Watching the Lightning (FanDuel Sun, Streaming, TV, etc.)

[Felonious Python]

Cable is dying here, low ratings for most of the popular programs. Internet grow up, PC's and the Smart TV who bring lot of applications (paying or not) are full and kill the ratings.
Also, I'm not sure if the NHL product like to people who don't watch hockey often. I'm in some Facebook groups of fans who like old time hockey and most of them are not watching the sport anymore. I feel the same, the sport is not the same, I get bored most of the nights when watch games.
I can't understand how the NFL grow up, it's popular only in USA, it's something that I can't get it, but the owners are masters in terms of marketing, even here talk about the super bowl, most people don't even know the sport but newspapers talk about it.

I'm not sure if it's that the NFL is better at marketing internationally, but that it makes more sense for the NFL (or NBA) to market internationally. The NHL is going to have a hard time even growing the league in Europe due to time zones.

The IIHF has the country of Argentina as having 2 indoor rinks for 46 million people. With NFL football, or basketball, someone can see the game on TV or online, and probably start playing something close to it outside their home.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Cable is dying here, low ratings for most of the popular programs. Internet grow up, PC's and the Smart TV who bring lot of applications (paying or not) are full and kill the ratings.
Also, I'm not sure if the NHL product like to people who don't watch hockey often. I'm in some Facebook groups of fans who like old time hockey and most of them are not watching the sport anymore. I feel the same, the sport is not the same, I get bored most of the nights when watch games.
I can't understand how the NFL grow up, it's popular only in USA, it's something that I can't get it, but the owners are masters in terms of marketing, even here talk about the super bowl, most people don't even know the sport but newspapers talk about it.

The NFL has a growing fan base in Europe which is a huge and lucrative market. Games are mostly on weekends and start during the day (US time) which is prime time in Central Europe. And most soccer games (the biggest sport by far in Europe) are during the day. Super Bowl watch parties are a growing phenomenon in Germany for example. A lot of guys in their 30s to 40s watch at least occasionally and know more than a few players by name and face.

I don’t know if it’s the same in countries where rugby is big already (France, Britain, …) but I think rugby and NFL seasons don’t overlap much.

 

[Felonious Python]

The NFL has a growing fan base in Europe which is a huge and lucrative market. Games are mostly on weekends and start during the day (US time) which is prime time in Central Europe. And most soccer games (the biggest sport by far in Europe) are during the day. Super Bowl watch parties are a growing phenomenon in Germany for example. A lot of guys in their 30s to 40s watch at least occasionally and know more than a few players by name and face.

I don’t know if it’s the same in countries where rugby is big already (France, Britain, …) but I think rugby and NFL seasons don’t overlap much.

The NFL is going to Ireland, which is interesting. Soccer is very popular, but Gaelic football is the top spectator sport. Soccer in Ireland has pretty much been overwhelmed by English and (to a lesser extent) Scottish money.

The Premier League is the top soccer league for US ratings, and those games are generally in the morning over here, given the time zones. The NHL having so many night games, and trying to avoid the NFL and college football on the weekends, makes for a bad setup internationally.

The NHL starts SCF games at 8pm, but that's like 1am for most of Europe. We see afternoon games primarily as a way of getting kids into the game (and usually play some pretty boring hockey on top of it), when noon games could be used to get into Europe at a reasonable hour.

 

[Tampa22]

I'm not sure if it's that the NFL is better at marketing internationally, but that it makes more sense for the NFL (or NBA) to market internationally. The NHL is going to have a hard time even growing the league in Europe due to time zones.

The IIHF has the country of Argentina as having 2 indoor rinks for 46 million people. With NFL football, or basketball, someone can see the game on TV or online, and probably start playing something close to it outside their home.

Yep, that's the main problem. Basket and football, even baseball you can start playing in any place. Also, hockey equipment is expensive at least here and I believe the same in the region or world. I've been in a small rink here who don't have the profesional category, I'm not sure about the two rinks, I know one very popular in Ushuaia, who came with amateur teams from USA and Canada to play but it's outdoor. Recently open an ice rink for very small crowd, I believe is the only one but Latin america is poor for this sport, I know we have a selection and recently played some minor international tournaments but the only way to keep growing the sport is that the NHL helps. The international series could help but someday they need to something in Brazil and Mexico.
I'm not sure if that will work, you can get some fans of course but new people to play the sport is hard, I don't think can beat soccer (football for us)
Basketball is more easy, I think is the second sport in the world, don't need much job from the NBA, for that reason I think the NFL make a perfect work for his product, games are televised here and in spanish language, now with ESPN back with hockey we can get some hockey games in spanish too but only a few games per month and commentators are mediocre, they don't know about the sport, ESPN don't help in USA, less will be for us.

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[Felonious Python]

 

[Felonious Python]

Rob Manfred is just saying the quiet part out loud.

“Third, we do not believe that Pay TV, ESPN’s primary distribution platform, is the future of video distribution or the best platform for our content. As of December 2024, ESPN was available in 53.6M homes, down from its peak of over 100M homes in 2011 and 69M homes when we struck the current deal in 2021.

“Furthermore, we have not been pleased with the minimal coverage that MLB has received on ESPN’s platforms over the past several years outside of the actual live game coverage.

The NHL probably won't benefit that much from ESPN losing MLB. The MLB is a spring/summer league primarily.

 

[Felonious Python]

Ok, not so mutual. ESPN wanted out.

This would then be bad for the NHL. Companies are realizing that they're overpaying, to the point that they don't pass those costs onto the consumer.

 

[Felonious Python]

The Blues join the Stars and Ducks in having free game streams.

 

[Felonious Python]

This type of thing was always the plan.

Us ad-tier/Black Friday people are going to have to pony up extra for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The $17/month Standard plan would be the new tier. It's ad-free, outside of sports and CNN, of course. The things you'll now be paying extra for.

I'm not sure how long the new setup would really last. Companies want people on ad tiers because they make them more money. They'll probably just put ads into the standard tier as well. There's not really much difference between Basic with Ads and Standard, outside the ads.

CNN is pennies on the cable bill. I'd think that they'd want to include CNN in the ad-tier, just to project influence.