Do you like the NHL being 4th in the 'Big 4' or do you wish it was more popular?

[HockeySniper]

It’s an expensive sport. The NHL is also horrible at marketing and unfortunately a lot of experts and yes even fans have no idea what they’re talking about

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

As an American, it would be nice if hockey were casually on TV at restaurants and bars more often, like the other 3 big sports.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Maybe hockey is an incredible boring sport and only idiots like us can enjoy it

It's the opposite of boring though ( I know you're joking btw)

I grew up in a hockey city, surrounded by all of it and all the jocks in school made me hate it.

Loved baseball though and got into skateboarding pretty young.

Somehow, at around 17 years old I guess I was bored? Decided to check out a playoff game between the Senators and I forget who (back in the mid to late 90's) and holy shit I was hooked. It was so intense and fast.

Hockey was suddenly so awesome I honestly have trouble watching the other big sports leagues since then.

I wish rally car racing was more popular where I live, televised more etc.

But hockey being #4 or whatever, really doesn't matter to me as long as it's still going.

 

[Leafidelity]

Never once in my life have I cared about how popular hockey is

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

Honestly, Hockey will always be first. Then with a big gap comes soccer and the Olympics.

Baseball, Football and Basketball are boring as f*** to me and the appeal just isnt there so I actively avoid watching it. If I channel surf and any of those 3 sports are on I just flip right past it.

Ill never understand how people enjoy any of those slow and flat out boring sports.

I actually think basketball is pretty exciting until you get to the last 2 minutes of the game which takes half and hour to complete because of all the f***ing time outs and fouling. It's literally those last 2 minutes that has me not watching.

 

[Kranix]

It will always be 12th in the US behind fishing, college racketball, salsa, and league of legends so who cares

 

[powerbomb]

It makes absolutely no difference to me whether hockey is as popular as any other sport. I watch hockey because it's the most exciting sport for my money--every second off the clock gets played, there is no out of bounds, and the playoffs often reach unmatched levels of sheer intensity. I love to introduce people to hockey who haven't given it a chance before but, if it just doesn't interest them, I am affected not a wit.

What does bother me is when a so-called sports website buries the NHL in some fringe tab that you have to go looking for... although the website I'm thinking about was never worth reading even before they made that dumb decision.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

I don't give a f***

 

[Thenameless]

It sucks because we miss out on the best talent to far less superior sports. Guys like Allen Iverson would have been so fast and creative with the puck, Randy Moss would be fast explosive and strong while being 6'4. Then picture a athletic 6'9 Kevin Durant being one of the best offensive players in the game.

The players would enjoy hockey a lot more too.

This is funny and true. Imagine if LeBron James was skating from a young age. A guy who can dipsy doodle like Patrick Kane with the size of Zdeno Chara.

 

[Hattrickkane88]

This is funny and true. Imagine if LeBron James was skating from a young age. A guy who can dipsy doodle like Patrick Kane with the size of Zdeno Chara.

Yes sir we are missing out on talent and these guys would LOVE hockey much more then the sports they play now.

I will say though i believe Lebron would end up as a Lindros type player dealing with injuries as he has never been skilled at avoiding contact but literally Running into contact so basketball suits him perfect but guys like Jordan, Iverson and even Kevin Durant would be INSANE in my view. Honestly i think Iverson would have changed the game in a Gretzky/Lemieux type of way.

 

[Sjjan]

I think Ice hockey has became a lot tamer than it used to and a lot more red tape due to the world we live in now.
It seems to be all about speed now instead of goals and scoring so less goals = less fun.
Speed is fine but you need to be able to shoot and score plenty too. The games these days have way less goals compared to years ago (and I don't think it's the goalies that are stopping this). Perhaps more goals might attract more fans but again I believe this is due to parents at the younger age groups getting too involved and deciding who gets through (usually their kids or their cliques, not necessarily THE best). That doesn't help

 

[cc]

I don't care whether it grows anymore.. it's big enough IMO. I'm hoping that the league will stop trying to force the game into non-hockey markets who couldn't care less if they had a team or not.

