By Gavin Lindahl
The NHL has never been the most popular sports league in the United Sates. Ice hockey has never taken off in popularity in the southern US and has fallen to third or fourth to the likes of the NFL, NBA and MLB. However, NHL officials have tried time-and-time again to make hockey’s popularity widespread and get the league on par with the NFL and NBA. The simple truth is that the NHL needs to stop trying.
The league is embarrassing itself trying to compete, and it’s painful to watch as a hockey fan. Instead of focusing on making fans out of people who never have and show no sign that they ever will care for hockey, the NHL should get back to basics and play to their already loyal fans.
The past two seasons, the NHL’s annual outdoor hockey game, the Winter Classic, has been a circus of nonsense and arm-flailing by the NHL in an attempt to get attention and recognition. While the Winter Classic does bring in widespread viewership, and is the one NHL game many people will watch once a year, it’s not going to make people consistent NHL fans.
The Winter Classic has strayed far from what it started as in 2008 – simply a hockey game outside – but now involves all kinds of sideshows. Every break in play switches to anchors asking fans, “how great is this, gee, isn’t this great?” Really, they’re shouting through the television screen, “Look at us, professional hockey is relevant and we can do things!”
The same thing happened during last weekend’s All-Star Skills competition and game. It’s hard to appreciate the talent and speed of the sport when I can’t ignore the desperate pleas for attention and music of irrelevant bands (sorry if you like Fall Out Boy or OAR). The only thing worse than seeing and hearing it is reading the scores of hockey fans making the same critiques on Twitter and Facebook. If I wasn’t a fan of the league, seeing NHL followers mock it isn’t going to make me become one.
The NHL shows no sign of stopping its desperate fight to become a big dog in the United States. Recently, the NHL announced that they will soon be including GoPro cameras into the league. In other words, they want to strap cameras on top of players’ helmets to create a new, never-seen-before view. Players won’t be required to wear these, and I don’t think many will. One reason was pointed out by the St. Louis Blues’ and Team USA shootout hero TJ Oshie who claimed he won’t wear one in fear of giving away his moves and habits.
While I admit that it’s a cool perspective and they’d make for some awesome highlight reels, all the GoPros are ultimately going to do is give a player without one ammunition to chirp a player with one. Seeing the game from a player’s perspective isn’t going to make a fan out of someone who doesn’t care about hockey. Just because something is “cutting edge,” that doesn’t make it popular.
The NHL, and hockey in general, will never have the widespread popularity in the US that the NFL does. No amount of flag waving, or advanced camera angles or hockey teams in places like Las Vegas will give it that. What the NHL does have in the US is a relatively small, passionate fan base. Instead of trying to win most popular, the NHL should focus on playing to its loyal fans who don’t need all the fanfare because the game itself is enough to them.
