Why is McDavid so little known outside of hockey?

[ClydeLee]

How many mad or disappointed at the league because of this also felt those ways about ESPN or other hockey media being all nonstop, Crosby vs Ovi in the late oughts.

That's what it takes. You actually do need to do that. To push McDavid you do need debates, is he better than Gretzky, is he better than Crosby career already, like that thread in the poll section.

To get the attention and market success, you have to embrace the over the top

 

[Golden_Jet]

Meanwhile, almost all of them would know Shaq, LeBron James, Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, etc.

You’d get the same response if you asked a bunch of Canadians or non North Americans. There would be more that don’t know than know. If you don’t follow sports than most would not know them.

 

[Golden_Jet]

I'm not so sure your source is the most reliable.

After looking at another source it looks like they mistakenly named Connor McDavid instead of Connor Bedard LOL.

Ya I never read past Mcadavid lol

 

[McBaevid]

Hockey is

The NHL is run by morons who don't know how to market. Outside factors like video games and movies have marketed hockey better than the NHL ever has

Look at what Dana White has done with a fringe sport.

you can argue Hockey is far more of a fringe sport than MMA/Fighting
Hockey just doesn’t have that much of a draw, it’s an expensive sport to play and very niche depending on where you live

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Combination of NHL is bad at marketing and McDavid is boring.

Seriously if they could somehow convince McDavids brother to go do every interview for him he'd probably become double the famous.

He's a brick wall of personality

 

[Neil Racki]

Gretzky to LA was a huge boost to the NHL. It triggered beach roller hockey games to be televised on ESPN ffs.

McDavid being a no-show for Game 1 and Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals really didnt help.

Game 1 had 3.1M viewers.

Game 7 had 7.6M viewers .... all tuning in to see the next great one

No McDavid on Dave Letterman, no Good Morning America visits .. huge missed opportunity

 

[Lacaar]

Hockey when played at it's best from a coaching/technical point is at its worst from an entertainment standpoint. Well at least to 99% of fans. there's always that guy that appreciates the defensive mastery that is a slash to the stick.. over... and over... and over again.

Games 7 was a f***ing snooooooooooooooooooozer.

But ask the coaches how they liked the way their team played and they're both likely ecstatic.

Game 7.. Everyone hyped to the nards. Played their asses off. And produced a boring product. The NHL had 1 shot.. and f***ed it up by

That my friends is why hockey doesn't compete with the other sports. Love the game but understand also that when the players are playing their best... not a hell of a lot happens because the middle of the ice is a complete write off. Penalties go away because the culture demands it. The players know it and the coaches know it. And once they all know it.. bye bye entertainment and hello whack a puck. It's a vicious cycle that no cure has been found. Too many calls and it's "let em play" . So they let them play and nothing happens because all they do is check each other to death.

In a nutshell entertainment of the sport is always at odds with success.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Hockey when played at it's best from a coaching/technical point is at its worst from an entertainment standpoint. Well at least to 99% of fans. there's always that guy that appreciates the defensive mastery that is a slash to the stick.. over... and over... and over again.

Games 7 was a f***ing snooooooooooooooooooozer.

But ask the coaches how they liked the way their team played and they're both likely ecstatic.

Game 7.. Everyone hyped to the nards. Played their asses off. And produced a boring product. The NHL had 1 shot.. and f***ed it up by

That my friends is why hockey doesn't compete with the other sports. Love the game but understand also that when the players are playing their best... not a hell of a lot happens because the middle of the ice is a complete write off. Penalties go away because the culture demands it. The players know it and the coaches know it. And once they all know it.. bye bye entertainment and hello whack a puck. It's a vicious cycle that no cure has been found. Too many calls and it's "let em play" . So they let them play and nothing happens because all they do is check each other to death.

In a nutshell entertainment of the sport is always at odds with success.

Same thing can be said about soccer. Some of the games at Euro 2024, especially the knockout games, were boring as hell.