 

[Ruggs225]

I dont care if iglt grows. I love the sport. We could contract and still wouldnt care as ling as the game is played.

I certainly hope we dont become the nba or nfl which is all anout personalities and not teams. Also their product is watered down too much.

mlb has its own issues with a bad product. But thats because of excel spreadsheets

 

[Garbage Goal]

Sometimes I wish it were more popular so I could talk to people about it in real life instead of here. Then I talk to people in real life about it sometimes and realize why I don’t like talking to people about it.

People are dumb. I’m good with less dumb in my personal life and interests.

 

[OG6ix]

I think Ice hockey has became a lot tamer than it used to and a lot more red tape due to the world we live in now.
It seems to be all about speed now instead of goals and scoring so less goals = less fun.
Speed is fine but you need to be able to shoot and score plenty too. The games these days have way less goals compared to years ago (and I don't think it's the goalies that are stopping this). Perhaps more goals might attract more fans but again I believe this is due to parents at the younger age groups getting too involved and deciding who gets through (usually their kids or their cliques, not necessarily THE best). That doesn't help

Lol why do i sense that you are one of those soccer fans who joined to talk about NHL:s popularity in a negative light? Anyway, scoring and chances are pretty good - I mean if you are comparing it to a sport like basketball where there is no goaltending then fine. It still has way more offense than football, baseball and soccer.

 

[Tyrolean]

NHL and most hockey is #1 for me. Next is the CFL which is 100 times more exciting than the NFL. Rugby 7's on occasion and that's it.

 

[Shareefruck]

If I cared about good/the best things needing to be the most or among the most popular, I think I'd have an aneurysm by now, because that's generally not how it works with any form of entertainment, IMO.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

I literally do not care.

 

[kingsholygrail]

I was attracted to hockey by the violence and skill. I don't care how popular it is in the US past it's ability to get televised. So for that, I'm glad it's not as unpopular as cornhole.

 

[Statto]

Hockey being more popular would make it more accessible and cheaper to play - slightly more accessible as you’d get more rinks popping up and equipment would sell more units and become a little cheaper.

It would certainly make it more visible in the UK, so it’d hopefully give it more media coverage which is almost non existent here.

 

[JabbaJabba]

I think Ice hockey has became a lot tamer than it used to and a lot more red tape due to the world we live in now.
It seems to be all about speed now instead of goals and scoring so less goals = less fun.
Speed is fine but you need to be able to shoot and score plenty too. The games these days have way less goals compared to years ago (and I don't think it's the goalies that are stopping this). Perhaps more goals might attract more fans but again I believe this is due to parents at the younger age groups getting too involved and deciding who gets through (usually their kids or their cliques, not necessarily THE best). That doesn't help

Scoring has increased in last few years.

 

[Seiza]

As many other posters write, it doesn't really matter which position hockey has. If you're a fan, you're a fan.

I just find it mindboggling that anyone would watch Baseball and call it entertaining. Basketball and Football I can somewhat understand (although I never watch it and has no interest in it).

Baseball, cricket, lacrosse, land hockey and also all sports with referees giving out subjective points (gymnastics, ice skating, diving and so on) I would never spend a minute watching.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

Never ever cared if hockey is popular. I could be the only one watching it and it would still be what it is.

 

[glovesave_35]

I don't care how popular it is. I don't hate trying to grow the sport (I'm a Stars fan). But, I don't care really if it gets a lot of talk on generic sports shows.

 

[majormajor]

I'm happy with the way it is.

Twenty five years ago it felt like when hockey would get more interest for whatever reason, I personally as a fan would suddenly have hockey content to enjoy. ESPN would talk about it and it would conjure hockey content into existence. That felt special.

But these days there's 24 x 7 hockey content out there you can pickup through various media. It never has to stop if you don't want it to. It's more than enough.