Are there any new NHL fans here since the birth of the 'NEW' NHL?

would be interested in hearing wether or not some of you YANKS who hated the game before this year, are now fans.....

I know that baseballguy has become a fan for the first time this year.

The new NHL sucks. They have lost more fans than gained new ones.

El Jefe said:

The new NHL sucks. They have lost more fans than gained new ones.

Click to expand...

untrue.....

attendence is up....

How can you become a fan of a sport where the only games on television come on THE OUTDOOR LIVING CHANNEL? Looking from afar, I think Gary Betman did a tremendous job during the strike. He took alot of unpopular stands that I believe needed to be takin. But he clearly needs to do a better job of marketing his sport. Even if he has to give away the NHL rights to ESPN/ABC.

I just wish they could have taken less money and stayed with ESPN. Could have made a big difference in getting new fans this season rather than wasting away on OLN.

CHOPTALK said:

How can you become a fan of a sport where the only games on television come on THE OUTDOOR LIVING CHANNEL? Looking from afar, I think Gary Betman did a tremendous job during the strike. He took alot of unpopular stands that I believe needed to be takin. But he clearly needs to do a better job of marketing his sport. Even if he has to give away the NHL rights to ESPN/ABC.

Click to expand...

He kinda has given the TV rights to NBC who will broadcast the stanley cup finals on primetime.

dmmd98 said:

He kinda has given the TV rights to NBC who will broadcast the stanley cup finals on primetime.

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Post season is not enough. You have to have a legit regular season package. I know this sounds ridiculous, but If I had to I would give away the television package for free for the next 3 years to anyone willing to broadcast it. Then once a fan base is developed, negotiate a real tv deal. Take a short term loss for a long term gain.

agreed. TV is a big problem, (not up here mind you), but it is down there,

terrible shame what happened with ESPN:cryingcry

Nobody is the states watches it outside of their local area anyway. So aslong has the local coverage is soild which it is since ratings are up in that regard then the NHL is fine. Nobody is Kansas gives a rat ass about a game between San Jose and Nashville no matter how much money espn threw at hockey.

dmmd98 said:

Nobody is the states watches it outside of their local area anyway. So aslong has the local coverage is soild which it is since ratings are up in that regard then the NHL is fine. Nobody is Kansas gives a rat ass about a game between San Jose and Nashville no matter how much money espn threw at hockey.

Click to expand...

NBC ratings Sucked for Week 1 of their broadcasting NHL compared to what ABC had in 2004.

dmmd98 hit it on the nail most fans care about their team but wont sit down and watch a TV game not involving their team.


NBC earned a 1.5/3 overnight Nielsen rating for its first week of NHL action in the 2005-2006 season. The regional coverage was down 11.8% from a 1.7/4 for the first week of The NHL on ABC in 2004.

I agree....the forced move to "minor league" channels is killing them.

We are creatures of habit, and we go to our channels of habit.

This whole espn agruement still makes me wonder. ESPN doesn't care about hockey. Even if NHL was on ESPN it would be treated like a red headed step child behind the NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR and College football/basketball. So I don't see this whole loss that NHL is having since ESPN wasn't going to promote them anyway. The NHL took the cash behind a major company (OLN is owed by Comcast) in the hopes that both parties grow (I highly doubt OLN will still be called OLN in 2 years) if worse comes to worse the NHL can crawl back to ESPN and its low ball offer anyway.

They came in 12out of 13 in the sports on National TV the week of 01/23/06-01/29/06




Sports Ratings on National TV Programs by Total Households
week of 01/23/06-01/29/06

<TABLE borderColor=#336633 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 bgColor=#ffffff border=1><TBODY><TR><TD class=tableheader align=middle colSpan=9>Top Sports Events - Total Households

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableheader align=middle rowSpan=2>Rank

</TD><TD class=tableheader rowSpan=2>Program Name

</TD><TD class=tableheader align=middle rowSpan=2>Net

</TD><TD class=tableheader align=middle rowSpan=2>Day

</TD><TD class=tableheader align=middle rowSpan=2>Time

</TD><TD class=tableheader align=middle colSpan=2>Household

</TD><TD class=tableheader align=middle rowSpan=2>Total Viewers

</TD><TD class=tableheader align=middle rowSpan=2>Length

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=tableheader align=middle>Rating/Share

</TD><TD class=tableheader align=middle>Audience

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>1

</TD><TD>WWE SMACKDOWN!

