with a freeze in the NHL potentially happening with player negotiations not working and owners saying enough is enough, will this market collapse help DC out a little? I mean, sure different seasons but it may help us gain a bit of publicity I think... opinions
I hope so, but I don't think it'll help us much. There doesn't seem to be much crossover between the two sets of fans. Plus, I don't know if the media see this as a closed-sum game where hockey's loss is soccer's gain. I hope to be proven wrong.
Maybe, One of my friends has season tickets and he said that a few season ticket holders skipped the last Caps game to see Freddy's debut. I hope it results in more coverage, but most likely the sports writers will just write make up for Caps coverage with peices about the NHL lock-out if it happens.
No they won't, believe me. I can't say this will lead to increased DCU coverage, but the Caps and the NHL are no darlings of the D.C. Media.
If this was baseball we were talking about, then yes. But the hockey season barely overlaps with MLS' season so I doubt there will be much of an impact.
I disagree that the fans are different fans. I don't think there will be a NHL Bounce in MLS ratings/exposure for two reasons: 1. There are a large number of crossover fans. Because on a basic level, the sports are similar, with back and forth action with goalkeepers. The tactics and strategy are fairly similar. Does anyone remeber the "DC Un-i-ted" Chant at MCI Center during Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals a few years ago? 2. The seasons barely overlap. The Stanley Cup gets awarded during MLS week 8 or so. And the NHL season kicks off during the last couple of weeks of the playoffs. The resources for hockey are already re-allocated during the MLS Season. But I wonder if MLS can/might pick up any out of work NHL players for the 2005 season? There are a lot of European players that were very sucessful in both sports but chose hockey over soccer. Maybe a Sergei Fedorov, of Mikael Renberg (whose father was a Swedish National Team coach) might decide that it's a decent summer job. It won't happen but it makes for a decent debate.
Absolutely not. Two reasons. 1) Hockey players the likes of which you noted will make a fine living for themselves playing hockey in the professional leagues of Sweden, Finland, Russia and various other Eastern European countries. 2) This is Major League Soccer. Mikael Renberg playing for the Kansas City Wizards would be nothing more than a reason for mainstream media to laugh at the league. And on some level, I think it would be an insult to both sports. And to another point mentioned here, just because both sports have team members that stand in front of goal does not at all make the sports similar. Ed
And Euro-geezers like Matteus, and various other folks fall into what category. Some people thought Eric Lindros might have played for the Blue Jays when hockey had it's last labor dispute. I might be silly, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Well, I was talking about the general flow of the game. Offense to defense, positional play, etc. Sure there are no sticks or checking, but the concepts of moving the ball/puck and using space, time and speed are identical. I couldn't get my wife to understand hockey until I pointed out the similarities to soccer.
There are a lot more cross over fans than you all would like to think. In fact I've never known a big time hockey fan who didn't at least have some knowledge and appreciation for soccer. Casual hockey fans maybe not, but the die hards seem to know what's up. I know a lot of soccer fans like to bear the cross that we're the only ones who like soccer, and all other sports fans hate soccer, but it isn't the case. Just like not all of us like soccer exclusively. I doubt you'll see a huge boost for hockey's lockout if it happens, but the season tickets could go up slightly (I'm thinking no more than 200) as a lot of hockey fans will have some extra $$$ to spend for their entertainment. The key is when they realize they can get 4 season tickets for the price of one of theirs, if they enjoyed their experience at DC games, will they return their dollars to hockey when the lockout ends or stay with United?
Well, I was talking about the general flow of the game. Offense to defense, positional play, etc. Sure there are no sticks or checking, but the concepts of moving the ball/puck and using space, time and speed are identical. I couldn't get my wife to understand hockey until I pointed out the similarities to soccer.[/QUOTE] I agree completely. It is the same game on ice, less people, faster moving, smaller ball (puck). Thinking two passes ahead, creating space, individual moves and team tactics. I just prefer the slower stuff on grass.....I can't keep track of the puck. I did like the "puck tracker" though...
wait...did a dude like 4 posts up suggest that if the NHL season is cancelled or whatever that MLS sign them to play in SOCCER in MLS ? Is that what he said? Please tell me I am just having reading comprehension issues.
