Coinneach
Registered User
I will post for you some passages from my interview with sport journalist Jonathan Tannenwald from Philadelphia Inquirer.
The full interview you can find here (in Czech): Pohled z Philadelphie: Flyers ztratili na popularitě, rivalita s Penguins je ale stále silná - nhlnews.cz
In the Czech Republic Philadelphia is reputed to be a hockey town. Flyers are very popular among czech hockey fans (especially thanks to Jakub Voráček). But Philadelphia is home of five professional teams (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS). How strong is the status of Flyers among them?
I would say the Flyers rank No. 4 out of the five. When the 76ers were bad, or even mediocre - just uninteresting, really - the Flyers were definitely No. 3. But in recent times with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons in town, the 76ers have jumped over them. Also, the Flyers aren't quite as big a deal in the NHL as they used to be. It used to be, as you know, that every game was sold out forever. That isn't the case anymore.
Is it possible to compare the popularity of Flyers captain Claude Giroux with the greatest stars of Eagles or Phillies?
I'm not really an expert at this - you know I'm a Capitals fan first, not a Flyers fan, since I grew up in Washington - but I'm not even sure Giroux is the most popular Flyer. That might be Wayne Simmonds or Shayne Gostisbehere. And as the new group of young players comes up, someone new might overtake them - maybe Nolan Patrick? We will see.
Are Union (in terms of popularity) for Flyers a threat?
That is a good question. I don’t think so, but I think that soccer overall in the country is going to approach hockey’s popularity over time.
Many fans of the MLS claim that the term Big 4 is obsolete. Do you think the MLS is of such a level as to begin to use the concept of Big 5?
I don’t think MLS is all the way there yet. But I think it is getting there, and I think there is at least an agreement that this point that the fifth biggest league is MLS, and the fifth biggest sport is soccer. It used to be that people said that the fifth biggest sport is auto racing, I don’t think people say that anymore.
The full interview you can find here (in Czech): Pohled z Philadelphie: Flyers ztratili na popularitě, rivalita s Penguins je ale stále silná - nhlnews.cz
In the Czech Republic Philadelphia is reputed to be a hockey town. Flyers are very popular among czech hockey fans (especially thanks to Jakub Voráček). But Philadelphia is home of five professional teams (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, MLS). How strong is the status of Flyers among them?
I would say the Flyers rank No. 4 out of the five. When the 76ers were bad, or even mediocre - just uninteresting, really - the Flyers were definitely No. 3. But in recent times with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons in town, the 76ers have jumped over them. Also, the Flyers aren't quite as big a deal in the NHL as they used to be. It used to be, as you know, that every game was sold out forever. That isn't the case anymore.
Is it possible to compare the popularity of Flyers captain Claude Giroux with the greatest stars of Eagles or Phillies?
I'm not really an expert at this - you know I'm a Capitals fan first, not a Flyers fan, since I grew up in Washington - but I'm not even sure Giroux is the most popular Flyer. That might be Wayne Simmonds or Shayne Gostisbehere. And as the new group of young players comes up, someone new might overtake them - maybe Nolan Patrick? We will see.
Are Union (in terms of popularity) for Flyers a threat?
That is a good question. I don’t think so, but I think that soccer overall in the country is going to approach hockey’s popularity over time.
Many fans of the MLS claim that the term Big 4 is obsolete. Do you think the MLS is of such a level as to begin to use the concept of Big 5?
I don’t think MLS is all the way there yet. But I think it is getting there, and I think there is at least an agreement that this point that the fifth biggest league is MLS, and the fifth biggest sport is soccer. It used to be that people said that the fifth biggest sport is auto racing, I don’t think people say that anymore.