UA/NW softball game draws more TV viewers than the Stanley Cup finals?

[bhanson]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand-tv/2006-06-06-hiestand-nba_x.htm


OLN averaged 611,000 households for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday. That's fewer households than ESPN2 drew for an Arizona-Northwestern college women's softball game Monday night. It is 39% fewer households than ESPN drew for the Stanley Cup series opener two years ago.

[KrazyCatFan]

:hyper: What the hell is the Stanley Cup???:hyper:

[wassupcats]

Things you need to remember about this year's Finals:
1) It's two small market teams
2) One of those teams resides in Canada, and the other is from Raleigh, NC -- Americans obviously don't care about our Canadian counterparts as much (or in the case of San Jose, don't respect our neighbors to the north at all) and a team from Raleigh isn't exactly a team to garner America's attention.
3) Despite being one of the highest-scoring seasons in recent memory, the "casual fan" still isn't there
4) The first two games are being shown on OLN, a channel most people don't even get..

I'm not saying it isn't pathetic, because it is, but the general American public doesn't understand the game of hockey, it is too complex for them. They want simple shoot and score every second like basketball, or something slow like baseball. Instant gratification and/or something they don't have to actively watch. (Not that there's anything wrong with either sport, just using them as examples.)

[bhanson]

They want simple shoot and score every second like basketball,

Simple? Basketball simple? That's blasphemhy around here! :wink2:

Have to agree about baseball though. Sheesh, I would rather get up and cut the grass than watch a baseball game on TV. In person is good though.

I used to watch hockey when I was a kid in Michigan. Detroit channel 50. But then hockey season in Michigan you spent a lot of time indoors anyway. Not like in California where almost every day is nice.

[KrazyCatFan]

Wassupcats point might have some more support if football wasnt the real nations pass time.

And in all honesty what is there in hockey that is so complex to understand??

[barringer97]

Things you need to remember about this year's Finals:
1) It's two small market teams
2) One of those teams resides in Canada, and the other is from Raleigh, NC -- Americans obviously don't care about our Canadian counterparts as much (or in the case of San Jose, don't respect our neighbors to the north at all) and a team from Raleigh isn't exactly a team to garner America's attention.
3) Despite being one of the highest-scoring seasons in recent memory, the "casual fan" still isn't there
4) The first two games are being shown on OLN, a channel most people don't even get..

I'm not saying it isn't pathetic, because it is, but the general American public doesn't understand the game of hockey, it is too complex for them. They want simple shoot and score every second like basketball, or something slow like baseball. Instant gratification and/or something they don't have to actively watch. (Not that there's anything wrong with either sport, just using them as examples.)


It's also a terrible TV sport...

[Auercat]

I'm not saying it isn't pathetic, because it is, but the general American public doesn't understand the game of hockey, it is too complex for them. They want simple shoot and score every second like basketball, or something slow like baseball. Instant gratification and/or something they don't have to actively watch. (Not that there's anything wrong with either sport, just using them as examples.)

Wassu,

I do like Hockey and understand the game fully. I go to 3 or 4 LA Kings games a year and have been a fan of the sport since I was a little boy. That being said, the game does not translate well at all to television and is beyond difficult to follow. Also, playing hockey in June is just another bad idea. Why the heck doesn't a winter sport make sure that it's playoffs are played in the winter??? How about shortening the ridiculously long (even without the Olympics) season, starting it two months earlier and actually playing this thing out February when it should be?

Everything else is just the same set of excuses that the hockey people have been using for years. I just love that because their sport is fledging, the excuse that everyone else just doesn't get it comes out. We're not talking rocket science here and that is simply not the case. The real deal is that most people are just not interested in it, rather than not understanding it. Until the hockey people accept that fact, nothing will change.

Bearing Down on The NHL's Popularity Crisis. When the Ratings For The WCWS Are Higher Than The Stanley Cup Finals, You Know That The Sport Is In Big Trouble :(

Auercat

PS I thought the league was better off with teams in Quebec, Winnipeg, Hartford and other places that really cared about their sport (Hamilton, Regina, Cleveland and Milwaukee seemed like good addition spots too). Instead with teams in places like Carolina, Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami and Anaheim, the league has shunned it's core fan base, diluted the talent with overexpansion and ventured into markets that just don't give a hoot. They went for money grabs with overexpansion and because of it have put the league in a long term hole. What a colossal failure. Time for hockey to get back to its roots.

[pc in NM]

Hocky in June in North Carolina???? On OLN?

Get real!

Hocky's owners committed suicide last season, as far as the US market is concerned....

[ByJoveByJingle]

but the general American public doesn't understand the game of hockey, it is too complex for them.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks for that one . . . I needed a pickmeup this morning!

:)

[DCCat]

... the general American public doesn't understand the game of hockey, it is too complex for them.
You're generally on pretty solid ground if you replace "the game of hockey" with pretty much anything in this statement.

[ByJoveByJingle]

True, but that's rather like saying checkers is a game that more people would appreciate if they only had a deeper education in philosophical abstractions. I mean, really . . . :lol:

[Chicat]

Nothing says summertime like watching ice hockey ...

[ASUHATER!]

id much rather watch baseball than hockey...just cuz im american.

[illcat]

I have no problem watching hockey but let's get serious here. You have the choice between watching hockey in June, or watching the lovely ladies from the U of A 2006 National Champion Softball team. No problem choosing which!!!

