Yes

by Jimmy Flatbush

Created on: October 19, 2010

Professional hockey became irrelevant after the National Hockey League (NHL) lockout occurred during the 200402005 season. Not only did the lockout wipe out most of the regular season schedule, it also eliminated the venerable Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in league history. The NHL relies on a small, yet undying, fan base for most of its support. The elimination of the Stanley Cup Playoffs alienated hard-core fans, which further diminished the popularity of a sport that was already on its death bed.

The NHL was losing fan support before the lockout. The sport became mired in a sluggish trap oriented game, one where open ice was at a premium, and players were prevented from exhibiting their skating and puck handling prowess. Fans considered the trap style of play to be boring, and consequently they refused to give their hard-earned money to a sport once predicated on end-to-end action. Moreover, rule changes restricted fighting in the NHL, which was another slap in the face to hard-core NHL fans.

During the lockout, the player’s association and league owners dealt with the lackluster NHL format by creating rule changes in addition to working out a new collective bargaining agreement. The result was a more wide open game that rewarded skill players over those who clutched and grabbed their opponents. Two line passes created more scoring chances, and the trap became a distant memory. Overtime shootouts upped the ante of regular season games. Fighting made a slow, but perceptible return to the sport. Hockey purists were jubilant, while returning to arenas in American and Canada in numbers that rivaled the sports’ popularity during the late nineties and the early part of the new millennium.

One piece of the puzzle remained to be solved for the NHL: a prominent game played in an environment that would captivate not only hockey purists, but also a completely new breed of hockey fan. Introduced the Heritage Classic in 2003, outdoor hockey came back to the sport on January 1, 2008 in the form of the Winter Classic.

New Year’s Day is replete with college football bowl games, so deciding to play the Winter Classic on the first day of the New Year was a bold move by the NHL’s top brass. The gamble handsomely paid off, as the first New Year’s Day game garnered an incredible 6.4 television rating. The game did not produce a marquee match up between the Penguins and Sabres, but it did provide fans a glimpse of what hockey looked like before the advent of indoor stadiums. The two games that have followed the initial Winter Classic have featured rivalries between the ‘Hawks and Wings, as well as a bitterly contested gamer between the Bruins and flyers that took place on January 1, 2010.

There is no question the Winter classic is good for the NHL, both in advertising revenue and hockey exposure. The problem is the NHL is moving away from the successful match up formula towards games featuring one or more high profile players. Hockey fans get their fill of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby during the regular season and playoffs on the Versus network. Over exposure in sports kills a product more quickly than a perceived lack of quality. Fans may assume a ho-hum attitude towards the Winter classic if the NHL pulls a National Basketball Association type player-centric marketing program. If the NHL learned anything from the pre-lockout product on the ice, it was that taking care of the hard-core fan base should be priority number one. Hockey purists want stellar match ups that are ripe with NHL tradition for the Winter Classic.

The NHL is also falling into the tap of diluting the significance of the Winter Classic. A second Heritage Classic is scheduled for February 2011. By following the National Football League’s model of promoting a signature game (Super Bowl), the NHL established a lasting tradition on New Year’s Day that fans can point to on the calendar with unbridled enthusiasm. However, the enthusiasm will wane if the league adds another outdoor game on its schedule. There is only one Super Bowl, and there should only one Winter Classic. Otherwise, the game played on January 1 will become irrelevant, just as hockey became irrelevant during the lockout.

Professional hockey has made a huge comeback from the brink of financial ruin. Rule changes have opened up a once uninteresting game, and allowed for more appealing physical play. The cornerstone of the new and improved NHL is the Winter Classic, a game that has captivated a growing fan base and established some semblance of tradition. The Winter Classic is good for the NHL, but only if the match ups attract interest and the game is played only once a year, on one of the greatest sports days of the year.

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