 

[pi314]

1. Plays in Canada
2. Plays for a small market in Canada
3. Quiet and reserved player who rarely makes the headlines outside of his NHL abilities

4. NHL doesn’t know how to market its stars.

 

[Lacaar]

Same thing can be said about soccer. Some of the games at Euro 2024, especially the knockout games, were boring as hell.

Yes I was going to make that comparison. I wonder if it's just the nature of how few soccer games are played so it's more an event like football? I went to a Euro game and it was a boring game, the news even called it a boring game. It didn't have much if any impact on how the tournament was going to play out so the urgency wasn't there from the players. But wow what an event regardless as a North American tourist. The journey to the stadium.

Because I attended the game I took an interest in the tournament. Watched the final and what a fantastic game that was. It was way more entertaining then game 7 of the NHL if I'm being honest. And my team was playing haha.

Now it's 1 tournament, 1 game I have to judge it off of. But soccer got more entertaining as the stakes got raised. I don't find that with hockey. I find it gets less entertaining as the stakes get raised.

 

[TheNumber4]

One word:

Edmonton.

Gretzky didn't become a household name (outside of Canada) until he was in LA.

Oh yeh. Look at how huge Crosby got outside of hockey.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Hockey when played at it's best from a coaching/technical point is at its worst from an entertainment standpoint. Well at least to 99% of fans. there's always that guy that appreciates the defensive mastery that is a slash to the stick.. over... and over... and over again.

Games 7 was a f***ing snooooooooooooooooooozer.

But ask the coaches how they liked the way their team played and they're both likely ecstatic.

Game 7.. Everyone hyped to the nards. Played their asses off. And produced a boring product. The NHL had 1 shot.. and f***ed it up by

That my friends is why hockey doesn't compete with the other sports. Love the game but understand also that when the players are playing their best... not a hell of a lot happens because the middle of the ice is a complete write off. Penalties go away because the culture demands it. The players know it and the coaches know it. And once they all know it.. bye bye entertainment and hello whack a puck. It's a vicious cycle that no cure has been found. Too many calls and it's "let em play" . So they let them play and nothing happens because all they do is check each other to death.

In a nutshell entertainment of the sport is always at odds with success.

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

 

[TheNumber4]

Again... Edmonton.

US fanbases do not care about Canadian teams. That angers people... but it's a statistical fact.

If McDavid was in a US market like Boston, NY, Chicago, hell... even smaller markets like NJ... he'd have a lot more opportunities and be more widely known.

Nah. NHL fanbases only care about their own players. The nhl market is very regionally driven, the Tv ratings every year prove this. The NHLs lack of marketing is why no one, not McDavid, not Kane, not Matthews, not any superstar in this League gets the nationwide PR.

If McDavid was a Ranger, you think fans in California give more shits than if he was an Oiler?

 

[TheNumber4]

You're right.

He's got the personality of a modern pro wrestler. No personality. But even if he was "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, playing in Edmonton wouldn't get any notoriety here in the US.

Hockey itself doesn’t get an notieriety in the states. McDavid playing for a passionless US hockey market doesn’t change that. Probably makes it worse.

Doesn’t he have the personality like a piece of cardboard

Yes like 99% of other players.

 

[Golden_Jet]

So you're saying that being second fiddle in one of the most well known buildingsin North America is somehow less important than being the center of the universe in a city most people couldn't find on a map?

I'm not even sure what you are trying to argue.

Same, but I was thinking more about you, if you have point somewhere in there,
other than Americans are only aware of where America is, nothing else. You do have a point in that regard, but everyone already knew that.

 

[TheNumber4]

This, but I also think McDavid is uniquely uncharismatic.

Crosby had the whole Mario, saving Pittsburgh angle, and his superstitious streak is fun. McD doesnt have any of that- the league needs to do better, but Conor doesn’t give ‘em much obvious stuff to work with.

If being superstitious was an angle for Crosby’s very mediocre popularity then the NHL could have ran with McD wearing the same suit 3 games in a row and wearing dirty old holed-up socks to play that same angle.

