A few ideas for the NHL
Hockey remains my passion. These days it is skating, mostly. Nonetheless, Hockey is a great game and the NHL does need to do something special in the off-season of they wish not only to keep their fans but grow. Here are a few ideas......
1) Open up the game. Fans would love to see more scoring. The ice surface is too small when you look at the size and speed odd the current players. The center ice area between the blue lines needs to be wider. The referees need to call the clutching and grabbing. Let's encourage more passing and skating and discourage headmanning the puck and create scrums in the offensive zone. These measures are fan but they do not address how to better market the sport and the brand.
The following measures address those points.
2) Professional Roller Hockey League..Yes...You read this right. There are presently disparate professional roller hockey leagues in North America. Many if the players in these leagues are ex hockey players or semi pro players who never made it to the NHL. The NHL should organize a professional Roller Hockey League. More Americans roller blade than ice skate because well, you do not need ice to play roller blade. Actually, I do both. Most of my team mates from my ice hockey team, play roller hockey in the summer. A couple did so, professionally. In other words, the trend is happening. The NHL should catch on to this.
The NHL should give away the rights to broadcast games to ESPN. Why not? This league would create a ready base of new ice hockey fans. Whenever I play a pick up game of ice hockey. I am surprised how many guys started playing roller hockey and decided to play ice hockey in the winter.
3) The NHL and NHLPA should sponsor a NASCAR team or even a race. There are no more loyal fans in sports today than NASCAR fans. This marriage is not as strange as it may sound. Several NASCAR drivers list ice hockey as their favorite sport. There are several parallels between NASCAR the NHL. Both sports feature speed and skill. The athletes both have pride and passion. NASCAR drivers bump each other at 200 mph. They do not see the heavy hits in hockey as anything more than just being very competitive.
So how do you promote IceHockey to NASCAR fans....the fastest sport on two legs. The speed of the game, not always caught on television. You can promote fans going to the game by offering discounts on tickets to anyone attending a NASCAR race. Finally, hockey players could attend NASCAR races and become more fan accessible.
4) When NBC does finally get around to broadcasting games, they ought to look North to see what works. The CBC has always managed to convey the speed and intensity of the game to fans with close up shots and camera angles close to the ice. Also. NBC needs their own Don Cherry. Many fans watched hockey on Saturday night just to hear what outrageous and insightful thought Don cherry would have. It should be an American who has had a colorful career in hockey. I discussed this with my wife and she suggested Chris Nilan. Chris was a talented rough and tumble player...who loves the game. He would be great in that role.
Any other ideas are welcome. I doubt Gary Bettman reads blogs, anyway.
1) Open up the game. Fans would love to see more scoring. The ice surface is too small when you look at the size and speed odd the current players. The center ice area between the blue lines needs to be wider. The referees need to call the clutching and grabbing. Let's encourage more passing and skating and discourage headmanning the puck and create scrums in the offensive zone. These measures are fan but they do not address how to better market the sport and the brand.
The following measures address those points.
2) Professional Roller Hockey League..Yes...You read this right. There are presently disparate professional roller hockey leagues in North America. Many if the players in these leagues are ex hockey players or semi pro players who never made it to the NHL. The NHL should organize a professional Roller Hockey League. More Americans roller blade than ice skate because well, you do not need ice to play roller blade. Actually, I do both. Most of my team mates from my ice hockey team, play roller hockey in the summer. A couple did so, professionally. In other words, the trend is happening. The NHL should catch on to this.
The NHL should give away the rights to broadcast games to ESPN. Why not? This league would create a ready base of new ice hockey fans. Whenever I play a pick up game of ice hockey. I am surprised how many guys started playing roller hockey and decided to play ice hockey in the winter.
3) The NHL and NHLPA should sponsor a NASCAR team or even a race. There are no more loyal fans in sports today than NASCAR fans. This marriage is not as strange as it may sound. Several NASCAR drivers list ice hockey as their favorite sport. There are several parallels between NASCAR the NHL. Both sports feature speed and skill. The athletes both have pride and passion. NASCAR drivers bump each other at 200 mph. They do not see the heavy hits in hockey as anything more than just being very competitive.
So how do you promote IceHockey to NASCAR fans....the fastest sport on two legs. The speed of the game, not always caught on television. You can promote fans going to the game by offering discounts on tickets to anyone attending a NASCAR race. Finally, hockey players could attend NASCAR races and become more fan accessible.
4) When NBC does finally get around to broadcasting games, they ought to look North to see what works. The CBC has always managed to convey the speed and intensity of the game to fans with close up shots and camera angles close to the ice. Also. NBC needs their own Don Cherry. Many fans watched hockey on Saturday night just to hear what outrageous and insightful thought Don cherry would have. It should be an American who has had a colorful career in hockey. I discussed this with my wife and she suggested Chris Nilan. Chris was a talented rough and tumble player...who loves the game. He would be great in that role.
Any other ideas are welcome. I doubt Gary Bettman reads blogs, anyway.
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