Why is McDavid so little known outside of hockey?

[Ugene Magic]

C) The average American doesn't give a f*** about any hockey player.

McDavid would lose marketing deals if he went to the US is the irony.

Crosby has 0 nationwide big ticket marketing deals in the US. McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Nike or Adidas, Playstation or XBox .. nope, nope, nope, and nope. The biggest sponsor he has is Gatorade and Gatorade actively removes him from their US marketing, lol, so his Gatorade TV commercials only run in Canada (maybe they run in the Pittsburgh local area, I would hope so but I know for sure in other parts of the country they remove him from their athlete montage commercials). Gatorade's US marketing department says "lose the hockey guy" when it comes to Crosby.

Chris Paul, a C-tier NBA star has a bigger nationwide marketing campaign in State Farm than anything Crosby does, Crosby's main endorsements are in Canada, Tim Horton's, Gatorade/Pepsi Co. Canada, hockey equipment manufacturers, etc .

The thing is, Crosby has won at every level and has no sponsors in the US. He was still able to be promoted as the face of the league. McDavid hasn't won anything outside of individual awards for near a decade also blocking his marketing to an extent. The Canada/Edmonton factors a lot into it. Most top icons had won more sooner at every level.

 

[CupofOil]

Zero personality plays in Siberia has a blasphemous nickname. Dude sucks for a mega star. Will be shameful if Draisaitl wastes his career there as well.

Sid the kid won quickly scoring was lower back then but his teams were in the mix after a couple years. This finals run took McDavid 9 years to build up to?

And I'm sure McDavid couldn't give two shits about being a dude that "sucks for a mega star" and not being super duper popular by casuals in the US or fanboys on this site for that matter.

 

[Patrik26]

Who's Connor McDougal?

 

[Soundwave]

The thing is, Crosby has won at every level and has no sponsors in the US. He was still able to be promoted as the face of the league. McDavid hasn't won anything outside of individual awards for near a decade also blocking his marketing to an extent. The Canada/Edmonton factors a lot into it. Most top icons had won more sooner at every level.

I mean TNT does feature McDavid prominently in their commercials. But no hockey player is getting nationwide US marketing deals. Not Crosby, not McDavid, not Kane, not Matthews.

This is a hockey problem. Wayne Gretzky became the most famous hockey player ever even while in Edmonton and that back when Edmonton was like only 700k people maybe, today in McDavid's time the greater Edmonton area is more closer to 2 million.

 

[itsadoubledion]

Market, personality, etc. but a big reason is the NHL hasn't gone to the Olympics during his career. It's the biggest stage for sports, especially for people outside the normal fandom, and a strong Olympic performance can absolutely make a star even in sports most people only pay attention to once every 4 years

 

[Soundwave]

Market, personality, etc. but a big reason is the NHL hasn't gone to the Olympics during his career. It's the biggest stage for sports, especially for people outside the normal fandom, and a strong Olympic performance can absolutely make a star even in sports most people only pay attention to once every 4 years

The Olympics didn't make Crosby a big star in the US. McDavid in the Olympics would be more of a Canada-centric thing in terms of who cares.

 

[Craig Button]

Covid+Bettman = not a good time

The NHL has not been in the Olympics since 2014.

The world lost out on watching McDavid amd the rest od the gang.

Imagine the CAN USA rivalry with McDavid and Matthews competing.

The Hockey gods handed over an empty net goal but Bettman choked on the pass

 

[JFedol]

Everybody has listed the obvious with McDavid and Hockey as a whole but....

What the biggest celebrities were capable of back then are almost just laughable when you read their impressive feats, like for example. Prime Michael Jackson (, 80s-90s, Thriller-HIStory) had 500 million people watching his "Black or White" (Dangerous Era) Music Video premiere on MTV back in 1991 LMAO. His music video debuted in 28 countries simultaneously, and this is on top of dominating the charts, newspapers, magazines, radio. Entertainment channels, like what in the actual f*** lol

Only a sporting event ala the UCL final could maybe reach those numbers but any other form of entertainment isn't coming close to that type of eyeballs on a singular event, let alone a f***ing music video no less.

