Why is McDavid so little known outside of hockey?

[Chips]

Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and Patrick Kane are not household names in the US, how many more years is it going to take for this magical break through to occur?

A B-tier NBA "star" like Klay Thompson would be more well known than all three of them combined in the US.

Younger Ovechkin was recognized to an extent outside of hockey, at least in DC (but I’m pretty sure some people knew at least vaguely of him elsewhere) largely because of his commercials and hype on the ice. As his play dropped and he got older and mellowed out that’s declined for sure. But plain and simple he used to have and show more personality than the next 10 NHL stars combined… and got kinda crapped on within the sport while getting noticed more out it.


Some of it is the sport, but very much the culture and personality. Ovechkin had a huge language barrier for years, and was NOT in a big traditional hockey market but had iconic commercials and got noticed for ESPYs and such. He was (and is) making huge endorsement money for a hockey player despite not being on a traditional market.


Nobody gave a shit about the WNBA until a couple players got hyped. Someone has to come in a market or otherwise on a major stage like the playoffs, and actually individually stand out beyond just putting pucks on net


Most of our stars are plainly boring/shut themselves down in front of a camera, and or there’s a language barrier, or they’re just afraid to stand out because of the negative attention that draws form within the NHLs insular culture. I remember young Ovi getting some shit for being noticeable beyond the goals



I know nothing about McDavid other than he lives in a house that looks like an ice cold museum or hotel lobby.

 

[Hextallent63]

The things that stand out for me to answer the question of the original poster is McDavid as a person not as a hockey player. Go watch Crosby and his worst couple years on the league, he was a barn burning agitator that was on the news just as much for his shenanigans as he was for highlights. It was quite different back then though, especially with broadcast coverage of the league. In this day and age you'll have someone like Paul Bissonette be more popular then McDavid. Not saying it's right it's just how does these days.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

false...Gretzky was Sports Illustrated Sportsmen of the year in 1982

Its kind of an SI thing, for whatever reason SI used to cover hockey much more seriously 1960-1980, hockey players were frequently on the cover back then, and almost never in the 40 years since.

I dont really know why, but hockey was probably much more convenient for newspaper types to cover in the original six days when every game was in a major east coast city.

 

[KaraLupin]

It is as simple as 2 things:

1) Hockey is 4th in popularity of the "big 4" major sports in US. Less eyes = less knowledge

2) McDavid has ZERO charisma. He is the prototypical introverted Canadian white boy, not a dig but it is what it is.


As much as we want the best player in our sport to be some crazy showman with personality to really put more eyes on the sport in America, it's just not in him.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Mostly just the sport itself. To many common folk in the US, hockey is as distant as a sport like lacrosse to most, in terms of interest to them compared to the other major sports. I don't think Canadians realize how small and unimportant hockey can be in a lot of places/communities in the states.

Then equal parts playing for the Oilers and McDavid having personality of drying paint. If he played for the Rangers, Bruins etc. he'd be more known.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Younger Ovechkin was recognized to an extent outside of hockey, at least in DC (but I’m pretty sure some people knew at least vaguely of him elsewhere) largely because of his commercials and hype on the ice. As his play dropped and he got older and mellowed out that’s declined for sure. But plain and simple he used to have and show more personality than the next 10 NHL stars combined… and got kinda crapped on within the sport while getting noticed more out it.


Some of it is the sport, but very much the culture and personality. Ovechkin had a huge language barrier for years, and was NOT in a big traditional hockey market but had iconic commercials and got noticed for ESPYs and such. He was (and is) making huge endorsement money for a hockey player despite not being on a traditional market.


Nobody gave a shit about the WNBA until a couple players got hyped. Someone has to come in a market or otherwise on a major stage like the playoffs, and actually individually stand out beyond just putting pucks on net


Most of our stars are plainly boring/shut themselves down in front of a camera, and or there’s a language barrier, or they’re just afraid to stand out because of the negative attention that draws form within the NHLs insular culture. I remember young Ovi getting some shit for being noticeable beyond the goals



I know nothing about McDavid other than he lives in a house that looks like an ice cold museum or hotel lobby.