But they probably decided not to, cause they didn’t give a shit about Crosby’s popularity back then, same as now with McDavid.

The point is McDavid wasn't the most-sold jersey in 2023. It was Bedard. They got the wrong Connor.

That says nothing really. Except that NHL fans get excited about the “next one”, already have a McDavid jersey, and need to add the Bedard one for the collection.

 

[nergish]

As a kid in Canada, I knew about Shaq or Kobe without ever having seen them play basketball.

McDavid just doesn't have any personality to market. Hockey in general would be a much bigger sport if more people understood/appreciated the nuances of the game, which McD is absolutely dripping in. But that's just not the case.

Connor Bedard has an inside track simply because he's young and has those skills that pop on TikTok, but he's ultimately pretty quiet and uneventful as a person.

 

[TheNumber4]

Playing in the northern most market.

He could have played in Carolina and the US still wouldn’t give a shit about McDavid cause they barely give a shit about Hockey.

 

[TheNumber4]

The average random ass person outside of Canada doesn't know who Sidney Crosby is.

Exactly. Which is why it’s a joke to think that McDavids lack of popularity is cause he doesn’t play in the States.

In fact, I would argue McDavid would be even less known and popular if he played in the states. The hockey media landscape is like 50% Canadian, TSN and Sportsnet have done more to market McDavid than ESPN or TNT could have mustered. And it’s not like ESPN or TNT even market stars well.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Hockey in the U.S. is by and large a niche sport of white middle-class and above people in metropolitan areas which have NHL teams. It has little support among the working class (priced out), ethnic minorities or people from rural or smaller urban areas outside a few hotbeds in New England and the Upper Midwest. The more general sports media as a result feels little need to cover it (ESPN and Co. know their demographics) and the only way for McDavid to transcend that would be for him to make the news with other stuff.

Sean Avery probably got more regular media coverage in the U.S. than McDavid ever did, simply because he's eccentric and an attention seeker. McDavid would need to be dating a celebrity, attend high profile events the tabloids cover i.e. like the Oscars or the Met Gala and get attention there, become a member of some Hollywood circle of friends, something like that. It's pretty obvious that McDavid isn't thinking in those terms, and honestly that's in some ways actually endearing. But you're not going to become a global superstar by being a great hockey player hiding out in Edmonton, Alberta.

 

[TheNumber4]

No marketing/entertainment person is going to get behind a player playing in Edmonton.

If he ever leaves Edmonton things will open up...

Case in point:




A whole generation of kids learned about Gretzky and hockey from this cartoon.

Lol. Yeh that unknown cartoon is what put Gretzky on the map. Not the 5 cups or insane amount of records.

 

[Svencouver]

I don't really buy any of the hard-materialist explanations in this thread. I don't think its market, I dont think its sport, and I don't (really) think it's personality. I think it's that McDavid's career lacks a compelling narrative.

There are athletes in less popular sports throughout the past 2 decades that have far more compelling narratives that create a "fear of missing out" in the general public to not follow it as it unfolds. Phelps in swimming. Serena Williams in Womens Tennis. "The Big 3" of Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic in Mens Tennis. Caitlyn Clark in Womens Basketball. Even someone like Shohei Ohtani in Baseball. These players, more than just being good at a sport (and in many of these cases, not really a popular sport, either), have a compelling narrative around their careers. Phelps going for 8 gold medals in 2008. The race of Slams for the big 3 - culminating in some all-time iconic duels with their own sub-narratives like Wimbledon 2008 and Australian Open 2012. Caitlyn Clark putting womens basketball on the map and all of the drama with her presence in the sport. Shohei being the worlds only real two-way player sicne Babe Ruth and being the hero of an entire nation - culminating in pitching out Trout in the World Championships.

