by Nik Fisher

Created on: November 30, 2008

For the love of hockey, please stop watching ESPN!

Actually, it may be a myth, according to Puck Daddy hockey is surpassing the NBA in terms of attendance. But there is little doubt that hockey is in a state of disrepair at the moment. The Chicago Blackhawks couldn't even get television coverage in their own area. The rest of hockey has been demoted to Versus (former OLN) unless you are watching your home team. In Philadelphia the Flyers are always on television. On some media outlets hockey is not mentioned as one of the premier sports in America. ESPN rarly plays highlights from hockey games and never airs full games, which is a far cry from the old days of Wednesday Night Hockey where I watched Mario Lemiux break the career power play goals record.

Hockey is partly to blame for this. The debate rages on over who caused the lock out in 2005, the players or the owners. It doesn't matter either way, what matters is that hockey was already tettering to NASCAR and the lockout completely destroyed hockey's credibility in the media. Baseball can recover from a work shortage because people want it to succeed in America. It is America's past time and popular throughout the entire nation. Football will also continue to press on because Americans love football; college, professional, high school.

But hockey's main problem is that the nature of the sport limits its marketability. Hockey teams traditionally do well in the north because it is easy to maintain ice rinks in these areas. Growing up in Michigan my friend had a pond down the street that froze over in winter time. Hockey is accessible to people in the north. Even professional teams such as the Tampa Bay Lightning can have "soft ice" created by the trouble keeping the ice cool in Florida's warm temperatures. Effectively hockey already has lost half the country because people in warm weather climates cannot play it as children. Many children nationwide play baseball in the summer and football can be played with as few as three people an a back yard.

Hockey also does not market to the minority community. Many explanations have been given for this. Some think that because minorities are typically less wealthy than white people and cannot afford pads or ice time. This explanation may hold weight in some areas such as inner cities of major urban areas but in total it is short sighted. Minorities are more likly not to play hockey because of social reasons. A black child growing up with his black friends who all play football is less likely to play hockey. Between these two limiting factors on hockey's success, upwards to 60-70% of the nation is already cut out from hockey.

The problem may not have just been the strike but the fact remains that because of the limited access hockey has to the public it must perform flawlessly in order to maintain its status in the sports community. The over-expansion of the 1990s which saw hockey teams form in Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, and Nashville certainly hurt the NHL. Small market teams such as Columbus and Raleigh helped to cause the financial troubles that the NHL is seeing now. The strike was the final nail in the coffin taking the NHL off major television networks. Fear not though hockey fans, we'll get through this one.

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