Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The NHL Needs To Address The Demographic Changes Coming

12/15/2019 at 2:25pm EST

from Louise Radnofsky of the Wall Street Journal,

About a year ago, the National Hockey League brought in an outside expert to tell them about an existential threat. That expert was a demographer.

William Frey, who works for the Washington, D.C. think tank Brookings Institution, conducted a couple of talks and a conference call for the league. He told them that by 2020, the U.S. Census is expected to show that two-fifths of the nation’s population identifies with a racial group other than white; and that sometime after 2040, there will be no racial majority in the country.

The NHL, which had only 50 nonwhite players in the 2018-19 season, seemed to get the point. It kept going with ‘Hockey is for Everyone’ programs in 26 minority and low-income communities, and learn-to-play classes around the country. And it sent around a policy brief co-authored by Frey and Kimberly Davis, the league’s executive vice president for social impact, growth and legislative affairs, that acknowledged “hockey has a perception in some circles as being ‘not for some’ and ‘only for others.’ ”

“Now, more than ever, hockey communities and its leaders must focus on the drastic demographic and cultural change that is coming.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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