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

[SnuggaRUDE]

MLB is 7% African American, 27% Latino, most are presumably non-White. The NFL is 68% African American, 4% Pacific Islander.
The NBA is 74% African American

As you can see, there is no shortage of diversity in North American professional sports. So why the hell it is such a problem for some people that ONE sport, namely hockey, is overwhelmingly 95% White?

So the question isn't, WTF is wrong with me. The question is, WTF wrong with you?

There's no problem that hockey is 95% white. There's a problem with you if you think that changing would be a problem.

 

[Zalos]

I couldn't care less.

I've watched almost every sport there is in my life and hockey stands at the top, entertainment-wise. It is the fastest, the most intense, the most fun to watch in person and on TV. Nothing beats playoff hockey in the world of sports.

Baseball can reach hockey's highs on occasions (mainly in certain playoff series), football rarely, and basketball is a joke as a team sport (stars dominate the league). Soccer is quite slow and boring.

Hockey's popularity does not matter to me because 'popularity' is usually a terrible way to judge the value and quality of something.

People tend to watch what others watch. It's why it'll always be hard for hockey to top the other sports in the USA. There is a long-dating tradition attached to basketball, football, and baseball over there. Not so much for hockey.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Hockey being expensive to play as well as the requirement to know how to skate keeps a lot of people from playing it and when people don't/can't play a sport they are less likely to be interested in watching it as well. I wish hockey was cheaper to play and more popular.

 

[bacon25]

The NHL wishes it was part of the big 4. Sadly, I don't know if it would make the top 8.

 

[BrockLobster]

The NHL wishes it was part of the big 4. Sadly, I don't know if it would make the top 8.

Its 4th in total revenue so it is top 4.

 

[bar1]

Most entertaining from the big 4 for sure. Others just give me yawns.

 

[HF007]

I think number 4 is impressive with how much of a niche sport it is considering all the equipment and ice required

 

[Oak]

I like it being 4th. No need for more popularity.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

There is no Big Four. There's the NFL, NBA, and MLB, and everyone else.

The NHL is closer to the MLS than it is the Big Three. Hockey is super exciting and could appeal to a huge, diverse audience in America. Unfortunately, it's remained a niche winter sport because of predominately white Canadian gatekeeping.

 

[AngloHab]

.

 

[BruinDust]

There is no Big Four. There's the NFL, NBA, and MLB, and everyone else.

The NHL is closer to the MLS than it is the Big Three. Hockey is super exciting and could appeal to a huge, diverse audience in America. Unfortunately, it's remained a niche winter sport because of predominately white Canadian gatekeeping.

Depends on your definition of "Big 4". All 4 (NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA) are considered the top league's on the planet in their respective sports. I don't know enough about pro soccer to say where MLS rank among all pro soccer leagues, but I know enough to know it sure as heck ain't 1st in terms of the caliber of players/teams. I'm going to guess and say it's not even 2nd.

From a revenue standpoint, MLS ranks 16th globally, 10th among all soccer leagues.

List of professional sports leagues by revenue - Wikipedia

Compared to the NHL, MLS isn't even close in revenue, with the NHL doing over 300% more revenue than MLS.

The NHL is actually closer to the NBA in terms of revenue than MLS is to the NHL. I think hockey is far more "niche" in terms of participation than it is in terms of interest in the sport as a spectator.

The NFL is in a class by itself IMO. The MLB revenues are high but ratings say interest is waning as a national interest but local interest in MLB is still high. Your also talking about a sport with 162 regular season games a year so lots of opportunity to earn revenue.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Couldn't care less where hockey ranks, just so long as the product is good. That said, I wish they would stop diluting the product to appeal to a wider audience.

 

[scott clam]

NHL hasn't exactly gotten "better" with more popularity, so it doesn't bother me at all. Actually I'd much rather watch IIHF these days.

 

[DaBadGuy7]

I wish the star players were promoted and treated as such by the League. The fact McDavid isn’t a bigger known name isn’t a good look for the NHL as a whole (Edmonton franchise performance and location aside)

 

[powerstuck]

I think it's fine where it is.

The way the league functions, if they were ranked higher than 4th, they would be striking their e-peen that much more about stuff. Owners would be acting even more greedy than they are now (and they are a greedy bunch). Besides, bigger popularity means more demand. Even if that would mean a greater chance of my city getting an NHL team, I am still against it because that would drive the already high prices even higher.

