by Tom Funk

Created on: October 10, 2009   Last Updated: October 11, 2009

The question, why is hockey less popular than other sports, has plagued many hardcore hockey fans for some time. While the sport has the speed and vicious hits of professional football, along with the grace and fluid movement of the NBA, it remains one of the least popular professional sports in existence. There are several key reasons behind this.

First of all, one can not dismiss the role the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman plays in this fiasco. As commissioner, Bettman is directly responsible for the promotion of the league. And while the NFL, NBA and MLB enjoy broadcasting contracts with major networks, the NHL suffers on obscure cable channels such as Versus. A lot of viewers do not get Versus and DirecTV will not carry the channel, eliminating another host of potential viewers. The only right move Bettman has made in showcasing the league is in the annual NHL Winter Classic, a game held at an outdoor venue. Even here, he had an opportunity to create something great, by offering a few more of these gem games, but instead limits it to one a year, usually going up against college football bowl games. Instead of making it an annual tradition, Bettman could have opted to hold several outdoor games, which fans and viewers alike seem to enjoy.

Hockey is a wonderful sport to watch, if you know what's going on. To the casual viewer, it can, at times, be as languid as baseball. With many teams focused on defense and goalies becoming better and better, a lot of games have low scores. And if there is one thing the American public seems to enjoy, it's a high scoring sporting event. The NHL has tried to tweak the rules to provide more scoring, but in doing so, have alienated some of their hardcore fans, the hockey purists. Hockey rules are not easy to follow, either, for a casual fan. Most people can click on a football game or basketball, and be able to watch the action with a rudimentary understanding of what's going on. In hockey, there are offsides penalties, icing, delay of game and a myriad of other fouls most fans don't fully grasp. It makes it difficult for a person to flip the channel to a game and remain interested when the action stops and they don't understand why.

Like NASCAR, hockey has its own form of crashes: the fights. Many debate whether or not fighting belongs in the sport, but no one can deny the attention fighting garners. One minute, the action is smoothly flowing down the ice, the next, a pair of brawlers drops their gloves and duke it out.

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