NHL Needs To Move All-In

Baseball is dead. We all know this, it isn’t exactly a revelation. To quote Baseketball, "with the rapid pace of modern technology, the attention span of the average American can only be “measured in nano-seconds.”" In result, the action (or lack thereof) in baseball just won’t cut it. Baseball has taken a backseat to more action-fueled sports like football and basketball.
We want to see blood, hard hits, pushing, shoving, fighting and the occasional jumping into the stands and wailing on a fan. Baseball offers none of this (in fact, the fans jump onto the field and wail on the first base coach). Hockey, on the other hand, offers all of this. Perhaps hockey will take over baseball’s seat in the Top 3 American sports.

But it won’t.

In light of the epic U.S. vs. Canada gold medal game during the 2010 Winter Olympics, the notion that hockey may finally hit the mainstream was a trending topic and with good reason. It was the first time since 1980 that Americans cared about hockey. For the first time in my life everyone was talking about hockey. Maybe all hockey needed was to have that one moment that hooked everyone in. Unfortunately for the game, it takes more than just a defining moment.

A good comparison would be the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event. Before 2003, no one gave a crap about poker. It was a game some people played at home on the weekends and only degenerate gamblers played for a living. When ESPN broadcasted amateur (at the time) Chris Moneymaker take down the championship, people across the world were hooked. Fast forward to today, and poker is just as popular. So why can’t hockey have a similar fate?

The first thing you need is that defining moment which captivates and catches the attention of everyone. Check. From there, the next thing you need to do is capitalize on that moment. Poker did that by signing all sorts of television deals to broadcast a variety of tournaments: Poker After Dark, World Poker Tour, High Stakes Poker, etc. This is where hockey fails.

Hockey’s opportunity to keep the audience’s attention came way too soon. The perfect opportunity came when Ryan Miller and Sidney Crosby’s very next game would be against each other…two days after the Olympics. This game was not scheduled to be televised, and it would be damn near impossible to convince a television producer to change his or her programming with only a two days’ notice. However, the story could have still been there. We didn’t need to see it in order to stay interested. We would have been content on hearing about the matchup. But we didn’t.

Buffalo Sabres’ head coach Lindy Ruff decided to deactivate Miller so he could get some rest after the Olympics. Even though I understand this reasoning, I’m still against it. Hockey needed this. And they didn’t get it.

Another advantage poker has over hockey is the fact that it is not an entity. Poker is a concept. It is a game that is not owned by any one conglomerate that is run by a commissioner. Therefore, literally anyone can organize a game, package it, sell it, and profit. Conversely, professional hockey is owned by the NHL and is watched over by a commissioner…a god-awful one.

If hockey wants to earn the kind of mainstream success poker has enjoyed, it needs to start marketing itself. Right now, hockey’s stock is the highest it has ever been. If hockey has ever had any hope at securing television deals, now is the time. Television is everything! If you’re on television, people will pay attention. Look at the popularity of Jersey Shore for Christ’s sake! You don’t even need to be entertaining or relevant to be successful on television. Hockey is both entertaining and relevant…it can’t fail.

But it will.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has proven over the years that he is horrible at his job. If you thought David Stern was worthless, then you obviously haven’t paid attention to hockey, and chances are, you haven’t…BECAUSE BETTMAN IS HORRIBLE AT HIS JOB! He is in the perfect position to sell his product.

But he won’t.

And that is why hockey will remain in the backseat. Bud Selig is horrible at keeping the game in check, but he is awesome at marketing and advertising his product. The same applies to David Stern. Roger Goodell has a firm grip on the game of football in its entirety. Bettman couldn’t get laid in a monkey whorehouse with a bag of bananas.

And yes, I prophesied hockey’s fate by comparing it to poker and Jersey Shore…deal with it.