Does the World Cup need to be in February?

[stars33]

If the NHL were to replace the Olympics, shouldn't they have the World Cup in February. I believe the North America sports landscape is filled with baseball pennat races and the start of the NFL season. That is a tough time to gather new sports fans to your sport.
September is also the start of European hockey leagues. The conclusion is September is not a good month for either side of the Atlantic.
February on the other hand is wide open in North America. NFL football has ended, Basketball is 2 months away from playoffs, no Baseball, and the NCAA college basketball tournament is in March. And further more February is a Winter month where people are indoors, what better time to showcase a winter sport tournament on tv.
I know the NHL is concerned with injuries right before the playoff drive. However, if feel a properly organized World cup with qualifiers outweighs the negatives.

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[Jussi]

It would make the owners complaints of the Olympics interfering with the NHL schedule hypocritical.

 

[stars33]

But they would own it and profit off it. If we are going to do this, Lets do it right.

 

[stars33]

But if we are going to do this, lets do it right.

 

[Slimmy]

No, the World Cup need to be dismanteled. Discarded and never spoken of again.

 

[stars33]

Because they have clowns organizing the tournament. My question was if the tournament was to be organized correctly.

 

[Jussi]

No, the World Cup need to be dismanteled. Discarded and never spoken of again.

It's like Slapshot 2.

 

[Slimmy]

It's like Slapshot 2.

Haha! And so, it was deemed completely useless. Consensus.

 

[xxxx]

That won't ever happen. The only thing that World Cup lacks now is the qualification system for other countries, otherwise it would be perfect.

 

[FiLe]

That won't ever happen. The only thing that World Cup lacks now is the qualification system for other countries, otherwise it would be perfect.

I hope you mean "qualification system instead of the joke teams", otherwise "perfection" is a highly subjective term indeed.

 

[JackSlater]

That won't ever happen. The only thing that World Cup lacks now is the qualification system for other countries, otherwise it would be perfect.

Qualification isn't the issue, having four of the teams involved cannibalized is the issue. As far as does the tournament need to be in February, no it doesn't. I doubt that the NHL views any tournament as a means of drawing a significant number of new fans to their league at this point. For me, drawing in new fans is pretty low on the requirements of a tournament. September and February each have their own positives and negatives with regard to timing, and neither is so good or bad that the tournament should be required to play in that time.

 

[stars33]

I disagree any business such as the NHL should always think of growing and gaining new customers (fans). I believe February is the month that hockey fans have less involvement in other sports in North America.
Youth Hockey leagues in North America usually end in March. A great tournament during a winter month rather than September is easier to spread through word of mouth among hockey fans. Many more Hockey parents and adult players are at ice rinks in February than September. The warmer months many US children and adults play Baseball, soccer, and basketball.
I think a February tournament it is easier to gather hockey fans around the TV because it is during the time of season when most hockey fans are involved in Hockey activities. The TV ratings for the Olympics has been great.
When you have a large audience watching great hockey non hockey fans hopefully will be more interested to give hockey a try. It works with the super bowl. People always like a party.

 

[JackSlater]

I disagree any business such as the NHL should always think of growing and gaining new customers (fans). I believe February is the month that hockey fans have less involvement in other sports in North America.
Youth Hockey leagues in North America usually end in March. A great tournament during a winter month rather than September is easier to spread through word of mouth among hockey fans. Many more Hockey parents and adult players are at ice rinks in February than September. The warmer months many US children and adults play Baseball, soccer, and basketball.
I think a February tournament it is easier to gather hockey fans around the TV because it is during the time of season when most hockey fans are involved in Hockey activities. The TV ratings for the Olympics has been great.
When you have a large audience watching great hockey non hockey fans hopefully will be more interested to give hockey a try. It works with the super bowl. People always like a party.

I'm sure the NHL would LIKE for the tournament to do that, but they seem to have largely conceded that these tournaments are unlikely to draw in many new American fans who will then consistently follow the NHL product. They know that it isn't necessary if they are chasing Canadian fans, and they (stupidly) don't seem to care about European fans very much. From a pure marketing standpoint, I agree that February is better than September. The topic asks if the World Cup NEEDS to be in February, and no, it doesn't need to be.

 

[cutchemist42]

Whats interesting is the first reports were that the World Cup was going to be a Feb event which I thought would have been much better, feel like there's less chance of it getting lost amongst other sports.

 

[Jussi]

Whats interesting is the first reports were that the World Cup was going to be a Feb event which I thought would have been much better, feel like there's less chance of it getting lost amongst other sports.

But could you imagine the reaction if the currently planned format would take place in February? Kings fans would love too see Kopitar playing in such a meaningless tournament about a month before the start of the playoffs.