</TD><TD>UPN

</TD><TD>Fri

</TD><TD align=right>8:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>2.9/5

</TD><TD align=right>3,250,000

</TD><TD align=right>4,640,000

</TD><TD align=right>120m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>2

</TD><TD>BUICK INV PGA GOLF-SAT(S)-01/28/2006

</TD><TD>CBS

</TD><TD>Sat

</TD><TD align=right>3:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>2.4/6

</TD><TD align=right>2,630,000

</TD><TD align=right>3,189,000

</TD><TD align=right>180m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>3

</TD><TD>NBA ON ABC-SUN 2

</TD><TD>ABC

</TD><TD>Sun

</TD><TD align=right>3:36 PM

</TD><TD align=right>2.3/5

</TD><TD align=right>2,546,000

</TD><TD align=right>3,257,000

</TD><TD align=right>156m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>4

</TD><TD>NBA ON ABC-SUN 1

</TD><TD>ABC

</TD><TD>Sun

</TD><TD align=right>12:58 PM

</TD><TD align=right>2.0/5

</TD><TD align=right>2,230,000

</TD><TD align=right>2,855,000

</TD><TD align=right>158m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>5

</TD><TD>NCAA BASKETBALL-SUN-1

</TD><TD>CBS

</TD><TD>Sun

</TD><TD align=right>1:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>1.8/4

</TD><TD align=right>2,016,000

</TD><TD align=right>2,513,000

</TD><TD align=right>140m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>6

</TD><TD>NBC SPORTS SPECIAL 1/29(S)-01/29/2006

</TD><TD>NBC

</TD><TD>Sun

</TD><TD align=right>1:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>1.6/4

</TD><TD align=right>1,755,000

</TD><TD align=right>2,275,000

</TD><TD align=right>120m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>7

</TD><TD>WINTER X GAMES-1/28(S)-01/28/2006

</TD><TD>ABC

</TD><TD>Sat

</TD><TD align=right>2:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>1.4/4

</TD><TD align=right>1,587,000

</TD><TD align=right>2,164,000

</TD><TD align=right>240m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>8

</TD><TD>NBC ARENA FOOTBALL

</TD><TD>NBC

</TD><TD>Sun

</TD><TD align=right>3:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>1.3/3

</TD><TD align=right>1,397,000

</TD><TD align=right>1,730,000

</TD><TD align=right>180m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>9

</TD><TD>NCAA BASKETBALL-SAT-1

</TD><TD>CBS

</TD><TD>Sat

</TD><TD align=right>1:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>1.2/3

</TD><TD align=right>1,366,000

</TD><TD align=right>1,522,000

</TD><TD align=right>120m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>10

</TD><TD>CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR-SU

</TD><TD>CBS

</TD><TD>Sun

</TD><TD align=right>12:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>1.2/3

</TD><TD align=right>1,296,000

</TD><TD align=right>1,771,000

</TD><TD align=right>60m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>11

</TD><TD>NBC SPORTS SPECIAL 1/28(S)-01/28/2006

</TD><TD>NBC

</TD><TD>Sat

</TD><TD align=right>4:59 PM

</TD><TD align=right>1.2/3

</TD><TD align=right>1,348,000

</TD><TD align=right>1,775,000

</TD><TD align=right>61m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>12

</TD><TD>NBC NHL

</TD><TD>NBC

</TD><TD>Sat

</TD><TD align=right>2:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>0.9/2

</TD><TD align=right>1,037,000

</TD><TD align=right>1,295,000

</TD><TD align=right>179m

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>13

</TD><TD>FUTBOL LIGA MEXICANA SUN

</TD><TD>UNI

</TD><TD>Sun

</TD><TD align=right>1:00 PM

</TD><TD align=right>0.7/2

</TD><TD align=right>726,000

</TD><TD align=right>1,224,000

</TD><TD align=right>122m

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

You gotta be shittin me-this WWE stuff is really that popular??? (Never seen it in my life).

NHL barely beating out Univision soccer? Dear God!!!!

TTinCO said:

You gotta be shittin me-this WWE stuff is really that popular??? (Never seen it in my life).

NHL barely beating out Univision soccer? Dear God!!!!

Click to expand...

Yes the only thing that beats out the WWE is NFL football.

ESPN probably wouldn't take it for free because the NHL would insist it goes on one of the two main networks. Hockey has never depended on TV ratings or money so why should they matter now?

TTinCO said:

NHL barely beating out Univision soccer? Dear God!!!!

Click to expand...

:lolBIG: :lolBIG:

SportSavant said:

would be interested in hearing wether or not some of you YANKS who hated the game before this year, are now fans.....

I know that baseballguy has become a fan for the first time this year.

Click to expand...

Still like the game, "wish we had more TV coverage "and playing futures on the Sport, by the way what do you think of the Rangers at 25/1 ?

Its the chicken and the egg saying. The reason the intrest is all reginal is because the TV coverage has always been that way.

For people who really like Hockey the way of the future to see the games will be by getting the NHL center ice package.

ESPN does not miss the NHL they claim programing they air in its place gets better ratings then the NHL gave them.