[bayou wildcat]

that's awesome news

i think there has been more big foot sightings within the last week than stanley cup viewers.. somebody needs to call the hockey coroner, b/c the sports dying on the vine

[wassupcats]

Haha, whoah, didn't check this thread in a while..

I know a lot of hockey fans say that people don't watch the sport because they don't understand it, but in all honesty, I think that's a huge reason why. Whenever I go to games, I always hear the casual fan's "What just happened?" "How come they can do that?" "What's hooking/slashing/high sticking?" "Why didn't that goal count?" "What's offside/icing?" and on and on.. it actually gets to the point where its hard to watch a game with someone who doesn't understand it because you have to explain everything to them. So my theory on people who are hockey fans have either a) played it, b) been to enough games or watched enough games on TV to understand it, or c) watched a game with a hockey fan who explained every last detail to them.

So, since we're talking about the casual fan, that throws option A out, and most casual fans don't go to or watch enough games to get to the point of understanding just what's going on, and finally, unless you can get the NHL to do something better than their NHL Rules or NHL 101 broadcasts they used to have, fans explaining to other fans won't help the growth of the game, it just doesn't happen enough.

I agree that (especially now) the game isn't the best to watch on TV. OLN (which is soon changing its name to "Versus" ...don't ask me why they chose that) has thrown everything ESPN learned about broadcasting a hockey game away and replaced it with a something that's way to tight in on the player with the puck, not allowing the viewer to watch the play develop. They took by far the game's best color guy and made him their lead studio anchor, didn't even go after the best PBP guys in the game (one of them being Gary Thorne), and their sideline reporter has no idea what the heck he is talking about. And they also drove me to order NHL Centre Ice. I can't wait until the NHL's contract is up with OLN and they go back to a real network. (Watching the Frozen Four on ESPN made me realize just how great of a job the network did with the game.)

As far as playing in the summer goes, its just kinda been that way for a long time, and something I don't know that they would ever consider changing. They've talked about shortening the season to 70-72 games, but most in the league were against it. Just remember that baseball is technically a summer sport and they play well into October and sometimes even November now; just as football plays into January and February. So just because a sport is typically played during a certain time of the year doesn't mean that it can't be played into another time of year. I don't think that really matters -- and I know many of you won't agree with this -- but I think the Stanley Cup Playoffs are the greatest time of the year, regardless of what type of weather it happens to fall in.

[CatintheHeat]

I know I know the rules of hockey and still don't watch it. It is plain boring to watch on tv. Although I agree going to a hockey game is really exciting because you get to see the speed and sounds of the game. You notice a lot more impact when someone gets checked into the boards.

Never saw an NHL game live, but used to follow the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL. Personally hockey is a sport I can do without, especially with basketball as an alternative. College Basketball during the winter and NBA basketball when the playoffs start.

[wassupcats]

Hockey isn't a TV friendly sport unless you want to watch it, so that makes sense you would find it boring. There's an easy answer for that too, even with the rule changes (which I didn't like outside of the elimination of the red line), scoring doesn't happen often enough to attract the average viewer flipping through channels -- a pulling power all of the other major sports have. It's hard for the average fan to see how a 1-0 game can be better than a 6-5 game.

[Class of 1990]

It's also a terrible TV sport...

So Wrong.

A game 7 in hockey is the best period.

Even in Carolina :angry: The fans stood through all 3 periods. Making noise.

The action was fast and hard hitting. Seeing it in HD would have been awesome.

The Cup in the best championship trophy. Your name on it forever or at least 50 - 60 years until a new ring is added I think ?

Staying on the ice to celebrate WITH the fans is better then some locker room spraying beer on each other and having Stuart Scott interview you.

[Irish27]

I don't like Carolina. Their players do too much flopping. I have a feeling a lot of those redneck fans probably wanted to chip some of the ice off the playing surface to put in their coolers so their beers could stay cold.

[CatSoftballFan]

So Wrong.

A game 7 in hockey is the best period.

Even in Carolina :angry: The fans stood through all 3 periods. Making noise.

The action was fast and hard hitting. Seeing it in HD would have been awesome.

The Cup in the best championship trophy. Your name on it forever or at least 50 - 60 years until a new ring is added I think ?

Staying on the ice to celebrate WITH the fans is better then some locker room spraying beer on each other and having Stuart Scott interview you.

I agree. I'm not much of a hockey person (read: I don't like hockey), but I actually watched a lot of game 7 and enjoyed it. And yes, it was awesome in HD.

[lofty]

What the hell is "OLN", anyway? And I understand hockey completely. But it's bad television, period. I love it in person. But it's terrible on TV.

[wassupcats]

I'm just curious.. is the main reason that its bad on TV have anything to do with the way its presented? Because that's got A LOT to do with what OLN has done to it. If you compare it to the old ESPN broadcasts or those of CBC and TSN, it gets blown out of the water. OLN couldn't even have their own draft show, they had to tap into TSN's (not that I wasn't thankful that it wasn't OLN's crappy broadcast, it's just pathetic that this supposed "hockey only" network can't even scrounge up the resources to make their own broadcast).

[bayou wildcat]

Hockey's recent t.v. viewership decline is a testament to the stellar marketing job ESPN did while they had the NHL contract. Hockey is a sport on the decline that lost a lot of street cred w/ the strike and it will be extremely hard to overcome that kink. Does it hurt my feelings? Not one bit.

When it comes to a decision to watch hockey or the WCWS, i'll go w/ the consensus on this one, even if my two teams LSU and U of A aren't playing.