from Peter Armstrong of CBC,
Now the Florida Panthers have secured a spot in the final. The Dallas Stars and the Vegas Golden Knights are battling for the Western Conference title.
None of them are quite what you would call a ratings bonanza.
"These are four Sunbelt teams that are not the biggest TV draws," said an understated John Lewis, who runs the American sports business website Sports Media Watch.
He says if the NHL was merely chasing ratings, it would have preferred a matchup involving juggernauts like the Boston Bruins or the New York Rangers.
But the NHL is chasing more than just ratings here.
Sure, existing fans would have gone wild to see the Oilers in the final. Or any of the big teams. But how many more new fans can the NHL squeeze out of saturated markets like Toronto or Boston?
Bettman has spent years betting he can grow the game in areas that aren't traditional markets.
As franchises like Florida and Las Vegas push their way into the highest echelons of the game, new fans are born, new traditions are built.
"In the cities where it's happening, it's 100 per cent a home run," said former NHL player and host of the wildly popular podcast Spittin' Chiclets, Ryan Whitney.
...and in traditional markets the new generation of fans was lost
say those whose parents grew up watching the team on over the air broadcasts (both on Channel 50 and CBC Channel 9). See they don't pay for cable as they have various streaming services and none of them include(d) paying for FSD/Bally's Sports Detroit/ OLN / etc. And don't even get me started about the lockout and the promised reduced ticket costs nor the cost to attend for the average family of four.
say those that were located in the Eastern Time Zone but were forced to play in Pacific Time Zones. You know those 10/ 10:30 pm start times that lasted until about 1am. Especially brutal for the playoffs mid-week match ups and long after the bedtime of that new generation of fan.
say those whose hometown team have been basement dwellers for 7+ years now so that their formative pre-teen and teen years have nothing in the wake of traditions. April in the D means only the NFL draft and opening day to them.
So it's great seeing kids playing street hockey in those non-traditonal markets--but there has been a tremendous cost that the NHL has yet to see. And the defeat of the hockey arena in Tempe by the voters may be a sign of things to come for the billionaire owners. Because this next generation is starting to have more interest in e-sports than the actual ones being played.
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