Does anyone in London/UK care about the NHL games this weekend?

[mhtwins113]

My boys, the reigning Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks, are opening the NHL season in London this weekend with two games against our local rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. My question is, does anyone in London or the UK actually giving a flying f**k about these two games in particular or the NHL in general? Is there any local buzz about this whatsoever?

[Republic of Mancunia]

Well this is the first I've heard of it. ;)

Don't know much about hockey at all and I'm just making a guess, but I bet it sells out. It's the type of thing that will have a small but extremely loyal following and a large proportion of NHL fans from the UK or even Europe as a whole will probably be there.

General buzz though? Nah.

[BusbyBabes]

nope:)

[Numquam Moribimur]

It's a pre-season game ... :cool:

so no one in the states are going to care either

[Stud83]

It's a hockey game ... :cool:

so no one in the states are going to care either

FYP.

[Numquam Moribimur]

FYP.




good point :D:D

[holytoledo]

It's a pre-season game ... :cool:

so no one in the states are going to care either

it's the regular season opener

[Numquam Moribimur]

The NHL opens this weekend ??? wtf ..pre-season just started last week I thought :rolleyes::D

[holytoledo]

The NHL opens this weekend ??? wtf ..pre-season just started last week I thought :rolleyes::D

it's been going on for at least a couple weeks. the wild games are on the radio up here. today is opening day.

and the wild just sent benoit pouliot to their minor league affiliate. :mad:

[Achtung]

Here in Chicago, former Hawks owner Bill Wirtz, aka the worst owner in sports, just died. So people might have a reason to care about the Hawks again... maybe.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Did anyone care? I don't think so. Obviously the fans of the sport (both British and foreign) snapped up the tickets fairly early on but there was been little in the way of advertising or hype, bar a few reports on SSN. Despite Channel 5 (terrestrial channel) having rights to most American sports and hosting regular shows, the opening game was not shown. It was only on NASN, although that was made 'free' for those with satellite or cable. An opportunity lost in my opinion. Had they allowed Channel 5 to broadcast the game live then there would have been a lot more attention and it would have drawn more people in.

[Stud83]

Did anyone care? I don't think so. Obviously the fans of the sport (both British and foreign) snapped up the tickets fairly early on but there was been little in the way of advertising or hype, bar a few reports on SSN. Despite Channel 5 (terrestrial channel) having rights to most American sports and hosting regular shows, the opening game was not shown. It was only on NASN, although that was made 'free' for those with satellite or cable. An opportunity lost in my opinion. Had they allowed Channel 5 to broadcast the game live then there would have been a lot more attention and it would have drawn more people in.

I don't know why any non-cable channel would ever televise NHL games live. They get virtually no ratings. Here is what the rating for Stanley Cup finals was:

The Monday overnight Nielsen national ratings for the Ducks' 3-2 victory at Ottawa in Game 4 was a miserable 1.9, with a 3 share.

But that looks like gold compared to two days earlier, after Ottawa's 5-3 win in Game 3 on Saturday produced a 1.1 national rating and two share.

According to NBC's records, that matched the lowest rating the network ever had for a prime-time program - sports or anything - matching a rerun of "The West Wing" on July 23, 2005.

[Raj222]

NHL is cool there is like a fight every game.

[Ian Daglers]

My boys, the reigning Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks, are opening the NHL season in London this weekend with two games against our local rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. My question is, does anyone in London or the UK actually giving a flying f**k about these two games in particular or the NHL in general? Is there any local buzz about this whatsoever?

They're taking two local rivalry games, and having them played in London instead? If you needed any more proof that the NHL is run by complete idiots...

[Teso Dos Bichos]

The NHL was eventually broadcast during the usual 1am slot on Channel 5. However, the NBA was shown live on Five US (the freeview digital TV part of Channel 5). Definitely an opportunity lost for the NHL.