The NHL All-Star game has come and gone, and I felt nothing.
Thanks to the news read-outs on the subway this morning, I know that Eric Staal was the game's Most Valuable Player for scoring goals on behalf of the Eastern Conference, but it's taken some research to find out that the East won the exhibition game 8-7.
Before the game, I knew that Alexander Ovechkin was suiting up for the East, and that Tomas Kaberle was the only representative of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I was aware that alot of players were too injured to play, but that was because I'd seen a cartoon in the Toronto Sun poking fun at the dim star power of the event. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you a whole lot else about the game.
At least, not without surfing over to the pages dedicated to the NHL on SportsIllustrated.com or Yahoo! Sports. And I do mean go directly to the NHL pages, because it sure wasn't front page news.
And yet, Yahoo's Ross McKeon thinks that the game was good, great even. "This was the NHL All-Star game, and the fans got exactly what they wanted – lots of scoring, including a final-minute game-winner."
I couldn't disagree more.
Although scoring is great, and I am honestly glad that the new NHL rules have opened the game up, I disagree with the idea that that's what fans want. I think that hitting, penalties, and yes, even fights, are as much a part of hockey as scoring. Imagine watching a basketball game with only slam dunks. Sure it'd be exciting and good for highlight packages, but real fans can also appreciate a good jump shot or a vicious block. There is, after all, a reason why touch-football isn't a big spectator sport.
An even bigger worry is the lack of press that the NHL's All-Star game has garnered. I appreciate that it was in Atlanta, which is hardly a hot-bed of hockey. And I know that it was on Versus, a channel that most people in the United States don't get. But I live in Toronto, which definitely is a hockey city, and most people would have access to the game on TV.
But the game didn't make any waves.
I know we hear this, and we say this all the time. But Gary Bettman must be held accountable. He is the commissioner who established a team in Atlanta, he is the one who moved NHL games on to Versus, and he is the one who employed a marketing strategy that had one of the bigger hockey events totally flop.
3 comments:
Although I completely agree with your disinterest in this year's All-Star game, viewing in the United States was actually up from last year: "0.76 overnight cable rating (percentage of potential households tuned in), up from 0.54 last year."(from the Globe and Mail). Not a big jump, but at least it was up. Numbers in Canada were down slightly, but if the NHL is focusing on developing a stronger market south of the border, maybe they are on the right track. The Canadian market for the NHL is much stronger than the American, so perhaps they should be looking for opportunities to increase American viewers, especially since the MLB and NBA All-Star weekends are such big hoooplas.
KL.
Another interesting idea from MLB is to make the All star game actually matter. Since it determines home field advantage in the world series, it encourages players to show up and do their best. I am sure the NHL could think of a way to make the All Star game more worthwhile to watch. I like the idea of the young prospects game- that needs to be promoted much more.
KL
Full disclosure: I didn't see the game...I was recovering the Satuday night in the ER with the wife. However:
The idea of All-Star games is long dead idea. MLB initially started it so that players from the two leagues could compete. Everyone wanted to know what would happen if Bob Gibson pitched to Mickey Mantle, and unless they played in the world series it wouldn't happen.
With interleague play, (and inter-Conference play in all the sports) there's no mystery anymore.
So now 'All-Star' games are really just exhibitions of popularity. To go looking for a serious game is futile. I don't see anything they could do that would ever regenerate the concept to where it was.
Here's one idea I had that might (*might*) make the game and the lead up to the game something of greater interest:
Let the fans vote for their favorite players, just like they do now. Voting ends on Christmas Day. The top two vote getters are the captains. The team names, rather than East and West could be named after famous players, maybe even players from the city the game will be held. Imagine a game in Boston where Team Orr plays Team Neely and those guys are honorary coaches.
The two captains, say Sid and Ovechkin, get to pick their teams in a fantasy type draft. You could film this and turn it into a special, maybe even use it in conjunction with a New Year's Day outdoor game. Make it a whole deal. The game, then the All-Star Fantasy Draft Special.
I think that would really generate some excitement and interest. There'd be so much talk to the lead up of the 'draft' and then so much talk afterwards. It would be great for the league and the game.
Post a Comment