The media landscape is so so so different now, it's actually crazy.

 

[syz]

Anecdotally in sports channels in some Discord servers I'm in where people never talk about hockey (F1, sumo, and cricket all manage to get more discussion in some of them), I've seen people talk about hockey (unprompted, at least) exactly twice: McDavid in the playoffs in 2022, and McDavid in the playoffs this year.

 

[Soundwave]

Everybody has listed the obvious with McDavid and Hockey as a whole but....

What the biggest celebrities were capable of back then are almost just laughable when you read their impressive feats, like for example. Prime Michael Jackson (, 80s-90s, Thriller-HIStory) had 500 million people watching his "Black or White" (Dangerous Era) Music Video premiere on MTV back in 1991 LMAO. His music video debuted in 28 countries simultaneously, and this is on top of dominating the charts, newspapers, magazines, radio. Entertainment channels, Like what in the actual f*** lol

Only a sporting event ala the UCL final could maybe reach those numbers but any other form of entertainment isn't coming close to that type of eyeballs on a singular event, let alone a f***ing music video no less.

The media landscape is so so so different now, it's actually crazy.

Yup. Who are the most famous people today who are (wait for it) in their 20s still?

Would they pass the "your grandma knows this person" test?

 

[Ugene Magic]

I mean TNT does feature McDavid prominently in their commercials. But no hockey player is getting nationwide US marketing deals. Not Crosby, not McDavid, not Kane, not Matthews.

This is a hockey problem. Wayne Gretzky became the most famous hockey player ever even while in Edmonton and that back when Edmonton was like only 700k people maybe, today in McDavid's time the greater Edmonton area is more closer to 2 million.

But Gretz had won earlier on and done dynamic things already by year 9. So did Mario, Crosby whom were well promoted due to their success.

Cups, Olympics and whathaveyou. More reasons to be in the spotlight.

 

[Soundwave]

But Gretz had won earlier on and done dynamic things already by year 9. So did Mario, Crosby whom were well promoted due to their success.

Cups, Olympics and whathaveyou. More reasons to be in the spotlight.

But that's kind of the point, Crosby and Lemieux were not huge marketing stars in the US. Crosby gets cut out of US commercials by his biggest US sponsor (lol) in Gatorade. The Crosby versions of Gatorade TV spots only run in Canada, which is hilarious and depressing at the same time.

Gretzky's popularity in the US is oversold too, lets not get it twisted, a NBA star in the 90s like Grant Hill was far more well known and more heavily marketed than Gretzky ever was.

Michael Jordan didn't win his first championship until age 28 either, he was still a massive superstar.

 

[BTO]

but the point of the thread is "why is McDavid so little known outside of hockey"

because outside of a few countries, no one cares about the sport

And my point is that Conner McDavid *is* well known outside hockey, in Canada. The thread should be “why is McDavid little known outside hockey in America”. The latter qualification should be stated rather than merely assumed, as it invariably is.

I think we're talking about two distinct things: Product and brand.

Hockey as a 'product' is popular as a sport played in various countries. Russia, Sweden, Finland, etc. have their own leagues and stars and marketing that have nothing to do with the NHL.

NHL hockey is a 'brand' that's only sold here in North America. And any brand within this continent is measured by its penetration of the US market. My point was that NHL hockey (and hockey in general) hasn't yet established an American culture, so it remains behind American legacy sports.

Give the sorts of things that *have* established themselves in American culture, and thanks to America in Canadian culture as well, I for one thank my lucky stars that it hasn’t.

 

[Ugene Magic]

But that's kind of the point, Crosby and Lemieux were not huge marketing stars in the US. Crosby gets cut out of US commercials by his biggest US sponsor (lol) in Gatorade. The Crosby versions of Gatorade TV spots only run in Canada, which is hilarious and depressing at the same time.

Gretzky's popularity in the US is oversold too, lets not get it twisted, a NBA star in the 90s like Grant Hill was far more well known and more heavily marketed than Gretzky ever was.

