Is The NHL Living On Borrowed Time?
I love hockey. I grew up with it. I had the pleasure of seeing some wonderful Bowling Green State University Falcon teams play. Heck, I was a regular Hockey Night In Canada viewer as a pre-teen. As a little kid, my room was festooned with pictures of Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Bobby Orr and others.
After the ill-advised strike of 2005, the sport appears to be all but flat-lining, though. Despite my curiosity at the new post-strike product, I haven't been able to find but a single game on cable all year (I do not have OLN).
Apparently I'm not alone. This year's All-Star game, typically a ratings bonanza and highlight of the season, pulled in only an incredibly anemic 0.7 Nielsen rating on Versus (a cable network I've never even heard of but apparently the name of the new OLN).
That's sad. That means a rerun of a 40 year-old Andy Griffith Show pulled in more viewers. Comparing apples to apples, 474,000 viewers watched the NHL All Star game this year. Some 2.7 million households tuned in to the mid-season classic in 2000.
It's clear the NHL is living on borrowed time. I hope the league gets the problem fixed. Airing matches on national TV (and on a network with an actual audience) would be a great place to start. I've always enjoyed hockey, and I miss it. But if the league doesn't get the ship righted quickly, there won't be much left to miss.
After the ill-advised strike of 2005, the sport appears to be all but flat-lining, though. Despite my curiosity at the new post-strike product, I haven't been able to find but a single game on cable all year (I do not have OLN).
Apparently I'm not alone. This year's All-Star game, typically a ratings bonanza and highlight of the season, pulled in only an incredibly anemic 0.7 Nielsen rating on Versus (a cable network I've never even heard of but apparently the name of the new OLN).
That's sad. That means a rerun of a 40 year-old Andy Griffith Show pulled in more viewers. Comparing apples to apples, 474,000 viewers watched the NHL All Star game this year. Some 2.7 million households tuned in to the mid-season classic in 2000.
It's clear the NHL is living on borrowed time. I hope the league gets the problem fixed. Airing matches on national TV (and on a network with an actual audience) would be a great place to start. I've always enjoyed hockey, and I miss it. But if the league doesn't get the ship righted quickly, there won't be much left to miss.
Labels: NHL hockey
posted by Erik Eckel at 8:56 PM
2 Comments:
I suspect they may be the first pro-sports league to fall victim to the Internet. If I want to watch video of grown men fighting I can do so on Youtube. Without spending a dime and without watching all those pampered millionaires skate around on the ice.
Good point. If the NHL really wanted to do away with the fisticuffs, it could just impose penalties the way the NBA has. But no, and that's too bad. I miss the hockey of my youth.
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