So, imo, the hockey is where it deserves to be. There is room for improvement and the current position forces the league and the owners to work toward it. I, personally, can get all the hockey I want, so it being more popular, I don't see what advantage that could mean to me.

 

[HockeySniper]

Dont really care. It should be higher and that gets me angry but that’s the leagues fault and the fans

 

[Adam Powell]

There's no problem that hockey is 95% white. There's a problem with you if you think that changing would be a problem.

Depends on what you consider “white” too. North American views on race are irrelevant in Europe for example. Slavs for example, are considered a minority in the UK.

 

[Adam Powell]

Considering the NBA’s ratings recent decline, the number of people here saying the NHL isn’t 4th sound insane. The NBA’s big events still do double that of the NHL but the difference is getting closer and closer. There was a time when there wasn’t a single NHL event doing better than an NBA one. There were times when cup finals were doing worse than your average NBA prime time regular season national TV game.

Nowadays the winter classics at least do better than your average NBA national regular season game.

Cup finals might never even get close to the NBA finals but I was surprised that the Cup finals were doing about as well as the NBA conference finals. So about the same amount of viewers in America were watching Kawhi vs Giannis as they were the Blues vs the Bruins.

Wouldn’t be surprised if increases in scoring have contributed to this. It’s not the 80’s but it’s not the miserable dead puck 00’s era either.

I’m kind of terrified for the NBA regarding what the ratings will be after Lebron and Curry retire.

 

[PensPlz]

People will more likely watch for entertainment what they grew up playing and have that personal experience with.

Hockey will always be an expensive sport to access thus most kids will have limited access to it. Even just hockey for fun at the park/not on an organized team - it's just logistically harder to organize and play than soccer, baseball, football, and basketball. One kid with the appropriate ball and dozens can play some form of the sport. Hockey, not so much. This goes double for urban areas.

That's the reality. It has little to nothing to do with race. NHL will never be as popular. Get over it.

 

[Straight Fire]

I find this to be an overblown topic. The NHL generates a lot of revenue, is super exciting and interest keeps growing in the US. Attendance is decent. All games are televised.

 

[Straight Fire]

The NHL in no way deserves to be considered a top sports league, the product just isn't that good.

This could be said about the other 3 leagues of the top 4 too.

 

[Straight Fire]

Watch any exciting hockey game and it doesn't matter where it is on the continent the fans get into it big time. This league is doing just fine and getting stronger. There are tons of hardcore fans south of the border who consider hockey their favorite sport.

 

[Straight Fire]

I think its all relative. By all appearances the Capitals Cup clinching home watch party was massively more attended than the Nationals. The Caps parade was bigger than the Nationals. That's NHL v MLB. They are just a year and a half removed from each other and a pretty good measuring stick. I love both teams and have no bias on this account.

What I do think is that the NHL is more than holding its own in an environment where entertainment audience is harder and harder to keep much less grow. The NBA ratings are down hard. "Through Thursday, 16 of 19 NBA playoff games have declined from last year, with all-but-one down double-digits to a multi-year low.'
NBA Playoff Ratings Slide Continues

NFL ratings down. After increase in overnights, CBS doubleheader finishes with decline

MLB ratings not growing. Despite the ratings spike for games six and seven, the 2019 World Series is the least watched in five years. The series averaged 13.91 million viewers on Fox, on par with the the 13.93 million for the 2014 World Series, which also stretched to seven games. Wednesday's audience of 23.01 million is also the smallest game seven of this decade, a little behind the 23.5 million for the 2014 clincher.

NHL ratings are up. NHL Stanley Cup playoff ratings are the most-watched on record through two rounds

NASCAR ratings are troubling. NASCAR Cup Series: 2019 Daytona 500 TV ratings the lowest on record

This is a great post. You filled in the details for what I've known to be true.

 

[Canadian Canuck]

I believe it’s 100% because of how expensive it is to get into hockey. It’s why it’s not popular world wide and why sports like football, baseball, basketball and soccer are all more popular. It’s cheap to play.

 

[Straight Fire]

I'm just glad Bob McCowan is no longer on Sportsnet spouting off his antiquated opinion on this old topic.

Hockey is the greatest sport to me by a long shot.