matter the total population of the United States is 303 million people?

Does it matter those one million people were probably golf fanatics waiting to catch the final round of the Honda Classic that followed the game? 

Not at all.

Introducing newcomers to the game is a necessity because if they like what they see, they'll tell two friends...and they'll tell two friends...and so on.  You get the picture. 

That same day over on ABC, the Arena Football League garnered only a 0.8 share.  That's what you get when the best you can muster is the Dallas Desperados and the Georgia Force

2) Attendance records indicate the NHL is drawing in more people than the NBA. 

On average, NHL teams are attracting 17,151 fans per game while the NBA averages only 17,145.  I don't think it matters that those six people were probably members of a Northern Ontario family who chose a Leafs' game over a Raptors game on their first visit to the big city, we are still beating the NBA in attendance.  Let's continue to capitalize on that.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1) Better Advertising

Have you seen the NBA campaign, "Where Amazing Happens"?  It really does a good job of selling the drama, the suspense, and the action that happens in every single NBA game...apparently.

I don't even particularly like basketball, but those ads make me want to tune in.  I suggest we hire the NBA ad guys—or even the folks over at NFL films who produce bits that make my spine shiver—so that we aren't subjected to Marty Brodeur and Luc Robitaille dueling over the last piece of Delissio (or is it delivery?) pizza. 

2) Marketing Players

Have you seen this kid LeBron James?  Plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Poetry in Nike Zoom LeBron Soldiers is the best way to describe him on the hard top. He's a household name.  He's even got his own pair of shoes!

There's no reason Alexander Ovechkin can't be a household name south of the Canadian border or have a pair of skates named after him.  He scored a hat trick in the first period just the other night, for God's sake!  I mean, C'MON, he's awesome!  Perhaps we need to first explain what a hat-trick is, though.

3) More Drama

Witness NHL Trade Deadline day—a down-to-the-wire, who-signed-who-to-what, "he went from where to where?" kinda day that made the run for the Cup that much more exciting.  Let's try to bring that kind of drama to the everyday games.

Again, NFL film editors are good at that.  

4) Cheerleaders

Of all the teams in the NHL, how come only the Carolina Hurricanes have a cheerleading squad?

CONCLUSION

You NHL marketing guys went to school to become marketers so I'll leave the task of coming up with something in your capable hands. 

The bottom line is, we've got a great league with great teams playing some really great hockey.  The run for playoffs will bring out the best in every team, whether they be legitimate cup contenders or basement-dwelling spoilers. 

Up to this point there's been little done to sell this game and, honestly, I believe it's the best game going right now, even in markets like Phoenix and Columbus. 

The time to strike is now, at the end of the NFL season and before baseball season kicks in to high gear.  The NBA doesn't seem to be filling the void. Maybe it's time we should.

Copy to: Gary Bettman  

Copy to: Bleacher Report