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Bettman, are you listening?
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Hockey used to be popular in the 70's and 80's but died down in the late 90's. In the 2000's, no one cares about the game except for die hard fans. The game has been so unpopular that The NHL has the lowest attendance ratings ever(no source but I read articles about this).The NHL is soon falling off the big four sports in America,so that is why I have decided to make a key to bring hockey back to the popular culture. Here are five ways hockey could be popular in the United States
1. Switch to a network that more than half the population gets This one is the most obvious one. Many casual fans left hockey after the strike because ESPN backed out of the agreement to broadcast their games. Frankly I don't care what network shows games. They could even make a new network that is national and just host some NHL games as much as ESPN host baseball, basketball and football. In fact, the NHL channel, a channel the NHL owns, has now made it to the states and soon it will be on basic cable. At least it's a start. if you want more information on click here
2. Make it easier for viewers to see who is on the iceI believe hockey games are much better live than on tv and part of that reason is because you get to see who is on the ice and who isn't and obviously it's more impactful in real life. I know the announcer tell you who has the puck and all but maybe we could have a box on the tv screen that has the 5 players for each team and will tell the viewer who is on the ice at the time. It changes every time a player goes off and on the ice. It might be bothersome if we could not see some of the action on the ice but I am sure graphic designers could find a way to make it work.
3. Market players moreOne of the main reason NHL was so popular in the 70's and 80's was because of Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Now I am not saying that we need to find the next Orr or Gretzky, (although Sidney apparently is)The NHL has to endorse their players more often. I have to admit that the NHL has been better recently, with how they handled Crosby and Ovechkin. They realize people want to see them so they publicize their games but I would like to see the league to take a step further. Maybe they could get them to do commercials not including NHL merchandising. Maybe persuade Reebok to make a national commercial of Sidney Crosby and make it show at other sports events other than NHL games.
4. Make the game 4-4 not just in overtimePeople like fast. Today, the game speed is fast but a way to make the game even faster is to make each team have 4 people on the ice instead of 5. This way would make the game very simple to follow, there would probably be a lot more goals and the players would be less fatigued. The only downside is you would probably have 8 lines and 4 defensemen. This would be the NHL if they were extremely in desperate need of a gimmick.
5. Bigger nets Another desperate move would be to make the nets bigger. Though the goalies would hate it, the fans and the forwards would love it. it would take away the criticism that the score is low but it would also take away the aspects of early hockey that old time fans know and love. There would not be as many great saves and no one would want to be a goalie or defender in the future. I would only suggest this if none of the other options were available.
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