Four Major U.S. Sports? I Think Not.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006

By Doug Knebel

June 7, 2006

I’ve been an avid NHL fan most of my life. In fact, I still maintain that NHL players are the best athletes in the world and that to win a Stanley Cup, it takes more guts and determination than in any other sport. This is the reason why it pains me to say this: ice hockey is not a major U.S. sport any more.

A lot of people refer to the “Big Four” – NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL as the four major team sports in this country. Can you really consider the NHL to be in this category when television coverage of Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals is outdrawn by the college girls softball championship?

This fact should be cause for concern for all associated with the NHL. It’s been well documented that fan attendance in the NHL is actually up this year compared with two years ago. Television ratings however, are way down. Blame it on the work stoppage of 2004-05 or blame it on the fact that a lot of this country doesn’t get OLN in its cable package or blame it on small market teams advancing through the playoffs. Regardless of what you point the finger at, the fact remains that no one is watching.

During the work stoppage last year, ESPN barely saw any change in viewership without the NHL. During the months that the playoffs would be played, the network aired World Series of Poker episodes. Disney execs were wise to tell the NHL to go jump in a lake when negotiating a new contract for this year and beyond. Why spend the money the league was demanding if you can show something that costs very little and keeps the ratings about the same?

I heard a good comparison made on a morning sports talk radio show the other day about this subject: hockey fans are a lot like college football fans. If you were make me choose two sports from all sports at all levels, I would choose the NHL and college football, so this analogy perked my ears. The morning host said hockey fans and college football fans are alike because they stop paying attention after their team has been eliminated.

I definitely fit this description. I’m a Philadelphia Flyers fan and have learned to live with disappointment over the last two decades I’ve been following them. Every Spring, when the Flyers are eliminated, I stop watching the NHL. Part of it is bitterness and part of it is apathy, but if my team’s not going to hoist the Cup, I don’t want to watch.

In terms of college football, why are television ratings so low for the bowls? It’s because outside of the Championship Game, no one is watching them except for fans of the teams that are playing. Face it, if you’re a Florida Gators fan and the Gators have just won the Peach Bowl, will be that upset if you miss the Cal-Iowa Rose Bowl? Maybe you’ll watch it, but if your New Year’s hangover is a little bit too much to handle, there may be a possibility that you’ll sleep through the game.

What does the NHL need to do to at least be mentioned with the three other major team sports in this country? There’s probably a long laundry list of things they need but they might want to start by sucking up their pride and coming back to ESPN for less money. The NHL has a very loyal core of fans – it’s almost a cult-like following. But the NHL needs to appeal to the casual fan as well. This is where the NBA is starting to succeed again and the NHL should be taking notes.