This is what Sports are about - storytelling. People are compelled watching interesting human beings pushing their lives to the limit to accomplish incredible things. Making compelling stories out of their career. Building "aura". It's why Kobe Bryant is more popular than Tim Duncan. Why The Big 3 are more popular than Alcaraz. Why Mahomes and Brady are cultural icons. Indeed, why Sidney Crosby is more famous than Connor McDavid. Winning has a lot to do with it, and indeed, seems to be a necessary pre-requisite for building a strong narrative out of your career, building a case of greatness: it needs to culminate in the ultimate triumph, at least once. Crosby has that in spades: he had a fascinating rivalry with Ovechkin from day 1 in terms of style, nationality, and demeanor; he won a cup early on in Pittsburgh, raising it above his head as the face of the sport; and as that face of the sport, he scored the golden goal in 2010 in front of millions of casual fans and became a Candian hero.

Because McDavid has never won, and because he has no real strong personality to shore up that deficit in winning, there is no real "legend" to McDavid that makes it imperative to watch him play. People feld that they NEEDED to watch Phelps go for gold. They felt that they NEEDED to watch Federer and Nadal duke it out in the twilight on grass. They felt that they NEEDED to watch LeBron and Curry duel for their legacies. They felt that they NEEDED to see if Brady could somehow do it again. People do not nearly feel the same need to watch McDavid play in the regular season so that he can win another regular season trophy. Like someone else in this thread said, McDavid is the Mike Trout of hockey. An all-time great that hasn't (yet) won the ultimate prize.

 

[Soundwave]

The average American doesn't know who Patrick Kane is even though he won 3 Cups in Chicago, is Amercian born, and played in one of the biggest sports market. They don't know Crosby either.

Wayne Gretzky was more famous than any hockey player while he was playing in Edmonton which at the time had a population of like 600k.

I don't really buy any of the hard-materialist explanations in this thread. I don't think its market, I dont think its sport, and I don't (really) think it's personality. I think it's that McDavid's career lacks a compelling narrative.

There are athletes in less popular sports throughout the past 2 decades that have far more compelling narratives that create a "fear of missing out" in the general public to not follow it as it unfolds. Phelps in swimming. Serena Williams in Womens Tennis. "The Big 3" of Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic in Mens Tennis. Caitlyn Clark in Womens Basketball. Even someone like Shohei Ohtani in Baseball. These players, more than just being good at a sport (and in many of these cases, not really a popular sport, either), have a compelling narrative around their careers. Phelps going for 8 gold medals in 2008. The race of Slams for the big 3 - culminating in some all-time iconic duels with their own sub-narratives like Wimbledon 2008 and Australian Open 2012. Caitlyn Clark putting womens basketball on the map and all of the drama with her presence in the sport. Shohei being the worlds only real two-way player sicne Babe Ruth and being the hero of an entire nation - culminating in pitching out Trout in the World Championships.

This is what Sports are about - storytelling. People are compelled watching interesting human beings pushing their lives to the limit to accomplish incredible things. Making compelling stories out of their career. Building "aura". It's why Kobe Bryant is more popular than Tim Duncan. Why The Big 3 are more popular than Alcaraz. Why Mahomes and Brady are cultural icons. Indeed, why Sidney Crosby is more famous than Connor McDavid. Winning has a lot to do with it, and indeed, seems to be a necessary pre-requisite for building a strong narrative out of your career, building a case of greatness: it needs to culminate in the ultimate triumph, at least once. Crosby has that in spades: he had a fascinating rivalry with Ovechkin from day 1 in terms of style, nationality, and demeanor; he won a cup early on in Pittsburgh, raising it above his head as the face of the sport; and as that face of the sport, he scored the golden goal in 2010 in front of millions of casual fans and became a Candian hero.

Because McDavid has never won, and because he has no real strong personality to shore up that deficit in winning, there is no real "legend" to McDavid that makes it imperative to watch him play. People feld that they NEEDED to watch Phelps go for gold. They felt that they NEEDED to watch Federer and Nadal duke it out in the twilight on grass. They felt that they NEEDED to watch LeBron and Curry duel for their legacies. They felt that they NEEDED to see if Brady could somehow do it again. People do not nearly feel the same need to watch McDavid play in the regular season so that he can win another regular season trophy. Like someone else in this thread said, McDavid is the Mike Trout of hockey. An all-time great that hasn't (yet) won the ultimate prize.

