Could NHL surpass NBA?

[AtlantaHockeyFanatic]

So 5 miles away?

Haha I wish. I’m in Fayetteville, GA. Closet rink is in Sandy Springs, almost 40 miles away. I wish we had ice skating rinks in the southern Atlanta suburbs. I’d introduce it to my elementary kids & suggest to my school district to start a league. A lot of kids just aren’t exposed to the sport.

Every time I wear a jersey at work, my students & co workers always ask me a hundred questions about hockey because they love how the jerseys look. I’m not a Bettman hater, but they could do way better with marketing and exposure

 

[Golden_Jet]

It will start dying as Canada grows more. When I was a kid you'd see people playing street hockey everywhere and community rinks were full of kids. Now the rinks are much slower and you rarely see kids playing street hockey but I'm seeing kids playing basketball everywhere now.

Don’t see as much road hockey, probably playing EA sports compared to old days, but still see lots on the ODR. and what a great season it’s been for ODR.

Haha I wish. I’m in Fayetteville, GA. Closet rink is in Sandy Springs, almost 40 miles away. I wish we had ice skating rinks in the southern Atlanta suburbs. I’d introduce it to my elementary kids & suggest to my school district to start a league. A lot of kids just aren’t exposed to the sport.

Every time I wear a jersey at work, my students & co workers always ask me a hundred questions about hockey because they love how the jerseys look. I’m not a Bettman hater, but they could do way better with marketing and exposure

A friend moved down south to Georgia for work, said he took about 8 hockey sticks with him, and got his kids and his friends to play on the street.
Another friend in California says he sees roller hockey on the streets more than ball hockey on the street.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Do

All you need to see the economics of the two leagues to see you are very much wrong. One league just signed a 76+ billion deal media rights deal, the other will be lucky to get close to half of the that when it’s US media rights are up.

Doesn't mean it's better managed. Just means it's more popular.

 

[Dirty Dan]

NBA is crap these days but the sport is much more accessible

 

[acor]

For the NHL, it is. Any comparsion between NBA and NHL from any business or popularity standpoint is a silly one. The leagues are not anywhere near each other.

Maybe because one is league of second most popular sport in the world and other is league of... well, hockey?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Maybe because one is league of second most popular sport in the world and other is league of... well, hockey?

9th for basketball, basketball has never reached second.
Field hockey/ice hockey is third.

The World's Most Watched Sports - Sport for Business

Sport for Business member Pledge Sports has been digging deep among television viewing statistics and has produced a (maybe) definitive list of those for whom the greatest number of eyeballs will land...

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Most popular is a similar ranking.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

Do

Doesn't mean it's better managed. Just means it's more popular.

And the NBA has had a hand in the popularity in the sport. I’m not saying the NBA is perfect product by any means, but which its issues, it’s still a very successful business. NHL in comparsion isn’t anywhere near that despite you think, that is a fact.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

NBA ratings are down, but the NHL ratings are also down

 

[I am not exposed]

It will start dying as Canada grows more. When I was a kid you'd see people playing street hockey everywhere and community rinks were full of kids. Now the rinks are much slower and you rarely see kids playing street hockey but I'm seeing kids playing basketball everywhere now.

Yeah even the 15 years I've lived in Vancouver, the decline in street hockey has been very notable unfortunately.

 

[Chukcha]

i don't understand how basketball is more popular than hockey. You have to be a very tall man to become a pro athlete in basketball, if you are a shortie there is no chance for you to make the NBA (unless your name is not Muggsy Bogues - even mongolian old farts like me know who he is). But you can become an NHL player being a shortie like Conor Sheary, Cam Atkinson and so on. So being a shortie doesn't kill your dream. Children imagine themselves to be famous players, it's easy to dream about Ovechkin or Crosby success being an ordinary kid. But you can't dream about Lebron career knowing you never gonna be that tall. Professional basketball is sport for very uncommon people. How it can be popular? Chess is even cheaper than basketball, it doesn't require even a court with a hoop and a ball. But is it more popular than basketball just due to its cheapness?

 

[Hanji]

9th for basketball, basketball has never reached second.
Field hockey/ice hockey is third.

The World's Most Watched Sports - Sport for Business

Sport for Business member Pledge Sports has been digging deep among television viewing statistics and has produced a (maybe) definitive list of those for whom the greatest number of eyeballs will land...

sportforbusiness.com

Most popular is a similar ranking.

Field hockey is 3rd, not ice hockey. It’s disingenuous to conflate the two per the topic of the thread.

 

[Snuggs]

Depends imo,

Is ESPN going to over hype the sport for 20-15 years while shunning the other?


Truth also is it's easier to play and be a casual basketball fan than hockey. Easier to know the stars/players on each team, etc. You can shoot around by yourself, more fun games with less people.

 

[the valiant effort]

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