... mod's note ... Geez ... cut Sundevil9 some slack. Sure the suggestion sounds funny, but maybe he's right and some current NHL players were decent soccer players as well. They're probably not good enough (anymore at least), but all he's doing is making an off-the-cuff suggestion, and it's obvious from his last line that he's not terribly serious about it anyway. So lighten up. And if I'm the one suggesting that you lighten up ... well that really should cause you pause considering how often I'm told I need to lighten up.
Re: ... mod's note ... Didn't Dikembe Mutumbo or Manute Bol only play soccer until he was discovered by American Basketball scouts? Imagine one of those seven-footers hacking around one of those Euro-sissies who fall down at the slightest touch on the ice. In fact, I'd pay good scratch to see Mutumbo take a chunk out of that no-talent Renberg. Is this light enough for everyone? Thx, Jay!
Re: ... mod's note ... This topic has been major converation-fodder here in Columbus, in that it isn't clear what sports will possibly fill the post-Buckeye football void if the BlueJackets don't play. Some say it could be OSU hockey, some say it's the Crew, many just see people not dragging their asses to sporting events during that January-March "why won't it stop snowing?" period. Every single marketing guy for every single team in town, from the Crew, to OSU hockey, all the way to OSU men's volleyball sees the lockout as "their chance to go bigtime."
The guys who watch hockey for the fights probably won't be interested in DCU with Stoitchkov and Etcheverry gone...
I really don't see how a potential NHL work stoppage helps MLS. In DC, the Caps have about six fans left as it is. If you were going to get a bump, it's there already because the Caps season has been done in early April the last few years anyway. Even in 1998 when they made the finals, Detroit fans gobbled up a heafty share of tickets. Very few people in the mainstream, even hockey fans actually, pay that much attention to the NHL during October and November either. After Thanksgiving, NHL interest picks up, but it isn't until February that people start to care. The sports have similarities, but they really are different crowds. In my experience, there's overlap, but most hockey fans are anti-soccer. DCU also has Freddy. He's the bump! A player like him will garner more attention than the troubles of a poorly supported local team's league during the league's traditional off-season. I also fully believe that the NHL will play at some point next year. When it comes down to it, there is way too much competition for fan dollars during the NHL's season for each side to lose an entire season. This isn't baseball. For the NHL, out of sight is out of mind. If the NHL plays a short season, it would likely overlap with more of the MLS season and might hurt any crossover that already exists. The end of the NHL season and the Stanley Cup playoffs are a lot more interesting to me, as both an MLS and NHL fan, than early season MLS games. Besides that, MLS plays one or two days a week. There's plenty of room for both to complement eachother as it is. That's something a lot of people over look. If you have a casual interest in both when they overlap, you can watch the NHL during the week and then catch the Saturday or occasional Sunday or Wednesday MLS games when they pop up. In Columbus, not that anyone really cares, the Jackets have always been done early in April. My guess is that hockey fans in Columbus will want a hockley fix. Ohio State had a nice team last year and my guess is people will see this as a cheap NHL subsitute. One of the hidden jewels I discovered on DirecTV was all of the Friday night college hockey. They put a very nice product on the ice. It would seem to me that crossover Crew-Jackets fans are already supporting both teams. Plus, the Crew had a, what, three or four year head start on the NHL in that market anyway.
Re: ... mod's note ... I don't mean this in a negative way, but why doesn't Columbus just do what it did before the 2000-2001 hockey season, when the Blue Jackets didn't exist. Columbus has done a great job of accepting this team and making it successful, but it's still new, has it established roots that well that people can't imagine life without it?
Yes, you're having reading comprehension issues, since he just laid it out there for a fun discussion. Some people are just too serious.
You're missing one key point. They paid their $2000 for two season tickets in the cheap seats already last summer to last them for the year so they are probably tapped out at this point. They won't spend that $2000 until this summer for next season, but if there is no NEXT season, then come January they might have some extra cash and be bored as hell and wanting to watch something (soccer). I don't know where you get that most hockey fans are anti-soccer from. My experience as a big-time hockey fan is very much the opposite. Hockey fans do tend to hate the NBA though.