The NHL Just Does Not Deliver

March 15, 2010

New York – It has been just over two weeks since the closing ceremonies to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia and the ice hockey gold medal game between the United States and Canada.  Hockey was the talk of the nation in the month of February.  Anyone remember that?

Following the first game between the United States and Canada on February 21^st in which the U.S. defeated Canada 5-3, both nations were screaming for a rematch in the gold medal game.  For the Canadians, it was a matter of proving that they were indeed the best team in the world.  For the Americans, it was a chance to relive the magic of the 1980 Miracle on Ice and ponder the possibility of stealing the gold from the heavily favored Canadian team.  By the way, good luck trying to get the movie Miracle from Netflix anytime soon.

Prior to and after the gold medal game and the conclusion of the Olympics, the revival of NHL popularity in the United States was all the rage in sports media.  The general consensus seemed to be that the rematch between the U.S. and Canada for the gold on the final day of the Olympics would mark a rebirth for the NHL.  Given the excitement of the games, the star power, and national pride, the NHL seemed primed for a comeback in popularity.

The gold medal game saw an overtime period in which Canada defeated the United States 3-2 on a Sidney Crosby goal.  Crosby, who plays for The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburg Penguins, is young, accomplished, and one of the best and most exciting players in the NHL.   National networks that cover sports, such as CBS, ESPN, CNN, and NBC were hyping hockey, Crosby’s star power, and expressing how interest in the sport would grow and make the NHL a major sporting interest – they were wrong.

The bottom line, the NHL just does not deliver.  Hockey can deliver in the Olympics, sure, but that was two weeks of concentrated intensity, not to be confused with the long NHL season with which we are accustomed.  Americans have very short attention spans and are very much about “what have you done for me lately.”  And silver, just does not cut it. 

The reason the NHL fails to deliver is because it has very few recognizable stars or rivalries.  The league has either hard-core fans or no fans at all; there are very few casual hockey fans like there are for MLB or the NFL.

Sidney Crosby might be the only player in the league that is recognized by the few casual and non die-hard fans.  Think about the star power other leagues have -- LeBron, Kobe, A-Rod, Pujols, Woods, Federer, Favre, Manning, Brady; the NHL does not even come close to having interesting and compelling athletes of this kind. 

And whatever rivalries exist, are only known amongst die-hard fans with regard to their individual team.  There is no national interest in the NHL.  Take for example Major League Baseball, the Yankees and Red Sox are a compelling rivalry regardless of which team in the league you root for.  In college basketball you have Duke and UNC, arguably one of the best rivalries in all of sports; and in college football and the NFL there are dozens of rivalries that draw national interest.  Even golf and tennis have intense rivalries (Woods/Mickelson - Federer/Nadal), that draw a global audience.

This is not an attack on the NHL or the sport of hockey per se, but rather a commentary on the league as a product.  It fails to deliver, sell, and entertain.  No one kind of watches or follows hockey.  People and sports fanatics alike are either all the way in or all the way out with regard to the NHL.  Two weeks after The Olympics, no one new is talking or watching hockey.

The sports world has returned to its normalcy.  The NHL needs a miracle.

-Gregory Joss