Baseball Guru
01-28-2005, 04:04 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=678&e=1&u=/usatoday/20050128/sp_usatoday/hockeylosingitsplaceinussportslandscape
By Jeff Zillgitt USA TODAY
A Zamboni is not a kind of pasta.
Ice the puck is not freezing a stack of uncooked hamburger patties.
A hat trick is not a David Blaine (news - web sites) stunt.
A line change is not replacing one sentence with another.
But to many Americans, those words and phrases might as well be Finnish. Of course, in Finland, most know what those words and phrases mean.
Here the National Hockey League is, 133 days into a lockout, 106 days without a regular-season game played and more than half the season plus the All-Star game canceled.
At this point, the NHL can stay away. This season at least. Management and players have alienated casual fans and devastated hardcore fans. Alienation and devastation have turned into indifference. Few things are worse than someone who doesn't care.
Reaching out to the fans and salvaging the season is the impetus for the latest round of meetings and push for a labor agreement.
The time to save the season was when it was possible to assemble a truncated season with at least 50 games. A 30-game season is not worth playing. Can a team proudly hoist the Stanley Cup after such a short season?
But from an image standpoint, a short season is better than no season.
Commissioner Gary Bettman, the owners, the players, they don't understand where their sport stands in the United States. If it is no longer a major sport - and some will say it isn't - it is certainly close.
The NHL cannot afford to go a year without a season. Yet, that's what might happen. Pro hockey is not a sport that can rebound like baseball, football or basketball. The margin for a successful top-tier pro hockey league in North America is slim. It is not popular across America.
This lockout will have damaging, long-term effects - from the people who play it to the people who manage and coach to those who work in PR, marketing, accounting and ticket sales departments to those who work in concessions and arena parking.
U.S. Soccer and its players understand. They know their sport is not able to withstand an extended labor stoppage. They know they need to send their best players to World Cup qualifying matches. They know there is too much to lose for a non-mainstream sport in the U.S. Even though U.S. Soccer and its players need to reach a deal, there is a no-strike pledge from players. They understand.
People who invested time and money on the NHL now spend their time and money elsewhere. Getting those people to re-invest their time into the NHL won't be easy, especially if people are saving money and partaking in more fulfilling endeavors.
Apathy is one telling indictment of the NHL. TV ratings are another. In a Dec. 10 column, USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand reported that during the NHL lockout, ESPN2 is averaging 0.4% of cable TV households with replacement programming that otherwise wouldn't be on TV. That's a small number. But double what NHL games drew. Arena Football, at times, earned better ratings than the NHL last season.
If the NHL thought it had a ratings problem before the lockout, wait until the game returns. Financially, the NHL's new TV deal with NBC is half of what the league's last deal was.
The NHL is going the way of horse racing or boxing. Hockey people have a hard time believing it.
Until those who run hockey understand the sport's place in the grand scheme, hockey will suffer. Getting teams back on the ice is a start. Most don't care how a labor agreement is reached, just as long as there is a deal and soon. If the players have to concede, so be it.
Then, the NHL can whittle down the number of teams in the league, and implement rules to create more offensive opportunities.
Until then, watch out for a good plate of Zamboni Alfredo.
By Jeff Zillgitt USA TODAY
A Zamboni is not a kind of pasta.
Ice the puck is not freezing a stack of uncooked hamburger patties.
A hat trick is not a David Blaine (news - web sites) stunt.
A line change is not replacing one sentence with another.
But to many Americans, those words and phrases might as well be Finnish. Of course, in Finland, most know what those words and phrases mean.
Here the National Hockey League is, 133 days into a lockout, 106 days without a regular-season game played and more than half the season plus the All-Star game canceled.
At this point, the NHL can stay away. This season at least. Management and players have alienated casual fans and devastated hardcore fans. Alienation and devastation have turned into indifference. Few things are worse than someone who doesn't care.
Reaching out to the fans and salvaging the season is the impetus for the latest round of meetings and push for a labor agreement.
The time to save the season was when it was possible to assemble a truncated season with at least 50 games. A 30-game season is not worth playing. Can a team proudly hoist the Stanley Cup after such a short season?
But from an image standpoint, a short season is better than no season.
Commissioner Gary Bettman, the owners, the players, they don't understand where their sport stands in the United States. If it is no longer a major sport - and some will say it isn't - it is certainly close.
The NHL cannot afford to go a year without a season. Yet, that's what might happen. Pro hockey is not a sport that can rebound like baseball, football or basketball. The margin for a successful top-tier pro hockey league in North America is slim. It is not popular across America.
This lockout will have damaging, long-term effects - from the people who play it to the people who manage and coach to those who work in PR, marketing, accounting and ticket sales departments to those who work in concessions and arena parking.
U.S. Soccer and its players understand. They know their sport is not able to withstand an extended labor stoppage. They know they need to send their best players to World Cup qualifying matches. They know there is too much to lose for a non-mainstream sport in the U.S. Even though U.S. Soccer and its players need to reach a deal, there is a no-strike pledge from players. They understand.
People who invested time and money on the NHL now spend their time and money elsewhere. Getting those people to re-invest their time into the NHL won't be easy, especially if people are saving money and partaking in more fulfilling endeavors.
Apathy is one telling indictment of the NHL. TV ratings are another. In a Dec. 10 column, USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand reported that during the NHL lockout, ESPN2 is averaging 0.4% of cable TV households with replacement programming that otherwise wouldn't be on TV. That's a small number. But double what NHL games drew. Arena Football, at times, earned better ratings than the NHL last season.
If the NHL thought it had a ratings problem before the lockout, wait until the game returns. Financially, the NHL's new TV deal with NBC is half of what the league's last deal was.
The NHL is going the way of horse racing or boxing. Hockey people have a hard time believing it.
Until those who run hockey understand the sport's place in the grand scheme, hockey will suffer. Getting teams back on the ice is a start. Most don't care how a labor agreement is reached, just as long as there is a deal and soon. If the players have to concede, so be it.
Then, the NHL can whittle down the number of teams in the league, and implement rules to create more offensive opportunities.
Until then, watch out for a good plate of Zamboni Alfredo.