If you were voted for NHL Commissioner for a day, how do you market the NHL?

[Crow]

Wouldn't do anything.
If I know Im fired omorrow anyway, why should I give a crap?

Yeah I don’t see being able to have much of an impact in one day.

If you can’t win don’t play.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Nothing too crazy
newspaper and magazine ads
maybe a couple radio commercials
get the NHL into blimps

 

[AvroArrow]

1) Get Biznasty to do a podcast episode with Joe Rogan and break the internet

2) Do collabs with things the younger generation is interested in, video games for example. You want the sport to survive and grow ? It has to appeal to the younger generation. NHL is run by stubborn grandpas who don't want to adapt to the modern day

3) Actually market/showcase the stars of the game instead of glorifying plugs in some weird attempt to hold onto this ancient idea of "tough physical hockey" which is literally just bad players interfering on good players without getting called for a penalty.

No one wants to watch a 4th liner holding and hooking McDavid the entire game and then have it called "great physical defence" call the book and let the players showcase their skills and determine the outcome of the game

4) Invest more into communities to make hockey accessible to kids, it is way too expensive and also just so difficult to get involved in vs a sport like basketball for example

5) Allow the players to actually express themselves and not like they're in the military. NFL owners are far more strict than the NHL but they let the players have fun and entertain the fans, which is ultimately what you want. Imagine a player scoring a great touchdown and just standing there monotone and walk off to the sideline.

Create some excitement in the game and let the players actually have emotion

But literally they need to really market and showcase their stars. The NBA did an amazing job with this.

 

[blundluntman]

- More mic'd up and behind the scenes material.
- More docu-series.
- A bigger reward for All Star Game winners (1-2 million per player) so the players give enough of a shit to put on a good show
- I'd also have the ASG outdoors
- Reseed the playoff brackets to 1-8

Less "Ethical" Suggestions
- Subtly encouraging refs to look the other way more often in rivalry games (not for injury-risking plays but yeah) so they're more intense

Even Less "Ethical" Suggestions
- Easier access to alcohol after games so players are buzzed enough to actually be human in post-game interviews (ie: Kucherov)

 

[Zalos]

People won't suddenly love hockey because of marketing. Basketball, baseball, football, they're all popular because most people in the US have played those sports or seen them played at school throughout their growing years. Plus, obviously, at this point in time there's a long ongoing history between America and those sports. It goes from generation to generation.

Hockey will never be as popular as those sports in the US unless more and more kids play the game and the sport becomes heavily entrenched in school programs.

The idea that someone who has never played or cared about hockey will suddenly become a fan from watching some advert or a player interview is ridiculous. It would take months if not years to convert someone like that... and the likelihood of it happening is slim when there are already other team sports that are way more popular.

But yea, the only answer I have for the OP is what some others have said... just focus more on the superstar players in the league and let them be themselves. I guess you could also get more involved on modern platforms.

 

[Matty Sundin]

Make it mandatory after scoring a goal, you just do the jey uso yeet dance cell

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

move all Canadian teams to Mexico

 

[hamzarocks]

Is it time for WWE NHL hockey?

Screw you...auston your fired

Followed by auston matthews coming and beating my ass in my executive suite to earn back his spot in the NHL

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Eliminate all betting ads during intermissions and commercials and in-between plays -- betting is ruining all sports. Remove ads from jerseys and helmets. Make the players and teams the focus, not corporations. Those too are ruining sports. I don't know...maybe, just maybe, make it about the game. A better product will mean more profits.

More in-depth interviews and shows with the players behind the scenes and outside of the arena. Let's see their personalities. They're humans too, not robots. That's why I've always loved the After Hours segments on CBC after the HNiC games. Give a glimpse of these players on a personable level.

Become partners with the leagues across Canada and the U.S. at the grassroots level. Make kids want to play hockey and be able to afford it, instead of freezing out a huge chunk of families who won't prioritize thousands of dollars for hockey (especially in these economic times).

Allow the voices of the league to speak their honest opinions than be puppeteers. The league controlling the narrative through its media partners is pathetic.

 

[daver]

Mandatory moustaches. Never underestimate the power of facial hair.

 

[ITM]

In a word you return the game to its traditional architecture and remove the needless innovation. It's a tough game.

Prioritize a substantial investment in infrastructure/youth sponsored programs that allow kids who aren't born to upper middle-class families, a way back to the NHL (Moreso Canada than the US and European markets) and as such, create another generation of dedicated fans.

I think you take another calculated look at markets and support and relocate/expand as necessary including markets that can accommodate another team...Toronto Towers or Tariffs or something of that ilk.

I don't think you modernize it. You protect and amplify all that's made it sacred and in doing so attract people who will be attracted to it in the same way people are attracted to one thing of substance or another. If you modernize it and make it fashionable you essentially appeal to deferred ridicule. I think with todays' information cycle and hopefully, hopefully, it's saturation for identity politics and endlessly subjective "truths" that there's an authentic want for the eternal elements of the game. Which really, require that it be something primal. You take these men out of the arena and it's no longer gladiators on ice, it's the ice capades, and... nobody wants serious ice capades any more than they want gentle hockey.

 

[SirKillalot]

- More mic'd up and behind the scenes material.
- More docu-series.

More of this, see Drive to Survive and Last Dance with Jordan.

More in-depth interviews and shows with the players behind the scenes and outside of the arena. Let's see their personalities. They're humans too, not robots. That's why I've always loved the After Hours segments on CBC after the HNiC games. Give a glimpse of these players on a personable level.

Yes, more behind the scenes.

Mandatory moustaches. Never underestimate the power of facial hair.

Absolutely. It could be behind the scenes stuff with player type similarities when it comes to appearance, personality, etc from way different teams but in similar type of roles.

If you gonna market the NHL, you got to get the audience engage and interested in the people, both on and off the ice. Meaning GM's etc too.