To be honest, I don’t know why I need to know more about him. I couldn’t care less what kind of house he lives in or what he does on his spare time. Ovi was just obnoxious to me. I understand they are human not robots, but still I don’t know why McDavid has to have a charismatic flamboyant personality. Couldn’t care less.

 

[benfranklin]

No he wouldn't. If that was the case, why is Patrick Kane not a huge star in the US.

He played in a massive TV market and is even American born on top of that which should be a huge boon to his popularity in the US as American's tend to not care for non-American athletes.

NFL/NBA players don't care to "mingle" with NHL players, how many NFL/NBA players hang out with Crosby?

The irony of this Edmonton stuff is the most famous NHL player literally made his name in Edmonton, lol. There's no NHL player today who is as famous as Gretzky was WHEN he was in Edmonton.

Fun fact: Gretzky had more Sports Illustrated covers as an Edmonton Oiler than he did playing in LA, New York, etc.

Brutal example with Kane. He was one of the most popular athletes in his prime during his years in Chicago (a market more on par with NY, compared to Edmonton). Kane also has declined and spent a minute in NY only and obviously is now in Detroit (terrible market). And to argue that Bedard was the highest selling jersey last year. So markets simply will be leading there just because of their market.

1. Bedard
2. J Hughes
3. Panarin
4. Matthews
5. Mika Z

What does that list tell you? Its more market based than player based. Where is Connor and Leon and Evan? And I'd argue Edmonton is a big "wear a jersey" to the game market too, more so than other markets. Again, if Connor played in NYR or Chi, he'd be a much bigger deal.

Your Gretzky example is from the 80s before 4 lockouts and the Covid year, which all significantly damaged the NHL brand. Also the NHL relationships with ESPN and Sports Illustrated (which now would mean nothing) has significantly decreased. You can blame the NHL, but also ESPN become a glorified clickbait program geared towards marketing, which in sum is Lebron and Mahomes currently. Can dive into demographics there and im sure the average NHL fan is 20-50 year old white males, who likely dont watch a lot of tv.

NHL players dont mingle with NBA/NFL stars is not true at all. Eichel and Allen constantly did things in Buffalo together and the amount of talk about Tkachuk/Tatum certainly brought eyes from one sport to the other. Yes, there arent many examples of this due to the demographic differences, but its a potential option.

 

[Soundwave]

Brutal example with Kane. He was one of the most popular athletes in his prime during his years in Chicago (a market more on par with NY, compared to Edmonton). Kane also has declined and spent a minute in NY only and obviously is now in Detroit (terrible market). And to argue that Bedard was the highest selling jersey last year. So markets simply will be leading there just because of their market.

1. Bedard
2. J Hughes
3. Panarin
4. Matthews
5. Mika Z

What does that list tell you? Its more market based than player based. Where is Connor and Leon and Evan? And I'd argue Edmonton is a big "wear a jersey" to the game market too, more so than other markets. Again, if Connor played in NYR or Chi, he'd be a much bigger deal.

Your Gretzky example is from the 80s before 4 lockouts and the Covid year, which all significantly damaged the NHL brand. Also the NHL relationships with ESPN and Sports Illustrated (which now would mean nothing) has significantly decreased. You can blame the NHL, but also ESPN become a glorified clickbait program geared towards marketing, which in sum is Lebron and Mahomes currently. Can dive into demographics there and im sure the average NHL fan is 20-50 year old white males, who likely dont watch a lot of tv.

NHL jersey sales in the US are a joke, they're a tiny fraction of the apparel market. That's the other thing about hockey is with MLB or NBA or NFL stars, kids will wear their jerseys even outside of their regional area of play. Like no one bats an eye lash if someone is wearing a Steph Curry jersey in ... New York, or a Mahomes jersey in California or a Yankees uni in the midwest. But hockey? LOL, good luck ever seeing a hockey jersey not tied to the immediate region you're in.

Patrick Kane should've been a *HUGE* break out marketing star in the US. He should've been as popular at least as like a Kevin Durant or someone like that.

American born, good on camera, big market in Chicago, dynasty team, super high skill ... if Kane didn't break out and become a household name in the US and Crosby and Ovechkin haven't, like people need a reality check.

That shit ain't happening for hockey.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

1. NHL sucks at marketing its Stars

2.Kind of a boring personality & plays in Edmonton