People in the US don't know who Sidney Crosby is.

Gatorade actively takes him out of their "athlete montage" commercials in the US.

There's Gretzky and that's it. End of. Finito. That's the entirety of the NHL's marketability in the US and the funny thing is he became famous (even in the US) primarily as an Edmonton Oiler. People knew "Gretzky is the best hockey player" in the US even before he got traded to LA.

Tim Duncan wasn't as famous because his style of play was boring too. Kobe's game was far more razzle dazzle.

 

[Svencouver]

The average American doesn't know who Patrick Kane is even though he won 3 Cups in Chicago, is Amercian born, and played in one of the biggest sports market. They don't know Crosby either.

Wayne Gretzky was more famous than any hockey player while he was playing in Edmonton which at the time had a population of like 600k.



People in the US don't know who Sidney Crosby is.

Gatorade actively takes him out of their "athlete montage" commercials in the US.

There's Gretzky and that's it. End of. Finito. That's the entirety of the NHL's marketability in the US and the funny thing is he became famous (even in the US) primarily as an Edmonton Oiler. People knew "Gretzky is the best hockey player" in the US even before he got traded to LA.

Crosby was more famous in 2007-2014 ish than McDavid has ever been.

(I don't think this accounts for the growth in Internet usage, either - making this look even worse for McDavid)

The Finals vs the Panthers was McDavid's first real appearance in the wider public eye, and it shows. It's good, dramatic, and interesting that he got there this year, and got so close in game 7 with a pretty historic run, to boot (so it's not over for his story - its only really just beginning). I think a lot more people will be tuning in to see if he can do it this year - but not getting it done yet (and not having the Olympics, either) has hurt his legacy and his fame greatly.

 

[tarheelhockey]

He's the most electrifying player since Mario Lemieux and a human highlight reel. Blazing speed, soft hands, elite vision, passing, and IQ, scores goals, gamebreaker, he's got it all. So why hasn't his name broken out outside of hockey circles?

One argument I often hear is that he isn't a big media personality but neither is Crosby and he's the most famous player since Gretzky or Lemieux. In fact, I would argue Crosby was more famous before even playing his first game. The hype leading up to his draft was unprecedented in the world of hockey and made him a bigger media sensation than McDavid despite his wooden and typical NHL personality.

Another one I hear is the market he plays in, but Gretzky's heyday was in Edmonton and it didn't stop him from being the most famous player of the time by a wide margin. Surely, Edmonton wasn't a bigger city in the 80s than it is now? Washington also wasn't a particularly large hockey market before Ovechkin.

There is also the cup argument, but Ovechkin was a superstar even non-hockey fans knew about for years before he made the playoffs. I would argue he was also more popular than McDavid ever was before he played his first NHL game.

McDavid just won a Conn Smythe in a losing effort, but this has done nothing for him. Even to this day, people outside of hockey circles might know Crosby or Ovechkin. McDavid's name never approached their level despite being arguably better than either of them. He should have overtaken them by now as these are his prime years and these two are in the twilight of their careers, yet their status outside of hockey eludes him.

Even in his historical 2022-23 season, his jersey wasn't even in the top 5 most sold ones. In fact, I don't think McDavid ever had the top-selling jersey in his career in a given year.

I don't think there has ever been such a disparity between talent and fame. What is the reason for this?

At the end of the day, it’s Edmonton.

Yes Gretzky was the biggest star in the 80s. He was the biggest star of all time. He was probably the only guy who could have become a true mainstream star in that city.

McDavid is not a Gretzky tier star. Put him in NYC or Chicago or even Pittsburgh and he would be on a different level in the media. But he doesn’t have that GOAT quality that could make him a mainstream star out of Edmonton.