But Mario's connections to Gretz and winning cups brought about other things, like a movie "Sudden Death", and they were more known than people want to admit. The point is, people are to focused on the NHL brand too much and not on its top star(s).

 

[Soundwave]

But Mario's connections to Gretz and winning cups brought about other things, like a movie "Sudden Death", and they were more known than people want to admit. The point is, people are to focused on the NHL brand too much and not on its top star(s).

I mean Sudden Death was a relative flop, Showgirls made more money and that's widely considered a bomb.

 

[Ugene Magic]

I mean Sudden Death was a relative flop, Showgirls made more money and that's widely considered a bomb.

But that's not the point and you know it. Being front and center for the league only goes so far.

 

[Voight]

McDavid and Mike Trout. Two of a kind.

Was going to make this point. Trout (despite being hampered by a garbage team and injuries in recent years) will retire as one of the very best baseball players of all time. Yet the MLB never gave a damn to market him, especially at his peak when he was far and away the best player in the league. Ken Griffey in his prime was everywhere. Trout was a good guy to market too, had that All American good guy personality, never got in trouble, never said or did anything controversial and played in a major market (yes, the Dodgers are #1 in SoCal but still).

UFC is a more global sport than hockey, you can host events in different countries any weekend and they also don't oversaturate their game like hockey does with 82 regular season games a year. Also they have that oil money and gambling empire supporting them.

Dana White is also a visionary and marketing genius.

 

[sr edler]

The personality thing is way overblown. If McDavid was a bimbo playboy like say Cristiano Ronaldo, it wouldn't make hockey popular to random people, but only to a smaller subset of airheads and gold-diggers.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

But that's kind of the point, Crosby and Lemieux were not huge marketing stars in the US. Crosby gets cut out of US commercials by his biggest US sponsor (lol) in Gatorade. The Crosby versions of Gatorade TV spots only run in Canada, which is hilarious and depressing at the same time.

Gretzky's popularity in the US is oversold too, lets not get it twisted, a NBA star in the 90s like Grant Hill was far more well known and more heavily marketed than Gretzky ever was.

Michael Jordan didn't win his first championship until age 28 either, he was still a massive superstar.

Lemieux's comeback in 2000 was huge in the US. I was in New York and everyone in my school was talking about it. He was on the cover of espn the magazine as well. Crosby and Lemieux are much more widely known than Mcdavid in the US. You're trying hard to say they're complete unknowns but it's not true. Anyone who watches any sports will know Crosby and Ovechkin. They were often the only ones that were ever featured on shows like countdown and sportscenter.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

But that's kind of the point, Crosby and Lemieux were not huge marketing stars in the US. Crosby gets cut out of US commercials by his biggest US sponsor (lol) in Gatorade. The Crosby versions of Gatorade TV spots only run in Canada, which is hilarious and depressing at the same time.

Gretzky's popularity in the US is oversold too, lets not get it twisted, a NBA star in the 90s like Grant Hill was far more well known and more heavily marketed than Gretzky ever was.

Michael Jordan didn't win his first championship until age 28 either, he was still a massive superstar.

I disagree on Gretzky. Gretzky was a household name. Obviously not to a Jordan level but Grant Hill? Yeah Id say he was more famous than Grant Hill. Gretzky was pretty frequently on big big TV talk shows like Leno and a common cultural reference. My wife grew up in L.A. at the time, and everyone there knew Gretzky even if they knew nothing about hockey. And obviously it's better to be famous in L.A. than just about anywhere else in the world as far as brand impact goes.

A huge factor here is that America has changed since then. Old dudes who grew up watching hockey in New York, Boston, Detroit and Chicago played a much bigger role in the national culture in the 80s than they do now. The white majority of the Northeast and the industrial Midwest dominated the American landscape in the 20th century, but that influence started to decline in the 1960s and that process continued and accelerated in the 21st century. And the reality, uncomfortable for some, is that it was that group which gave hockey a seat at the table of major sports. NHL status is linked to the bygone world in which newspapers like the Chicago Tribune or Boston Globe carried considerable influence in the national conversation and they were edited by people for whom hockey had relevance.

