Bettman Targeting NHL's Existing Fans To Grow League
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Bettman Concentrating On Solidifying NHL's
Core Fan Base |
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman “was behind the wheel when his business went over a cliff and now has the opportunity to put it back together,” according to Matthew Futterman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Bettman “is doing so by making a classic management choice: Instead of obsessing over growth, he is concentrating on keeping the league’s existing customers happy.” NHL Senior Exec VP/Business & Media John Collins has "convinced [Bettman] to forget about growth and focus instead on getting North America’s 53 million self-described hockey fans to start acting as though they love the sport.” NHL research shows that 50% of the league’s fans “won’t watch the finals if their favorite team isn’t playing.” TV ratings for hockey “grow just 41% in the playoffs, while baseball’s grow 400%, and the NBA’s grow 135%." The average audience for this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs on Versus has grown 50%, but “only to about 700,000” HHs. Seton Hall Univ. Sports Poll Dir Rick Gentile: “The games are invisible. The NHL doesn’t have a national profile, and it desperately needs one.” However, “using the measuring stick most important to [Bettman’s] bosses -- the league’s 30 owners -- [Bettman] is riding a hot streak, restoring value to franchises and raising overall league revenue to a record $2.5[B] from such sources as ticket sales, sponsorships, TV rights, licensed merchandise and concessions.” The NHL said that attendance “has hit records in each of the past three years, based on tickets distributed.” Bettman: “You do whatever you have to do to protect the asset your owners have invested in.” He added, “We've finally got everything back on track.” But NHLPA Exec Dir Paul Kelly said that the league “can’t be considered healthy until franchises that are struggling financially, such as Columbus and Phoenix, improve, and the league gets a better broadcast deal in the U.S.” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/23).
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Crosby's Appearance Will Raise
National Profile Of Stanley Cup Finals |
STAR BRIGHT: In St. Louis, Jeff Gordon wrote with the Penguins and Red Wings facing off in the Stanley Cup Finals, “these games will actually flow. The teams will play with speed and coordination. Viewers will see tape-to-tape passes, well-orchestrated rushes up the ice and sustained offensive flurries.” They also will see "plenty of hitting, another byproduct of a faster game. With increased hitting comes greater emotion on the ice -- and that intensity translates nicely on the tube.” Viewers also will be able to see “star players shine.” Penguins C Sidney Crosby “will raise his national profile during the next two weeks” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/21). However, in a special to ESPN.com, the Toronto Star's Damien Cox wrote asking Crosby to provide the NHL a push similar to the one Pro Basketball HOFers Larry Bird and Magic Johnson provided for the NBA when they met in the ‘84 NBA Finals is “probably wholly unrealistic.” Crosby “helped save the Penguins. He helped save the NHL from its own greed and stupidity. Maybe he could be permitted to celebrate his 21st birthday before being asked to deliver the NHL to the promised land” (ESPN.com, 5/22). ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser said Crosby can become a crossover star, "but not now. Most Americans don’t even know hockey is being played” (“PTI,” ESPN, 5/22).
BOOST TO DETROIT: Ilitch Holdings President & CEO and Red Wings VP Christopher Ilitch appeared on CNBC this morning and said of the Red Wings making the Stanley Cup Finals, "There is a financial gain to the hockey club, but probably it pales in comparison as to what the Red Wings have meant to the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan. There’s no doubt about it, this state and this city have seen some economic challenges as of late and the Wings have given this city and this state a huge emotional lift and that’s something you really can’t put a price on” (CNBC, 5/23).
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