How can Hockey grow in Asia

[ADifferentTim]

How about sponsorship by local Canadian Embassies? After all, it's a Canadian sport and makes sense in context.

 

[Paxon]

An Asian player they can rally for would be a start, kind of like a Jeremy Lin.

The thing is, it was Chinese native Yao Ming that really made basketball explode in China. From then on, player popularity there has had little to do with ethnicity, as the biggest starts in China are players perceived to achieve individual excellence. Kobe Bryant is a God among Chinese basketball fans. Jeremy Lin was certainly a big deal but I'm not sure he would have made basketball big in China.

 

[BladesofSTEELwFIRE]

Why doesn't that Chinese billionaire open up some hockey academies in Asia where kids can go to school AND play hockey? That would the best to help player development in Asia!

I thought Korea gets and automatic slot in the Olympics being the host? I looked at Japan's record in Nagano and they weren't that bad! They were in the weakest division but went 0-2-1 and tied Belarus which is very good! I don't know if Korea is as good as Japan but the difference can't be THAT much.

 

[MTLAzzurri]

How about sponsorship by local Canadian Embassies? After all, it's a Canadian sport and makes sense in context.

Yes that's exactly what I want me tax dollars going towards.

 

[cutchemist42]

How about sponsorship by local Canadian Embassies? After all, it's a Canadian sport and makes sense in context.

Not sure if you had heard of this being done before or an original idea, but Japanese embassies do this in some countries by building proper baseball facilities.

The cost of an icerink compared to a baseball field though is apples and oranges.

 

[Shootmaster_44]

I've always wondered about that. It makes sense for sure, but aside from Lin there's only ever been one Asian basketball player I've ever heard of. And yet, basketball is hugely popular in China...

Yao Ming and Wang Zhi Zhi say hi. The problem with Chinese basketball players coming to the NBA is similar to when the Soviets started to allow their players into the NHL. Since the USSR dissolved shortly after, few people realize that some players were authorized by the government to come to the NHL. However, a huge portion of their salary went to the Soviet Government.

Yao Ming, if I remember right, was paying 50% of his salary to the Chinese Basketball Association and was obligated to participate in national team events during the off-season regardless of whether the Houston Rockets allowed it. I believe he was even forced to partake in military exercises one summer.

Anyway, this is why you don't see too many Asian basketball players in the NBA. Plus, China (and Taiwan) is really the only nation that has a high caliber league in Asia. Japan's is really the only other one with any professional side to it. I had read something about a native Indian (i.e. someone from India) that is playing in the NCAA being touted as a possible NBA draft pick. But the conditions the national team trains under in India is deplorable.

So to bring this back around to the topic at hand, growing hockey would need a major commitment by either large corporations or government to build the infrastructure. I am not sure what happened in China, at one point they had a competitive women's program and that fell by the wayside. So if China could revive their women's program and bring their men's to an equal level, this could help grow the game. Beyond that, the Asian League either needs to pool resources and purchase a KHL team or become like Japanese baseball where they pour money into salaries to increase the imports.

At the grassroots level, hockey is growing in Asia. There is the IIHF Asian Cup that had a team from the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and two other nations that escape me at the moment. I believe Thailand has begun competing at the IIHF Division III level, as has Mongolia and Taiwan. So the game is growing slowly, but if the idea is to fast track it to become as big as it is in Canada or Russia, there is no easy way.

Since the IIHF and NHL tend to work together and be at odds with each other depending on the day, there is no simple solution to help grow the game. The IIHF is likely happy to see the growth at the grassroots level and the more countries that ice teams at even the Division III qualifiers, the better. The NHL of course could careless about that, they want money. Thus, the NHL wants TV deals and everyone wearing NHL merchandise everywhere. The sad reality for the NHL is that due to the time difference, the countries who might be interested in NHL games, end up with them on TV in the wee hours of the morning and that doesn't cause advertisers to decide to buy ads.

There is no way to grow the game to huge levels before the 2018 Winter Olympics. Nothing will turn people into hockey fans overnight, I know us hardcore fans can't understand why people wouldn't be drawn to it, but the reality is they won't. The best idea, is to do what the United States Soccer Federation did following the 1994 World Cup. They launched Major League Soccer, it took some time to grow the league and cultivate the interest in soccer to Americans. I still haven't caught on to it, but it is growing. This is what Asia needs to do following the 2018 Winter Olympics.

I know this is where the Asian League came from following Nagano in 1998, but there has to be a major push by corporations to grow the game. Samsung, Kia, Hyundai all need to put money behind a domestic league. Same with major Japanese companies and Chinese corporations/government. The have the basis there with the Asian League, following the Winter Olympics, they have the opportunity to take what exists and grow it exponentially.

Perhaps throw some money at a few minor NHL or European stars, if you brought in some players with name cache, the league would grow. I realize that say Davis Drewiske or Dwight King may not be the face of hockey, but if you market them right they could be the face of Asian hockey. The other idea is to turn this into a bit of a seniors' tour for NHL players. Take a guy in the twilight of his career like Martin Brodeur or Teemu Selanne and throw some money at them, they may be willing to play in a league that offers minimal risks as far as injuries (when compared to the NHL) and like Gretzky was always credited as doing, raise the level of their teammates up.