 

[Superlative Soup]

1. Nobody outside of hockey cares about hockey/hockey players

2. McDavid has the charisma of a piece of toast (like most hockey players)

 

[ottawa]

It’s not a niche sport from where I’m sitting - in Canada. I just think that if people are going to claim that “hockey is a niche sport” they’d might like to specify where it is that it is such a “niche sport” rather than assuming that “in America” is implied or assuming that because it is a niche sport in America that it’s a niche sport full stop. Hockey is not “a niche sport, full stop”. Hockey is a niche sport in America (and maybe most of the rest of the world too. But if that’s the case then baseball and football are niche sport as well, as might be everything else save soccer), and even then not necessarily in all of America, as it’s not necessarily a niche sport in Minnesota or New England. End rant.

I feel like I wasted 15 seconds reading this.

Where you and I are sitting, is irrelevant. Canada is so tiny and barely puts a dent on the world population and kind of adds to the point everyone here is making...hockey is a niche sport.

 

[Lacaar]

You think people will watch hockey if the game is 25-15 instead of 3-1?

The product is not the issue man....let it go....

The issue is literally 3/4ths of the human population on the planet DO NOT KNOW WHAT HOCKEY IS.

And Americans DO NOT CARE about the NHL. Its a niche sport , get over it.

Kids can't even play the sport unless they are rich or from rural hockey community areas lol

Did you see anything saying 25-15. Way to deduce that score indicates entertainment.
Stop assuming.. it makes an ass out of u and me

And yes the product is the issue.. because.. it's the product dude.

Why are you telling me to get over it? I don't care in the least. Hell I'm all for Americans and everyone else not giving two shits about hockey. Selfishly it works to my advantage. I've never understood poster's on here cheering on the sport when all it benefits is the league and media at the detriment to the fans in terms of prices.

You my friend made up a lot of shit that I was not implying and quite frankly. I don't appreciate it. I think it's a poor look on your side to come in here and insinuate what other people are saying.

So I'll just say I completely disagree with the crap you posted.

 

[Sniper99]

1. Nobody outside of hockey cares about hockey/hockey players

2. McDavid has the charisma of a piece of toast (like most hockey players)

100% Doesnt have to do with just Edmonton, if they moved the Oilers to Green Bay tomorrow are Stephen A. Smith and Cowherd and Bayless talking about McDavid. I bet not. Maybe McAfee for 5 mins but after that, back to baseball football nba and ncaa chat.

In the U.S.

Football
Baseball
Basketball
NCAA






Hockey

 

[Soundwave]

I disagree on Gretzky. Gretzky was a household name. Obviously not to a Jordan level but Grant Hill? Yeah Id say he was more famous than Grant Hill. Gretzky was pretty frequently on big big TV talk shows like Leno and a common cultural reference. My wife grew up in L.A. at the time, and everyone there knew Gretzky even if they knew nothing about hockey. And obviously it's better to be famous in L.A. than just about anywhere else in the world as far as brand impact goes.

A huge factor here is that America has changed since then. Old dudes who grew up watching hockey in New York, Boston, Detroit and Chicago played a much bigger role in the national culture in the 80s than they do now. The white majority of the Northeast and the industrial Midwest dominated the American landscape in the 20th century, but that influence started to decline in the 1960s and that process continued and accelerated in the 21st century. And the reality, uncomfortable for some, is that it was that group which gave hockey a seat at the table of major sports. NHL status is linked to the bygone world in which newspapers like the Chicago Tribune or Boston Globe carried considerable influence in the national conversation and they were edited by people for whom hockey had relevance.

Grant Hill had a massive Coca-Cola/Sprite marketing campaign in the 90s, his own sneaker which was competing against the Air Jordan, his jersey was incredibly popular, at the time it was thought he would be the next Michael Jordan.

People forget how incredibly popular he was, it was only because he got injured that he wasn't a Kobe/LeBron tier star, his marketing path was already set.